In this dystopian novel by Christina Dalcher, America is eerily similar to our own. However, in that world, women are only allowed 100 words a day, or else they are shocked by their wrist counters, the magnitude exponentially increasing with each additional unauthorized word. Jean, a cognitive linguist in another life, is given an opportunity after the president’s brother is gravely wounded. The government needs someone who can help him, someone who can reverse Wernicke’s aphasia. Helping the government will mean that she can go back to work, can get the abominable wrist counter off–for a while. But something doesn’t sit right with Jean. The government seems to be wanting her research for another reason… What price will the world pay after she finishes her research? What price will she and her family pay?

The story itself, of a sexist American society, simply an exaggerated form of our own current circumstances, is compelling. It reveals some of the dangers that we may be heading into if America continues through this downward spiral of judgment and isolationism. However, that is not really what the novel is about. Rather, it seems to be more directed towards attacking the government, which has become inherently evil. There is no humanity left in the system, nothing for us in present America, to relate to. Yes, politics can be “evil” and dehumanizing in our own current world, but not like this. Not how Dalcher is portraying it. The government in the dystopian America is pure evil, focused on impossible goals that would be more suited in an alien sci-fi novel. Rather than leaning on the idealistic concept of the 100 words, Dalcher moves to something completely unrelated and unrealistic. The novel is no longer a hyperbolic piece criticizing America’s current society and political climate, but a simple piece of fiction meant to entertain and nothing more.

Going along with this, the plot was too easy. At the end, it was rushed with almost no emotional triggers, narrated concisely and blandly. That was the worst of it. However, the plot line was also too easy leading up in the novel as well. The resistance seemed to just fall into Jean’s lap, random characters revealed to be a part of it whenever Jean’s need arose. She didn’t have to work for anything, it all just worked out in her favor. Steven’s whole arc was also super random, with no need for it whatsoever. The entire story seemed to just be filled with miscellaneous divergences that gave no benefit to the story itself, and only served to clutter it. Everything was too convenient, too easy, to random. Even Jean’s mother randomly suffered a stroke to give her Wernicke’s aphasia! Talk about coincidence.

The character-building was interesting in this novel, fully fleshing out the main character Jean, but only partially building up the side characters. Jean’s entire personality is on view for the readers to see, though with little to no dynamics. She is a relatively stagnant character, predictable and easily understood. The side characters, on the other hand, lend the novel a bit of mystery. Patrick is a bit of a conundrum, especially with the mixed views that we receive about him from Jean’s perspective. Lorenzo, Lin, and Jackie are all somewhat granted individual personalities, though all seem to come simply from how Jean perceives them. There is nothing for us readers to decode, but rather everything is laid out for us thanks to Jean’s thoughts and experiences. As for Jean’s children, Sonia and Steven are their own individuals, while the twins are inconsequential. In fact, I do not even know why they were included in this book. It would have been exactly the same without them.

The characters all have interesting relationships with each other. Jean has a weird obsession over Jackie, a woman she hadn’t seen or talked to in over a decade. Jackie may be a catalyst, but her character didn’t seem to be enough as is for Jean to constantly obsess over her practically every single day. And then Jean also had strangely mixed love/hate feelings about Patrick that battled each other each day. It made for an interesting read, as it kept me on my toes. I never knew which way she would lean. However, every relationship revolved around Jean. She was the pivot point for this novel, both for its characters as well as the plot. It cast a shadow upon the rest of the characters, making them shallower to lift Jean up.

Overall, the novel had great promise that it just did not quite live up to. It was definitely an entertaining read, and kept me on my toes with each page. However, I would caution taking this book a little too literally; some of it matches up nicely with our current political situation in the United States, but this is not our future. Perhaps some of the ideas can be given merit, but most would hold no water in our real world. Do not take this as an analysis of American society, but rather simply as entertainment fiction. It was a fun read, but that’s all it is.

Kudos to Dalcher for having the guts to publish a book revolving around such a hot topic right now. It even makes me nervous simply posting a review about it! Hopefully we readers won’t take it too seriously. In fact, it scares me to think that this novel could actually incite more hate and division within our own real America in our present time if taken the wrong way…

Chilling and horrifying. With recent events and legislation, hits close to home. Recommended for fans of Margaret Atwood's The handmaid's Tale or mature teens who enjoyed Catherine Linka's A Girl called F

I got this from NetGalley to preview.

