Outlawed The Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick

This story could have been really good, but instead it was quite bland. There was hardly any personality for the characters so a lot of them blended together and there wasn’t much distinction in my mind. Overall pretty boring.

*3.5

This was the first book selection of my online book club, so I was relatively excited (although I frequently don't love the books that are chosen). I almost immediately disliked this book. I knew it was a feminist dystopia, but it still bothered me. I wanted to love the characters, but I just didn't. I wanted to root for the group, but I just couldn't. Even the end left me cold. While I thought the overall premise was good, the story didn't unfold well.

The new novel by Anna North, called Outlawed, is worth a read. It stirs up the western with a provocative blend of alt-history and feminist consciousness. The result is a thrilling tale that is once familiar yet fresh. Ada is a midwife’s daughter learning to be a midwife herself. However, after a year of marriage at the age of 17, she is still not pregnant so her mother-in-law sends her home. Then measles sweeps through the village, causing women to miscarry. People look for someone to blame so the sheriff comes knocking, accusing Ada of witchcraft. She flees for her life, first to a convent then to join a gang of outlaws who resemble legendary male outlaws except they’re not necessarily men. Ada struggles to find her place in this group of outlaws until she realizes that her midwifery can be useful to the team. And while Ada and her group of outlaws set out to conquer a town and turn it into a refuge for the barren and the lost, the sheriff is hot on their tail. In the end, Ada must not only confront the sheriff in a classic Western standoff but must learn to not only channel her feelings of inadequacy and shame but her scientific knowledge (which sadly is frowned upon) into a force that can be used for good. Since we live in a time when a huge percentage of the population seeks to control women's bodies and tons of folks deny medical science, this book is eerily relevant. “Barren” women are, of course, the equivalent of lepers in this alternate history where the Flu killed 9 out of 10 people. The focus on repopulation is immediate rather than religious but religion weighs in with accusations, murdering women, etc. The majority of these folks in the story are MAGA-types who embrace lunatic fringe preachers and their teachings. While this is alternative fiction, it is not escapist. Far from it. This book deals with some heavy subject matter. I will say that I enjoyed this book and I thought the ending to be satisfying but I was confused about the LGBTQIA+ representation in this book. It seemed to me to be fully fleshed out and then kind of reductive in the end. Nevertheless, this is a very unique western! Trigger warnings: depression & barrenness.

I picked up this book based on a book review I heard on NPR. The reviewer described the book as a western with a Handmaids Tale vibe. I'm not sure I would have made that particular connection had someone else not said it. I personally thought more western meets salem witch trials. The emphasis is on Ada and how she escapes her town and becomes an outlaw. The 1st 1/2 of the story is a little slow but it kept me engaged and helped with the character development. I do wish that the author spent more time with the other outlaw characters. Especially because there were several interactions where Ada did something foolish and there are ramifications but never any resolutions. It's as if the author started fleshing them out and then they fell to the wayside. Still I'd recommend the story

I almost want to give it 3.5 stars and round up. I enjoyed the book. I really think it would have been better in third person, because the narrative voice isn’t quite right… it’s almost modern. And with third person, I think we would have seen more of the characters’ motivations. As it stands, Ada doesn’t seem to have a personality. Perhaps that is purposeful.

⭐️⭐️💫 Hmm...I struggled to rate this. I found the stories of barren women being cast out during this time sad, and they made me angry. Ada was a strong character who had such a curious mind and a heart to help other women. But, there were too many characters, and it was hard to keep everyone straight. I did like Lark and News. Also, the ending was satisfying for me, although it didn’t work for others.

