This one didn't really work for me, but I am giving it one more star than I feel to compensate for my current state of mind - I'm not really feeling into dystopia at the moment, and that isn't this book's fault. I also haven't been able to stomach the second season of The Handmaid's Tale.

It's interesting to me how many people are bailing or rating this low because the bad guys are Christians. I'm seeing a lot of "not all Christians" rhetoric here. But to those people I would say, look around! Where are the Christians in the actual world, while citizens are denied passports, children are separated from their parents, votes of black people are overwhelmingly suppressed compared to other populations and there is a marked increase in hate crime? Oh, that's not your fault, you say? Have you spoken up, have you done anything? See, that's the underlying premise of this novel, the part that I feel is most effective. The main character is a scholar, aware of situations in the news, but not convinced she herself can or should do anything, and by the time she does it's too late. And by then women's voices are literally being taken away. And those who claim to be Christians in power silence those who are in their same group, even if they wouldn't have been radical - they quickly get on board so as not to lose the upper hand. This was far too familiar of a feeling. Being radicalized is not exclusive to one religion. If you're going to pull a #notallchristians, double check your beliefs and actions against verses like James 1:27. "Religion pure and undefiled with the God and Father is this, to look after orphans and widows in their tribulation..." (KJV)

But interesting for an author to generate such a passionate dislike. Another reason to keep this at an okay rating rather than lower. It's obviously causing a reaction.

There is a chilling moment which I can't quote exactly since I had an uncorrected proof, where the comment is made that the final decisions were made about taking voices away WHEN they started marching. Shiver.

The rest of it felt too far-fetched to even work as a dystopian novel. Jean too easily goes back to her work when she is needed, doesn't seem to worry at all about surveillance, and doesn't seem to worry about the power her male children have, even after her son's girlfriend gets TAKEN AWAY for having sex with him. We know from actual history (China, Germany) about children turning in their parents. Even the characters in 1984 by George Orwell were found out through what 1949 minds could conceive about surveillance; how could anyone in the 21st century living under an oppressive regime imagine they could get away with illegal sexual relations and/or revolutionary activity in the very building owned by people in charge? I mean come on. And more disappointingly, that's not really how the characters suffer a downfall, so even if they would have been incredibly stupid to do those things, I would have felt the book was better if they had received consequences aligned with that stupidity... and that stupidity could have easily occurred because of a willful desire to not be living in the society they are in. I would understand that. If I had all my rights taken away and all I could do was speak 100 words a day or even CONSUME 100 words a day, my life as I know it would cease to exist.

So while I engaged with this book as described above, it definitely wasn't what I would have hoped for.

I don't think this is fiction at all! Very relevant to this day and age and frankly, this book terrified me because I could see it happening.

I really enjoyed this book! I read it in one setting. At first I was afraid it would be too similar to The Handmaid’s Tale and that it would take away from the story. I didn’t need to be concerned though, because although there are obvious similarities, the differences in how the story plays out really keeps you intrigued. My one qualm was how quickly and neatly it finished. It felt a bit rushed, but to be fair that could have been just because I was enjoying the story and world the author has created. Overall, it was a really good read and I will most definitely be recommending it to our patrons!

I'm always more than a little disappointed when a text which is so thoroughly determined to examine targeted sexism by way of a gender-driven dystopia completely fails to acknowledge the fact that gender is a spectrum, not a binary. "Vox" is in good company in ignoring the existence of nonbinary folks such as myself, but I'm disappointed nonetheless to see a book which is otherwise so rich in nuanced neuroscience ignore the complicated intersection of biological sex, gender, and attraction. I will admit that I skimmed much of the middle of this book, but I bent razor-like focus to any and all passages dealing with the LGBTQIA+ community, and I feel that it is not an understatement to say that this is not a book which invests in its queer characters. There are very few mentions to begin with, and those that exist mostly have to do with neat and simple (and incredibly traumatic) treatments of gay and lesbian individuals under an oppressive regime--treatments along the lines of (spoiler!) gays and lesbians being imprisoned together in order to encourage corrective rape. Which is an actual thing which is ongoing today in the world. As Margaret Atwood often notes, and I believe Dalcher could attest, the traumas we read in "Vox" are not new traumas, and there's nothing new under the sun when it comes to terrible things which the world inflicts upon queer people; that said, it's ... disappointing ... for a book with such a perfectly designed premise to neglect so many important conversations about gender, sexuality, history, and identity by summing up the fact we are outsiders and dismissing us to terrible fates in ten sentences or fewer. I get that the world can always do with another rich and textured conversation about troubled marriages and raising oh-so-easily-brainwashed teenagers, but I was not able to find myself in this book, at all, save perhaps as an unwritten footnote to the tragically and briefly summarized experiences of more well-known letters in the LGBTQIA+ alphabet.

