Scan barcode
A review by rebeccacider
The Oven by Sophie Goldstein
3.0
Pretty art, and I always welcome a graphic novel about back-to-the-landers in a dystopian setting, but I felt the story was weak.
The gender politics here were weird - Maggie's "regressive" domesticity is portrayed as a natural consequence of being constantly pregnant & breastfeeding. But her actual work "at home" includes heavy-duty tasks like animal husbandry. Meanwhile, the male work (agriculture) is outside the home - Maggie's husband and Eric literally drive to their field. There could be some worldbuilding reason that their arable land isn't right next to the house, but it seems like an artificial way to make the point that living off the land == gendered labor.
Meanwhile, because Syd is enjoying her work, we get the impression that women's labor is all fun and games (knitting! cheese-making!) while men's work is real labor. The storytelling reflects Syd and Eric's experiences of their new life, but as a consequence we never get to see Syd washing laundry all day or slaughtering all those chickens.
Tl;dr: this graphic novel raises some interesting questions but would benefit from an infusion of feminism.
The gender politics here were weird - Maggie's "regressive" domesticity is portrayed as a natural consequence of being constantly pregnant & breastfeeding. But her actual work "at home" includes heavy-duty tasks like animal husbandry. Meanwhile, the male work (agriculture) is outside the home - Maggie's husband and Eric literally drive to their field. There could be some worldbuilding reason that their arable land isn't right next to the house, but it seems like an artificial way to make the point that living off the land == gendered labor.
Meanwhile, because Syd is enjoying her work, we get the impression that women's labor is all fun and games (knitting! cheese-making!) while men's work is real labor. The storytelling reflects Syd and Eric's experiences of their new life, but as a consequence we never get to see Syd washing laundry all day or slaughtering all those chickens.
Tl;dr: this graphic novel raises some interesting questions but would benefit from an infusion of feminism.