3.5 stars - As with all NYT Bestsellers, the premise of this book was unique and intriguing. I was looking for a fun, well-written, and mildly irreverent read- and yes, I feel like this did the trick. However, I just feel like it could have been so much better , and for that, I deducted one star. I bumped my rating down another 0.5 stars and rounded down because I'm not sure I'm quite comfortable with how the author handled the racial issues inherent in alternate history southwest U.S. But I'll get to that later. The premise of the book (a heavily patriarchal society in which women are valued solely for their ability to reproduce) leaves so many different paths open to the author. My first problem with this book is that pretty much the only women we see rebelling against this society are those who physically cannot bear children or otherwise physically unable to complete the process of motherhood. You can't tell me that every other woman is just fine and dandy with this childbearing-obsessed culture. I suppose we get hints of discontent in some of the stories we hear about abortion attempts, and there are descriptions of non-heterosexual women who rebel against the system, but it seems like those who can bear children are happy to be safe and go along with the flow. Apparently, being "barren" is the only motivation strong enough to prompt women to rebel. Not sure how I feel about that. That being said, I would like to pause here to say that the western landscape imagery was my favorite part of this book. I could picture those scenes so well, and it was so satisfying. I loved it, and it made me miss my childhood family vacations in the desert and red rock out west. I wanted to see way more successful heist and/or robbery scenes. For a book ostensibly about a notorious group of outlaws, I feel like we didn't get many victorious outlaw action scenes. There was also an inconsistency in which one member of the Gang exclaims that nobody even knows who they are, which was confusing given the descriptions in the beginning about the "infamous" Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. Indeed, it seems nobody except the main character has heard about this infamous Hole-in-the-Wall Gang for most of the story. I also wanted way more getting to know the Gang members. The Kid had the most characterization, but the other members did not feel as memorable. I feel like this was a lost opportunity for creating some unforgettable, complex, infamous characters. Lastly, there were some scenes in which the author attempted to address the racial prejudices of the American South/Southwest, but I was left confused and unsatisfied by the author's treatment of these issues. I am glad that these issues were addressed and that we got PoC (and queer) representation in this story, but as with the various side characters in this book, I felt like this branch of the tale was left surface-level and underdeveloped. All this being said, the book was a fun read. While there were some inconsistencies in the plot, the writing style was smooth and polished, the dialogue and behavior was believable, and even the chemistry was fairly well-done. I appreciated the feminist arc of the story. A major theme in this book was that one cannot dispel false myths without providing an alternative, more satisfying explanation. The pursuit of scientific (specifically, medical) knowledge amidst a fearful and ultra-religious society was a struggle which will resonate with many readers. Sure, we were often hit over the head (repeatedly) with these themes, but of course, NYT Bestsellers are not renown for subtlety. Overall, I had a good time and I am glad that I finally picked up this book.

The overall idea behind the story was good, but it was missing something.

Outlawed is an alternate history in which a Great Flu wiped out 9/10ths of the U.S. population, the country fell apart, and now a woman who can’t pop out babies to rebuild that population is branded a witch and hanged. As a barren woman myself, this premise hit incredibly close to home for me. I loved seeing how all of these women dealt with such superstition and blatant inequality. “People cry witchcraft whenever they don’t understand something.” I’ve seen reviews calling this book a mix of The Crucible and True Grit, or The Handmaid’s Tale and the Netflix show Godless. Both are incredibly apt, and I felt all four of those inspirations in this story. But what I ended up being reminded of the most was the movie Young Guns. Likely this was largely a mix of nostalgia, having adored that movie in my childhood, and the fact that one of the most important characters in this book was known solely by the moniker “The Kid.” Whatever the case may be, that similarity imparted a fun walk down memory lane for me, which did nothing but increase my enjoyment while reading. “Knowledge can be very valuable... but only if people want it. If they don't, it can be worse than useless.” Our main character, Ada, was interesting. She’s incredibly book-smart, and has a lot of practical medical knowledge, but she’s not exactly gifted in the common sense department. She makes plenty of mistakes, but overall I found her an easy protagonist to root for. The rest of the characters surrounding her were fun and multifaceted, and I very much enjoyed getting their backstories. “When someone believes in something... you can't just take it away. You have to give them something to replace it.” I think my main complaint about Outlawed is that it’s one of those rare novels that feels too short. I feel like another fifty to hundred pages could have bumped this up from four stars to five in my book. But regardless, this is an incredibly fun story with plenty of depth and drama. There’s a ton of commentary and questions regarding identity and sexuality that I found to be great food for thought. Overall, I highly recommend this book for those looking for girl power in an unusual setting. You can find this review and more at Novel Notions.

Such a fun novel! Filled with suspense, unique and interesting characters, and enticing combat. I wish it was longer so some plot lines and characters could be explored more, but overall a quick and enjoable read.

I went in hoping and thinking I would love this book, but it was so catastrophically dull that I found it a slog to get through. Dullness aside I also found the characters distant and unengaging. Every character felt shallowly explored, and the muddled and misguided attempts at modernised gender concepts placed over them did them even further disservice. I was hoping for a brutal and visceral western from a female perspective but instead I got a plodding and turgid account with very little happening for a swathe of the book. I won’t even get into the levels of the gender and race portrayal (i feel like other reviews have already covered it extensively) but needless to say they were shallowly used and not particularly well rounded in presentation.

