What do readers think of Vox by Christina Dalcher? Write your own review.

When I first read the premise of "Vox", it attracted me immediately. I love dystopian novels, and the premise of the book was fascinating. What would happen if the government, now run entirely by men, were to limit women and girls to saying only 100 words per day? The novel takes place in an "all too realistic near future", says the back cover. Okay, it certainly got my attention. I received it on a Friday afternoon and by Sunday morning I had finished it, barely putting it down while we were at home. So obviously it is a page turner, no doubt about that! I could not wait to see what would happen next. Did I think it was in an all too realistic future? Not sure about that...I think that would be quite a stretch. Not something that I could really imagine happening. Could I be naive? Possibly. I liked the characters but felt they were underdeveloped. I wanted more depth to them and I felt that I knew too little about each one. I would have liked to know the children better too. Did I enjoy the book? Yes, it was very entertaining. But I think it could have been better with more character development and more history of how this came to be. I finished it feeling somewhat disappointed, but definitely not sorry I read it. The author writes a one page introduction to say that she hopes the reader will "consider the gift of language" as we read the book, and I certainly did.

This book rides on the coattails of "A Handmaids Tale" popularity. This is a tale of a current America where women have been largely denied the right to speak. Unlike "the Handmaids Tale", there has been no crisis or catastrophe, no civil war that precipitated the evil regime. I cannot believe that 300 million well-armed people would passively accept women being silenced without violent insurrection and civil war. I also cannot believe that the word counting bracelets women are required to wear cannot be hacked, tampered with, or cut off and replaced with fakes. The story would have been more believable if set in a fantasy world or an unnamed faraway land in the past. Another criticism is that it takes the easy route of insulting millions of Christians. No current rhetoric or historical precedent would lead an educated person to assume that Christians would want to silence women. However, it was a fast read and the prose was workmanlike.

At first blush Vox is a captivating story about the voice of women in American society. However, it goes far beyond the tale of women limited to 100 words per day: It addresses our current political climate and nearly if not all initiatives taken by a conservative ruling government in such a way that the outcome is nothing short of chilling. I found those references to be humorous and somewhat annoying. The characters were flat, and after page 200 the plot moved too quickly and ended abruptly. That said, it was an entertaining read but I would not urge anyone to purchase the book.

So much potential....disappointing execution. A timely, possibly feasible cautionary tale for today's political climate; an easy provocative read but the writing is uneven and often awkward;( too much medical/techno jargon...we KNOW what an MRI is...) There are many disagreeable characters with little plot involvement. At times this story was dystopic, at times too much like chick-lit. I also had a difficult time with Jean's non-linear narration. Perhaps a SERIOUS edit could help...