Worth all the hype - I really enjoyed Women Talking and loved discussing it with others. I would definitely recommend this short, quick but beautiful book

I really wish I could give a full review for this book, but the galley I received was such a jumble it was very difficult to read. I had to abandon it. I don't know if it was the original file or the Kindle conversion, but I don't think it was meant to look that way.

WOMEN TALKING is a unique book in that it’s primarily about a small group of Mennonite women working through the best way to handle the patriarchal religious system that has created space for hundreds of them to be repeatedly raped by a group of men and asks them to forgive their rapists if they want to stay a part of society. It’s mostly a philosophical text that focuses on patriarchy, power, the meaning of faith v religion, and how to protect women and children. It’s based on real events as far as the repeated rapes of a group of Mennonite women and children, but it’s questions and discussion stretch much further.

Who is a victim of patriarchy and how can we protect ourselves from the violence it enacts on the female body? What are we willing to sacrifice in order to keep our faith and beliefs intact? What aspects of our society have we accepted as truth only because we’ve been told as much by those in power? Lots to grapple with here and I’ll be thinking about the questions for a long time.

This is the most powerful, poignant, and ferocious book I have read all year. This novel is based off a man who is writing down the secret meeting of 8 Mennonite women talking about their future, their families, and essentially their faith. They have experienced rage, love, and question their very being. I don't think I have ever opened a book with as much patriarchal violence and power that has left me feeling this emotional.

I love this book for its sense of women rallying together and standing up for their right. Yet, at the same time, I hate book like this in general because there should be no reason women fear these ideas. What I mean is, we shouldn't have to fear that this happens/ could happen/ or is a reality to some. That is what makes this such a powerful read and one you won't be able to put down even after you've finished.

"We are women without a voice. We are women out of time and place, without even the language of the country we reside in."

1. Do Nothing
2. Stay and Fight
3. Leave

Those are the choices these women have concluded to. Each woman can decide for herself. With only two days to decide while the men gather to town to bail the rapists from jail, these women are tested beyond what they thought was possible. Yet, what are they to their faith, to themselves if they continue this path? Are they truly strong enough to fight against the men who have controlled their every move for their life? If they leave, what about the ones they have to leave behind and where would they even go?

"It is true that hunger and fear are the things we share with animals, not the intelligence that allows us to establish perspective or distance in order to better assess a situation."


These women have been through so much and have finally had the chance to come together to make some decisions about their future. They can't read, can't write, can't even speak words of the language of the country they live in. So leaving is the hardest thing with all the uncertainty it leads to. Yet, if they stay, how many more will die and suffer, what are they teaching their children about faith?

Women Talking is all about the minutes that these women are brainstorming their ideas, their emotions, their faith while it's all being written down by the only one they can trust who can. This is such a powerful novel, even for generations to come. Definitely needed in this time in our society as women are joining the #MeToo movement. Grab yourself a copy and take this emotional dive for yourself. You will feel like a fly on the wall of this barn loft as these women ponder their ideas and show their emotions. It's as if you are right there with them.

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing on April 2, 2019

Women Talking is set in the imaginary Molotschna Colony in Bolivia, but the story is based on the real Manitoba Colony, where Mennonite women were drugged and raped over a period of years, their stories of waking up in pain dismissed as female fantasies or believed to be the work of demons who punished the women for their sins. The actual demons were several men in the colony, some of whom were related to the women they raped.

The novel posits that three hundred women were sprayed with an anesthetic used on farm animals and raped by eight men. A woman named Salome tried to kill them with a scythe, prompting the elders to have the men arrested for their own safety. Their families posted bail and they will now be returned, but what will the women do when they come back?

When the crimes were discovered, the perpetrators are jailed for their own safety, lest the women hack them to pieces with a scythe. As the men in the colony set about raising bail money for eight rapists, the women hold a meeting. The (male) elders have given the women the option of forgiving the men, thus assuring their place in Heaven, or leaving the colony and entering a world about which they know nothing, a prospect made more difficult by their illiteracy and unfamiliarity with any language except that spoken exclusively by Mennonites.

The women make their choice during a two-day discussion. The minutes are taken by August Epps, who gained an education after his family was excommunicated. Epps later returned and is seen by some as having his uses, although his lack of farming skills renders him useless in the eyes of most colonists.

