Friday, August 6, 2021

Vox, by Christina Dalcher

 

I have mixed feelings about this novel. It has been compared to The Handmaid's Tale, but the writing is nowhere near as good. The premise is completely silly as well. I think there are plenty of men out there who are misogynistic enough to try to limit women's speech to 100 words a day, but not nearly enough of them to actually pull something like this off, so I had a hard time setting aside my disbelief as I read the story. Just the scale of it would be impossible: manufacturing 150 million or more "bracelets" (i.e., word counters) that give an increasingly strong electric shock for every word spoken that exceeds the 100 permitted. Apparently, this just happened overnight, with women seized and fitted with the device. Too far-fetched to believe. The story wraps up fairly quickly when the main character finishes her research, and with the help of three men (really?) defeats the reigning leaders of the government.

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