I enjoy a good dystopian, I enjoy a good story about a woman rising above. I enjoy a lot of stories that do not jive with my personal world view.

This is not one of any of those stories.

What this story is (from the first five chapters, which is all I could stomach), is a rant against Christianity. But not even against actual Christianity, against what the author supposes Christianity to be. It is also essentially a retelling of The Handmaid's Tale, from everything I read in those 5 chapters and other reviews, and honestly, HT was good enough and well told, we don't need another version.

Like I said, I'm good with a lot of stories that don't jive with my worldview--because I am intelligent enough to realize that we are all human and we all have views and opinions and not a one of us is 100% correct. And I appreciate reading stories from other viewpoints because it helps to refine and expand my understanding of the world. What I cannot abide and will not waste time on is people who are blindly hateful and seek to stir discontent instead of fostering dialogue and understanding. And this story aims to do both of those things.

And for all you haters out there--no, I'm not anti-woman (I AM a woman, and I believe women are strong and amazing creations that deserve respect and honor, as do men), I'm not homophobic, and I do not believe in the subjugation of any particular race or gender (now, those who perform criminal acts against others, they should get some subjugation, but that's another topic for another day).

I love books like this that beat to the drum of The Handmaid's Tale, but in an entirely different way and original thought. What would society look like if women were limited to 100 words per day? Don't be quick to judge, I wouldn't hail this as a feministic novel. This was a novel of empowerment, thought-provoking, and brilliance.

This was a disturbing engrossing book. I felt like it could really happen. I rushed through it, it was a page turner!

I'm torn on this one. I had incredibly high expectations (seeing it compared to the Handmaid's Tale) and we ready for it to blow me away. But where Atwood bases every element of her classic on events that have happened, somewhere, to a woman, Vox just seemed too over the top for me to suspend my disbelief.

For starters, the events that turn the US into an unbelievably restrictive nation are too sudden and extreme to be believable. I'm not even sure what restricting the women to 100 words a day is meant to achieve. The ending itself is wild. But the small moments were strong, powerful moments. The protagonist's interactions with her children, such as her six-year-old daughter growing up in a world teaching her to be silent, and her teenage son who is looking forward to having an obedient wife. Those moments were strong. But the plot seemed to exist as a backdrop to the concept, and it didn't work for me.

This book had me glued to each page with angered admiration. I could not stop reading to once I started the first page. This world was so well depicted that I could imagine it with stark clarity. Wholly original and terrifying to image. This author has created something wickedly dark.

I wanted to hate this book because I hated the premise, but found myself getting caught in (and ahem, a bit scary to read in these times!). Reminiscient of Handmaid's Tale, in this America, women and girls are only allowed 100 words a day to speak. They are supposed to be at home, and everything is under lock and key with their husbands. While a lot of details are not explained (what about the single ladies? etc), it was a fascinating, yet horrifying book.

I enjoyed reading this book, though it felt kind of dry. It brings up good questions of women's rights, equality, familial loyalty, religion as a governing principle, etc. I felt like the characters were 2 dimensional, they didn't have a lot of development to make them characters you love and hate. I look for more when it comes to dystopian novels, mostly because it sparks questions and ideas of what I would do in certain situations, but for me, this just didn't do it for me.

4 Stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

***Mini Review ***

Full disclosure I read this book last August/September (yes I know I am the ultimate procrastinator) but the book still sticks with me. Probably because my worst nightmare would be being limited to only speaking 100 words every day. I thought this was a very thought-provoking yet disturbing book. I thought it was an interesting take on the dystopian novel. A genre I don’t read much of, but I have read several really good dystopian books as of late.

The characters have not stuck with me as much as the plot. However I do remember not agreeing with or understanding some of the characters actions. I think this would make for a great book club read, there is so much to discuss in this book. I would also be fascinated for my own book club to read this. There appears to have been many political and religious implications in the book that I completely did not pick up on. I thought it was about Americans being oblivious and not recognizing how dissatisfied a portion of the population was. Then before we knew it we had all kinds of ridiculous laws most of them repressing women. Basically we as a country need to pay a little more attention to what’s going on! Although I just read a few reviews and some people saw things quite differently than myself, this is why I think this would make a marvelous book club read. My book club is full of the most intelligent women I know, I would love love love to discuss this book with them! I do recommend this book, especially for book clubs (in case you missed that 😉)

*** thank you Berkley for my copy of this book, sorry it took me so long to review it! ***

Would have liked to have given it a higher rating, but I just got hung up on the unrealistic-ness of the story. There is just no way this all could have happened so fast on such a wide scale. Otherwise, I enjoyed it, even if it was somewhat predicable.

