Women Talking
Reviews
Probably would’ve enjoyed this more if I didn’t see the film first
Suspenseful and subtle tale of a group of women that have had enough and want a better world for their children. Told from the perspective of the only man in the story, we follow a two families of three generations of woman as they determine the fate of the women in a religious colony after years of direct abuse from a small gaggle of the men along systemic oppression from the elders of the sect. Full of heart, family bonds, tenderness and trust along with rage, religion, and yearning for emancipation. The novel shines in the small moments and personalities created, though it falls short in the attempts of grandiose philosophy and forced moments of clarity.
Gonna need some time to digest this one... but I highly recommend.
I really struggled with this one. I understand that the women felt the need to re-evaluate their faith in the context of being women and therefore subservient to men, but all I wanted to do the entire time is scream JUST GET OUT OF THERE. My heart breaks for women in this situation, but this book was exhausting to read.
I want to say that this book was profound, because the concept is something so much bigger than any of us. This is women talking about their place in the world, this is women talking about what love is and what it means to forgive, this is girlhood. That being said, the author did not make this a dynamic or compelling read
painful, honest, and quietly revolutionary
I read this in one sitting. Definitely not for everyone, but I couldn't put it down.
3.5
This book was so profound and touching, and I was left thinking about it and its characters days after I finished it. It serves as a poignant reminder of the privileges of freedom we often take for granted in our modern world, contrasting the unfortunate reality faced by some.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the book truly lives up to its title. It heavily relies on dialogue, capturing the profound conversations among the women in the Mennonite colony as they grapple with the decision to either leave or confront their abusers within their community.
Despite its length of 210 pages, the characters burst with life and personality, a testament to Toews' skillful storytelling. Her writing brings them vividly to life. This is a beautifully written book that I believe every woman should read. Without a doubt, it's my favourite read of the year so far.
I have so much love for feminist literature. The debate about whether to stay and fight the systems set within the colony or run toward a peaceful and safe future continues to be a big conversation in our world today. Especially interesting is the stance of men’s liberation, recognizing how they are disadvantaged by the systems set up to subjugate women, a part of today’s conversation that is consistently missing.
I enjoyed this book. I need to stop accidentally buying journal-formatted books, but this story was quick and dealt with themes I find very interesting. It lent itself, in a way, to drive the point of the women’s disadvantage home. The women can’t even tell their own story because they are left ignorant. It was the right choice for the story, just a personal dislike of mine.
There are definitely triggers in this book, so a warning to survivors of domestic violence, suicide, and sexual assault, as it gets pretty graphic as the women recount the crimes against them and their daughters. Beyond that, the story is very important, and based on true events that our fellow humans have had to live through. I think we owe it to those wronged to bear witness to the injustice.
A heavy but necessary read.
For once, I'm thinking the movie might exceed the original book. The topic is interesting and important, and very heavy. However, for me, the structure of the book is not the most engaging. I felt like the book and the conversation the book is centered around circles round and round without every really catching on or creating movement in the story.
Also, I had a hard time keeping the people in the story apart, or ever really feeling a connection to either because of that.
A visual media (such as a fiml) where the separation of characters is instant (because of the different actors) might fit the story better.
Note: I've read the Swedish translation.
All I will say is that is Sarah Polley made best picture out of this then she really deserved that Oscar. I haven’t seen the film yet, because books first always.
I grew up at round Mennonite’s and, this book was challenging emotionally and structurally. I understand it, and why it was done the way it was done, because it is heavy. The subject is heavy. The source material is heavy. The inspiration is heavy. The task of writing about it is heavy. And the method of trying to do so authentically is heavy. It was good. It didn’t knock me backwards or blow me over. But it didn’t disappoint either.
I gobbled through this one and loved it. Toews takes a horrific real life crime and creates an aftermath that is inspiring, giving a voice to a group of women that never had one before. 4.5 stars.
