My Review of "Vox" by Christina Dalcher  Berkley, August 21, 2018

Christina 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.

I wanted to love this book so much because the premise is really interesting and somehow timely. But sadly I didn't. Probably because it turned out very different from what I was expecting. Jean, the main character, could have done a lot of important things rather than being occupied with "other stuff". I didn't feel any genuine emotions from her which I found disappointing because she has a lot of potential as a main character. The writing was good. It's a quick read because the chapters are short but somehow it still took me a month to finish it. Also, the science/lab jargon quite threw me off the story. The ending felt very rushed and convenient. And ironically, most of the huge problems/issues in the story were solved by men. This book could have been executed way more better. It is still worth the read, in my opinion. It made me angry, even infuriated at some point, sad but most importantly, it made me think. It reminds us to step up, speak up, and do something before it's too late.

Thankyou so much @prhinternational for giving me an Advanced Readers Copy of one of my MOST anticipated reads of the year!! #ad # partner

I’ve been so excited to read VOX ever since I read the synopsis! The plot of VOX was unique enough to get a star all on its own. Just imagining something like that happening gave me the chills. The mindsets that the people were instilling into the brains of people was just horrifying & disgusting. Really enjoyed the read & I also enjoyed the romance part of the book. Would recommend giving it a read!

This book came across my desk for review and I immediately knew that I wanted to read it. It’s been compared to The Handmaid’s Tale, which is a tall order, so I was eager to read this one and see what all the fuss was about.

I read The Handmaid’s Tale in college and wasn’t really a fan. I am not a huge Atwood fan and just didn’t love it in that way that I had hoped. Now flash forward a number of years and suddenly The Handmaid’s Tale has taken on an almost cult following.

The political climate and the Hulu adaptation of the book, have made it more popular than ever and I think more and more women are reading and enjoying The Handmaid’s Tale than ever before. I watched one episode of the show and was completely enthralled…..disturbed but enthralled. That said I haven’t finished watching it because it was almost too disturbing.

So when this one came up for review, I was so excited to read it and see how close it came to such an iconic book.

On the day the government decrees that women are no longer allowed more than 100 words daily, Dr. Jean McClellan is in denial–this can’t happen here. Not in America. Not to her.

This is just the beginning.

Soon women can no longer hold jobs. Girls are no longer taught to read or write. Females no longer have a voice. Before, the average person spoke sixteen thousand words a day, but now women only have one hundred to make themselves heard.

But this is not the end.

For herself, her daughter, and every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice (summary from Goodreads).

So right out of the gate, this book was disturbing on a number of levels. So much so, that I almost didn’t want to keep reading. But yet I was so disturbed that I kept reading in spite of my shock. In may ways this book was believable which is what made it so disturbing for me.

Obviously Dalcher has drawn inspiration from The Handmaid’s Tale, but she’s also added her own spin on things. You will see hallmarks of The Handmaid’s Tale but yet you will also find plenty to render this book unique and in it’s own class. There is quite a bit of religious rhetoric in this book which I found to be an interesting angle. I am a Catholic so it was interesting to see how different religions/churches were represented in this book.

I wasn’t at all put off but this angle, it was compelling and interesting and I loved how it worked in the story. I also loved how Dalcher explored the relationship between not just Jean and her husband, but Jean and her children as well. The dynamic between Jean and her oldest son was so well done and memorable. Mothers are supposed to love their children unconditionally right? But what happens when your child becomes the enemy? I loved this aspect of the novel immensely!

Not only was the mother/son dynamic interesting, the relationship between Jean and her husband was also exciting to explore. Like Jean, I also didn’t hate her husband on purpose, it just kind of happened. He was so complacent and did whatever he was told, and like Jean I found myself feeling angry that he didn’t have the balls to do something, instead he just let things happen and moved on with his life. How frustrating! I completely sympathized with Jean and her relationships.

This book was well written and is a frighting tale of what could happen. As a woman reader, I was blown away by how close to home this one hit. There was a lot in this book that made it worth reading but be prepared, it isn’t an easy read to swallow. Like dystopian lit, it’s meant to leave you with kind of a hallowed, nervous feeling and that’s exactly what this book did for me. I was on edge the entire time. The only thing that didn’t make this book a 5 star review for me was the ending. The plot got a little crazy and out of control toward the end. I would have liked to have seen it wrap up a little different and be a little less crazy.

