Review: Vox by Christina Dalcher

Goodreads

Release Date: August 21st, 2018

Genre(s): Fiction, Dystopian

Publisher: Berkley

Pages: 336

Rating: .75

Synopsis

Vox is a dystopian novel that primarily follows Dr. Jean McClellan and her family. In the United States, women are only allowed to speak 100 words a day. This leads to the loss of jobs, equal education, and the ability for women to defend themselves. After the long-term denial of these changes, Jean must find a way to reclaim her voice and undo the wrongdoings that have been brought upon women across the nation.

Review

I have some complex views about Vox. For one, I really like dystopian novels. They’re the one genre that will keep me hooked and I can read them in one sitting if I really wanted to. In this case, I read this book in 24 hours. I also find myself reading more books about feminism lately, so feminist dystopian novels like these are usually a good pair. Despite all these factors, Vox didn’t completely live up to my expectations.

Something that I think I struggled the most with while reading this was the storytelling behind how the country got to this point. It’s very obvious the causes that the author is pointing to for this dystopian world, but what I struggled with was how, in a way, things fell flat after that. Whenever the past is referenced in this book, the causes are boldly told, but what I thought was missing was a further discussion about that. Part of what makes dystopian and speculative fiction what it is is the way it goes into detail about what made the world what it was. Plus, no matter how seemingly similar or different from the present world it might be, it should draw parallels to our current state. Vox does this, but it feels very surface-level.  I think that if more time and detail were put into this setup then it would have made for a much more fleshed-out novel overall.

Additionally, it’s very clear between all of the in-your-face references throughout this book that this book was made exactly for the time that it was published. And, again, dystopian and speculative fiction is supposed to draw parallels between our world now and what it could be if we continue down that path. But something I notice about my most-loved dystopian novels is that they are timeless in their execution. The issues represented in Vox are timeless themselves, but the way that this book is written feels like it has the potential to age more quickly than other dystopian and speculative fiction novels.

But with all that aside, there was plenty that I did like about Vox. I think that this book does a much better job at exploring what would happen to people and society in this circumstance. For example, much of the book focuses on child development and what happens to children when you remove almost all forms of communication with them. It also takes a close look at how easily our youth can be impacted by decisions regarding their education, the media that they consume, and society as a whole.

The last thing that I think is really important that Vox demonstrates is what happens when people remain silent. There are several flashbacks in this novel for when things start to change, and Jean herself admits denial to what’s happening when it’s right in front of her. I think this book did a good job of communicating as a whole how dangerous it is to stay silent and be uninformed.

While I think Vox could have been fleshed out more overall, I think that this book could be the starting point to a lot of interesting and important conversations, and I definitely still want to continue to read more feminist dystopian novels in the future. I just think that this book needed some technical tweaks and more emphasis on certain parts to make it more whole.