As far as the religious and political material in this book goes? It's exaggerated, for sure, but then our current religio-political situation is an exaggerated one. The choices--or the lack of choices--that the characters in this book make are real, and they're ones that people even within my own family make every day. The real-world stakes are every bit as high as they are in Dalcher's book, even if I feel the timeline is compressed and the characters flattened in affect. Sexism rooted in specific theological applications of religious texts is a real and ongoing problem in the world. I'm glad someone is writing about these things, even if this wasn't the book for me. Readers who enjoyed Naomi Alderman's "The Power" or are catching up on Hulu's adaptation of Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" will recognize the spirit and intent of this book, and the comparisons are inevitable, even if they are tempered by resonances with Lisa Genova and Mary Beard. Dalcher is not shy; this book's commentary on all of the above issues begins with the first line. It is a thought experiment rigorously run through its paces and fleshed out with narrative. I can see this book winning many awards, and it is worth reading if you don't mind a rigidly binary gendered dystopia.

The description of the book was very intriguing to me. Vox is based in an America where women are silenced by a word counter on their wrists. Women are only allowed 100 words a day or else harsh consequences are strictly enforced. Women and girls of all ages are stripped of their rights; things that we take for granted daily. I gave this book a fair shot and, as I said, I was really intrigued by the storyline. However, this book was really just not for me. It felt forced, felt like I was reading a "cautionary tale" in our political climate & overall a bit far fetched. I will say this book also terrified me and the idea of what the world "could" be.

My Highly Caffeinated Thought: An emotional, smart, and thought provoking novel bringing us into the world where not all voices are treated equal.

Bottom line...VOX is brilliant. The writing is just as powerful as it is elegant. The story is scary because there is so much truth behind the words. It takes everything I loved about THE HANDMAIDS TALE by Margaret Atwood and ups the ante.

What a world to live in. The grit of the reality facing these characters is harrowing. Many times, I was shocked at how the United States could fall under control of such obviously distorted views, but then the author unveils the why. She peels back each layer of how Jean's life became what it is when we meet her.

This distinctly feminist narrative brings to light an issue of equality in a supremely intelligent and impactful way. However, this is still a fiction so the reader will be entertained. The plot, the characters, and the suspense of what will happen will keep your interest until the very end.

As many novels which strive to open our minds and force us to see real life in fiction, VOX showed me how easy it can be to fall down the slope of oppression and into a totalitarian regime. It is not the giant leaps we need to worry about. It is the small steps we don't pay attention to or react to. We are living in a world we create, so make your voice heard.

Simply stated. This is a must read.

This novel is set in the not too distant future, where institutional misogyny has reached such heights that women are now totally out of the workforce and females are only allowed to speak 100 words a day (and no cheating with sign language, either). The new government has put wristbands that count every female’s words and if they go above their allotment, they get an electric shock that gets worse the more they speak. In this world we find Jean, a former scientist who was on the brink of curing aphasia, who is now relegated to her home, where she lives with her husband, three sons and her young daughter. However, when the president’s brother is in a skiing accident, with a brain injury that gives him the exact type of aphasia Jean had been trying to cure, the government calls on her to rejoin her old team and finish the job. But all is not what it seems in this dictatorial, woman hating world. (Thanks for the free book, @PRHGlobal/@prhinternational)

If you’ve read or watched Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” you probably already know how far a vivid imagination can go to invent a society that treats their women horribly. But if Atwood’s Gilead wasn’t bad enough, Dalcher has concocted an even more disturbing scenario, where the government uses both science and technology to effectively shut up more than half the population, and thereby force all females into full submission, just “as God intended.” Furthermore, without the fears of civilization dying out due to drastically reduced reproduction rates, Dalcher leans the horrors of her dystopia fully on the aspects of “family values” and “purity.” This means things like teaching Christianity in schools, no homosexuality, no birth control, no promiscuity, no adultery, and much more. Thankfully, Dalcher doesn’t describe all the aspects of this society (for example, I wonder what they did with non-Christians and atheists), but there are more than enough hints to make everything feel quite gruesome.

