Book Review: Vox by Christina Dalcher (2.5 Stars)
Vox is a modern retelling of the Handmaids Tale with a twist. Dr. Jean McClellan is living in a new world, and it’s a quiet one. At least it is for her and her daughter. After the United States is overtaken by the “Pure Movement,” a fundamentalist Christian political movement, women are only allowed to speak 100 words a day. But when Dr. McClellan’s research is needed to save the President’s brother, she’s given a break from her newly enforced domestic life and silence in order to save him (reluctantly, of course). Vox is a retelling of a familiar trope with new ideas, solid writing, and good character development. However, I often felt like it was a story I’d read before and felt that the novel itself didn’t have anything “new” to say about the world. While it was disturbing to read the slow progression of the “Pure Movement,” it wasn’t shocking like it was meant to be. This concept has simply been beaten to death in fiction.
Dalcher does a good job of showing the slow process of indoctrination and how people are radicalized. Jean’s oldest son, Steven, is a good foil for his mother’s character, constantly presenting the logic behind his radicalization in an eerily understandable way. Steven is a character that we all know and could imagine talking to at the kitchen table. When he brings home his new AP course book, Fundamentals of Modern Christian…
