This book was an engaging and horrifying read. Dalcher explores a world where words are taken away from women. They aren't allowed to read and can only speak 100 words a day. Sign language is forbidden. Communication is gone. The real horror in this book isn't necessarily the lack of speech women have, but rather the way Dalcher shows us the steady indoctrination of beliefs that children undergo. Jean, the protagonist, has two children and the reader watches as they embrace their roles in this society, both male and female. The horror isn't that Jean and her daughter only have 100 words a day. It's seeing her daughter be proud of only speaking 3 words a day. It's seeing her son embrace the ideology of the time. It's watching the radical become normal.

I was given a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Fans of The Handmaid's Tale need to read Vox immediately. It imagines a future where women are allowed to speak only 100 words per day, which is one of many ways they are subverted by society. I could hardly put this down.

Can you imagine living in a world where women can’t voice their opinion? Some people would say that there are many places where women can’t express themselves. They would be right of course.
In the dystopian book, Vox by Christina Dalcher, women in America have to wear counters on their wrist which counts their words. They can only speak about 100 words per day. If they go above the limit, they receive an electric shock. Young girls are not taught how to read and write anymore. Their education is focused on home economics. Home Ec is fine but not everyone wants to sew and bake cookies all day.

Lesbians and gay men aren’t allowed to love who they want. They are imprisoned with a member of the opposite sex until they change. Women who have affairs are publicly humiliated and sent to nunneries or prison farm camps.

Women aren’t allowed to work outside of the home. They can’t even check the mail. Even if their husband is an idiot, he has to make all of the decisions.

Dr. Jean McClellan, a brilliant neurolinguist, was working on a cure for aphasia one day and forced to become a stay-at-home mom the next. After a year, she is brought back to work in order to finish the cure.

She has a lot going on in her life. Her teenage son really believes that a woman’s place is in the home. Her young daughter barely speaks. Jean is also in love with someone other than her husband.

What can she do to save her daughter and other women in America? Will she run off to Italy with her daughter and her lover? Will she stay with her husband and keep wearing the counter?

I loved this book. The plot is not too far off from where women once were not too long ago and where we could end up in the not too distant future. It’s a scary thought. Still, everyone should read this book. I saw one bad review for this book but don’t listen to that jackass. He probably wants women to wear the counters and be silent.

I received this ebook from NetGalley in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own. Obviously.

I enjoyed this book a lot and was very thought provoking. In parts I found it slow but I can't say I would not recommend this if you like dystopian.

Vox is the kind of novel that slams into you, showing you how terrible the world can be. Dalcher’s novel demands to be read. You’ll feel the frustration, anger, and pain of our protagonist, and you’ll be ready to scream along with her. This is our generation’s Handmaid’s Tale. It’s a book that compels us to wake up, look around, and do everything we can to prevent this horrifying dystopia from coming true.

This is the most powerful book I’ve read in years, and I don’t say that lightly. There are so many dystopias out there, but Vox stands out as a horrifying future that doesn’t seem that far off, given the current political climate. Dalcher shows the horror can happen when you don’t expect it, and what it takes to fight with everything you have against oppression.

Full review will be posted at: https://reviewsandrobots.com/2018/11/20/vox-book-review/

The central premise was great but the characterisation was very weak and the main character was fairly unlikeable. The Italian hunk seemed very cliched and predictable. The plot meandered along and it had none of the drama of The Power, or the unrelenting realism of The Handmaid’s Tale.

Dalcher's description of the ways speech and opinions might be technologically limited is both impossible to believe in and impossible to dismiss. She ratchets up the tension with a protagonist whose dedication to preserving her children's options is at war with her own needs. The hasty conclusion (with far too many damsel in distress elements) is the least satisfying facet of the novel. Dalcher is an author to watch.

The premise of this dystopian novel is disturbing: under a terrifying new American government, female citizens are allowed only 100 words per day, under threat of severe consequences. Silencing female voices is an ages long battle and the book certainly played on that issue and related fears. The book was intentionally uncomfortable to read. Unfortunately, the ending fell flat, feeling very rushed and sewn up too nicely for such a complicated story.

