Dalcher, Christina: VOX

Ein spannender und provokanter Dystopiewelt, die mich sofort in die Geschichte hineinzieht, allerdings finde ich die Welt der Einschränkungen etwas beklemmend.

Spannend und gut geschrieben

I feel like this book could have been so much more. I feel like this book could have shaken the foundations of dystopian literature but it fell prey to petty story lines.To every woman reading this: imagine you’re under a speaking embargo. Imagine you’re only allowed to utter 100 words a day with a devilish device counting every syllable, every word you speak. Imagine that this "bracelet" will send electronic shockwaves through your body as soon as word 101 has left your mouth.That is the life of every baby girl, every woman living in the US. POTUS and his staff have come up with an idea, a plan, to bring every human with a vagina under their complete control. Women aren’t allowed to read in this society. They aren’t allowed to work. They aren’t allowed to vote, to have an opinion, to write, to complain. They are forbidden basic human rights.Now imagine all that and try NOT getting angry.Gianna "Jean" is one of those women. Mother of four kids, she is expected to cook and clean as well as be an obedient wife and mother. Before the system, before the oppression, she was one of the country’s leading researchers on language impairment. That is until they took her and every other woman’s job away and gave it to a "more competent" person, a man. Having to bottle up her feelings and being denied her right to voice her opinion, Jean tries to play along. That is until the president himself seeks her out and asks her to work on a project that could save his brother’s life. A brother that supposedly had a skiing accident and who is half brain-dead now. Jean agrees on the condition to get her voice back and the 100 words embargo lifted on her daughter and herself. She shows up to work and meets an old friend. A friend she slept with all those years ago when she had already been married. But infidelity is considered as one of the worst sins by the purist movement…The premise of the book had me hooked. The first chapters had me shaking with anger and brought unshed tears to my eyes. But after the first half, the book dissolved in a puddle of the character’s personal affairs and feelings. I was missing the bigger picture. I was missing the impact. But the impact of everything was reduced to how the main character was dealing with it. The ending happened too quickly. It was too swift, too smooth, and disappointing.I would have liked the author to expand the darkness. To let the whole world suffer from the "purity movement". This book could have challenged "The Handmaid’s Tale" but it ultimately fell short. What a pity.