Vox — Christina Dalcher

★★★★★

I am absolutely blown away. My heart and soul are just dangling by a thread. Honestly, I have not been this angered (and wonderfully angered) in a long, long time.

Think about what you need to do to stay free.

Denial, deliberation and the decisive moment: three response stages to any impending disaster. Rush through the first two and act as soon as you can. That’s how you hold out. That’s how you live.

Dr. Jean McClellan, an American linguistic scientist and mother of four, saw all the signs – women representation decreasing in the government, the resurgence of the “pure” religion, the slow chipping away at female freedoms – yet she did nothing.

“You have no idea ladies. No goddamned idea. We’re on a slippery slide to prehistory girls. Think about it…Think about words like ‘spousal permission’ and ‘paternal consent.’ Think about waking up one morning and finding you don’t have a voice in anything.”

No matter how much her friends warned and pleaded with her, she always found a way to deny their concerns – surely not America, surely the government wouldn’t go that far, somebody will definitely do something before it’s too late…right?

Then, she found herself without a voice at all. 

Courtesy of the “Pure” religious movement – all women were fitted with a little “bracelet” which functioned as a word counter. Every day they received 100 words and severe consequences followed every infraction.

Jean, as linguistic specialist, knows better than anyone what will happen if a child is denied language or an adult is forced to stifle all forms of communication. But without a voice for herself, how can she even begin?

I read every last word in a single sitting. If you thought the The Handmaid’s Tale was great – you need to check out this modern upheaval.

This is the kind of book where you literally feel the tension – my heart was pounding, my eyes blurred, I turned the pages so fast that I felt a slight breeze.

“You know babe, sometimes I wonder if it was better when you didn’t talk.”

Shivers. Oh the many shivers.

With many, many thanks to Berkley Publishing and Christina Dalcher for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

All quotes are from an uncorrected proof and are subject to change upon publishing.

Interested in this one from Christina Dalcher? Pre-order your copy from:  Amazon