Thank you to the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

VOX by Christina Dalcher is not without its faults but I still enjoyed it. It’s set in the not so different future when ultra-conservative evangelicals have taken over the US. Females are equipped with word counters and forbidden from saying more than 100 words a day, keeping them docile and out of the work force. The story is narrated by Jean, an expert in cognitive linguistics and the married mother of four. When the president’s brother is injured, she’s asked to work on a cure for him and she reluctantly agrees. Of course, she wants to do much more than that and she’s hoping her place in the work force will help her accomplish her goals. This book was obviously written in response to the current administration and I was drawn into it from the very beginning. I did have a few issues with the ending, though. The audio is narrated by Julia Whelan and I thought she did a terrific job. I do think VOX would make a great book club selection.

I enjoyed this book a lot, it made me think about what I can be doing to be more involved to make sure the things I care about. The book was easy to read, I ran through it pretty quickly. Some of the politics were a little too current and referential which was a little irksome and the only reason I took one star away

If I had read this book 5 years ago I'd have said that it was completely too far fetched to ever happen here - much like how I thought of The Hunger Games when I initially read it. It's amazing what a few years and a change of leadership can do and not in a good way.

This was (for me) a really quick read that I didn't want to put down. I still find that the end is somewhat rushed and sloppy but overall it was a gripping read that really could not be all that far from the truth. The idea of this happening is terrifying yet somehow plausible enough to give me a good nightmare or two while reading.

Overall if you're looking for a decent dystopian novel along the lines of The Handmaids Tale I highly recommend picking this one up.

This novel is riveting as it is thought-provoking, not to mention timely due to our convoluted political arena. There were elements that didn't seem to be necessary in the story, like the main character's affair with a colleague which I believed ultimately, took away power from the ending. The plot could have stood on its own with the horrendous plight of women in a society that doesn't let them speak, work or barely think, instead of having an extra-marital side dish which served the story no actual purpose.

In the beginning, this book made me so angry. Enraged, if I’m being entirely truthful. Not because the author did anything wrong (actually this is a sign she did it quite right), but because it tapped into deep-seated fears I have as a woman living in the US at this exact moment. To some, it may seem far-fetched, but welcome to the dystopian genre, my friends. It is all about the s-t-r-e-t-c-h.
I’ve seen several comparisons to The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, and I get it, but it is only the same in that it is about the misogynistic oppression, subjugation, and silencing of women. From that point on, everything is different, from the method to the outcome. But it is no less infuriating (at least in the beginning). In a different political climate, I doubt I would have had such a visceral reaction to it, so the timing is masterful.
As incensed as I was at first, the story takes a turn along the way and the mood shifts. It’s hard to put this change into words without giving away too much, but I’ll say that what starts out feeling like social commentary about the danger in rolling back rights turns into more of a suspense novel with an unexpected romantic complication. While I appreciated some parts of the ending, there were some aspects I struggled with.

Overall, a very interesting read.

Vox is alarming, realistic, and frightening.

Imagine living in a world where you suddenly become stripped from every right you have ever known and are limited to 100 words a day? Watching your sons and your husband go to work/school everyday with an unlimited amount of words each day while you are stuck at home watching your words carefully? Your daughter also being stripped from the same rights but being too young to understand the severity of it? This is the America Dr. Jean McClellan is living in. This scary America is something no one ever expected nor wanted. Jean lives in denial astonished that this is her new life.

Personally, this book spoke to me and terrified the living hell out of me. Currently living in America has been horrific with the nonstop frightening news everyday, having to be wary of our actions, and who is currently in office. Anyone living in America at the moment knows what I am talking about without me needing to further explain. Reading Vox terrified me that this could conceivably be our future. The political message in this book was important and a definite eye opener.

This book is well executed and captivating, and balanced. I never felt bored and it had just the right amount of intensity. The ending was fast-paced and kept you on the edge of your seat and had a satisfying amount of closure.