I finally got around to reading Vox. I was not disappointed. Such a great dystopian story! As a woman, this story just makes me angry. Imagine this scenario for real! It's so crazy and intense it makes for a great read. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

5/5 Stars. What would you do if your government decided to put a 100 word tracker on your wrist? In order to force women and girls into submission that’s what the government did in this dystopian novel. This plot may sound far-fetched, but the message is timely. This book made me angry as the author intended. I am not a dystopian fan, but #vox was great. The ending was satisfying—this is a MUST READ!

{82 words} #100words #jpbookreview


*** I received an arc from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ***

I wanted to read this one when I read the description because it gave me Handmaid's Tale vibes. Vox did NOT let me down. I spent most of the book mad because I was HOOKED on the stories of these women. Speaking only 100 words a day would kill me. Amazing original story.

Received via NetGalley for review.

Dystopian novels featuring women (or minority groups) being oppressed by the religious right (or the neo-conservatives, or militant, or or or) are all the rage nowadays, especially since our current political climate makes them so poignant. Unfortunately, Vox is not the best example of the genre.

Dr. Jean McClellan is an upper middle class white women who specializes in aphasia (which, believe me, is important) living in a society where women are limited to only 100 words a day under threat of potentially lethal electric shock. When the president's brother suffers from an accidents that gives him aphasia, Dr. McClellan is recruited by the government to work on a cure. Leveraging this, she removes her's and her daughter's counters, freeing their words (so only about 1% of the book actually deals with the constraints that Jean, as a woman, faces on her language). Of course, she discovers that the oppressive government is planning on using her research for nefarious purposes.

My problem is not with the cliche plot; it is with the way the plot is executed. Everything is too coincidental and ends too simply. Aphasia has many different types, and the fact that Jean not only specializes in Wernicke's area aphasia, but that her mother has it and that the government is interested in it is a little too far-fetched. Their plan to weaponize it makes no sense - people with this type of aphasia can't communicate with anyone, which is their goal, but they also can't understand anyone, which presents a huge stumbling block in trying to control them! How can you get someone to do what you want if they can't understand what you want?

And Jean is one of the more annoying, basically useless protagonists I've encountered in a long time. She's a stereotypical white feminist: only concerned with herself and her family when they're directly affected (which, granted, is something she confronts as the novel goes on, but never enough to change). Every choice she makes is out of concern for herself, her daughter, or her unborn child who might be a daughter. While I understand that having a daughter in such a climate would be worrying and present different challenges that a son, Jean seems not to care about her sons at all. Leo and Sam (the twins) might not even have been characters for all the effect they had on the plot or on her. And clearly her parenting suffers for it - I appreciate that Dalcher tried to show how ordinary citizens can become radicalized in Steven, but if he had been raised to truly see women as equals (as Lorenzo and Del clearly had been, for example), he never would have been radicalized in the first place.

And while Jean is a doctor, she is never directly involved in the cure for aphasia or the cure for society. Lin and Lorenzo are shown doing all the practical research and discoveries, and Patrick is the one who deploys the bioweapon, Is it even her idea to dose the administration? Does she ever truly face any risk herself, aside from her adultery? Of course not. She would fold under the pressure.

Her relationship with Patrick is failing, and rather than working on it or understanding him, she mopes and moans, not even realizing he's working with the resistance. How is that something you miss, if you truly love and know the man you've married? Why would he keep this monumental secret from her if he trusted and loved her? Instead, she lusts after charming and Italian Lorenzo, risking everything to be with him. Rather than forcing Jean to make a choice, Dalcher instead has Patrick die heroically so that the path is clear for them to be together. The men behind the conspiracy to silence women (which, improbably, only takes a year [I think? The timeline is not very well laid out.]) are all killed, a new president takes over, Jean leaves the US and everything is fine again. Only about 10 pages, if that, are devoted to this conclusion, leaving the reader with, if not whiplash, a sense of incompleteness.