Since the comparison has already begun, I’ll continue by noting that the biggest difference between Atwood and Dalcher is that Atwood’s June/Offred is a quiet, if not morose rebel, who was invented at a time when social activism was somewhat on the quieter side compared to the turbulent 60s and 70s. Although the year isn’t specified in this book, Dalcher makes it clear that Jean is living in the immediate aftermath of the Obama era, just long enough afterwards to have witnessed the beginnings of the #MeToo movement and women’s marches, but someone else in the White House. In Jean’s world, she remembers how she essentially ignored the protests, and the depths of the new administration’s evil forces, while disbelieving that her America could ever allow radical misogynists to wreak such levels of havoc on her gender. This makes Jean feel guilty about her previous inaction and Dalcher draws her as a sharply cynical woman, with a caustic sense of humor, who isn’t above swearing like a drunken sailor – which also makes her precisely the type of woman that these governmental measures are trying to end. It also makes Jean a far more conniving rebel than June/Offred, because Jean has just enough power to wield over these authorities to allow her to become an exception to their rules, at least temporarily.

Dalcher takes this wily Jean, and builds the plot around her to take as much advantage of that short-lived exceptional status, which ends up giving us a plot that’s paced at breakneck speed, that should be the envy of any thriller novelist. Of course, Dalcher’s many twists only add to the suspense, which gets even more intriguing with the addition of (surprise) a touch of romance along the way. I know it’s a cliché, but this is a true page-turner, and even when I was appalled by some of the things that Dalcher describes here, like the proverbial car crash, I just couldn’t take my eyes away. Obviously, this novel is not for the faint of heart, but Dalcher’s injections of humor and sarcasm in her rapier wit prose helps it along. More importantly, these days, it probably should become required reading; because if reality is supposed to be stranger than fiction, I pray this book is a gigantic the exception to that rule! In short, I was totally blown away by this novel, and despite how distressing this book may seem, I have to give it a full five stars.

This political dystopian story was horrifyingly realistic. As the main character thinks that it can’t possibly happen to them I found myself thinking about our own political atmosphere and it made the book all the more scary. One of the scariest things for me was the way the author portrayed the children. The little girl not allowed the even cry out for mom, the mom unable to comfort her daughter with any words. This book was one I couldn’t stop reading and yet didn’t want to continue. If you enjoyed the Handmaids Tale, like dystopian books, or fear where the future may take us then you should read this book!

I received an advanced copy of this title via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is mind blowing. It is very similar in concept to the dystopian novel A Handmaid's Tale in that women are forced to live in a male dominated and ruled society. They are forced into submission to accept that their role is that of a wife and mother. They cannot read or write, they cannot work outside of the home, and above all else, they cannot speak more then 100 words a day. There are so many real world parallels. That was what struck me the most. This book will be on many book club lists because it provides so much fodder for conversation. The writing could be improved but overall I think Dalcher did a great job.

So, I was a little late to read and review this, starting only a couple of days before the release date. However, the plot sounded too intriguing for me to pass up. Somewhere in the not so distant future, women are limited to only 100 words per day and wear devices on their wrists to keep track. If you exceed the limit, you receive shocks through the device. Nice, huh?

I thoroughly enjoyed the first two-thirds of the book. I was truly disturbed that some of the events describe could actually happen in our current reality and this scares me. However, the last third dissolved into a quick conclusion and our female protagonist giving in to so many cliches.

Otherwise, a very thoughtful read.

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!

I received a galley of this from the publisher. This is an honest and independent review.

I had super high expectations for this one. I’ve had this ARC for a while, but I didn’t want to read it bc I’ve been afraid I’d be disappointed. Cause it couldn’t live up to my expectations, could it? Turns out, it could! Vox is a thought provoking feminist dystopian, heavily influenced by The Handmaid’s Tale. It’s a real page turner (I read it in one sitting), and like a good feminist dystopian should, it made me really angry. This was a solid 4 star read for me.

“Think about waking up one morning and finding you don’t have a voice in anything.”

Giving this one 5 stars because of the importance of the theme and the mind-blowing setting. Imagine an America where women have been stripped of all basic human rights: to read, work and even speak. Right-wing fundamentalists have taken over the government and use the Bible to justify forcibly placing word counters on every female in America, even infants. Limited to just 100 words per day, mothers cannot even read books to their own children. Only men can work. Girls attend segregated schools. Even mail is delivered to a locked mailbox, only to be opened by the head of the household: the husband.

“My fault started two decades ago, the first time I didn't vote, the umpteen times I told Jackie I was too busy to go on one of her marches or make posters or call my congressmen.”

