Voz

Although obviously a Handmaid’s Tale clone it’s far from being a bad book. On the opposite, apart from the too action movie-like ending it’s a thought provoking and enjoyable work.

Very scary but interesting concept for a dystopian book, but I feel story line was underdeveloped, I would have loved to have read more about the Society was. I did not feel connected to the characters except for Jean. This book should have been at least 700 pages long to fully develop the story

In the near future women can only speak 100 words per day - would you be able to survive? An explosive debut novel! Looking forward to Dalcher's next book!

Thanks to NetGalley for an eARC copy.

The story hits a particular nerve with the subject matter, however, the ending of the book felt so unbelievable and rushed that it cheapened the story a bit.

I enjoyed this dystopian tale about women being limited to 100 words a day because of a counter on their wrists. Ironically, in the ending it’s a man who saves them.

Nah. Didn't work for me. However, that's not totally the author's fault. This is one of those genres that only allows for so much before virtually all similar books are simply redundant. Example: vampires. After establishing Dracula and after the cinematic interpretations (or misinterpretations) such as Nosferatu and other very famous vampires, not much else was done or seemed very new -- until Anne Rice's groundbreaking 1976 novel, Interview With The Vampire. That literally was a ground breaker. But then what happened? She produced more, a series, and understandably so, but many feel each new piece in the series got weaker, and then similar writers with similar types of vampires started appearing (and one, Poppy Brite, has been a friend of mine for decades, so I want to be careful about what I say, because while Poppy's characters and indeed her own life and hometown mirror Rice's very closely, I don't think it's fair to say she's Rice "Light" and I enjoy her books very much.) And then you started getting REAL creative license with everything from The Lost Boys to FF Coppola's cinematic version (which my best friend and I thought was so completely bad that we ticked off the entire theater by laughing our way through it -- I mean the dude from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures as a nineteenth British barrister??? It's little impossible to cast someone worse in that role. [However he more than redeemed himself in The Matrix!]The point is, this is not a bad book. In fact, I've read it twice now. I just don't feel that engaged or challenged or moved or intrigued or, frankly, impressed. I guess the book just felt like a revised and updated version of a Margaret Atwood novel, as well as hundreds of other similar novels. I have a number of friends who are professional writers who have published books very similar to this!!! And just like Ms. Dalcher, I think they're all fine writers. I just think the topic and category are very limited -- like my vampire analogy -- and you simply write yourself into a corner if you choose one of these limited areas. Which she did. Which is why it's not worth more than two stars. The problem is, you really need a new angle or protagonist or plot type or something to stand out from a crowded crowd now (with all of the self published "authors"), and there are areas that lend themselves to that and there are some that don't, including the two I just wrote about. The opposite of this dilemma, though, goes with the old saying, "Nothing new happens under the sun," which is also pretty true. So it's a double challenge. Not only a new angle in a familiar topic, but a new angle AT ALL is darned harder than hell, and frankly impossible for most. I'll include myself with that group in terms of my books, although I would assert a number of my published academic papers may be borderline groundbreaking. Ultimately, I just didn't enjoy this book, but I do think the author has talent and hope she's putting out other books that match her talent more effectively.

Pretty good and pretty scary! Like the Handmaid’s Tale, this story hits close to home and could become reality. Definitely worth the read.

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 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.

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

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

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.

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

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

I stayed up way too late reading this because once I started, I couldn't stop. As a thriller, it's not terribly unique. As speculative fiction, I had some questions—some big questions—about the world building. However, the premise was fascinating and terrifying and the prose was compulsively readable.

Vox: In which a popular and timely classic dystopian novel is reimagined in such a way as to remove all tension and danger, replacing them instead with romance, paper-thin characters and a ridiculous plot. I was hugely disappointed with Christina Dalcher's retelling of A Handmaid's Tale. There have been a few recent riffs on this classic vision of a society in which women are reduced to the contents of their uteruses published this year and, by and large, they have been well worth reading; imaginative and thought-provoking novels that take both Margaret Atwood's chilling tale and current events and say interesting things about the role of women. This was not one worth reading. Jean is suffocating in this brave new world where women are fitted with bracelets that allow them only one hundred spoken words a day. She's more worried about her six year old daughter and what not being allowed to speak is doing to her development. And while she's sure her middle sons are fine, she actively dislikes her oldest son, who believes what he is being taught about gender roles. Her husband is nice and all, but even though he works in the current Administration, he's a passive and apolitical guy. Luckily, Jean is also an intelligent scientist who, in the final days before being sent home with all of the rest of the female workforce, and with the help of a super hot Italian dude scientist and a sassy Asian sidekick who is also a scientist, but strangely expendable, had just developed a serum that cures Werneke's aphasia. So when the President's brother develops exactly this medical issue, she's recalled for duty, her bracelet is removed and she's back being a scientist again, along with the hot Italian dude and her Asian sidekick friend. Of course things are terrible and repressive and the lab they are working in is highly monitored, except for the parts with she and her sexy Italian lover are able to talk freely and also other things. She's torn, of course, between escaping with her sexy Italian lover and saving her daughter, and also she has to wrestle with the way her work is helping a repressive regime. Clearly, Jean will have to make some moral choices and people she love will die or be taken from her, right? Actually, not. Everything works out super fine for Jean and all the characters she likes. Yay!

