Women Talking

by Miriam Toews

Book Overview

The basis of the Oscar-winning film from writer/director Sarah Polley, starring Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, with Ben Whishaw and Frances McDormand.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

"This amazing, sad, shocking, but touching novel, based on a real-life event, could be right out of The Handmaid's Tale." -Margaret Atwood, on Twitter

"Scorching . . . a wry, freewheeling novel of ideas that touches on the nature...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 163557434X
• ISBN13: 9781635574340
• Release Date: March 2020
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

just tedious

plodding, tedious, verbose. I understand the importance of women taking action when oppressed. ANd this story is indeed shocking and needs to be told. It is, in fact, mostly women talking. SOme of the characters were interesting, and the male narrator did his best to be objective and supportive. However, this was mostly a religious argument about "whether or not God will save us if we do something". Absolutely dreary, dull. Just did not grab me at all. I am amazed that so many find it to be such a great masterpiece. Probably won't bother with the film either, which isn't getting such great reviews. I htink the story could have been told in a more interesting way.

Women Talking

Good read. I wanted to read it before the movie comes out. I am even more excited to see it after reading the book.

Weird

Kind of weird and I didn't really care about any of it. Waste of time. It's based on true events, which is horribly sad, but I've read much better historical fiction and wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.

A haunting debate

In a format I've never read before, a meeting minutes-style with everything said written down, including a few thoughts from the man helping them, August, this narration is quite unique and interesting once you are used to it. Don't let it deter you! The piece flows mostly linear with a few backstories, including August's. After finding out women and girls in their colony are being drugged and raped, the women must choose: 1. Do Nothing. 2. Stay and Fight. 3. Leave. These women are illiterate. A few can manage to write their name. They have been oppressed and controlled by the men in their colony for far too long. Some even question if what the men say in the Bible is actually what is written in the Bible. I found myself arguing and debating with them, while discovering bits and pieces of their religion and its influence in their decision. All the while, in the back of my mind, I wanted to scream, cry, and fight for the women in Bolivia that this actually happened to in real life. There's a little prologue about it at the start of the novel. (Seven men were sentenced to 25 years in prison for raping more than 100 women.) What a sick, horrible thing. What will these women decide?