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A review by burtini
Femlandia by Christina Dalcher
2.0
2.5 stars
I’ve been thinking about this book for a few days since I finished it and to be honest, while this is a book that made me feel a lot of things, I can’t quite put my thoughts together on this one!
In the midst of economic downfall of apocalyptic scale of looting, starving and no order, Miranda tries to keep herself and her daughter Emma alive, previously a self confessed glamorous woman, until banks lost all money and her husband Nick betrayed her before taking her life, Miranda’s life becomes survival and that can only mean one thing - Femlandia, a society created by her mother Win, and her protege (and perceived replacement) Jen. Located in several states, Femlandia is essentially a woman, or rather womyn (so as not to be associated with men at all) only society, where food and water and security is abundant, but at what price?
Femlandia attempts to answer the question ‘what would it be like if men didn’t exist?’ however I’ll admit I struggled to understand the intent of the book. Vox spoke a bold, clear message about women being silenced, however the message here felt not even like ‘not all men’ nut ‘sometimes women too’. Is this about what happens when you let your hate of men consume you? I just couldn’t grasp it. There is an attempted gang rape on the page by a group of men and Win and her narrative (paralleling Miranda’s) speaks of continuous oppression and abuse at the expense of men, as is the experience of other women in Femlandia. There is a quote in the book about surely if we believe in equality, if a woman can do anything a man can, if she is capable, surely that means she is capable of the same cruelty and dominance. I think perhaps this too is the purpose of the book, but is it necessary? Especially after Vox? This is a book in which women are abusers and emotionally manipulative, women take bodily autonomy away. This latter point is particularly disturbing, it made me mentally stumble, and it’s even more bizarre for how women are the ones who, in truth, don’t have autonomy in so much of this world. I may just not get it, it could be me but i didn’t understand it.
This is a well written book but a disturbing one and I’ll admit I much preferred Vox. Thank you NetGalley for the early copy to review. It wasn’t for me but I’m sure other people will take something more from it.
I’ve been thinking about this book for a few days since I finished it and to be honest, while this is a book that made me feel a lot of things, I can’t quite put my thoughts together on this one!
In the midst of economic downfall of apocalyptic scale of looting, starving and no order, Miranda tries to keep herself and her daughter Emma alive, previously a self confessed glamorous woman, until banks lost all money and her husband Nick betrayed her before taking her life, Miranda’s life becomes survival and that can only mean one thing - Femlandia, a society created by her mother Win, and her protege (and perceived replacement) Jen. Located in several states, Femlandia is essentially a woman, or rather womyn (so as not to be associated with men at all) only society, where food and water and security is abundant, but at what price?
Femlandia attempts to answer the question ‘what would it be like if men didn’t exist?’ however I’ll admit I struggled to understand the intent of the book. Vox spoke a bold, clear message about women being silenced, however the message here felt not even like ‘not all men’ nut ‘sometimes women too’. Is this about what happens when you let your hate of men consume you? I just couldn’t grasp it. There is an attempted gang rape on the page by a group of men and Win and her narrative (paralleling Miranda’s) speaks of continuous oppression and abuse at the expense of men, as is the experience of other women in Femlandia. There is a quote in the book about surely if we believe in equality, if a woman can do anything a man can, if she is capable, surely that means she is capable of the same cruelty and dominance. I think perhaps this too is the purpose of the book, but is it necessary? Especially after Vox? This is a book in which women are abusers and emotionally manipulative, women take bodily autonomy away. This latter point is particularly disturbing, it made me mentally stumble, and it’s even more bizarre for how women are the ones who, in truth, don’t have autonomy in so much of this world. I may just not get it, it could be me but i didn’t understand it.
This is a well written book but a disturbing one and I’ll admit I much preferred Vox. Thank you NetGalley for the early copy to review. It wasn’t for me but I’m sure other people will take something more from it.