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.

What if you could only speak 100 words a day or receive a major electrical shock ? If you’re female in the world of Vox life is not what it used to be

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!

Enjoyable and creepy.

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.

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.

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.

My Review of "Vox" by Christina Dalcher  Berkley, August 21, 2018Christina Dalcher, Author of  "VOX" has written an unusual, terrifying, intense, captivating, page turning, riveting, suspenseful  and twisted thriller. The Genres for this story are Fiction, Thriller, Mystery and Suspense, and  Political Satire. The timeline of the story is in the present and goes to the past when it pertains to the characters or events in this novel. The story takes place in the United States of America. (Believe it or not)The  Government and politics in place have some twisted rules, and everything seems to happen in the blink of an eye. The Women in this story are only allowed to speak 100 words a day. This is charted by an electronic bracelet that is placed on their wrists that tracks words and emits shocks.Very young girls also get the "band" and now go to school and are encouraged not to speak. The girls that say nothing get prizes. This leads to women being forced to stay home, and cook and clean, because they can't get jobs. There is no evidence of birth control, or condoms in stores.The men are given important roles, and some are entitled to visit elite clubhouses, where there are prostitutes. Any infraction in this society by the religious groups in power are punished.Dr. Jean McClellan can't believe that this is happening. She has been an expert on matters of the brain, strokes and aphasia. Now she and her four-year old daughter are limited to speaking 100 words a day. Her older teenage son questions her role in the home. It seems that the President's brother has had a terrible accident and they require Jean's assistance. What will she do for survival for her and her family?There is a resistance, and the people you would least suspect are in it. But, how do you know how to trust anyone? The government is using the top scientists for some secret project. I would recommend this chilling thriller to readers that enjoy this genre. I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest review.

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.

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.

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.

Vox by Christina DalcherEvery female, once they can talk, has been fitted with a counter around their wrist to keep track of the words they speak. Every day, 100 words are allowed. Should they exceed that, an electrical shock is automatically administered, increasing with every incident. Cameras are installed to monitor any form of alternate communication, such as sign language, writing, mouthing. Books are removed. Computers and most TV stations locked away. Even their mail is secured in that only the husband or proper-aged son can retrieve it. Women are to be pure, domestic angels, content at home, tending children, husband and simple maintenance. They no longer work outside their house, no matter what their field was. They cannot leave the country. The young are taught in school how to properly run a householdThis is what happens when the Bible Belt “started expanding. It morphed from belt to corset” and then finally “into an Iron Maiden.”Dr Jean McClellan was considered the best neurolinguistin the country, leading research into a serum that could reverse many brain afflictions. The fact that she “was” does not bode well for either her or her husband, who is head of science at the big DC oval. Jean is the mother of 4, the youngest is a girl, fitted with her own counter and suffering nightmares. It has been a year. Other nations both laugh at and feel for the horrendous injustice of American women.Jean’s eldest son is wholly besotted with this new normal, brainwashed and rising in the ranks of “Pure Men” as he takes on duties and his own form of servitude. Added to typical teenage ‘tude, he’s a pompous little shit I’d smack if I could.When the president younger brother is stricken with some form of as yet to be deciphered brain trauma, she is called back into service, her bracelet removed, and anything and everything she needs to be supplied until he is cured. After that, the future is again uncertain.But every government has an anti and this misogynistic dictatorship meets their nemesis, one at a time, in a climatic ending that I felt could have been given as much detail as that which preempted it.A dystopian novel with a love story tucked inside, heroes blinking into providence and bonds unto death they part.

I have mixed feelings about this book. Which in a way can be a good thing as it means that the book is unforgettable. This book holds promise, it just did not execute. Where it was lacking are the characters. They were not that interesting at all. In where the characters lacked the words, they should have been able to make up with their personalities. The family that is the main focus in this story could have been really endearing if I could have found that connection. Thus in turn the story itself was not as interesting as it should have been. The story needed the characters to help it find its "voice". It goes to show however that sometimes you don't need a lot of words to make a point. Finally, the ending was alright. There was no "wow" power. Again, this book could have been so much more.

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.