The novel imagines how the women would discuss their difficult choice. They consider whether forgiveness is possible and whether there might be some sins so weighty that only God, and certainly not the victims, can be expected to forgive them. The women are expected to be obedient to their husbands, but since they have not been taught to read the Bible, they are no longer certain that obedience is actually something their faith commands. Perhaps the religion emphasizes love rather than obedience; they can’t be sure.

Most of the women have rejected the forgiveness option, and are now deciding whether they should leave or stay to fight their oppressors. But fighting — if the fight involves physical violence — would require them to violate the pacifist beliefs that are central to their religion. Still, a fight for gender equality need not be violent; the revolution could be bloodless.

If the women decide to leave, what impact will that decision have on the colony’s men, who might not all be inherently evil despite the “pernicious ideology that has been allowed to take hold of their hearts and minds.” Some suggest that they take the younger boys with them and teach them not to be rapists.

The story generates drama and suspense as, on the second day, the reader wonders whether the women will actually abandon the colony and their older children and go forward into a world they are ill-equipped to understand. There is also tension in Epps’ personal story. Perhaps listening to brave women discuss their futures will have an impact on Epps’ fate.

These are heavy discussions but Miriam Toews lightens the mood with digressions and gossip and personality clashes. Women Talking is smart, sad, funny, completely engaging, and remarkably original.

RECOMMENDED

Thank you NetGalley, Bloomsbury Publishing, and Miriam Toews for an ARC ebook copy to review. As always, an honest review from me.

Like:
- Inspired by a real story the author heard about
- Showcases a unique community of women
- Repressed women are still trying to find a way to protect themselves and their family, and do what’s best for themselves
- A very unique book - the concept and the main focus of the story
- Perfect length (fairly short, but any longer would have been too much)

Love:
- Women supporting women (universal theme across most countries and cultures)

Dislike:
- Harder to read (Mennonite women, so their language and education levels is much different than ours)
- Despite a lot of talking and many events, nothing seemed to happen

Wish that:
- the story was more cohesive and had a better point
- It made me want to read more - I put the book down for about a week and didn’t really care to pick it back up.
- I could relate to at least one of the women

Overall, a unique read that I enjoyed but was not overly thrilled about due to a lack of connection with the characters.

Woman Talking is a fictionalized narrative based on actual atrocities against a community of Mennonite women.

The author chose to tell the story via a male narrator, reading back meeting minutes. Ultimately, this choice was the downfall of this book for me. I had a difficult time connecting to the story with a matter of fact perspective. The acts committed against these women were horrifying but, this manner of storytelling stripped away much of the emotion.

Women Talking is exactly that - a conversation that takes place over several days. It almost reads like a play or a talking head documentary. I can not say I "enjoyed" this book. What I can say is that it made me think. It made me look for the "rest of the story" as it's based upon actual circumstances. The narrative style may not be comfortable for many readers, and I would think an audio book would be very difficult to follow. I found myself needing to take several breaks away from Women Talking, that was the best way I could deal with my emotions while reading. Women Talking would likely make a good book discussion selection, as I found myself wanting to discuss and debate what I had read.
I received my copy through NetGalley under no obligation.

Extraordinary. Heavy, as the book is full of philosophy and pain and depicts horrible acts occurring in a culture of patriarchy and misogyny to the extreme. But there’s also much light, with many funny moments and characters I completely loved, and these characters’ thoughts and choices felt searingly relevant. This is a book I will almost certainly reread (after I go back and read everything else Miriam Toews has written - this is my first of hers).

There are some novels that just feel important when you read them, and "Women Talking" was just that way for me. Based on real events, the novel focuses on a group of women in a Mennonite colony in Bolivia who 10 years ago began waking up in the mornings having been assaulted. Because women are like second class citizens (see "Handmaid's Tale"), they are told they are dreaming or are being punished by Satan. Later they learn it was a group of men in their own community who were spraying them with an animal sedative while they slept, and then beating and raping them. These events (affecting ages 3-65) are truly horrifying, but Toews brings grace and strength to the story by creating a fictional account of how the women would have worked to process their trauma. While the novel sometimes reads like more of a philosophical discussion, I was completely drawn into their plight. Do they leave their only home and risk making it alone in the outside world (even though they're unable to read even a map)? Or do they try to forgive and forget what was done to them? Although it's difficult to read, Toews never descends into salacious details, selectively including only some of the most painful and poignant moments the women experienced (many of them in the aftermath). This book is, in short, a powerful read, and one that will stick with me for a long time.

