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annabend 's review for:
Red Clocks
by Leni Zumas
A stylistic strange, but also a compelling, book. This is the story of women in the U.S. as it might have been if a Personhood Amendment was passed, granting rights to embryos. This means no abortions, no in vitro, and eventually even no adoption for single women. Anyone attempting to abort or help someone conceive via in vitro can be tried criminally (for murder, in the case of abortions).
The novel is very current and therefore very effective in reflecting what society thinks of women's rights — some are ambivalent and complacent, others are aggressively discriminating, and others still, are willfully dismissive. All of the people in this book are people you have known in your life, which is a big strength of the narrative.
The novel is stylized. Each chapter keeps the author and the reader at a distance by referring to the characters as "the daughter," "the biographer," "the mother," and "the mender." Each sentence too is sometimes a strange collection of sharp phrases. The author often uses fragments to create associations between objects a character's feelings. Sometimes it worked for me, other times it didn't. Still, I felt for each of the characters. Honestly, required reading for anyone who has ever met a woman.
However, I didn't care for the inserts of the biography of Eivor Minervudottir, a 19th-century female explorer. The way her life intertwined with that of Ro (and the other women) was interesting — but it was much more interesting when the details were incorporated into Ro's chapters. There was much more resonance that way. As is, it was often jarring.
The title of this book is one of my favourites — simple but with a wryly amusing, apt meaning. "Red Clocks" wasn't the best book I have read this year, but it was the book that I wanted to scream the most to: "Yes, yes, yes. I agree with you. Everything is how you say it is. Thank you for writing it."
The novel is very current and therefore very effective in reflecting what society thinks of women's rights — some are ambivalent and complacent, others are aggressively discriminating, and others still, are willfully dismissive. All of the people in this book are people you have known in your life, which is a big strength of the narrative.
The novel is stylized. Each chapter keeps the author and the reader at a distance by referring to the characters as "the daughter," "the biographer," "the mother," and "the mender." Each sentence too is sometimes a strange collection of sharp phrases. The author often uses fragments to create associations between objects a character's feelings. Sometimes it worked for me, other times it didn't. Still, I felt for each of the characters. Honestly, required reading for anyone who has ever met a woman.
However, I didn't care for the inserts of the biography of Eivor Minervudottir, a 19th-century female explorer. The way her life intertwined with that of Ro (and the other women) was interesting — but it was much more interesting when the details were incorporated into Ro's chapters. There was much more resonance that way. As is, it was often jarring.
The title of this book is one of my favourites — simple but with a wryly amusing, apt meaning. "Red Clocks" wasn't the best book I have read this year, but it was the book that I wanted to scream the most to: "Yes, yes, yes. I agree with you. Everything is how you say it is. Thank you for writing it."