Dr. Jean McClellan is a world-renowned scientist but has been forced to quit her research and her job, her computer locked away in her own home. Her role, like all women in America, is now to cook, clean and shop for groceries. The government has also criminalized lesbians and homosexuals, and gays are forcibly sent to prison camps.

"I wonder what the other women do. How they cope. Do they still find something to enjoy? Do they love their husbands in the same way? Do they hate them, just a little bit?"

Jean's husband is a physician who works in the White House. When the President's brother falls victim to a speech disorder, Jean is called un under tight security to help find a cure for him. She despises the President and his Cabinet, but is given no choice in the matter. She bargains to have her counter removed, along with her young daughter's, but knows it will only be temporary.

This book brought up so many emotions!! How can such an unimaginable thing happen in America? The story is very compelling, timely and thought-provoking and I could not put it down.

"I hate that the males in my family tell Sonia how pretty she is. I hate that they’re the ones who soothe her when she falls off her push-bike, that they make up stories to tell her about princesses and mermaids. I hate having to watch and listen. It’s a trial reminding myself they’re not the ones who did this to me. Fuck it."

This is both a thriller and a love story. The choices Jean is forced to make are impossible ones but she lives in desperate times. What's worse is that her oldest son begins to follow the so-called "Pure Movement" and even begins to turn against his own family.

"Maybe this is how it happened in Germany with the Nazis, in Bosnia with the Serbs, in Rwanda with the Hutus. I’ve often wondered about that, about how kids can turn into monsters, how they learn that killing is right and oppression is just, how in one single generation the world can change on its axis into a place that’s unrecognizable."

I imagined what a great movie this would be while reading 'Vox'. There's plenty of action near the end and tons of edge-of-your-seat thrills. The love story at its heart was my favorite part of this book, because it gave me a much-needed sense of hope.

I don't want to give too much away about the plot because the ending was a complete surprise. I applaud the author for tackling an extremely uncomfortable and chilling topic, and turning current headlines into a cautionary tale. 'Vox' is a must-read and a very important book for our time.

“Evil triumphs when good men do nothing. That’s what they say, right?”

Almost too scary and prescient to keep reading. What if women can’t speak more than 100 words a day without getting an electric shock? Even worse they start with babies—and as an infant development expert I know that the only way you could get most babies to stop vocalizing would be for the parents to punish them before the bracelet did. Ended up being mostly a standard thriller but still good.

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.

In a week after we were told that "Truth isn’t truth," publication of the new book VOX by Christina Dalcher seems chillingly apt. It is a dystopian novel set in the near future where women must wear a counter bracelet and are only allowed to say 100 words a day (versus the 16,000 which is the estimated current average). They and their daughters are not allowed other activities which we would take for granted: to travel out of the country, to read a recipe or the mail (or any book other than a women-only version of the Bible), to work outside their homes (of course, that means essentially no female political representatives). Dalcher even has a character asking: "How could this happen in less than a generation?"

Yes, her premise does stretch credibility; plus, there is an uncomfortable element of religious zealotry (with members of the Pure Movement in power) and the ending reads more like a spy thriller. On balance, though, the beginning of VOX is both relevant and well-done and the "zingers" that appear near the end of almost every chapter are very clever, cynical, and even shocking:
"What do they study now, our girls? A bit of addition and subtraction, telling time, making change. Counting, of course. They would learn counting first. All the way up to one hundred."
"Signing defeats the purpose of what we’re trying to do here. ... There are people researching the new – you know – devices. They'll be more like gloves."

Looking for some near-term real world connections? In addition to the #MeToo news, review the recent Pew Research poll on attitudes towards more female Congressional candidates where 12 percent of Republican men are opposed although most Americans (61%) think it is a good thing. Or look at this scholarly analysis which was summarized in The Washington Post showing which states are most sexist.

Dalcher's debut, VOX, is a LibraryReads selection and received a starred review from Library Journal.

Links in live post:
https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-august-19-2018-n901986
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/22/most-americans-say-more-women-running-for-congress-is-a-good-thing/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/08/21/most-sexist-places-america/

I have another case of the mixed feelings! This book is likened to The Handmaid's Tale, and I suppose that's accurate, in the fact that it's maybe a little too much like it? The society seemed almost identical- especially the way the society became as it did, seemed to mimic Handmaid's a lot. But certainly, there are differences. At any rate, there are things I liked and things I did not so much, so I suppose we might as well get to it.

