Vox

Title: Vox

Author: Christina Dalcher

Genre: Dystopian

PopSugar Reading Challenge Prompt: a book where the main character works at your current or dream job (current job… stay-at-home mom)

I appreciate what this book tried to do. Published in 2018 during the previous administration, the plot is about men taking over and censoring women. Literal censoring. Women are allowed 100 words a day. They wear counters that keep track and any over 100 a shock will be administered. The more over 100, the worse the shock. The main character, Jean, unwillingly abides. When she is given the opportunity to remove the counter in exchange for helping the president, she jumps at the chance.

From Goodreads: 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.

This book’s premise is important and, thankfully, no longer an issue since we have a new administration, but it didn’t work at all. The characters are great, the concept is great, but the writing was subpar. I lost track of how many times the plot went from A to C without explaining B. I’m a smart gal, I can make inferences, but this book was just so full of holes. Not plot holes necessarily, but just holes in explanation. A good editor could have eliminated those. As much as I wanted to like this book, it just frustrated me more. Bummer.