About the Book:

 

Set in an America where half the population has been silenced, VOX is the harrowing, unforgettable story of what one woman will do to protect herself and her daughter.

On the day the government decrees that women are no longer allowed more than 100 words daily, Dr. Jean McClellan is in denial–this can’t happen here. Not in America. Not to her.

This is just the beginning.

Soon women can no longer hold jobs. Girls are no longer taught to read or write. Females no longer have a voice. Before, the average person spoke sixteen thousand words a day, but now women only have one hundred to make themselves heard.

But this is not the end.

For herself, her daughter, and every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice.

Listen to a Sample of the Audiobook:

 

My Review:

“Think about waking up one morning and finding you don’t have a voice in anything.”

Giving this one 5 stars because of the importance of the theme and the mind-blowing setting. Imagine an America where women have been stripped of all basic human rights: to read, work and even speak. Right-wing fundamentalists have taken over the government and use the Bible to justify forcibly placing word counters on every female in America, even infants. Limited to just 100 words per day, mothers cannot even read books to their own children. Only men can work. Girls attend segregated schools. Even mail is delivered to a locked mailbox, only to be opened by the head of the household: the husband.

“My fault started two decades ago, the first time I didn’t vote, the umpteen times I told Jackie I was too busy to go on one of her marches or make posters or call my congressmen.”

Dr. Jean McClellan is a world-renowned scientist but has been forced to quit her research and her job, her computer locked away in her own home. Her role, like all women in America, is now to cook, clean and shop for groceries. The government has also criminalized lesbians and homosexuals, and gays are forcibly sent to prison camps.

“I wonder what the other women do. How they cope. Do they still find something to enjoy? Do they love their husbands in the same way? Do they hate them, just a little bit?”

Jean’s husband is a physician who works in the White House. When the President’s brother falls victim to a speech disorder, Jean is called in under tight security to help find a cure for him. She despises the President and his Cabinet, but is given no choice in the matter. She bargains to have her counter removed, along with her young daughter’s, but knows it will only be temporary.

This book brought up so many emotions!! How can such an unimaginable thing happen in America? The story is very compelling, timely and thought-provoking and I could not put it down.

“I hate that the males in my family tell Sonia how pretty she is. I hate that they’re the ones who soothe her when she falls off her push-bike, that they make up stories to tell her about princesses and mermaids. I hate having to watch and listen. It’s a trial reminding myself they’re not the ones who did this to me. Fuck it.”

This is both a thriller and a love story. The choices Jean is forced to make are impossible ones but she lives in desperate times. What’s worse is that her oldest son begins to follow the so-called “Pure Movement” and even begins to turn against his own family.

“Maybe this is how it happened in Germany with the Nazis, in Bosnia with the Serbs, in Rwanda with the Hutus. I’ve often wondered about that, about how kids can turn into monsters, how they learn that killing is right and oppression is just, how in one single generation the world can change on its axis into a place that’s unrecognizable.”

I imagined what a great movie this would be while reading ‘Vox’. There’s plenty of action near the end and tons of edge-of-your-seat thrills. The love story at its heart was my favorite part of this book, because it gave me a much-needed sense of hope.

I don’t want to give too much away about the plot because the ending was a complete surprise. I applaud the author for tackling an extremely uncomfortable and chilling topic, and turning current headlines into a cautionary tale. ‘Vox’ is a must-read and a very important book for our time.

“Evil triumphs when good men do nothing. That’s what they say, right?”

Reviewed from an advanced copy provided by the publisher.)