Overall an outstanding read worthy of being compared to The Handmaid’s Tale.

Challenge/Book Summary:

Book: Vox by Christina Dalcher

Kindle Edition, 336 pages
Published August 21st 2018 by Berkley
ASIN B079WQK537
Review copy provided by: Publisher/Author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Recommendation: 4.5 out of 5
Genre: dystopian lit
Memorable lines/quotes:

After an extremist government legalizes the silencing of half the population in the U.S., one woman decides to fight back. She will do so for the sake of her daughter and future generations, all while dealing with her own feelings about a colleague. Author Christina Delcher offers readers an incredible concept that doesn’t get the support it needs from either the story or its characters in her convoluted debut novel Vox.

Dr. Jean McClellan used to have a flourishing career as a cognitive linguist. She and her colleagues had, in fact, reached the cusp of a breakthrough in treating patients who have lost their ability to speak due to disease or brain injury. As the wife of a physician prominent in politics and mother to four beautiful children, Jean’s life seemed to emulate the typical American dream.

Except lately, America is caught in a nightmare. After the successful presidential election of a radical right-wing administration, all women in the U.S. are forbidden to work. Their education gets reduced to basic arithmetic and extensive home economics courses. And—the most telling difference between men and women—they’re only allowed to speak 100 words a day. Special counters, locked on their wrists, keep track and reset at midnight every night. Go over the 100 words, and the woman, or girl, wearing it receives an electric shock.

In her mind, Jean fights the establishment every day. She also fights with herself; years earlier her college roommate and then-best friend warned her about the changing tide in politics. Jean ignored her friend and now finds herself drowning in near silence.

Until, that is, word comes from the White House about a temporary reprieve. The president’s brother, and most trusted advisor, gets injured in a skiing accident, and the administration wants Jean to continue work on the cure she almost found. Suspicious at first of the president’s offer, Jean negotiates with him and secures removal of her own counter as well as her daughter’s. Now she has just weeks to figure out how to keep them off as well as how to create significant, lasting, change for women everywhere.

Author Christina Dalcher taps into the political climate of the day with her debut novel. Unfortunately, aside from the politics, almost nothing else seems plausible in the story, starting with the timeline. The counters and all of the other sweeping changes have been in effect for a single year. Dalcher requires her readers to suspend disbelief completely and just accept that the widespread changes occurred almost overnight without much protest or pushback from anyone. She glosses over any concrete details of how this happened, which may leave readers wary of what happens next.

Within the first several pages of the book, government officials appear and take off Jean’s counter so she can respond to the president’s proposal. Readers only get to see her internal and external struggle with the limited word count for a short period of time before she gets to run off and play the hero, and there’s plenty of play involved. Despite having a solid home life, Jean tries to justify the extramarital affair she’s having with a colleague by claiming that his outward resistance is more valuable than her husband’s silent disapproval. The fact that that colleague is Italian and gets to come and go to his home country adds to his appeal for her and to the trope for readers.

Jean’s relationship with Sonia, her daughter and youngest child, offers some sweet reprieves throughout the story, but as Jean begins to pursue the cure the president demands even thoughts of Sonia get pushed to the background. It’s never really clear how finding a cure for the president’s brother will enable Jean to put an end to the existing administration’s iron-fisted rule. Dalcher provides a half-baked plot of a coup to overthrow the government led by those close to Jean, but the connection seems tenuous at best.

Civil disobedience has always been a hallmark of the U.S.’s history, but Dalcher sets her story in an alternative America that ignores that history. In it, resistance doesn’t exist and people only of themselves while using “the cause” as an excuse. Fans of dystopian fiction will want to skip this one, especially considering the rushed climax that—ironically—depends on a man to make the dangerous play. I recommend readers Bypass Vox.

Interesting characters, in a very scary, very believable situation. What if future US women were limited to speaking 100 words per day? and were not allowed to work outside their home? and all the restrictions were Christian-religion based? St. Paul has a LOT to answer for! Currently, US society is split between having equality between the genders, and having few or no limitations based solely on gender. There are strong voices on each side now, but in this book, the voices or women have been silenced. This book is well written enough to make the situation believable, and that's scary. By the end of the book, the characters that we have been following have escaped to Canada, and it seems that the US situation is on the brink of being changed back to equality, but also that moving back to even as much equality as there is today will be a true battle, and not just a war of words.

