About this book
(via Exclusive Books)
Perfect for fans of THE HANDMAID’S TALE, VOX, and THE POWER.
In a world where girls and women are taught to be quiet, the dragons inside them are about to be set free … In this timely and timeless speculative novel, set in 1950s America, Kelly Barnhill exposes a world that wants to keep girls and women small – and examines what happens when they rise up.
Alex Green is four years old when she first sees a dragon. In her next-door neighbour’s garden, in the spot where the old lady usually sits, is a huge dragon, an astonished expression on its face before it opens its wings and soars away across the rooftops.
And Alex doesn’t see the little old lady after that. No one mentions her. It’s as if she’s never existed. Then Alex’s mother disappears, and reappears a week later, one quiet Tuesday, with no explanation whatsoever as to where she has been. But she is a ghostly shadow of her former self, and with scars across her body – wide, deep burns, as though she had been attacked by a monster who breathed fire.
Alex, growing from young girl to fiercely independent teenager, is desperate for answers, but doesn’t get any. Whether anyone likes it or not, the Mass Dragoning is coming. And nothing will be the same after that. Everything is about to change, forever. And when it does, this, too, will be unmentionable…
My Thoughts
Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction (alternate history), LGBT
Although I haven’t read any of author Kelly Barnhill’s previous books, I know that she is for her middle grade/YA books, and that this is her first “adult” title.
There are so many metaphors in this truly original story. “When Women Were Dragons” speaks of female oppression, frustration, and denied potential. Imagine that you’ve got so much fury within you that you physically turn into a dragon and demolish the patriarchy? And that the “dragoning” (turning into a dragon) happens en masse as an entire part of the population just had enough? Even more astounding when an entire generation don’t even talk about it?
When you find out that the author Kelly Barnhill was driven pure frustration and rage because of the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford at the confirmation hearings of Justice Brett Kavanaugh (yes, the same person who had a say in the recent Roe vs Wade overturn), everything makes even more sense.
“Anger is a funny thing. And it does funny things to us if we keep it inside. I encourage you to consider a question: Who benefits, my dear, when you force yourself to not feel angry?”
The story line stretches over several decades, starting in 1950s America. It is easy to have empathy with Alex, the book’s main protagonist. Although she is taught not to ask too many questions and to accept past and present situations as it is, she grows into an independent teenager, taking on a range of responsibilities, meant for persons way beyond her years.
This book features an entire supportive cast of strong female characters, asking questions about feminism, sexuality, and the general acceptable social order.
This was one of those books that I envisioned so clearly, it played out like a movie in my mind – especially the scenes where the dragons played a part. I throughly enjoyed the bits that were from Dr. Gantz ‘s “academic journals”. Clever, lyrical, and descriptive storytelling!
A few quotes:
• “Just because people won’t talk about something, it doesn’t mean that it’s any less true or important.”
• “There is a freedom in not asking questions. There is a freedom in being unburdened by unpleasant information. And sometimes, a person has to hang on to whatever freedoms she can get.”
• “Why would I waste my day learning what they want me to learn, when I can just go to the library and learn everything?”
• “The work of storytelling requires a person to remain in a state of brutal vulnerability and punishing empathy. We feel everything. It tears us apart.”
What I enjoyed most:
• Unique and original
• Finding the true self
• Strong female-driven narrative
• Alternate history
• Magic realism
RRR (Roelia Reads Rating) 4/5
Thank you to Exclusive Books SA for the review copy. Published locally (in South Africa) by Jonathan Ball Publishers
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