I enjoyed parts of this book, but I found the characters to be boring. I feel like the author was trying to highlight important topics but it felt a bit half formed.

#girlboss; a Novel Well, it's definitely a book. Are we 100% sure this wasn’t a draft that accidentally got published? I’ve been going through a western phase and Outlawed piqued my interest after a coworker recommended it. I didn’t look too deeply into the synopsis, instead choosing to trust Reese Witherspoon (which I will never do again). I was reading this while working so I didn’t notice the plot inconsistencies that others have pointed out. What I did notice, however, was how much this book wanted to be a feminist, LGBTQ alternate history with badass heroines. I have to be honest; this book didn’t do that for me. And here’s why: The Kid doesn’t have pronouns. If you haven’t read the book you’re probably thinking, “oh, a nonbinary character!”. Well do I have news for you; not a single character in this novel actually expresses dysphoria. They all dress as men, not because they’re more comfortable that way, but because it’s part of their livelihoods. If anything, them being barren women makes up a lot of their self-identities. The Kid is called “the Kid” on every page. “The Kid said” this, “Where’s the Kid? Have you seen the Kid?” that. No he, no she, no they is used to describe this character, and quite frankly, it’s annoying. Yet, the Kid not only mentions (view spoiler)[ being a mother, but expresses the past desire to have more biological children (hide spoiler)]. It’s okay to have masculine female characters oh my god!!!!! Even making the Kid a butch lesbian would be better than calling the character by their full name in every other paragraph. Also there’s this really weird side plot about racism (actually there’s a lot of weird side plots that don’t add to the world building) that is never addressed past the fact. Ada defends mixed-race relationships in front of News (a mixed woman), who then gets mad at Ada for bringing it up. Then it’s never talked about again and the two of them make up at some point. There’s this unresolved side plot around it where a doctor spreads the message that mixed-race couples produce sickly offspring, and I shit you not, the final scene he’s featured in is him telling a crowd about how awful the babies will be. He’s never confronted or called out. Ada and the rest of the characters just let him do his thing, because becoming domestic terrorists and finding a master midwife is more #girlboss than fighting bigots. Oh yeah, can't forget that the the only Native American character in this western story is a trader. Also, can we talk about Lark’s only purpose being to (view spoiler)[ eat Ada out (hide spoiler)]? He wasn’t useful in any scene he was in (view spoiler)[ (other than him and Ada getting arrested, but granted they only got arrested because News took off. Lark really didn’t do anything that aided in stealing the wagon lol) (hide spoiler)] . I was really hoping he’d play a larger role; specifically, North made such a big deal about (view spoiler)[ ‘death being in the room’ and Ada’s mother nodding to death, that I thought Lark would end up being the person Ada nodded to as she began to help her first patient at the end of the novel (hide spoiler)] . But nope! Tldr; Anna North really took the theme of “not everything has an answer” and then lazily wrote a book that lacks answers, and not in a comforting way. I genuinely think North didn’t know the plot as she was writing Outlawed and just winged it.