I am going to be thinking about this one for a while…

What if women could only speak 100 words a day? That is the premise behind Vox. At first I wasn’t sure what the time frame of the book was, thinking that it was perhaps a bit in the future, but then the author made her feelings about the current president known and I figured out that it’s supposed to be now.

Honestly, I was enjoying the book up until that point. This statement, “It happened not long before the hopeful president handed over his keys to a new man, the one Mrs. Ray would never refer to as darlin’ or hopeful or charismatic, on anything else on the positive end of her rich vocabulary’s spectrum.” It doesn’t matter if I agree or disagree with her, it switched over from being an interesting science fiction type book, into being a political statement. I read fiction books to be entertained. If I wanted to read a book about someone’s opinion on the current state of women and politics, I would read a non fiction book.

That being said, I did enjoy the book. I thought it was thought provoking and an interesting concept.

Very well written and engaging story, along the lines of The Handmaid's Tale. Quite realistic to the point that it caused me anxieties, but in a good way. Not hard to believe that things could go so horribly wrong in such a short period of time.

With the #metoo movement, the Kavanaugh Senate Judiciary Hearing, and other battles over women's voices being front of mind these days, this book is timely. For me, it was a little too timely, which made Vox very challenging to read. It's horrifying speculative fiction - the religious right takes over DC politics, pushing women out of the public sphere and limiting them to 100 words or fewer per day - that feels all too possible. That's a credit to Christina Dalcher, though. It's a strong concept and well executed, certainly. It's hard to avoid comparisons to The Handmaid's Tale, although it has a lot to add to the conversation that book (and Hulu series) have started. Definitely worth a read, but approach with caution if you're feeling torn down by the patriarchy.

Fans of the Handmaid’s Tale will find this story intriguing. Unfortunately it wasn’t the story for me, I had a hard time following the characters and the story line.

This book presents an intriguing dystopian future that comments on current issues in the treatment of women. It plays out a misogynistic patriarchal fantasy and critiques the cyclical trajectory of our culture past, present, and future. The future envisioned seems all too similar to the past as far as limiting women’s participation in politics, culture, etc., yet these limits are imposed in a more sinister manner. Women’s voices are taken away by physically limiting each woman’s allotment of words per day to 100, at which point a bracelet begins administering powerful shocks. The book warns to speak out now and take action before women’s voices are silenced, metaphorically or literally. Although it has its own merits, this novel is very similar in premise to Red Clocks, as far as imposed limitations to women’s power. Yet, where complex human relationships drives Red Clocks, this seems more driven by politics in its most binary form. Still, I found it thought provoking and engaging to read.

So right from the get go, this book got me so angry. From the first chapters, it was already so dystopic, so bleak, so awful that I almost had to stop because of my emotions. There was almost this visceral gut reaction with me that moved me to tears. I'm not even sure if it's because of the writing of the book, per say, but just because of how strongly I feel about the current world really. I'm not sure if I've ever been so truly pessimistic.

But when I was able to piece this story out, to brace myself, this book is good for fueling anger. I think that's really what it's supposed to do. Our main character, Jean is a PHD holding scientist whose life has completely shrunk into itself with this horrific conditions. She's sarcastic, incredibly intelligent, and angry. So angry with all the reasons to be so.

Dalcher takes us through Jean's present, but also showing us the ways society developed to this. We are able to see the ways in which bystanders did nothing, in which the present circumstances were rationalized away. All the moments in which the world was slowly pushed to spiraling out of control. And what really hits me is how some of the rhetoric in the book I still hear today - about hysterical women and about their roles.

Dalcher's book hits you in the dystopic feels.

While this book does take place in the US and in the distant-ish future, the world building is done really well. We are shown a lot about the world and the differences to today's society (and the similarities). What is interesting to me is that it isn't a world wide phenomenon, but only isolated to the US in the book. The way your voice, your methods of resistance, are slowly taken away from you.