Monday, October 29, 2018

Vox

Title: Vox
Author: Christina Dalcher
Published: August 21st 2018 by Berkley
Format: Hardcover, 326 pages
Genre: Dystopic / Speculative

There are going to be those that disliked this book solely due to its simplicity but I loved it for the conversations that it generated. Like those in the book, there is a contingency that claim women will never lose their voices, yet for a time, that is exactly what happened.

Using the Book of Titus as their impetus, a small contingent has the president’s ear and what unfolds is a world where women are only allowed 100 words a day – both spoken and written. A world where a woman’s education is limited to the home arts and she is not allowed to have employment. Set in the United States, women have been silenced by the Pure Movement where both women and female children are fitted with metal bracelets that track their word count with little buzzes and shock them if they go over their allotted number. For those that cannot live by the new laws, they are captured and used as prison labor.

Before the country turned upside down, neurolinguist Dr. Jean McClellan was working on a new treatment for aphasia. Now that the president’s brother needs her research, Jean trades her bracelet for time back in her lab and with a small team, finds a way to turn the tides on those that are out to quiet women.

Dystopic or Speculative, call it what you want, but this book is a perfect launching point for endless conversations.

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