I did not finish this book. Unfortunately, it just wasn't what I had hoped for. I didn't feel like I could get to know the characters and I just wasn't all that interested in continuing.

In a country where women are only allowed to speak 100 words a day, Dr. Jean McClellan can't believe that this is America. She isn't allowed to have a job, her daughter won't learn to read or write in school, and women all over the country must submit to the will of men. In Vox by Christina Dalcher, the terrifying warning of a future that isn't all that impossible, Jean tries her hardest to get her voice back, and the voices of every women in America.

If you are a female in this dystopian country, you are given a bracelet at one year of age. This bracelet is a counter, you start every day at zero, and as you speak, the counter ticks off more and more words. If you get to 100, you're done. If you decide to keep speaking, you'll be hurt, and every word pains you more. This is the reality for Jean McClellan and her daughter. Her husband and sons are unaffected, for the most part. 

Before this new world order began, Jean was an accomplished doctor, working on a serum to help people that have lost their ability to speak. When the president's own brother happens to lose his memory and his voice in an accident, Jean is called upon to help. At first she is apprehensive. There is no way in hell she wants to help the man who put her in this position in the first place. After a list of demands, such as taking the counter off of her wrist as well as her daughters, Jean decides that she will help the president with the serum, and hopefully she can figure out a way to stop this madness in the meantime.

As the story goes on, the oppression in the world is unbearable. Gay people are sent to conversion camps, adulterers are punished as well as girls who have sex before marriage. Everything is constructed in a way to give the men all of the power. Jean is the hope of the female population, of the underdogs, and no one even knows that she is trying to help them. 

Jean has her faults, she's not the perfect role model, but she knows that she needs to work hard to get the rights back for the women in her country. As she finds out a huge secret about the government, Jean begins her retaliation against the men in charge. This book is un-put-downable. I absolutely loved it, it went from a crazy dystopian to a action packed thriller. I would love to see this as a movie! I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Vox shows us what could happen in the world if power is left unchecked. The strong female characters will impress and inspire.

Dalcher has created a dystopian world that will frighten and haunt us. It’s a world dominated by men who have turned back the clock to put women back in their place. Now women are only allowed to speak 100 words a day or suffer physical pain. Women no longer have rights and they must be subservient to their husbands. They may cook, clean and mother, but do little else. Girls are segregated in their schools and will only learn to count up to 100. They will be taught how to sew and cook and will be denied the right to read. After all, the ability to communicate and learn, gives a person power.

The world building is stunning and at the same time, appalling. It’s a Stepford wives with manacles. What’s shocking is the swiftness with which the changes occurred. Women who were respected professionals are now relegated to a life of quiet service to their families. And if someone is gay, they are sent to conversion camps. The source of these outdated, restrictive rules is based upon the religious beliefs of the men in power. They have implemented these new initiatives and any who break the rules are publically punished, including men who stand up for women. Indoctrination is taking place in the boys’ schools and the effects are frighteningly reminiscent of the Hitler Youth movement.

This book starts out so powerful. It grabs readers and screams about men’s desire to be in charge with women as their subservient underlings. However, the plot goes astray and becomes more of a polemic on extremist religious beliefs. Furthermore, the emphasis on putting everything aside to fight for a cause is commendable, but overdone. Dr. Jean McClellan is the main character and her descent into subservience is at the heart of the novel. When she is recalled to her profession temporarily, the book loses steam. Furthermore, the book rushes to its conclusion, lacking a fully developed ending. Too many things fall into place too conveniently.

The strident denouncement of religion was off-putting. Religious extremists are easy targets, but a more nuanced depiction was needed. What is frightening is the concept of many modern beliefs being stripped away under the guise of religion. There’s the rolling back of women’s rights, the concept of male dominance, the banishment of freedom to love whomever you choose, the danger of losing access to free speech or any manner of communication (including writing or gestures), the banning of reading and the denied opportunity for females to pursue a career. At a time when some of these civil rights are coming under attack, this book raises important warnings. Unfortunately it has failed to deliver on an excellent premise that is important in today’s world.
3.5*

I was gripped from the first page! A shocking not quite dystopian novel about an American in which women are only allowed 100 words a day. Horrifying and intriguing, I can't recommend this book enough. It will leave you thinking about what happens to society when good people do nothing, and how far you will go to find your voice.

