Vox is about a woman who finds herself in a society where women’s speech is limited. She must find a way to cope with the new restrictions. When the president’s brother has a medical emergency that only her former specialty can fix, she is catapulted back to her former life with restrictions.
One of the things that I noticed right away were the parallels between the political climate of today and the book’s narrative. Jean was one of those women who didn’t vote, didn’t march and just believed that the worst could never happen, scoffing at the women who protested and predicted the worst would come to pass. Steven, Jean’s son, finally says “Evil thrives when good men do nothing.”
There were a number of plot holes one being:
If the women aren’t taught to read, how would they be able to read the proclamations on the sheet of paper into their wrist bands?
Jean is cheating on her husband with Lorenzo, her lab partner. She is totally fine with not communicating with her husband and falling in the arms of someone else. And that’s what we get for the majority of the book. Her going on and on about Lorenzo and his Italian hands and scuff and voice. The constant comparisons between him and her husband are tiring because they seem like justification for her bad behavior.
There are also a number of times where she refers to Poe’s size and his blackness. Towards the end of the book, when Poe is escorting a small woman and Jean describes the scene as “King Kong”. It felt completely unnecessary and extremely rude because of the presence of primates in the previous scene.
Sharon, the only other POC in the book, is used primarily as a helper. She only appears in two scenes in the book to fulfill her assigned trope: wise sassy black friend.
This book had a lot of promise. It was like an updated Handmaid’s Tale. However, Jean is utterly unlikeable. Her problem lies with her selfishness. When the police come, she assumes that it’s because of her because she is utterly incapable of seeing anyone else and their pain.
The book explores politics, women’s rights, education and segregation, however the perspective of other characters would have served that purpose better.
Overall, the book is interesting but reading The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments would be a better use of your time.
Reading Reckless : Rants and Raves 