This “reaction through fiction” and “act of female imagination” to real-life mass rapes that took place between 2005-2009 in a Mennonite community in Bolivia absolutely blew me away!

I know many readers have questioned the choice of a male-narrator to tell this story, though I think this is actually one of the strengths of the narrative for me. August is a minute taker of the meeting of the women, recording their meetings in the absence of them having the literacy skills to do so themselves. The women are meeting to discuss the options available to them to respond to the continued rapes that the men in the community have committed against them. Their discussions are profound and quite literally the first time in their life that they have the ability to make their own decisions. As they weigh up the various options, we see the impact of the crimes committed against them, the legacy of that on their identity and perception of the community that they live in.

Alongside this, I think August’s narrative is very full-circle and pertinent to the discussions the women are having - while many are quick to dismiss his role in the story, I think the intentional act of having a male narrator was a clever plot construct. Considering the discussions about community legacy and inherited trauma, his very role in the narrative is incredibly powerful!

I absolutely adored Toews’ writing and want to devour her entire backlist immediately! What a talented writer and storyteller!

I don't know how she does it but Toews manages to constantly offer new insights and surprising characters.

Writing
I really appreciate Toews style choices in this book. It's told as meeting minutes taken by the only man left in the colony (and the only one who knows how to write), who is also somewhat of an outsider. I really enjoy stories that are told in an unconventional manner, so the minutes format appealed to me from the beginning and I think Toews was very successful in its use. I enjoyed all of the characters, although I feel like characterization was secondary to the philosophical side of the book.

Entertainment Value
This isn't really a character-driven or plot-driven novel, so if you're looking for one of those things, you'll probably find it slow. It is, as it says, made up only of women talking. We're listening in on their discussion of how to proceed given their horrific circumstances, which leads them to discuss what I think is the best part of the book - a very philosophical look at the nature of forgiveness and the responsibility for protecting oneself and one's children. Toews addresses these big ideas from a religious standpoint, which is something that I don't think we see often in any writing and which I really enjoyed. Being put in the place of the women who are struggling to decide how to proceed really highlighted the ethical and moral dilemma (not to mention the practical dilemma) of how to protect themselves in a patriarchal colony where women have very little voice.

Overall
I ate this book up. I think I read it in two sittings. It's not that it's a page turner in terms of plot, but I was just fascinated by the author's take on a very conservative and patriarchal religious sect in an extreme situation and the ethical side of the women's dilemma. If you're interested in religion or the topic of forgiveness or philosophical novels, this is one you must read.

Women Talking takes place in a Mennonite colony in Bolivia where women and girls have been repeatedly violated by the men of their colony. The women are meeting and discussing their options on how to react and move forward with their lives. As the meeting and story develop, each women's beliefs and personalities shine through. Their trauma, resilience, and path to potential healing are depicted beautifully through August. I loved the decision to have him as the narrator in order to stay true to the Mennonite society. Overall, I really enjoyed this thought provoking book and would definitely recommend it!

This was a challenging read for me; ultimately, I did not enjoy it. The narrative style is interesting- we are reading the course of events of the discussions between women through the notes by a male minute-taker. Therefore, it follows a format of “this happened and then this happened...” I had a hard time connecting the events as a narrative and, though I could tell there was complexity to what was being described, things felt flat to me. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book!

I was extremely interested in the story behind this book. I found it, unfortunately, more interesting than reading this account. It was a bit confusing at times and I found myself mixing up the characters. On the surface, it seems simple. The men of your community are drugging and raping the women and children. What is there to discuss. It becomes a cultural and religious discussion. I had to get past the fact that it should not be a cultural or religious discussion. These women saw it as a much more complex matter. I tried to see it with them but it was hard to relate to the characters because of the way the story is told. The simple answer is not so simple to them. I did learn a little about their society but it just made me angry that people are still using their most closely held beliefs to hurt and control others.

I had to DNF this book at 15%. I did enjoy what I read, but it wasn’t the right time for me to read & I couldn’t keep the characters straight.

