lokroma reviewed Women Talking by Miriam Toews
Review of 'Women Talking' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
"...what we women have determined is that we want, and believe we are entitled to, three things...We want our children to be safe...We want to be steadfast in our faith. We want to think."
Seems reasonable. But these women (and children) who are members of a fiercely patriarchal Mennonite society have endured a very different reality. Over a period of years they have been systematically drugged and raped by men in their community. Some of the women became pregnant and had children, even by their own brothers. Some died. Some were young children when they were attacked.
In a story based on real events, the women gather in a barn loft to decide what to do about their situation: stay, stay and fight, or leave. The action is their talking, weighing and deciding. August Epp, a shy man shunned by the other men, is called on to take notes of …
"...what we women have determined is that we want, and believe we are entitled to, three things...We want our children to be safe...We want to be steadfast in our faith. We want to think."
Seems reasonable. But these women (and children) who are members of a fiercely patriarchal Mennonite society have endured a very different reality. Over a period of years they have been systematically drugged and raped by men in their community. Some of the women became pregnant and had children, even by their own brothers. Some died. Some were young children when they were attacked.
In a story based on real events, the women gather in a barn loft to decide what to do about their situation: stay, stay and fight, or leave. The action is their talking, weighing and deciding. August Epp, a shy man shunned by the other men, is called on to take notes of the proceedings and his notes create the account of what happened.
I saw the movie "Women Talking" before I read the book. It is a beautiful and powerful film with a hint of magical realism. Unusually, the book does not measure up. It lacks the movie's indeterminate sense of time and place that gives the film its universal female voice. In the novel the women talk, and talk, and talk. Too much talking. Too many paralogisms and logical nonsequiturs that quickly become boring and are a real slog to get through. Toew's stunning premise makes the disappointment of her book almost painful.
Given that more people watch movies than read books (and way more men), and that the movie is nominated for an Oscar, maybe the movie and its powerful message being better than the book is a good thing.
