Vox: A Novel

Holy crap. This book is terrifying. Especially in today's political climate. Doesn't feel so speculative so much as a glimpse into a possible future. I have already bought three copies and plan to hand them out to my friends.Women only have 100 words a day before the counter on their wrists begin to shock them per word. But why would they need more words than that? They can't work, only are schooled in the arts that they might need to take care of their families, or will work in a camp unless some male in their family can take them in. What could a woman possibly have to say that could be so important?

"Everything lately seems to be a choice between degrees of hate."

Christina Dalcher’s Vox has an intriguing, and some would say prophetic, premise. The main character and first-person narrator, Dr. Jean McClellan, lives in a society where women were silenced virtually overnight. Like all women in the US, she is now mandated to wear a bracelet, or counter, which delivers a series of electric shocks if she speaks over 100 words a day. Once a prominent scientist in her field, Jean now spends her days at home, catering to her family’s every need, and quietly seething as she reflects on how so many people, herself included, didn’t see this coming.

Dystopian novels like George Orwell’s 1984 and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale became classics because they are nuanced. Everything from the characters to the propaganda is subtle enough to be believable. In Vox, the antagonists and their message are exaggerated to the extreme. All men are portrayed as either evil or passive. Most women are so defeated that they don’t fight back and many fully embrace the new roles that have been thrust upon them. Children parrot their new “traditional” schooling and report their own parents and fellow students if they don’t fall in line. Dalcher’s message is so heavy-handed that it becomes exhausting.

The main plot of the novel is straightforward, if somewhat overly reliant on technical jargon. Unfortunately, the addition of numerous subplots, most of them ridiculous, detracts significantly from the story. Toss in a few predictable and thematically inappropriate twists, and you get a confusing hodgepodge of genres that don’t mesh well. Jean’s personality, which is shallow to begin with, contradicts itself in many of the new situations that arise. In the first few chapters, Dalcher highlights Jean’s intelligence and loyalty to her family, but as the story continues, Jean morphs into a completely different person. At the drop of a hat, she makes rash decisions that could put her entire family in danger, and her reasoning is explained poorly, if at all.

Vox could have been a fascinating novel. It could have provided compelling reasons for the swift rise of the new patriarchy. Instead, it turns men and conservatives into villains, portraying them as inhuman monsters. While Dalcher never goes so far as to depict Jean and her fellow activists as perfect, their actions and principles are glorified. I write the following as a self-proclaimed feminist and liberal: the extreme thinking presented in this novel is what has caused such a huge rift in the United States. If more people would listen to other points of view without resorting to name-calling and bitter rhetoric, we would be a much healthier society. This may be too much to ask. At the very least, avoid books that encourage hate and division. Unfortunately, Vox is one of the worst offenders.

Vox by Christina Dalcher will be released by Berkley Publishing on August 21st, 2018.

Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this novel from Goodreads Giveaways in exchange for an honest review.

A thought-provoking, gripping and frightening glimpse into a not-so-distant future.Imagine that the government has decided that society and family life needed to be taken back to the “traditional way of doing things” – The Pure Movement.That females are only permitted 100 words a day.Enforced with terrifying and pain-inducing technology, females as young as babies, are required to wear counters around their wrists and within a 24 hour period, females must not speak, write or sign more than 100 words otherwise, the counter they are forced to wear will emit a shock with the resulting pain and damage strengthening in intensity as a female continues to transgress over the 100-word limit.The premise of Vox was quite intriguing and I found it a captivating read with the short chapters alluding to the restrictions placed on these females. The notion that a minority group could be oppressed, silenced and marginalised in this way is all too believable. Although Vox is set in future United States of America, the circumstances that the central character Dr Jean McClellan finds herself in and the rights and freedom that have been stripped away from females, the LGBTQIA, government opponents and protesters could have easily manifested anywhere in the world. Vox also explores the dangers of complacency and not speaking up while you still have the chance.It was intriguing to see how Dr Jean McClellan’s relationships with her husband, sons and former colleagues are tested and altered by the “new norms” of The Pure Movement and what Dr McClellan’s fears and hopes for her own daughter could drive her to do. As females are silenced, they can no longer work and are expected to tend to the home and family. Education for girls are limited to subject areas that will help them carry out their dutiful role of mother and home-maker while males are revered and afforded every opportunity. Books are only accessible by males and cameras are fitted everywhere, watching your every interaction. The ramifications of this are overwhelming and I found myself thinking what if I were in Dr McClellan’s shoes — how would I feel, what would I do, how far would I go? After finishing Vox, I also asked myself, what should I be doing now to prevent this type of world from ever emerging?Vox had a strong start and the author Christina Dalcher created a relatable main character in Dr. Jean McClellan with all her frustrations, regret, fear, anger and desperation. I was invested in her struggles and was eager to find out how things would unfold and what the future held for everyone involved. I found that Vox was a completely satisfying and exciting read for the first two-thirds of the book, however as everything was coming to a head for the last third, I wished that the author developed this section further as everything was wound down far too quickly and too conveniently and left me wanting more detail in such a crucial part of the book. The ending didn’t sit comfortably with me either, given Dr McClellan’s regrets over past mistakes in her friendship with Jackie. With that being said, overall I did enjoy Vox and highly recommend it and I look forward to seeing more from Christina Dalcher.Thank you Beauty and Lace, Harlequin Australia and Christina Dalcher for making Vox available for review.

