Description:
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 to speak 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 thoughts:
Immediately immersed into Jean’s almost silent world, I felt her pain. She can barely talk to her children, she can’t discuss her day or speak to her parents. There just aren’t enough words in a day and the consequences of breaching the rules are terrifying. What’s worse is her youngest daughter Sonia knows no different. The present situation is becoming the young girl’s ‘normal’. This isn’t a light read. I’ll rephrase that, I read the words with ease but the subject matter made uncomfortable reading.
If you consider women’s rights worldwide, we know there is still work to do and the feminist movement isn’t over. This book also goes to show how the rights of an already free country can be eroded by sleight of hand. One day all is fine. Rights aren’t taken immediately, they are chipped away at and only when the final blow is taken, do the newly oppressed realise what has happened. It’s then too late.
This book is a lesson. Don’t bathe in the cooking pot enjoying the simmering water. Don’t sit back and think, this doesn’t affect me, why bother? It will affect someone you love or care about. Apathy is what is relied upon. I like that this book brought the message home, loud and clear, so well done to Christina Dalcher for making me think this deeply. I’ll be thinking about VOX’s themes for a long time.
I really enjoyed Jean’s son, Steven’s character. The author showed how malleable young minds are and given a generation or two following the birth of a new regime, those young minds are trapped. Not only that, they believe there is no better way. After all, this is all they know.
What I also loved about this novel is the entertainment element. I won’t profess to have any understanding about the brain and neuroscience, but I found the science stuff as entertaining as hell. It had tension, great pace and had me racing through the pages to find out the fate of everyone involved. Loved the medical thriller element.
To summarise, fantastic read. Tense, frightening, fist clenching and err … come the revolution!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vox-Christina-Dalcher/dp/0008300674/
By Carla Kovach – author of Amazon and iBooks bestseller, The Next Girl. 