On the surface he was harmless enough because he didn’t agree with the system, but he certainly didn’t do anything to fight against it either. The most infuriating character for me was Jean’s husband Patrick. Jean’s old friend Jackie had tried to warn her and others before it happened, but she had thought she was overreacting. Signs Jean didn’t notice until it was too late to escape. There were signs prior to the change in the status of women, things like women no longer being able to obtain a passport. It’s the little things that got to me when reading about her situation, things like being unable to read her daughter a bedtime story or comfort her when she had a nightmare. Jean is a very strong character and one the reader will empathise with. You need math for that, but not spelling. After all, one day my daughter will be expected to shop and run a household, to be a devoted and dutiful wife. “…if the three R’s weren’t now reduced to one: simple arithmetic. Then one day someone demonstrates what happens when the wearer exceeds their count and the next day she wins a prize at school for using the fewest words. Sonia also has a counter and it never goes above 40 a day. Reading about Jean’s experiences is enough to make anyone angry thinking about the type of society they live in, but it was the experiences of her young daughter Sonia that really made my blood boil. The message is clear that women should be seen and not heard. Once it passes one hundred the wearer receives a shock. Via Jean we learn that every woman and girl have to wear a ‘bracelet’ with a word counter on. “If anyone told me I could bring down the president, and the Pure Movement, and that incompetent little shit Morgan LeBron in a weeks’ time.

Jean is one of those women and though she is unhappy with her lot there is nothing she can do or say to change it until one day a powerful man asks for her help. The average human speaks sixteen thousand words a day but in Vox women and girls are limited to just 100 words a day. It strongly reminded me of The Handmaid’s Tale which is high praise coming from me as The Handmaid’s Tale is my all- time favourite book. Vox by Christina Dalcher is my favourite book of the year so far.

Vox christina dalcher review