This novel has a brilliant idea as its basis but the execution is really disappointing. What starts out as a horrifying dystopia for women turns into something more like Mills & Boon. I was very disappointed.

I really enjoyed the concept and I was excited to read this but it definitely was not everything I thought it was going to be. Great idea but not the greatest execution. I wish everything had been expanded on and more developed and it would have made a great novel.The characters were weak and I generally didn’t care about most of them, and the ones I did we didn’t get to learn much more about them at all and they ended up more as stick figures just acting in our plot without any actual substance or personality. Our main character, Jean, was one of the only ones who was truly really fleshed out throughout the entirety of the novel. Jean has four children, Sophia, Stephen, and two twin boys who were truly so useless to not only the novel but Jean’s life, that I can’t even remember their names and I only finished this book last week at the time of writing this. Some of our characters started off super strong and interesting and then completely diminished into dust near the end of the novel and it was disappointing. Lastly, we had quite a few characters who were so one-dimensional and flat that did a complete 180 by the end of the novel but without any visible development and it was absolutely jarring. They had no visible development. We just turned the page and found our one-dimensional character still very one dimensional just with a completely different set of morals and values and no explanation as to how or why they changed. Also, we really got the point that Lorenzo has a fancy coffee maker. We get it.The plot started off very strong but about 75% of the way through it just lost all steam and everything seemed rushed and smashed together, leaving nearly everything to the imagination. A vast majority of the issues and complaints and questions I have all come back to the last 25% of the novel. Prior to this point, I was reading and expecting a four star read but the ending was so sloppy it heavily effected my enjoyment of the novel.Mainly, I feel had everything been developed more, this could have been a FANTASTIC novel. That being said, I did give this book 3 stars and I really did enjoy the concept. I would recommend it, just go in with lower expectations.

Frightening but compelling, as women try to navigate a world in which their voices have been literally silenced. Forced to wear counters that administer electric shocks if they speak more than 100 words in a day, there are also other new rules being enforced to keep half the population submissive. Rules about adultery that seem to apply only to women. Rules about sex in general. Rules against reading, writing, watching the news, having a laptop or cell phone, working, or really anything much. Horrifyingly real in the world it creates, the future it envisions, you might find it ruining your sleep, even as you can't put it down. A fitting segue into Women's History Month.