The Things I Liked:

It's definitely thought provoking. It's interesting to see this happening in "real time", if you will. And of course, just as The Handmaid's Tale (and other such dystopian nightmares) makes you think about what you'd do, how you'd react to these situations, so too does this book. The concept of silencing women is rather terrifying, obviously. The irony that they end up requiring a woman's voice is quite fun, too.

The exploration of family dynamics was great. In a plotline akin to realizing your loved one voted for Trump, Jean has to deal with her son buying into the "values" of the Pure movement to silence women. Even her husband, who seems sympathetic, still has no real grasp of how this horror affects Jean or their daughter. And Jean's relationship with said daughter is probably one of my favorite aspects of the book.

It was certainly the sort of book that propelled me to keep reading. Sort of in the sense that the world was so awful that I had to figure out what happened, I was motivated to continue reading. And it was a rather quick read.

The Things I Didn't:

Jean is kind of The Worst™. Oh, Jean, it was hard to feel sorry for you sometimes. Now- no woman should be shocked for saying more than one hundred words of course, but Jean is definitely not a sympathetic main character. She makes some questionable choices throughout the book, which okay, I can understand- it is a dystopian nightmare after all. And honestly, I don't even think I was mad that she didn't really care a ton about her husband anymore? Jean didn't vote, and actually seemed to think that it absolved her because she didn't vote for the "bad guy". Like no honey, you're part of the damn problem. She's not a great advocate for other women; in fact she's often really judgy. I also didn't even mind that she cheated (though some of you might, so I'll throw that out there) since I kind of assume if you can't even speak, you can't file for divorce either. But what gets me is the way her other priorities (like being a mother) fell by the wayside. This is spoilery, so I'll hide it but (view spoiler)

It portrays religion (namely Christianity) as a villain, but without any context of how or why it became such. Look, I am not religious, so it didn't offend me on any kind of personal level. I do feel though, that when singling out a group of people, you'd probably need to have a good reason to do so. In The Handmaid's Tale, which I am going to keep referencing since this is an idea it clearly contains, Gilead blossoms from a Christian sect. But it's much more developed, and the reasons, the method, are more clear. This is just... a couple dudes, from the sound of it? I might have been able to buy it if it were more developed, but it wasn't, so I didn't.

The end was just so rushed and easy. I won't go into it much because again, spoilers, but I didn't love how it ended on quite a few levels. Not only did it seem way too quick, considering how deep into the whole mess they were, but it rubbed me the wrong way in general. This reverts back a bit to Jean being The Worst™, but it also just didn't satisfy me in general.

Bottom Line: Certainly a horrifying and thought provoking premise, but it comes up a bit short on development and execution.

Christina Dalcher’s Vox is an envisioning of what would transpire if right-wing radicals and fundamentalists were allowed to take over America. Hmm, what a concept. I won’t point out the obvious climate in which this book was published (oh, wait, I just did) and the commentary on our government that could easily be read into it. Such as—oh, I don’t know—in passages like this one:

At the beginning, a few people managed to get out. Some crossed the border into Canada; others left on boats for Cuba, Mexico, the islands. It didn’t take long for the authorities to set up checkpoints, and the wall separating Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas from Mexico itself had already been built, so the egress stopped fairly quickly. “We can’t have our citizens, our families, our mothers and fathers, fleeing,” the president said in one of his early addresses.

The plot of Vox is simple. Dr. Jean McClellan is one of millions of American women who didn’t get out in time. Who are trapped in America stripped of their jobs, their personal finances and their words. Once at the forefront of her field and on the verge of finding a cure for disease of the brain, she is now reduced to being confined within the four walls of her home, counting her words for the day and making dinner.

“Whose fault do you think it was?” he said. I stood in my kitchen, wanting to explain, careful not to, while he told me we’d marched one too many times, written one too many letters, screamed one too many words. “You women. You need to be taught a lesson.”

What I will say is that when I picked up this book and read the blurb, I thought that an examination of these things told through the eyes of a “vox” would unfold, that the oppression experienced and the country’s direction described would be allowed to evolve and transport the reader to a new place of social scrutiny, even as the plot entertained and even elicited the occasional laugh. But that didn’t really happen in the way that I’d hoped; instead, Vox seemed rather like a bipolar haircut—like a mullet: literary imagery and plot setup in the front, full-on commercial melodrama in the back. It was as if Dalcher started out with a lofty idea but could not sustain it and, instead, resorted the love affairs and gorillas (yes, gorillas) to tell the story instead.

