Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Femlandia

We meet Miranda and her sixteen-year-old daughter fighting for survival in a now dystopian America. After an economic crash and has descended into chaos. With barely any money and being forced out of their house, Miranda and Emma must find somewhere safe to go to. Being outside after dark is dangerous, and there are no shelters with space to take them. They decide to go to Femlandia, a female-only commune and “paradise.”

Well, this book is disturbing and is not one for the fainthearted. There are many scenes that will leave the reader uncomfortable and almost sick. Christina Dalcher takes the idea of a woman-led environment to the extreme, and while thought-provoking at times, overall it is gruesome. To me, the women and their society came across as cult-like. The fanatism and extremism of their views are distressing, and there is no hint of equality between the sexes.

To be honest, I didn’t quite care for the characters. Miranda bored me, I felt it tiresome to read through her point of view. I understand that we need to learn her history and her previous life of glamour and wealth. But there were things that happened in her past that I felt would have shaped her character differently than how she was portrayed. I also would have loved to hear more from the other characters such as Emma, Sal, and Nell.

There are things that I question about this book, and it’s very difficult for me to put them into words. There are things in this book that don’t sit right with me, even the concept of this book, and maybe I might be on my own about that.

I received this book from Netgalley and HQ. My review is unbiased and completely honest.

*I'm editing this review after a lot of thought. I have thought about this book many times since I read it, and not positively. Seeing it in shops has made me feel angry and upset. Looking back on my review I was a little vague, probably due to being in shock after reading it and it's taken me some time to get my thoughts in order.

I would not recommend this book. I found it to be very traumatic and damaging. It is supposed to take a look at extremism, but it falls short. If anything this book will probably be lauded as why feminism is dangerous. As someone who believes in equal rights and feminism this did not align with my personal beliefs in any way, and I believe that would be the case for may other readers.

This book features many transphobic comments. I will not quote them here as they are in other reviews, but they are offensive and should not have been included. Many comments or ideas in this book align with transphobic rhetoric and I am appalled that it was included in this book. I was upset reading it, and I could not imagine how upsetting it would be for other people to read and to feel excluded and villainized by this book.

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