Whoa! Haven't been able to stop thinking about this one!! Polarizing read, but definitely recommend as for its potential to provoke feelings, thoughts, and discussion!Heightened creepy factor because it's all-too culturally believable American dystopian. This is a book that practically BEGS to be talked about with others who have read it. Definitely will look forward to what's next on tap from this author.No spoilers, but some reactions:1) At its heart, this is a story of oppression (in this case, of women by men) and how it starts small and takes root when people don't fight it or lean into it. Part of the creepiness factor of this book lies in its 'moral' which seems to be revenge fantasy--simply reversing the oppressor and the oppressed. That's just...no.2) I deeply disliked Jean. Two reasons for that: (i) she's selfish in the extreme and ii) she's morally inconsistent. This is a testament to the author--as a character, Jean is flawed, believable and real, which is what made her so hard to take and the book so interesting. I wanted her to be all righteous fury, a warrior-defender and...although it's her story, she's pretty much anything but.3) Patrick is an underrated character. You see him through Jean's eyes, so you think you know him. He's more than she gives him credit for.4) Steven...whoa. Super-interesting perspective and relationship dynamics to explore here. Would love a book from his perspective. As a character, he's really let off the hook here - in the story and by the people closest to him (though the story isn't about him, really).5) Though it seems to be increasingly socially-acceptable, even on trend in pop culture to make it a punching bag, I'm not a fan of Christianity being used as a bogeyman. This one is an intelligently-written page turner and a sharp social critique that's worth the read.

Scarily possible dystopian, but I think the story might have been stronger without the affair.

Excellent book and bizarre concept. The main character dreams a lot of predictions for the future and it goes from there. Thriller.

This book started out so strong, but it lost me somewhere in the middle. I was so angry at the beginning reading about all the rules put in place for women. The way it turned out was completely unbelievable and the ending was too quick to be a convenient wrap up.

Jean was once a respected scientist, focusing on neurological research that could reverse aphasia. Now, she is restricted to speaking 100 words a day, not allowed to work, and expected to be subservient to her husband. To make matters worse, her daughter, and all the women throughout America have also been silenced. When the president's brother suffers a brain injury, the government comes to her with a deal, continue her research, and her restrictions will be lifted until she finds a cure.This was a fascinating book. Jean was such a realistic character, I really felt her pain and struggles. It was really interesting to read how society ended up this way. I look forward to reading more from this author. Overall, highly recommended.

This dystopian novel, is pretty much a rip-off of A Handmaid’s Tale. In a not too distant future, religious extremists have taken over the country and made women not only subjugated to:men and unable to hold jobs, but also nay allowed to speak 100 words per day. Dr. Jean McClellan, a former cognitive linguist, is trying to cope and not being very successful at it. When the government gives her a reprieve in order to save the President, she finds herself confronted by her former lover and they both look for a way out.This book is meant to be chilling, but it isn’t written well enough to obscure the holes in the plot big enough to drive an 18-wheeler through read Margaret Atwood’s original instead

VOX by Christina DalcherThe United States has been taken over in an election by seriously ultra conservative politicians. Laws have been passed restricting females to just 100 words per day and enforce this directive with punishing electric shocks for every word beyond the allotment. The novel starts with this interesting premise and then has a rather boring first 100 pages as we learn about the wife who is quite an acclaimed scientist and feminist but is married to a go-along, get-along politician husband high up in the conservative government. The plot finally gets going when she is coerced by the government to restart her science project and discovers a sinister plot against women all over the world. The last two thirds of the book is an interesting and well plotted thriller. Overall, readers who are looking for another “Handmaids Tale” will be disappointed. Readers looking for a thriller and make it through the first third will be pleased. The characters are clearly defined and remain in character for the entire book. The premise and resulting government action is full of holes but with a suspension of reality, the novel as a whole is satisfying.3 of 5 stars

In a near-future America, disenfranchised women are limited to using no more than one hundred words a day. There are no more shared bedtime stories with their little ones, no more reading a book for themselves. They hold no jobs outside the home; girls are taught home economics skills at school and no longer learn to read and write. A radical “Christian” philosophy, espoused by a powerful preacher with connections to the White House, lies at the root of these drastic, draconian societal changes. Men hold all the power. Women have silence. Jean McClellan is determined to find a way to protect her young daughter, Sonia, and to give her a voice.Early on, readers are likely to see this as a re-imagining of the downfall of humanity in the wake of the Nazi movement with the totalitarian methods of the opprobrious leadership marginalizing a large sector of the population. Clearly, this is not an anti-Christian diatribe since the abomination created here in order to gain power for the few is obviously a desecration of true faith. Rather, it is a cautionary tale of what can happen when people corrupt beliefs in order to gain power for themselves. There’s a reason for the proverb warning that power has the ability to corrupt; here readers will find a terrifying glimpse of man’s inhumanity to man. The narrative boasts an inventive plot with well-developed characters; suspense builds as the story unfolds. Unexpected reveals and surprising plot twists keep readers guessing right up to the final page. However, readers are likely to find the excessive . . . and unnecessary . . . use of offensive language greatly mars the storytelling. Recommended.