I had a really hard time getting into this book although the premise intrigued me. Not being able to speak more than 100 words a day sounds impossible to me and I wanted to read all about it. Initially I felt the overwhelming underlying political vibe to this story which was my first turn off. As the story progresses I wasn't all that connected with Dr Jean and found the abundance of technical details boring. By the second half it felt especially lackluster and that the author missed key moment of potential suspense. I'm not sure if the story just got away but I personally found myself confused about the rules in many instances. For example, did reading count? If it didn't why no cookbooks? I dislike being confused about plot points so for me this was a major drawback. As for the ending, it was jumbled, abrupt and wrapped up too neatly in my opinion,

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.

You know how when something happens to someone, or some country or someTHING, we watch in awe but assume it could NEVER happen to us? But then look who is President now - I never thought THAT would happen and here we are. Never say never. The basic premise of this book is that women are being sequestered back into the kitchen, stay at home, obey your man roles (like in the 1950s as was noted in the story - but you know, without a voice) and only allowed 100 words per day, tracked by a bracelet that will electroshock you should you go over.

In explaining this book to someone yesterday, he stopped me and said I just spoke at least a thousand words in about two minutes flat just explaining the book. No way would I ever manage if I was allotted only 100. Yeah, I'd be miserable and definitely would get shocked. The plot is scary as it definitely hints to our current social climate and it wouldn't be all that surprising should something happen like this. Taking half the work force - implausible! Reallocating sources to make it work - actually scarily plausible.

I actually am torn with how I feel about this book. It elicited some strong emotions from me - especially with how quickly things seemed to move and how quickly the children/teenagers were quick on the uptake - Stephen was throttled in my mind SO MANY TIMES. Clearly Dalcher knows her stuff - you can tell she did research and was knowledgeable - although I suppose I can see why some people were put off by some scientific over explaining - I actually didn't feel that way - I was fascinated by the whole process and my scientist brain was tingling at all this information.

The book DID get a little lost as it went further along - the last parts felt rushed and too neatly wrapped in a bow for my liking. I did find myself confused on the "rules" for the 100 allotted words - could you read or not? If you could, then why were cookbooks locked away? I'm confused! I almost wish there was a little "handbook" at the end of the actual manifesto/rulebook for what you could or could not do.

Such a unique and emotion inducing read that hit me in several ways. I'm not big on the politics of the world but there's no denying some backwards movements these days - thank goodness nothing has moved with the lightning speed of this book.

I had high hopes for this one. It started out promising; the first few chapters were like the Handmaids Tale. Then it went downhill after that. None of the characters were very likable and the plot was thin.

Vox has a terrific synopsis and a terrible execution. The main character, Jean, is a pretentious (former) linguist who we are supposed to like because a) she’s the main character and b) she’s a woman who’s being oppressed. Instead, we’re forced to judge the other characters, the current political administration (a very thinly veiled take on the 2016 US election), and society through Jean’s smug, self-serving ‘woe is me’ attitude. (The kicker is that Jean was apparently completely blindsided by what happened in the two-plus years before we meet her, calls another woman hysterical for getting upset at those events, and then proceeds to NOT VOTE in the election which led to the current president.)

The plot revolves around the president’s brother needing Jean’s help to reverse brain damage from… something and her initial refusal and then subsequent acceptance. But honestly, who cares. Dalcher has no respect for her characters, her readers, or religion. Jean describes men as believers, “woman-hating assholes,” or “just weak” and can’t comprehend that anyone saddled with a word-counting bracelet could ever buy into the Pure Movement. Of course, Jean’s the only one who’s clear-headed in all of this. Christianity as a whole – and anyone who believes in it – is awful and dangerous.

I DNF’d this hard, but I was curious about the ending and skipped ahead… and SPOILER [it pretty much ends with Jean’s husband making a complete 180 and poisoning the president and his entire cabinet with a serum that gives them aphasia. (And then, conveniently, dying.) Then Jean escapes to Canada with the man with whom she was (and now is) having an affair (and their love child). She reconnects with her former friend (the ‘hysterical’ one). She suddenly feels motherly warmth and can’t imagine leaving the country without all of her children (three of whom she has shown no warmth to in the first third of the book).]