A small group of women gather to decide what to do after it is revealed that they, along with most other women and girls in their community, have been repeatedly drugged and raped by the men of their small Mennonite colony. Will they forgive the men, stay and fight, or leave the colony? Their discussions range over what it means to have the freedom to choose, whether one can be a pacifist if one harbors a desire a kill, how best to protect one's children, and many more philosophical topics.

It was somewhat jarring that a book that seemed as though it was to be about female empowerment was told from a man's perspective, but it worked. He is privy to the women talking as an amanuensis; none of the women can read or write, but want their deliberations preserved for posterity. He's an outsider in the colony, for reasons that aren't entirely clear, but his outsider status allows the women to trust him for this task, and makes him appropriately sensitive to them, in a way that no other man of their acquaintance could, or would, be.

And perhaps this is a realistic notion of what could happen when such an insulated group of people is threatened in this way. But I found it troubling to read about a group of women facing such a threat to themselves and their children and spending two days sitting in a hayloft debating the finer points of free will, rather than making actual plans. The lack of action in the books gives it a claustrophobic feel, which seems appropriate under the circumstances, and that feeling of clautrophobia helps keep the pressure on throughout the narrative, having the effect of sucking the reader through the story, rather in the manner of a pneumatic tube.

So what will the women decide to do, and will they be able to follow through on that decision? That is what they are talking about, and the question of whether they will be able to sieze their freedom, no matter what they decide, will leave the reader thinking long after the last page.

What a strange book this is. Based on true and horrifying events, its a transcript of a discussion between 8 women as they try to decide whether to leave their community after discovering that they've been sexually abused. The transcript is written by a man because the women are illiterate. That irritated me in a way I can't write decribe. The women have more of a philosophical debate than an emotional one- it's oddly bloodless. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Worth a read.

Women Talking is a novel based on true events that occurred in Bolivia between 2005 and 2009. Over 100 Mennonite women and children (the youngest victim 3 years old) were drugged with animal tranquilizers and sexually abused by the men of their colony, sometimes by their own relatives. The women were told that they imagined the episodes, were attacked by ghosts or devils because they had sinned or were making up stories to get attention. The truth could no longer be denied when one of the men was caught in the act. Even then, the men planned to do nothing about it until one of the women committed suicide. At that point, the men decided to turn in the rapists to avoid drawing further attention to their very private colony.

The events in the novel occur during several days when the men of the community went to the city to post bail for the rapists. Only the elderly, infirm men and boys under twelve stay behind with the women. Eight women meet in a hayloft to decide what they should do. Because they are illiterate and wish to give some formality to their discussions, the young male school teacher (left behind because he is not considered a real man in the farming-based colony) is asked to take minutes. Their main objective is to protect themselves and their children from future abuse. They come up with three options:
1) Do nothing and forgive the men
2) Stay and fight
3) Leave the colony

The pros and cons of each option are discussed at length. Their discussions are based on their religious beliefs, their societal rules, and fears. To do nothing would not stop future attacks. The option to stay and fight is a bold one. These women are used to being totally subservient; in fact, in their totally patriarchal society, they are not even considered members of the colony. The debate as to whether the men be willing to let the women have a voice and guarantee that the attacks would stop is a short one. It would be very difficult to leave as they don’t speak the language of the country, they wouldn’t know where they were, where to go or how to provide for their needs.

If placed in their situation, which option would you choose?

Talking Women is an important book in many ways. It draws attention to women living and being abused in such societies. It tells of women seeking a voice about their lives and fighting to be heard, trying to find the courage to stand up for and protect themselves, their desire for change, their fears, and their faith. It is a powerful book.

Yet there are things that frustrated me about the novel:
1) All the characters were introduced to the reader at the same time, with nothing to differentiate them. It was hard to keep the women straight in my mind.
2) Why a male narrator? I understand that because the women are illiterate, a male must take the minutes, but why take minutes at all? Who is going to read them? And you’ll find that these are hardly minutes at all. To have a male interject himself and his opinions into the discussion bothered me.
3) The amount and repetitiveness of the discussions grew tiresome. With time running out before the men returned and a vital decision to be made, the constant philosophical discussions were counter-productive. Perhaps the women couldn’t face deciding what to do.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and Bloomsbury Publishing for allowing me to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.