You’ve read The Handmaids Tale and you're caught up on the last episode of the series. Now what? Here’s one that might fill the bill - Vox by Christina Dalcher.It’s not hard to imagine a future (present or past) where women’s lives are controlled by men. And how is that control achieved in Vox? By language - the lack of, to be precise. In Vox women are only allowed 100 words a day. They wear a silver band on their wrist that shocks them if they go over that limit, increasing in voltage with every word above the limit. It's all part of a return to 'traditional values'. "Pure"Jeanne McClellan was a neurolinguist before her voice was taken away. It is only when the new president needs a cure for his brother that her bracelet is taken off and she’s brought in to resume work on her research - restoring language to brain-damaged individuals. But with every suppression...there's resistance. Vox details a time in the near future that isn't too hard to imagine.I enjoyed Dalcher's world building. And yes, it's not much of a stretch to see the traditional value, male dominated society. Dalcher herself has worked in the linguistics field and that knowledge gave the plot depth and detail. There's lots of action as the tension ramps up to the final 'showdown'. The author has created a good cast of characters in both Jeanne and supporting players. I did find myself more drawn to those supporters though, instead of Jeanne. I didn't agree with some of her decisions or treatment of other resistance members.Some developments and plot directions seemed a bit quick, if you will. There were points where I felt there should be more plausibility built in. But, on reading the publisher's notes, I learned that Vox was written in two months - which is pretty darn amazing.There's lots of food for thought in Vox, mirroring many of today's news headlines. I was thoroughly entertained by Vox and would be curious to see what Dalcher writes next. (And that cover is great isn't it?!)

Enjoyable and creepy.

3.5 stars. I really liked the premise of this book. On the one hand, it's hard to believe something like this could happen in the US. On the other hand, it's terrifyingly believable that this is the direction our country might be going in. It sucked me in and I had didn't want to put it down until I found out what happened. While overall I enjoyed it, at times it was a little convoluted and it seemed like there was too much going on.

I felt angry throughout the reading of this novel: not angry at the book, but angry about the state affairs described in this dystopian society set in the USA where females can't work outside the home or have their own bank accounts, are sent to single-sex schools where they are only taught simple mathematics and home economics, are forced to wear bracelets which dole out a daily diet of only 100 words, prison camps for LGBTQ persons, incentives to marry young, etc., etc., etc.The story is a bit chilling with parallels to present day society. Some of the timelines seem a bit far-fetched to me, some coincidences too pat and the resolutions at the end seem to occur too quickly. I would have liked to have had some more in-depth discussion of the other characters, both male and female, and their stories about what they did during the (1-year?) since the societal restrictions were put in place.

In the near future, a populist demagogue comes to power in America and rolls back decades of progress on women's rights. In the end, women are forced to wear bracelets which limit the number of words they can say in a day -- speak more than 100 words and you get an electric shock. The more you speak, the more powerful the shock. Gays are imprisoned, and anyone who resists the new order is sent off to labour camps. In other words, Vox is a satire of Trumpian America. One reviewer has called it a re-imagining of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, but to me it reads more like a re-working of Sinclair Lewis' classic novel from 1935, It Can't Happen Here. Like Lewis' book, this one focusses on a family divided by the rise of a uniquely American kind of fascism. There are the children who are raised to be little monsters by the state, unrecognisable to their parents. And there is -- thankfully -- the Resistance. Dystopian fiction without a resistance of any kind, such as George Orwell's 1984, can be unbearably painful to read. Vox is an excellent book that deserves a wide readership.

I received a ARC through NetGalley in return for an honest review. Vox is a not too distant future where women can only speak 100 words a day and the political party that rules the nation are known as being Pure, they are extremely conservative and religious. Jean is a linguistics doctor and is requested by the government to help the president's brother recover after a stroke that left him unable to understand language, in return she and her daughter will be allowed to speak without a limit while the cure is being found.I enjoyed the book and it kept my interest enough to want to know what happens. It's kind of like handmaids tale. but the writing style is more dystopian/thriller-esque. I felt the story really took off about half way through and then it just became too rushed. More details and story set in the last few chapters would of been preferred over the many chapters of build-up that the book started out with.

