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VOX

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VOX

By: Christina Dalcher
Narrated by: Laurence Bouvard
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About this listen

Silence can be deafening.

Jean McClellan spends her time in almost complete silence, limited to just 100 words a day. Any more, and a thousand volts of electricity will course through her veins.

Now the new government is in power, everything has changed. But only if you’re a woman.

Almost overnight, bank accounts are frozen, passports are taken away and 70 million women lose their jobs. Even more terrifyingly, young girls are no longer taught to read or write.

For herself, for her daughter and for every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice. This is only the beginning....

Perfect for fans of The Handmaid’s Tale. Don’t miss the thrilling debut that everyone is talking about!

©2018 Christina Dalcher (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers Dystopian Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Political Science Fiction Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense Espionage Magic Exciting

Critic Reviews

"A petrifying re-imagining of The Handmaid's Tale in the present, and a timely reminder of the power and importance of language." (Marta Bausells, Elle)

"This book will blow your mind." (Nina Pottell, Prima)

"Intelligent, suspenseful, provocative, and intensely disturbing - everything a great novel should be." (Lee Child)

All stars
Most relevant  
Fascinating view into the possible future and the impacts of religion. Ending could have been a bitter better.

Interesting dystopian view of the future

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The premise for this novel is a good one, but the narrative just has too many holes that the reader is expected to ignore or fill in with their own assumptions, in order to make the story hold together.

Interesting premise, badly executed

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It could have been so much better! it showed some dignity of excellence but then slumped again.

was quite difficult to follow as my hopes kept rising sndcthen being shattered.

so much potential but missed the mark

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The premise had real potential. The direction the author took with the storyline was disappointing.

Had potential

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This story was written ahead of its time in anticipation of what the US could look like under the Trump administration. Definitely food for thought.

Word Count

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This was not the worst book i’ve ever read, but it by no measure sits near the good ones. Vox had much promise and it could have been a great read. However, it’s shallow characters, appalling use of stereotypes and lack of getting “the point” brings it down. This novel was annoying. It was hard to get through. The main character was hypocritical and I didn’t care for her at all. At the end of it all the only character I cared for was Patrick, the one she’d been putting down for not doing anything. The feminist in the novel Jackie, was created from stereotypes and lacked real form. The weakness that this brought the character disappointed me, as she was the only who seemed to care for the movement at all. The carnage was all shown to be blamed on Christianity and I don’t think that it’s right to blame the entire religion for the actions of a few. If this was not the intention of the author she could have tried to make the impure population Christians and show that she doesn’t blame the religion. There are Christians who wouldn’t want to see anything like this happen. I’m not even a Christian, and I personally don’t agree with a lot the Bible has to say, but I wouldn’t blame everyone who does for women hating and shaming. That’s no better than saying all Muslims are terrorists, which is just not true.
Also, we see the men through the main characters eyes and it makes sense to feel hatred for the ones that act like jerks. However, despite her husband being a decent person she seems to blame him for not doing anything to stop it? How unreasonable. Why didn’t you stop it yourself? Why are you blaming a man for not doing it for you?


Let’s get to the point.

If this is supposed to be about bringing light to the issues of female oppression and the oppression of the LGBTQ community why are we following the lady who never cared about the movement until shit was happening to her? Who didn’t really want to do anything even when her son Steven was shown to her on TV in the clutches of the lunatic. She’d be like “OMG I COULD DO ANYTHING TO FREE MYSELF AND MY FAMILY BUT NO I CANT SCREW THROUGH THIS APE’S SKULL SOMEONE ELSE DO IT FOR ME MEHHH” At the end of the day Jean didn’t fix the problem Patrick did.

Her best place for thinking is the kitchen? What does that say? Oh how appalling that women are taught to be domestic and I can’t cook for shit, Patrick does the cooking but still, the kitchen is the place I think best? The main character isn’t much more than what the misogynistic men in this novel think women are. Other than swearing a thousand times she doesn’t do much to rebel. Oh wow you didn’t choose pink what a rebel!!! She’s supposed to have a great mind and be some skilled neurologist/linguist, but when it comes time to it she doesn’t do much. It’s Lorenzo’s theory and Lin’s actions and experiments.

I believe there is so much more to women than what this character shows and that should be celebrated in this novel women should actually have substance. These characters lack it. She adores her girl but she actually starts to hate her boy and doesn’t show much concern when he goes missing. A mention here and there but nothing that resembles true motherly instinct and worry if that was the route aimed for, until the VERY end.

I would’ve preferred Jackie’s POV to be honest, even if her character is riddled with stereotypes. At least she’s trying to do something.

Just an utter disappointment and waste of time. I was more annoyed than anything else listening to this story.

The performance was good though.

Vox: a dystopian novel that misses the point

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