#BookReview – VOX by Christine Dalcher

Goodreads blurb: “Set in an America where half the population has been silenced, VOX is the harrowing, unforgettable story of what one woman will do to protect herself and her daughter.
On the day the government decrees that women are no longer allowed more than 100 words daily, Dr. Jean McClellan is in denial—this can’t happen here. Not in America. Not to her.
This is just the beginning. Soon women can no longer hold jobs. Girls are no longer taught to read or write. Females no longer have a voice. Before, the average person spoke sixteen thousand words a day, but now women only have one hundred to make themselves heard. But this is not the end. For herself, her daughter, and every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice.”

My Review

I’ve been wanting to read this book for ages after seeing all the hype on social media with #100words everywhere. I finally got a copy from the library managed to find a moment to sit down and read it.

I was hooked from the beginning and was horrified from the first few pages as the American setting of this dystopia became more like Nazi Germany rather than a futuristic world. The way the population believed all the lies and submitted to the propaganda was frightening. Why were they believing this nonsense about women needing to be silenced and returning to Victorian values? Of course as I read on I discovered how it happened and started to feel very angry. I was particularly angry with Steven the main character’s eldest son that I ended up calling him all sorts of names out loud. Fortunately I was home alone so I didn’t have to worry about who heard me.

There is no way that I would survive the hundred words limit, as apart from being quite chatty with family, friends and complete strangers, I also talk out loud to myself, sometimes without realising it!

I’m quite torn with my feeling about this book as I loved the first part of the book, which sets the whole scene of how America came to be in this state, and how Jean the main character is acclimatising . I didn’t really enjoy the next part when she is asked by the government to go back to the laboratory to work on her old research. The book seemed to change for me and became more of a mystery then a dystopian.

Have you read it? I’d love to know what you thought of it and if I’m missing something?