Imagine that a new President has been elected with the help of the extreme Christian right. So extreme, and so powerful, that they reverse over a hundred years of women's rights, and worse. Women are limited to 100 words a day, enforced by a "bracelet" they wear that administers worsening electric shocks for every word over the limit. Dalcher doesn't waste much time on the details of how this came about, which is fine, as they're largely beside the point for the purposes of her story. But, every time I caught myself saying "this is just too unbelievable - that would never happen here," I reminded myself that that's been said by other people at other times and places in history, and it could, and it did.As for this book, though, comparisons to The Handmaid's Tale are inevitbale, but Vox has a different ambition. Dalcher doesn't pull her punches when it comes to the details of women's subjugation in the new regime, but the story focuses on a small group of people who suddenly realize that they can change everything.Even that isn't the real point, though. Dalcher also pulls no punches in getting her message across. Everyone: use your voice. While you still can.

There have been some rather extreme changes made here in the United States. Women must wear a bracelet-type counter that allows them only 100 words a day. If they go over their quota, they receive a horrendous electrical shock. Even the written word or sign language is punishable. Women can no longer hold jobs and girls are not being taught how to read or write but only are taught how to cook and sew. Dr. Jean McClellan is the narrator of this book. She’s a mother of four and the wife of a man who she believes is too passive about the whole issue. She regrets not taking action before this all started. She no longer has a voice with which to fight.Before all of these changes, Jean was a cognitive linguist working on a cure for aphasia, the loss of the ability to understand or express speech caused by brain damage. All of her research stopped when women’s rights were taken away. But now the President’s brother is suffering from brain damage and Jean is asked to resume her work.The only fault I had with this book is that at times it felt too much like “The Handmaid’s Tale”. There are so many similar restrictions. But I felt that the writer does a very good job in telling this story and Jean is a very believable narrator. The added interest comes from Sonia, Jean’s 6-year-old daughter, who doesn’t remember what it’s like to be able to speak freely. There’s one terribly frightening scene involving Sonia that really made the whole book seem so real and possible. It’s one thing to have your own rights taken away but entirely another when it involves your innocent child. The way the schools were now teaching young girls was so tragic.Interesting story told in a realistic manner. Recommended.This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review.

