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A review by shesreadingagain_
Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I wanted to love this book, the premise sounded like something I would really enjoy. A sci-fi horror novel with AI was so interesting to me. Even though I know many people that read this book and hated it I thought I would give it a try (I love reading books that people dislike). I should have stayed far away because there are so many issues with this book. I pushed through to finish this book hoping it would get better (spoiler: it didn't).
The first thing I will say is if you are someone who has struggled with fertility or delt with child loss, I would not not pick this up. Yes, those two topics can be approached with care and spoken about in a way that sheds light on such a taboo topic. However, this is not that book. The FMC faces so much misogyny, sexism, and just downright abuse from multiple male characters in this book. I have to ask why an author would echo sentiments that I am sure all women have heard at some point in our lives. I have not experienced child loss or infertility myself and I found this so insensitive and just plain cruel. I considered that the author is from Botswana and maybe there is some nuance that I am missing, but I cannot understand why an author thought this was okay to write down.
There is a term in this book that I could not stand, but it was used so much. The 'women' that carry children are AI and instead of a womb it is referred to as a wombcubator and I hated it so much. Just the cherry on top of my hate sundae.
The first thing I will say is if you are someone who has struggled with fertility or delt with child loss, I would not not pick this up. Yes, those two topics can be approached with care and spoken about in a way that sheds light on such a taboo topic. However, this is not that book. The FMC faces so much misogyny, sexism, and just downright abuse from multiple male characters in this book. I have to ask why an author would echo sentiments that I am sure all women have heard at some point in our lives. I have not experienced child loss or infertility myself and I found this so insensitive and just plain cruel. I considered that the author is from Botswana and maybe there is some nuance that I am missing, but I cannot understand why an author thought this was okay to write down.
There is a term in this book that I could not stand, but it was used so much. The 'women' that carry children are AI and instead of a womb it is referred to as a wombcubator and I hated it so much. Just the cherry on top of my hate sundae.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence
Moderate: Sexual assault