It looks like my review was deleted with no warning. So I'm leaving it here again. #girlboss; a Novel Well, it's definitely a book. Are we 100% sure this wasn’t a draft that accidentally got published? I’ve been going through a western phase and Outlawed piqued my interest after a coworker recommended it. I didn’t look too deeply into the synopsis, instead choosing to trust Reese Witherspoon (which I will never do again). I was reading this while working so I didn’t notice the plot inconsistencies that others have pointed out. What I did notice, however, was how much this book wanted to be a feminist, LGBTQ alternate history with badass heroines. I have to be honest; this book didn’t do that for me. And here’s why: The Kid doesn’t have pronouns. If you haven’t read the book you’re probably thinking, “oh, a nonbinary character!”. Well do I have news for you; not a single character in this novel actually expresses dysphoria. They all dress as men, not because they’re more comfortable that way, but because it’s part of their livelihoods. If anything, them being barren women makes up a lot of their self-identities. The Kid is called “the Kid” on every page. “The Kid said” this, “Where’s the Kid? Have you seen the Kid?” that. No he, no she, no they is used to describe this character, and quite frankly, it’s annoying. Yet, the Kid not only (view spoiler)[mentions being a mother, but expresses the past desire to have more biological children (hide spoiler)] . It’s okay to have masculine female characters oh my god!!!!! Even making the Kid a butch lesbian would be better than calling the character by their full name in every other paragraph. Also there’s this really weird side plot about racism (actually there’s a lot of weird side plots that don’t add to the world building) that is never addressed past the fact. Ada defends mixed-race relationships in front of News (a mixed woman), who then gets mad at Ada for bringing it up. Then it’s never talked about again and the two of them make up at some point. There’s this unresolved side plot around it where a doctor spreads the message that mixed-race couples produce sickly offspring, and I kid you not, the final scene he’s featured in is him telling a crowd about how awful the babies will be. He’s never confronted or called out. Ada and the rest of the characters just let him do his thing, because becoming domestic terrorists and finding a master midwife is more #girlboss than fighting bigots. Oh yeah, the only Native American character is a trader. Also, can we talk about Lark’s only purpose being (view spoiler)[to eat Ada out? He wasn’t useful in any scene he was in (other than him and Ada getting arrested, but granted they only got arrested because News took off. Lark really didn’t do anything that aided in stealing the wagon lol). I was really hoping he’d play a larger role; specifically, North made such a big deal about ‘death being in the room’ and Ada’s mother nodding to death, that I thought Lark would end up being the person Ada nodded to as she began to help her first patient at the end of the novel. But nope! (hide spoiler)] Tldr; Anna North really took the theme of “not everything has an answer” and then lazily wrote a book that lacks answers, and not in a comforting way. I genuinely think North didn’t know the plot as she was writing Outlawed and just winged it.

Was not a fan. The entire book lacked a plot line and when there was action it was so quickly resolved I was confused if it even qualified as conflict. Overall was not impressed.

4.5/5 I struggle to find a way to start off this review. The book was a joy to read. I loved the concept. A young woman banished from her hometown because she is barren despite the hundreds of babies she has helped her mother (an accomplished midwife) birth because of superstitious views. The young woman escapes to a convent where she stays for awhile before being directed to try and find a band of outlaws the "Hole in the Wall Gang." When she finds it she is shocked to discover it is made up entirely of barren women like herself. The book was a fun trip back to the Old West and includes all one would expect from such a book from shoot-outs to bank heists. There were a few nit-picky things that bothered me and kept me from giving the book five stars. The MC could be a little annoying at times, she couldn't excel at any part of being an outlaw and eventually, it got old. I never quite understood the choice to gender-bend Billy the Kid, especially when the character had a very minor role it felt. If the character of the Kid had been cut and any of the other Outlaws had been written as in-charge instead I feel the book would have been the same. Idk it just felt unnecessary. I recommend this book to anyone who like old-westerns, and strong-women. Otherwise it was a really fun read

Overall was not a bad book. It somewhat held my attention but the beginning was on the slower side and the end felt rush. I really enjoyed the range of characters and what the book was truly about. I wish there was more to the end

This book was not at all what I expected, but I still really enjoyed it. I loved the representation within the cast, and being transported to a time not so long ago when things were extremely different. I do wish there was a bit more closure with the ending, but I also kind of like the way that it ended with so much unknown, because that's the way life is.

I just feel a little dissatisfied. The premise of this book was so intriguing and so incredible and most of the book was really fun and mostly delivered what I was hoping for and anticipating. However I feel like the ending was rushed and just fell flat. I still have so many questions and there are a lot of things that just... don’t make any sense??

Read in three days, really enjoyed the alternate dystopian past/feminist western setting. A few things felt repetitive/spelled out too obviously at the beginning, but this didn’t persist. Loved the protagonist—so many great backstories and relationships between characters. Would 100% recommend.

This book is definitely a slow start but it picks up so fast and once it did I couldn't put it down! The themes were consistent throughout and the ending was full circle, in my opinion. I really liked the character and their dynamics. Solid read!

I felt like the description of the book didn’t line up with how it turned out. The writing felt very basic and overall it was a very bland book. I had higher hopes going into reading this

I have said on plenty of occasions that I don't like westerns, but maybe the problem was that I just couldn't see myself in them. Slow-burn, long impact, brought me to tears- I read this book in several bursts of time, but it almost begs to be read slower.