Vox, Christina Dalcher, author; Julia Whelan, narratorIn this book, the women have been subjugated by men. It seems that they have protested one too many times, have marched once too often, have demanded far too much equality and too much of a voice in the way society is being run. The men have grown more and more frustrated with the women’s movement’s effort to marginalize them. Under the leadership of President Sam Myers (Is he Jewish? All religions are demonized in some way, in this book, so perhaps he is.), who followed the first black President into the White House (Guess who?), the clock is rolled back and women are forced to stop communicating on all levels. They have defiantly created a system in which the women are totally restrained. Even sign language is forbidden. They are forced to wear “bracelets” which count and register the number of words they speak each day. Going over the quota of 100 words a day will result in painful electric shocks which vary in severity depending on the scope of the violation. They have lost most of their rights to be independent and to be educated. They are an exaggerated version of The Stepford Wife. More quickly than anyone thought possible, homosexuals and lesbians are imprisoned, adultery is otlawed, schools are reorganized to teach females household skills, cooking and sewing. Only male children receive a full education, including the three “R’s”. All females become voiceless. In school, the curriculum now includes a huge dose of religious teaching to guide the young men and women into their futures. There is a new world order, although no one had ever really believed it would come to pass.Although, activists for women’s rights had tried to warn the public about what was coming, the threat to the women had been ignored and dismissed as unrealistic, impossible, until it was too late. The activists had seen the writing on the wall and knew there was going to be an effort to silence them, but their efforts to stop the trend were to no avail. With disbelief, the world watched as policy after policy was adopted in America, to not only actually silence women, but to punish them for behavior the men deemed to be improper. The plan, which was diabolical, was largely designed by and widely supported by the church.This is really a creative novel, but there is not even a veiled attempt to hide the partisanship of the author’s message. She even alludes to the Kool-Aid drinkers, made famous by Rush Limbaugh. They are of course the ones who are deluded. They are on the far-right. They are conservatives who overvalue their religious beliefs. They are the troublemakers shutting down conversation. (Although today, those on the left are actually shutting down conversation and preventing the free exchange of ideas with their need for safe spaces, the author never suggests that.) The reader learns that the renegade President, Sam Myers, built a wall along the borders of Canada and Mexico, making it just as hard for Americans to leave the country as it is for immigrants to enter it. Women have no passports and can not legally leave the country or travel to another. (Subtly, even immigration has reared its ugly head in this novel. Of course, everyone today knows who wants to build the wall. This author implies that it is Trump who is responsible for taking away the rights of women.)President Myers relies heavily on the military (as does Trump) and his older brother for support and advice. Family is important to him. This new “young” President (perhaps the “young” description is an attempt by the author to soften her partisanship), has a beautiful wife. It is hinted that his wife is sequestered when not in public. It is hinted that she suffers with the restrictions of the bracelet counters and its consequences, as well. (The author’s description of the wife, reminded me of the stories that journalists wrote that insinuated that Melania Trump, who had not been seen for awhile, was being physically abused by her husband, when she was actually undergoing surgery.)President Myers is being advised by a religious leader, Reverend Carl Corbin who dreams of a world of “pure” men and “pure” women. He will surely remind the readers of Tomas de Torquemada, the first inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition. (Perhaps the author’s attempt to demonize religion was her quiet attempt to jab at Vice President Pence whose dedication to his religious beliefs over science has been well publicized and criticized by the left and the media.) In this book, the heroes use scientific research to try and defeat the religious fanaticism. In this new America, journalism and news no longer exist. Entertainment has been regulated. (These issues might be another possible suggestion that this evil President is fashioned after Trump. He has, after all, labeled much of the news media and entertainment world as biased and fake.)Today, under President Trump, there is a non stop cry to resist and oppose him and anyone associated with him, regardless of what he or they accomplish. He has been painted as unhinged. Since the book promotes the very word resistance as a positive tool for the left to use against the right, even suggesting the use of violence to stop them, it would seem that the author is comparing and contrasting the villainous Myers to Trump, a man she views as villainous. (After all, isn’t Trump’s administration attempting to confirm a Supreme Court Justice that the left believes will curtail women’s rights, especially their right to choose?) Yet, if truth be told, hasn't it been the left and those that support the liberal agenda that has used violence to silence the voices of those that disagree with them?Dr. Jean McClellan was told that the President’s older brother suffered brain damage in an accident, making him unable to speak coherently. She was asked to return to work in the lab to develop a cure for his condition. Before she lost her job and was silenced, she was one of the foremost authorities on the subject of aphasia. The authorities gave her a very short window of time for this research. As a bonus, the word counter would be removed temporarily while she worked. After she successfully discovered the cure, however, it would be returned to her wrist. In the meantime, other scientists were attempting to develop a drug to do the opposite, to cause rather than cure aphasia. That drug would be used to silence women and eliminate the need for the "bracelet" counters. It would cause them to speak in unintelligible sentences by damaging the Wernicke area of the brain responsible for fluent speech. Dr. McClellan’s husband Patrick worked in this White House that was rolling back women’s rights, and although he did not support the draconian methods, he seemed unable to do anything about them.The narrator does a very good job of interpreting each character. The book presents the overarching theme that resistance is good, and should be encouraged, even if it calls for violence. In the real world, it is the progressives, not the conservatives being blamed, that do the loudest yelling and are shutting down the voices of those who disagree with them. They are unwilling to have a dialogue with them. There is also a theme that seems to be presenting women as superior, and men as cruel, weak, and sometimes no more than useful idiots. Since speech was a central theme, I found it disheartening that the author used crude vocabulary throughout the book. There was an unnecessary emphasis on sex. Were the women meant to be presented as preoccupied with thoughts of infidelity and promiscuity? Other themes support science as good and faith and religious dogma as evil. The enemies of women and equality live in the Bible Belt. There is a woman in the book, Jeannie’s friend, Jacky Juarez, who is a jailed women’s rights activist and lesbian. She is Hispanic (She is a perfect symbol.). She reminded me of Carmen Perez who was one of the organizers of the women’s march on the White house led also by the likes of Linda Sarsour. Perez worships Harry Belafonte, who is an avowed socialist.Do the readers realize what is happening in the real world? Do they realize that voices are truly being silenced, but it is not those of women? The voices on the right are being silenced. Those with an opposing view are being silenced. The left is silencing them in the media, in the entertainment world and in the schools at all levels, even as they blame others for their own sins, and no one is taking it seriously, as no one took warnings in the book seriously. It doesn’t fit the agenda of the day.Although the book is supposed to be about a fictional world, perhaps in the not too distant future, it seems to be hinting, with not very subtle accusations, that the current President and his administration are both usurping power and overstepping boundaries that might very well turn the clock back to a time when women were only supposed to stay at home and act like Donna Reed, serving the needs of their husbands and their family, over their own. If only the author had been content to write a good story and refrained from putting her hand on the scale in an attempt to make a political point. No one side should have been blamed for the plight of the women. The problem should have been expressed and analyzed, encouraging conversation so that a real dialogue could develop which might help to solve problems, not create them. This book feels like a propaganda tool for the liberals who will love it.

