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ehmannky's review
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
An interesting premise and I always enjoy a Jane Austen retelling, especially when it's a retelling of Persuasion. However, despite the fact that it hits the beat of Persuasion in a dystopian future and that the characters were engaging, I could not love this book.
What knocks this book down for me is the fact the paternalism towards the Reduced--essentially a whole group of neurodivergent people that make up the workforce of this society--to be steeped in ableism. I did not care for the fact that it was all of the neruotypical people's duty to care for the Reduced. This idea that they must be cared for and that they are not really full adults and people on their own isn't really challenged. This is especially concerning since the Reduced in this book are essentially an enslaved workforce. It feels like Peterfreund was going for a recreation of the feudal system breaking down, and not necessarily enslavement, but that's not what the results are when you make one group of people *biologically* reliant on a group of people who use them as unpaid labor. And even the enlightened characters and those who come from Reduced parents don't seem to challenge this view. It's just a given that some people are just biologically required to be enslaved because they can't be trusted on their own. Like, Elliot's all for creating a great world for her laborers, but even the most she can think of is make a great world for the neurotypical Posts and still keeping the Reduced (even the name is bad) under those who are "more capable" then they. And that's not an argument I care for in my fiction.
I do not read malicious intent in the ableism of this world Peterfreund, I just personally feel this book could have benefited from a few more revisions from a sensitivity reader.
What knocks this book down for me is the fact the paternalism towards the Reduced--essentially a whole group of neurodivergent people that make up the workforce of this society--to be steeped in ableism. I did not care for the fact that it was all of the neruotypical people's duty to care for the Reduced. This idea that they must be cared for and that they are not really full adults and people on their own isn't really challenged. This is especially concerning since the Reduced in this book are essentially an enslaved workforce. It feels like Peterfreund was going for a recreation of the feudal system breaking down, and not necessarily enslavement, but that's not what the results are when you make one group of people *biologically* reliant on a group of people who use them as unpaid labor. And even the enlightened characters and those who come from Reduced parents don't seem to challenge this view. It's just a given that some people are just biologically required to be enslaved because they can't be trusted on their own. Like, Elliot's all for creating a great world for her laborers, but even the most she can think of is make a great world for the neurotypical Posts and still keeping the Reduced (even the name is bad) under those who are "more capable" then they. And that's not an argument I care for in my fiction.
I do not read malicious intent in the ableism of this world Peterfreund, I just personally feel this book could have benefited from a few more revisions from a sensitivity reader.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, and Slavery
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Rape and Sexual violence
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