Book review: Vox - C. Dalcher

What would you do if from a free professional woman you'd be forced to be a subdued housewife you can say just 100 words per day and if you go over you are electrocuted? How would you help your daughter thrive in these conditions? How would you keep loving your son who is totally taken by this new extremism, brainwashed to believe in the pure family, where the husband is meant to provide for the family and the woman is a step below the man and has no right without the man saying so?
What a scenario this book presents, surrealistic and yet not so far from what some fanatic think in reality. It reminds me a bit of Margaret Atwood's novel, but this one seems more possible to me, and for this reason it is scarier.
The book really makes you reflect on what freedom and rights women have concurred during the years and how we need to keep them live and never lose sign that they are important rights - like being able to vote, so make sure we do so, as it is a right we fought long and hard to obtain.
It also makes you think how easy it is to brainwash a population, especially the young minds, it happened in real life before so it could happen again
Maybe the second part is a bit too sci-fi/adventure for my liking and the end is quite predictable, but overall a very thought provoking novel, worth reading.

Overall rating:  7,5    Plot: 7,5   Writing style: 7    Cover:  6,5

Title: Vox

Author: Christina Dalcher
Publisher: HQ
Pages: 384
Publication year: 2018

The Plot:

Jean McClellan spends her time in almost complete silence, limited to just one hundred words a day. Any more, and a thousand volts of electricity will course through her veins.

Now the new government is in power, everything has changed. But only if you’re a woman.

Almost overnight, bank accounts are frozen, passports are taken away and seventy million women lose their jobs. Even more terrifyingly, young girls are no longer taught to read or write.

For herself, her daughter, and for every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice. This is only the beginning…

The Author:

Christina Dalcher earned her doctorate in theoretical linguistics from Georgetown University, specializing in the phonetics of sound change in Italian and British dialects. She and her husband split their time between the American South and Naples, Italy. VOX is her debut novel.