This book is about so many things within a relatively simple premise and resolution. As a reaction to a heinous act of violence against them, women who have been raped, some many times, by members of their own (separate) Mennonite communities, they hold a secret meeting to discuss what they should do, and what each option truly entails. A male minute keeper is used to translate for the two groups who speak different languages. This somewhat skews the narrative as it’s peppered with the man’s thoughts, which I think is bold and purposeful, and there to show the lack of agency the women have enjoyed and frustrate the reader similarly. It becomes even more pertinent by the end, though. In their frequent digressions and interactions the conversation shifts from grief to anger to many different, sometimes unexpected emotions, as they come to grips with what’s happened and what is right and what is Good for them.
Women Talking was just that: women talking. Women, otherwise ignored and taken advantage of, talking and thinking and taking their futures into their hands. I cried in the beginning, middle, and end. The women, while illiterate and "uneducated", show more knowledge and understanding of their religion, its tenets, and what actions they must take to preserve their belief in those tenets, than the men they are leaving behind (and that's the point). I would highly recommend this read.
3.5🌟
Eh
A powerful punch. I loved the format of meeting minutes, because it conveys the conversations and the dialogue that are so often swept under the rug.
I listened to the Audio book while painting. I didn't really know what to expect. I knew about the premises and I find religious cults quite fascinating. This book asked more questions than it answered really. It will make you think about your beliefs and morals. It might even make you think about what would I do if I'd have been in this situation? I enjoyed this book and I learned something about my own moral compass/beliefs. 3.5/5 stars
Highlights
Mom, she says, I dreamt that you had died, and in my dream I said, But if you are dead then there is nobody to catch me if I fall. And then I my dream you came back from the death, you were tired, your feet hurt, but you were happy to come back one last time, and you said: Then don't fall.
And when the perpetrators return, the women of Molotschna will be given the opportunity to forgive these men, thus guaranteeing everyone's place in heaven. If the women don't forgive the men, says Peters, the women will have to leave the colony for the outside world, of which they know nothing.
“None of us have ever asked the men for anything. Agata states. Not a single thing, not even for the salt to be passed, not even for a penny or a moment alone or to take the washing in or to open a curtain or to go easy on the small yearlings or to put your hand on the small of my back as I try, again, for the twelfth or thirteenth time, to push a baby out of my body.
Isn't it interesting, she says, that the one and only request the wonmen would make of the men would be to leave?
The women break out laughing again.”
“Is it accurate to say that at this moment we women are asking ourselves what our priority is, and what is right—to protect our children or to enter the kingdom of heaven?”
“She once explained to me that, as a Molotschnan, she had everything she wanted; all she had to do was convince herself that she wanted very little.”
Salome elaborates. Yes! Do you think you were created in God's image, or that you evolved from animals?
Salome, says Ona. We can have souls either way.
I grappled with the idea of explaining hemispheres to her, how we are required to share the sun with other parts of the world, that if one were to observe the earth from outer space one could see as many as fifteen sunsets and sunrises in a day - and that perhaps by sharing the sun the world could learn to share everything, learn that everything belonged to everyone!
The women in the loft have taught me that consciousness is resistance, that faith is action, that time is running out. But can faith also be to return, to stay, to serve?
Why does the mention of love, the memory of love, the memory of love lost, the promise of love, the end of love, the absence of love, the burning, burning need for love, need to love, result in so much violence?
My list is listing, listless. The origin: liste, from Middle English, meaning desire. Which is also the origin of the word „listen.“
But when one loves something deeply it's very difficult to keep it a secret, isn't it? she said.
How can something that is always the subject, and is eternal, also be one that is unknowable – at least according to Ona? says Mariche.
Ona protests, quietly, that she doesn't believe that at all. She doesn't believe in authority, period, because authority makes people cruel. Salome interrupts: The people with authority or the people without?
When we have liberated ourselves, we will have to ask ourselves who we are.
A very small amount of hate is a necessary ingredient to life.
But is forgiveness that is coerced true forgiveness? asks Ona Friesen. And isn't the lie of pretending to forgive with words but not with one's heart a more grievous sin than to simply not forgive?
And perhaps it doesn‘t take too long before you believe that you really don't exist, she said. Or that your actual corporeal existence is a perversity.