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A review by booksthatburn
Disobedience by Daniel Sarah Karasik
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
*I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review of this book.
DISOBEDIENCE feels like an extended worldbuilding exercise, especially in the first half of the book. The pace of events is pretty slow, and most things involve a lot of explanation or Shael thinking through how they feel about some dynamic in play. Feeling like a fable, the first half seemed too densely detailed to actually be a story, through this did change towards the end as the consequences of some things set up earlier began to play out. There are strong themes of justice, consequence, and the nature of punishment, as well as explorations of gender dynamics in who is expected to serve the needs of the society. and how NIMBY attitudes play out in a small community. The camp where Shael was born is a prison, with strict gender roles and frequent punishments. The community they escape to has its own strict gender roles, meant to counteract the early programming of those who came from the camp or the mountains, but which in practice seem to encourage thinking along gendered lines. Most of the Betweens (loosely encompassing nonbinary, genderqueer, etc.) in the community live together because even here they are othered. They're treated as a third gender in a way that was frustrating to read, but which underscores this point that there is no perfect middle way that fixes everything.
I like this overall! I'm interested in reading more by this author, especially if future work expands on the world established here.
DISOBEDIENCE feels like an extended worldbuilding exercise, especially in the first half of the book. The pace of events is pretty slow, and most things involve a lot of explanation or Shael thinking through how they feel about some dynamic in play. Feeling like a fable, the first half seemed too densely detailed to actually be a story, through this did change towards the end as the consequences of some things set up earlier began to play out. There are strong themes of justice, consequence, and the nature of punishment, as well as explorations of gender dynamics in who is expected to serve the needs of the society. and how NIMBY attitudes play out in a small community. The camp where Shael was born is a prison, with strict gender roles and frequent punishments. The community they escape to has its own strict gender roles, meant to counteract the early programming of those who came from the camp or the mountains, but which in practice seem to encourage thinking along gendered lines. Most of the Betweens (loosely encompassing nonbinary, genderqueer, etc.) in the community live together because even here they are othered. They're treated as a third gender in a way that was frustrating to read, but which underscores this point that there is no perfect middle way that fixes everything.
I like this overall! I'm interested in reading more by this author, especially if future work expands on the world established here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, and Transphobia
Moderate: Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Lesbophobia, and War
Minor: Child abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Death of parent