I just… don’t know. I don’t know how people are reading this book and giving it five stars. I don’t know how Dalcher and her editors saw past the judgemental (and at times offensive) writing and characterization to arrive at a published book. Like, am I missing something? Someone please explain what I am missing.

Stopped on page 106/326

TL;DR: Vox reads as if Bret Easton Ellis tried to write The Handmaid’s Tale.

tl;dr Review:

Terrifying and brilliant, this book is an all-too-possible future if people, especially women, don't use their voices now. 

Full Review:

I read this book in one sitting because my heart was pounding so fast as I kept reading that I knew I had to finish or I'd never be able to go to sleep. Vox by Christina Dalcher is like an updated Handmaid's Tale or a clear look at the future if people like Pence continue to gain and hold power. 

The publisher's description alone is enough to make you anxious.

Set in a United States in which half the population has been silenced, Vox is the harrowing, unforgettable story of what one woman will do to protect herself and her daughter.

On the day the government decrees that women are no longer allowed more than one hundred words per day, Dr. Jean McClellan is in denial. This can't happen here. Not in America. Not to her.

This is just the beginning...

Soon women are not permitted to hold jobs. Girls are not taught to read or write. Females no longer have a voice. Before, the average person spoke sixteen thousand words each day, but now women have only one hundred to make themselves heard.

...not the end.

For herself, her daughter, and every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice.

As someone who personally loves to speak her mind daily, the thought of only being allowed 100 words a day, not to mention being unable to read or write for fun or work, is horrifying.

There were numerous sharp critiques of white feminism and how people never want to believe things will happen to them. Until they do.

It's hard work to care. It's harder work to try and change things. And it's much easier to say you support things than to actually go out there and make a difference. 

But that is what this book is trying to get us to do: stop sitting around and hoping things get better and instead working to make things better ourselves.

Though the ending hit me kind of fast, and was a bit unrealistic at times, overall I came away from the book feeling empowered and ready to go fight for my rights. 

It's definitely a must read and gets 4 out of 5 thumbs up from me.

I received an ARC from Netgalley.

I was late to The Handmaid's Tale craze. I never read the book, and I only started the TV series this year. But after I finished the second season, I was so moved and so hooked, and Vox sounded like the perfect media to absorb next. There are a number of similarities, namely in the dystopian future that seeks to crush the spirit of women. This is accomplished by outfitting all females with a 'bracelet' that keeps track of all the words they utter. If the wearer exceeds 100 words, they get shocked.

The first part, where the world is being set up, and we're learning about the main characters, shows much promise. It's slow and deliberate and it works (much like The Handmaid's Tale). After the larger plot is revealed, as well as <spoiler> Jean's love affair and all the problems that spring from that, </spoiler>, the book became less gripping.

I was still motivated to finish it, and while I liked it okay, I was hoping for much better.

On average, people speak around 16,000 words a day. In Vox, women have been almost totally silenced: now only permitted a vocabulary of a mere 100 words. With the language goes their ability to hold jobs, soon girls are no longer taught to read and write. Dr. Jean McClellan refuses to accept this new America and makes the ultimate decision for herself, her daughter, for every woman silenced: she will reclaim her voice.

Biggest disappointment of the summer? Of the year? This book started out great and immediately lured me in with its terrifying premise and just how quickly everything snowballed out of control: in the beginning women and girls had restricted passports, then cameras were installed on front porches. Soon girls were no longer being taught to read and write or do math above basic sums that would be necessary for running a house. Jean’s husband holds keys to their mailbox. She was once a highly renowned doctor..now her laptop is locked away in a cabinet she cannot access. Vox is clearly a dig at the current White House administration, from the First Lady “I remember her from before she married, when she decorated the pages of Vogue and Elle” to the predecessor, the President of Hope – and I was totally on board – then it all descended into madness when Jean gets into a physical fight with a chimpanzee. I’m not joking.

This book is a worthy successor to Atwood's "Handmaid's Tale" and the more recent "Red Clocks." It's almost a shame we're so close to these dystopias that they aren't as fun to read about anymore.