It wasn’t, however, all dreadful. (Okay, maybe that’s a strong word. Lackluster is a more accurate one.) The premise was enticing, the title is arresting, and the cover art is just enough – minimalist in a way that highlights the words snatched from these women. Those things make Dalcher’s Vox a desirable read from the moment you hold it in your hot little hand. There was an unexpected plot twist surrounding one of Dr. Jean McClellan’s sons (view spoiler). What I appreciated most about this novel were those few moments where Dalcher snuck in the truly disturbing and uncomfortable, mostly through moments between Jean and her six-year-old daughter, Sonia. Little girls do have that ability to pull at our heartstrings while simultaneously being the vehicle for the truly sinister moments in social commentary in literature, don’t they? And our little Sonia lived up to that duty in several satisfying moments in Vox.

The ending is a jumbled (hot) mess, a series of unlikely though convenient events. I hate quickly summed-up bow-tie endings that feel rushed, like a six-year-old hurrying to tell mommy all about their day. To me, they are the ultimate cop-out and proof pudding of lack of true skill and finesse as a writer. That must be the literary slant to my mind talking, but I’m okay with that. The Goodreads description of this book made me think Vox would take more time to explore and lay out the events around the breakdown of American society to the point that women become voxes. But it wasn’t that kind of read at all. For the most part, all of the deterioration of American society has already happened at the start of the book (though we do get snippy interior commentary on it from Jean), and we follow her around watching her days as she copes with it. Christina Dalcher’s Vox ended up being a far more commercial read than I thought it would be, which isn’t a bad thing in and of itself. But I just wasn’t impressed by the execution of the second half of this novel. Better luck next time. 3 stars ***

{My Thoughts}
What Worked For Me
That Premise! – It might seem far-fetched that a contemporary U.S. could exist where women are essentially silenced, yet in VOX Christina Dalcher presented a plausible case for how it happened. (Let’s just leave it at the extreme religious right and a malleable president.) The silencing of women’s voices was only the beginning. Books and other print material were taken away. Girls went to their own schools where they learned home ec type skills. Women were never allowed to live on their own or work outside the home. Even mail went into a locked box that only husbands could access. Violations were punished, severely punished. While the premise may seem “out there” to some, in reading VOX it felt all too possible.

A Gripping Start – From the first 3-page chapter, I was all in and by page 21, I was terrified. It all happened so fast!

“I learned other things a year ago. I learned how difficult it is to write a letter to my congressman without a pen, or to mail a letter without a stamp. I learned how easy it is for the man at the office supply store to say, “I’m sorry ma’am. I can’t sell you that.”…I learned how quickly a cell phone account can be canceled and how efficient young enlisted men can be at installing cameras.

I learned that once a plan is in place, everything can happen overnight.”

Message to Women – Let there be no doubt about it, Christina Dalcher wants women to walk away from this book feeling a renewed vitality to get involved and stay involved. Her central character, Jean McClellan had lived an easy life. She was a highly respected researcher in her specialized linguistic field of aphasia. She led a nice life with her husband and four children. What Jean didn’t do was get involved. Her college roommate Jackie was a huge activist, and Jean wanted to be more like her, but pushing herself to get involved, to go on marches, to protest, to write letters just didn’t happen. Sound familiar? Jean realized too late that she’d given up her voice long before it was actually taken from her.

“But it is. And my fault didn’t start when I signed Morgan’s contract on Thursday. My fault started two decades ago, the first time I didn’t vote, the umpteen times I told Jackie I was too busy to go on one of her marches or make posters or call my congressman.”

Because of her specialized field, Jean had an opportunity to change that, but what about the rest of us? Long after finishing VOX, Dalcher will have you thinking about your own voice.

Genre Mash Up – VOX has something for everyone. It’s mildly dystopian, a little sci-fi, thoroughly political (the far right will hate it!), and a whole lot of thriller. For me, this was a winning combination that I couldn’t put down.

What Didn’t
A Bit of a Stretch – I found that there were a couple of things about VOX that I just had to accept. The first was that so many men and boys had simply gone along with all the limitations placed on women. It seemed that it had all happened too easily, but I suspect that’s part of the point Dalcher was making. The science also got to be a bit much for me, so I found myself not really worrying about its plausibility and just moving on.

{The Final Assessment}
I would like to make VOX required reading for ALL women, especially those who don’t vote or get involved. Time and energy can be in short supply, but as we’ve already seen, complacency is dangerous. In a summer of winning debuts, VOX stands alone in its message to us all. Grade: A-

Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Berkley, in exchange for my honest review. Thank you!