Vox
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4.1 • 239 Ratings
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- £2.99
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
‘This book will blow your mind.’ Nina Pottell, PRIMA ‘Intelligent, suspenseful, provocative, and intensely disturbing – everything a great novel should be.’ LEE CHILD
Silence can be deafening.
Jean McClellan spends her time in almost complete silence, limited to just one hundred 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 seventy million women lose their jobs. Even more terrifyingly, young girls are no longer taught to read or write.
For herself, 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!
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. The Handmaid’s Tale meets Only Ever Yours meets The Power. Read it and shout about it in more than 100 words if you need to.’ Nina Pottell, PRIMA
‘VOX is intelligent, suspenseful, provocative, and intensely disturbing – everything a great novel should be.’ LEE CHILD
‘A bold, brilliant and unforgettable debut.’ ALICE FEENEY
‘A truly compulsive novel.’ STYLIST
‘Thought-provoking and thrilling. I was left speechless!’
WOMAN & HOME
‘Sure to beg comparisons to Margaret Atwood’s dystopian The Handmaid’s Tale, VOX highlights the urgency of movements like #MeToo, but also of the basic importance of language.’ VANITY FAIR
‘Any woman who has ever been shamed into silence will recognise the terrifying vista so vividly portrayed in VOX’
ROISIN INGLE, The Irish Times Women’s Podcast
‘A disturbingly prescient cautionary tale.’ STARBURST MAGAZINE
‘My favourite book of the year so far…’ LISA HALL
‘Fans of dystopian feminist fiction have been afforded an embarrassment of riches this year, but VOX has the sort of premise that immediately sets it apart.’ IRISH INDEPENDENT
‘For the book club… The aftershocks of #MeToo have crept into publishing… For fans of Red Clocks, The Power and The Handmaid’s Tale’. SUNDAY TIMES STYLE
‘A thought-provoking read on the importance of communication in our relationships, the role we play in the world and our freedom.’ PSYCHOLOGIES
‘A cautionary tale that is both haunting and thoroughly riveting.’ THE DAILY BEAST
If your psyche hasn't been completely shattered by THE HANDMAID’S TALE, might I suggest Christina Dalcher's VOX? POPSUGAR
About the author
Christina Dalcher earned her doctorate in theoretical linguistics from Georgetown University, specializing in the phonetics of sound change in Italian and British dialects. She and her husband split their time between the American South and Naples, Italy. VOX is her debut novel.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In her provocative debut, linguist Dalcher imagines a near future in which speech and language or the withholding thereof are instruments of control. The election of a conservative president with a charismatic (and psychotic) religious advisor is merely the final straw in a decades-long trend toward repression and authoritarianism. For years, cognitive linguist Jean McClellan, a well-educated white woman, chose to immerse herself in academia rather than become politically active, even as signs of authoritarianism were proliferating. Now, however, a year after the election, women in the United States have been limited to speaking no more than 100 words per day or face painful consequences. When the President's brother suffers an accident that affects his brain's speech centers, Jean might be able to leverage her expertise to restore her status. Dalcher's narrative raises questions about the links between language and authority; most chilling is the specter of young girls being starved of language and, consequently, the capacity to think critically. The novel's muddled climax and implausible denouement fail to live up to its intriguing premise. Nevertheless, Dalcher's novel carries an undeniably powerful message.
Customer Reviews
Gripping
Loved this book, kept me gripped from beginning to end.
A rare gem poorly cut
It‘s been a while since I‘ve been so gripped by a book and so enjoyed some elegant and masterful structure and writing. Yet, for all the quality and applause this book deserves, the ending totally lost me. Confused, rushed, disappointing. Certainly worth a read, but also worth a rewrite of the last dozen or so pages.