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A review by stardust_ashes
The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings
3.0
In a world where witches exist, they are repressed. Everybody is scrutinized to prevent them from turning into witches, especially minorities: women, black and queer people are under the constant watch of the government. By thirty, women must be married or they lose their jobs and the authority is transferred to their fathers or other male figures in their life. Josephine is twenty-eight, she never wanted that conservative type of life, so she faces threats from her acquaintances and the government to change her way of living. She is under a specific watch as her mother suddenly disappeared without leaving a trace fourteen years prior, supposedly because she was a witch. She decides to officialise her mother's disappearance as death and in order to inherit she has to follow specific instructions.
The novel is difficult to read because of how much the rhythm is inconsistent. It's particularly annoying how people always talk in riddles and tales because it really breaks the rhythm and it doesn't give much information. I expected this novel to go deeper, in terms of world-building but also as a criticism of both the fictive and our society. While it obviously treats a lot about witches, the clichés curse, and flight abilities, it rather quickly touches on what it does to people emotionally. I felt like there were too many elements put in the book while not going deeper on any of them.
Wish it talked more about the identity spectrum because it went too fast on trans identity. I waited during the entirety of the novel for a switch in the "women = witches, men = not witches" idea, something that would be more modern than that but it never really came.
What I loved the most was Jo's relationships with other people. She is bi, she has crushes and sexual relationships but she doesn't easily fall in love. It's both linked with her relation with the world and who she is because she hardly allows people to become attached to her and I wished it was something more developed. There, it was great how it didn't fall into cliché bi representation.
The novel is difficult to read because of how much the rhythm is inconsistent. It's particularly annoying how people always talk in riddles and tales because it really breaks the rhythm and it doesn't give much information. I expected this novel to go deeper, in terms of world-building but also as a criticism of both the fictive and our society. While it obviously treats a lot about witches, the clichés curse, and flight abilities, it rather quickly touches on what it does to people emotionally. I felt like there were too many elements put in the book while not going deeper on any of them.
Wish it talked more about the identity spectrum because it went too fast on trans identity. I waited during the entirety of the novel for a switch in the "women = witches, men = not witches" idea, something that would be more modern than that but it never really came.
What I loved the most was Jo's relationships with other people. She is bi, she has crushes and sexual relationships but she doesn't easily fall in love. It's both linked with her relation with the world and who she is because she hardly allows people to become attached to her and I wished it was something more developed. There, it was great how it didn't fall into cliché bi representation.