This entry is brought to you by me trying to stay awake until at least 10pm because if I go to bed before 10 I won’t be able to sleep. Adventures in adulting! But as a result of this quest to not give in to trying to sleep at 8pm I finally finished Vox by Christina Dalcher.
If you are pro-human rights, Vox takes some of your worst fears of the 2016 election and brings them to life. In this world, a subgroup in America has risen to power and their goal is to bring America back to the way it “should” be. They call themselves Pure (I think) and their idea is that men should work and make all of the important decisions/handle all of the important things. Like you know. Getting the mail from the mail box (women aren’t allowed to get the mail) or communicate (women are discouraged from even blowing kisses). The communication bit is the driving part of the story — all women above 3-months old must wear counters that count the words they speak. As soon as they hit 100 they are shocked at increasing intensity the higher they get above 100. And if you identify as LGBTQ+ you are imprisoned until you identify as straight.
It’s a dark dark dark book, that hits a little too close to home for comfort. It’s also super not subtle with some of its messages — stand up now for what you believe in because the future is not a guarantee. The main character, Dr. Jean McClellan even goes so far as to reflect often about how she hadn’t voted in the last election and she regretted it.
While the book covers the “state of America” you mostly follow Dr. Jean McClellan, a cutting edge scientist now forced to spend her days quietly at home. Her eldest son has scaringly drank the kool-aid, her husband although he disagrees with the state of the world is letting things go on without a fight, two twin boys we don’t really see much of and a young daughter who is being rewarded at school to talk as little as possible. Right before she was forced to stop working she was close to discovering the cure for a specific brain disease that impacted speech. Now, the president’s brother is suffering from that illness, so the government is attempting to enlist her in finishing her project to find a cure. Does she refuse? Does she work with them? If he works with them, what does this mean for the state of mankind? dun dun dunnnnn
Personal thoughts? It was scarily fascinating, a good reminder, and had interesting world building to it. My main hang-up is I don’t know if it was just me not reading close enough at the end, but I feel like I just was left with a lot of logistical questions at the end. Like how did a certain someone send a memo? And why did certain people wake up so quickly? And probably most important … if I am going to be perfectly honest, I don’t fully get what the purpose of the master plan of the Reverend was supposed to be.
But!
There’s a lot to unravel in Vox and if you’re into realistic what-if thrillers you should pick this 2018 release up!
Jenny Likes Books 