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A review by futurama1979
Women Talking by Miriam Toews
3.0
This is one of those books I really wanted to be the kind of story that sticks with me forever. It had the potential. Reading the synopsis, I was taken by the bravery of both the women in the novel and of the author who undertook fictionalizing this horrifying occurrence. It seemed, at all first glances, a story with a lot of staying power. However, the actual text doesn't quite hold up.
Toews has cushioned the story with philosophical tangents, a self pitying narrator, and a romantic subplot that completely takes away from the raw power the central story has. I really do understand and sympathize why she might have done it - in order to absorb a story this heartbreaking, both the author and audience might like a degree of separation. I think that unfortunately, Toews took that degree of separation a little too far.
It's still an important story, and still worth the read. The women are powerful characters, and some of their conversation is incredibly moving. It just takes until the epilogue to be able to sympathize with the narrator.
Toews has cushioned the story with philosophical tangents, a self pitying narrator, and a romantic subplot that completely takes away from the raw power the central story has. I really do understand and sympathize why she might have done it - in order to absorb a story this heartbreaking, both the author and audience might like a degree of separation. I think that unfortunately, Toews took that degree of separation a little too far.
It's still an important story, and still worth the read. The women are powerful characters, and some of their conversation is incredibly moving. It just takes until the epilogue to be able to sympathize with the narrator.