This dystopian novel has a lot of great ideas. The United States has a president who institutes the "Purity Movement". Women are not allowed to read, or write, or get the mail, or work, or speak more than 100 words per day. Their wrist counter keeps track. Girls and boys go to separate schools. Girls are taught useful skills like cooking and math (because it is needed for things like cooking). They are still not to speak, everything must be memorized. It's frightening and Dalcher does a good job creating this world. Nowhere can I find mention of this book being YA. But that's what it reads like--which is fine, but YA is, by definition, easier to read. Dalcher's ideas are excellent, but they are not fleshed out--there is so much more I want to know! This book is listed as being 326 pages long. With these ideas fleshed out at an adult reading level, it could have been 500 pages and been excellent. There are several loose story lines that I would love to have seen integrated into the main story more effectively, and then resolved. There are many twists in here, and they come out of left field. No build up, just "guess what!"All in all, this novel started off with lots of promise. But then it is rushed to a conclusion way too quickly.

Woman – the root of all evil. Therefore, under the new POTUS, women are confined to the house, forbidden to work, thy only have to care for their husbands and children, and most importantly, they aren’t allowed to speak more than one hundred words a day. “Bracelet” is what they call the device which counts their words and sends electronic shocks in case they exceed the set number. Dr. Jean McClelland, once a successful and renowned scientist, sees her life limited in a major way and she regrets all the marches she hasn’t taken part in, the petitions she hasn’t signed and the signs she has misinterpreted. When the president’s brother has an almost fatal accident, the most capable doctor is needed, thus Jean unexpectedly comes into the position of possibly setting conditions and finding a way out of her once beloved home country.In many respects, this dystopia is highly disturbing. Not just because of what is narrated and imagining what happens there, but because you can easily reckon how such a situation might become a reality. Even though we believe to live in a world where men and women are equal and where women have gained their place in work and society, a group of men feeling deprived of their rights of superiority and therefore doing everything to turn back the time, is simple to picture.I had heard a lot about Christina Dalcher’s novel and quite often, if too many people praise a book I become increasingly reluctant of agreeing. Yet, in this case, I totally consent to the majority of readers. The plot is very well developed, the characters seem absolutely authentic to me and the author’s style of writing is captivating. I especially appreciated how Jean’s eldest son is brainwashed, not for the fact itself, but as a convincing illustration of how easily people can fall prey to false prophets and walk right in the trap. Dalcher gets to the core with her protagonist, she has to make decisions that nobody wants to make and each reader has to answer for him- or herself which side they would be on and, first and foremost, what they do in reality to prevent such developments from happening.

A tough book to read set in a world that seems all too real in today's political climate. All I can say is I used way more than 100 words and they were rather colorful ones as well.

