Reviews with content warning for Transphobia - Femlandia

This was a really interesting concept - but I felt like the pacing was a bit off? I get that we needed to understand the extend and horror of the economic collapse, but I think that took up too much space at the extent of a satisfying arc about Femlandia, without ever explaining how the collapse happened and how or whether it is men's fault. I also wonder if there were just too many rich details squeezed in - I wanted to slow down and sink into elements, but we kept racing ahead. The dark twists were predictable, and the epilogue was deeply unsatisfying - there was no sense of how we got from the end of chapter 78 to the epilogue, it was a wild leap, and also seems to undo half the message of the book in a very contradictory way?

It feels like a really interesting idea but just not terribly well executed, with some red flags that make me worry this isn't the kind of feminism I'm interested in supporting. The idea and the concept of cults kept me interested, rather than the story or writing.

****spoilers****

The epilogue seems to contradict the idea that misogyny and patriarchy is taught/nature, rather than innate and nurture. The second you have men, raised in a female-led community, they raise up in charge and overpower the women? And are misogynistic?

Also, it feels a bit disquieting to me to have transphobic characters and just leave it at that without those views being challenged or really explored - like someone said 'what about trans and non-binary people' and the author made the powerful characters transphobic to avoid having to meaningfully engage with the complexities and non-binary nature of gender.

Content Warnings

hannahchesley's review against another edition

Go to review page

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

I found the message cloudy and weak. And I thought some parts had transphobic undertones. The paratext by the author literally says it’s a reaction to the big feminist response to her successful novel ‘Vox’, and personally I think Femlandia reeks of that bitterness towards certain feminists.

Content Warnings

jennylo's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark medium-paced

Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

The first few chapters tell you the same thing, several times, in essentially the same way (post apocalyptic ish, I hate mummy, my husband was a bit shit). The saving grace being that chapters are very short. I spent most of the book not sure that I liked it, but wanted to know if it could get better. I'm still not sure.

It rang very "not all men", which I just feel is not a point that needs to be made. There's also brief transphobia toward the beginning which was very icky. The protagonist is written as though she doesn't necessarily agree, but doesn't fight the point. It left me wondering about the authors personal views.

I also feel like it completely avoided a whole topic that felt too obvious to me to be ignored, that socialising all new humans in a healthy way would probably make the world a much better place. Instead it's one extreme or the other: either men abuse women, or women abuse men. I get it's a dystopia but the idea wasn't floated until the epilogue

which makes it out that its undeniable human nature that men will take over, they'll always do the heavy lifting, and have the big brains for the important decisions. There is no argument for nurture, DESPITE the repeated story about the bloody gorilla learning sign?!

I think I partially guessed the key twist so was reading more to see if I got it right, than actually enjoying it. I guess it's kind of an interesting take on a female led dystopia, but I won't be recommending it to anyone in a hurry.

Content Warnings

rhi_reading's review against another edition

Go to review page

fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

A clunky, heavy-handed novel that spends every single page beating you around the head with a large ‘Feminism is evil’ stick. I gave it some grace at the beginning because I thought maybe it was designed to be a satire of the way some people view feminists, that trad-wife Miranda and her misandrist mother would meet in the middle and see each others views. I realised I was very wrong by about 1/3 of the way in, but by that point reading this book had turned in to the literary equivalent of rubbernecking at a ten-car pileup - you know it’s terrible, but you need to see HOW truly awful it is.

It’s certainly fast-paced, but this pace is achieved by cutting out almost all character development and relationship dynamics. Every choice made by the characters seem completely random. Why does Emma latch on to Jen Jones (the charasmatic leader of this seeming idyllic off-The-grid community, with a name so subtle she may as well just have been called Dr Evil) as soon as she meets her, to the point where she abandons her own mother? Jen has done nothing to earn this, there’s absolutely nothing to suggest Emma supported the extreme ideals of Femlandia before all this.

The ‘twist’ of the book was gross and not even especially clever, but don’t worry because it’s all resolved in pretty much the next chapter.

There are some absolutely sublime 1* review for this book on StoryGraph that go in to more detail about why exactly this book is so awful, Id suggest reading them over reading Femlandia - you’ll certainly experience more nuance, structure, and entertainment. My search for a great feminist dystopian story continues.

Content Warnings

siriface's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

thekaylie's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Content Warnings

ambb's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I might change this rating 20 more times. I don’t know how to rate this. I don’t know what I just read. What the fuck

Content Warnings

More...