This is a book I have been pushing to my customers like crazy. If they liked Handmaid's Tale then they would love this one. One of my customers got it for me for Christmas and I am so happy to have a copy in my library now. A great look at women's freedoms and the words we sometimes take for granted. 100 words is not enough. Ever.

was a gripping thriller that took you to every aspect of trying to figure out what was really going on and what was going to happen next! This was such an amazing book and I can’t wait to see what else is released from this author!

I loved this book. A modern day take on The Handmaids tale is the best way to describe it....awesome is another way! I loved the characters and the basis of the storyline, although it's a little scary to think it's not impossible. 100 words a day....that would be torture! 5 stars from me!

I tried my best to like this book. It was one of my most anticipated reads from 2018. Sadly, the style of writing is not very engaging and was a bit confusing for me. It has flimsy worldbuilding, with a number of inaccuracies and inconsistencies. For a scifi/dystopian novel, it is vital to uphold the suspension of disbelief and it just did not happen here.

Okay that’s the end of my generic review, major spoilers ahead>>>


Jean is a very difficult character to like. She could have been kinder to her husband, or at least lead a better conversation. In general, she’s just more aggresive than assertive.

Her parenting is almost problematic as well. What kind of parent can’t explain the concept of pain to his/her child? She has 4 children but it seems like she only cared for her daughter Sonia. There is a scene where she slaps one of her sons, and calls him a little sh*t and a bastard. There was also an instance where she drugs her daughter —granted it was to help her sleep without nightmares, but like I said it’s just disturbing to a mom like me.

And am I supposed to root for the Jean-Lorenzo love story?? A married woman is having an affair while her family is falling apart. Her only reason: she thinks her husband Patrick is not “manly enough.” She gets pregnant and is torn whether she should escape with her lover, and leave her family behind.

I mentioned inaccuracies and inconsistencies above. Some examples:
- She’s pregnant but still seems to drink lots of coffee
- How can she be a sharp shooter all of a sudden towards the ending? She can’t even perform injections for lab animals
- Deus ex machina ending is so disappointing

I liked the supporting characters — Jackie,
Lin, Sharon and Del and Jean’s husband Patrick. Her husband turns out not to be a weakling after all, he has been working undercover for years and even died for the resistance. There just seems to be no redeeming factor for Jean. Everything was too easy for her. The real heroes are the people around her—the MEN she has judged and hated all throughout the book.

I liked how this novel teaches the importance of speech and language in the formation of a healthy society. We also see how parenting and raising children with the right values is essential for humanity’s future. It would make you look at your own “bubble” of a life, and reminds you to be vigilant and not let oppression get you unawares.

This honestly could have been a great story and I understand all the hype around it. But the writing just didn’t speak to me and I genuinely hated the lead female character. She is a 2-dimensional character, and not a true feminist from my point of view. This book shows feminism by attacking the opposite gender, and I don’t think that helps the cause at all.

Thanks to Berkley Pub for the free advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I know right now that I would not last very long in a world like this. I talk way too much and I can’t even fathom having to monitor that so closely – even with one of the counters. VOX by Christina Dalcher is set in the near future where women and girls can only speak 100 words per DAY. The average person speaks around 16,000 – 20,000 words per day.

I figured, oh you can cheat the system by writing notes to each other or emails. Nope. Reading and writing count towards your 100 word allotment and soon sign language could count against you as well. All apart of the new government decrees, women can no longer hold jobs and with the Pure movement gaining more traction that might not be the only adjustments and restrictions made.

Jean was once a renowned neurolinguist that was working on a cure for aphasia she was removed from her job and forced into silence. One day she is approached by the government to continue her research and find a cure to help the President’s sick brother. If she accepts she will have her counter removed and so will her six year old daughter, Sonia. With a deadline and incentive to finish as quickly as possible, Jean needs to figure out how to get her and her daughter as much time as they can before they are silenced again.

As I’m sure Dalcher intended, Jean’s oldest son Steven definitely got under my skin. Helping the cause and supporting the advancements in the counters (more penalties for swearing, etc) was infuriating especially because he was only hurting his little sister and it seemed like it was to spite his mother.

Overall, this was a very thought-provoking concept and I enjoyed the read. I’m still unsure of my full feelings on the book and I do recommend this to anyone looking for something unique! I will be keeping my eyes peeled for more from Dalcher in the future.