When I saw this book compared to Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale", I knew I had to read it. This book was frightening and thrilling at the same time. Frightening because it really felt like what was going on in government in the story could have come straight from our current news. Thrilling because I really could not but this book down and finished it in two days. The story is about a time when all females have had the right of speaking limited to one hundred words a day. Every female no matter what their age has to wear a counter (bracelet), that keeps track of how many words a day they speak. If they go over the limit they get an electrical shock that gets stronger and stronger the more times they break the rule. The main character is Dr. Jean McClellan, a renowned doctor who had been researching a cure to a disease that causes the brain to be unable to use the correct words when communicating. Now the president's brother supposedly has this and has offered Dr. McClellan the chance to get her voice back in exchange for finding the cure. But as she begins her research with her former team they find that what they could unleash something far more sinister.This book was incredible. I cannot stop talking about this to my co-workers at the library. It is definitely one of my new favorite books!

Pros: very fast paced, emotional punch, thought-provoking Cons: minor things, slightly rushed ending A year ago life changed for 50% of the US population. Women were kicked out of the workforce and made to wear bracelets that counted their words. When they reached their cap of 100 words, they received an electric jolts of increasing intensity until they stopped talking. Members of the LGBT community were shipped off to ‘camps’. A year ago Dr. Jean McClellan was a top cognitive linguist researching Wernicke’s aphasia, an ailment that makes it difficult to form coherent sentences. Now she’s a stay at home wife, slowly watching her marriage crumble, her daughter suffer under the word restrictions, and her oldest son become a misogynist. When the President’s brother has an accident that affects the Wernicke area of the brain, she’s asked to help find a cure, little knowing that there’s another reason the government wants her work. The book is very fast paced and only look me 2 days to whip through. It’s first person narrative makes the world immediate and the clever use of flashbacks fleshes out the characters and how the US changed so quickly. Loss of freedom is always an interesting plot device, and this book touches on real fears American women have during the present political climate. The book joins other US dystopian novels that focus on how women could be repressed like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Veracity by Laura Bynum, and When She Woke by Hilary Jordan. There are some powerfully emotional scenes, some of which were rage inducing, while others made me want to cry. While I often didn’t agree with Jean’s choices, I could understand why she made those decisions and sympathized with her plight. While the book explained that Wernicke’s aphasia impairs the ability to speak coherently, it would have been good to point out that it doesn’t always impair cognitive abilities outside of communication. I was left wondering if people who had it would be able to function or if they would have to be put into care homes. There were a few minor issues that annoyed me, like cookbooks being banned when you would expect they would be needed. You can’t remember every recipe or learn new ones without some sort of help. There’s also a scene where Jean had just under 40 words remaining in her day and she had to make a phone call. She prepared her message in advance but used her whole allotment, even though several of the words she used were unnecessary. What if she’d had to respond to a question afterwards? She’d have had to stay silent. The ending felt a bit rushed in that I would have liked a more complete telling of what happened. I understand why it wasn’t comprehensive, but it felt like the author could have provided an alternate viewpoint or arranged to have a witness describe the event in more detail. It’s hard to call a book that does so many horrible things a pleasant read, but it was. Normally dystopian novels leave me horrified by how things could go in the real world while this one left me feeling energized, and feeling that the resistance can succeed if good people fight for their rights.

This was a hard read, it made me sick to my stomach and I had to put it down multiple times. Imagine the backstory to A Handmaid's Tale, and make it worse. That's what Vox was. I think this novel was so upsetting because women's rights are currently being stepped on and reversed and even though we may not thing it's a big deal, those small liberties can have a snowball effect. Vox didn't feel very dystopian to me, it felt like a warning. Vox imagines a world where women's rights are slowly stripped away until it's too late to do anything. The religious nut jobs have taken over the government and overnight the workforce is cut in half. Women only belong in the house as caretakers and nurturers. They aren't allowed to read (except the Bible), write, or do anything without their husbands. Most upsettingly they are limited to 100 words per day. Wrist counters keep track of all the words spoken and keep them in line. Men however, have complete and utter freedom. Dr. Jean McClellan and her daughter must suffer in silence while her husband and three sons can gab and laugh and talk, what would Jean do if she had a chance to upset the balance? Would she take it? Vox is an unforgettable, compelling thrill ride that will make your stomach roll and your heart shudder. It's a nightmare that everyone should read.