Name: Leticia Leal's review of When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
Item: When Women Were Dragons
Rating: 3
Author: Leticia Leal

Kelly Barnhill

A slyly funny, utterly original, triumphantly feminist novel, by the Newbery award-winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon, about the Mass Dragoning of 1955 in which 300,000 women spontaneously transform into dragons…and change the world. Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours. But this version of 1950’s America is characterized by a significant event: The Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales and talons, left a trail of fiery destruction in their path, and took to the skies. Seemingly for good. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex’s beloved Aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn’t know. It’s taboo to speak of, even more so than her crush on Sonja, her schoolmate. Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of dragons: a mother more protective than ever; a father growing increasingly distant; the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and a new “sister” obsessed with dragons far beyond propriety. Through loss, rage, and self-discovery, this story follows Alex’s journey as she deals with the events leading up to and beyond the Mass Dragoning, and her connection with the phenomenon itself. In this timely and timeless speculative novel, award-winning author Kelly Barnhill boldly explores rage, memory, and the limitations of girlhood. When Women Were Dragons exposes a world that wants to keep women small—their lives and their prospects—and examines what happens when they rise en masse and take up the space they deserve.

A Novel

When Women Were Dragons

A slyly funny, utterly original, triumphantly feminist novel, by the Newbery award-winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon, about the Mass Dragoning of 1955 in which 300,000 women spontaneously transform into dragons...and change the world. Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours. But this version of 1950's America is characterized by a significant event: The Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales and talons, left a trail of fiery destruction in their path, and took to the skies. Seemingly for good. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex's beloved Aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn't know. It's taboo to speak of, even more so than her crush on Sonja, her schoolmate. Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of dragons: a mother more protective than ever; a father growing increasingly distant; the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and a new "sister" obsessed with dragons far beyond propriety. Through loss, rage, and self-discovery, this story follows Alex's journey as she deals with the events leading up to and beyond the Mass Dragoning, and her connection with the phenomenon itself. In this timely and timeless speculative novel, award-winning author Kelly Barnhill boldly explores rage, memory, and the limitations of girlhood. When Women Were Dragons exposes a world that wants to keep women small--their lives and their prospects--and examines what happens when they rise en masse and take up the space they deserve.

Charlotte Squire

Forgive me, or not, it is all the same. May my last sorrowful breath be a testament to my wrongs against you, and to the terrible audacity of men.

 "There is nothing lewd about biology, research. or basic facts, gentlemen, and you make yourselves fools when you try to classify the quest for understanding as obscene. The only thinp more patently obscene than ignorance is willful ignorance. Arresr yourselves."

Sophia 

There were dragons who took it upon themselves to assist migrant populations living hand to mouth in tin shacks in the fruit fields of Calitornia and dragons who forced their way into sweatshops in Queens, threatening to burn them down during the night if working conditions didn't improve immediately, and dragons who walked alongside marchers in Nashville and Atlanta and Birmingham, simply using their quiet presence as a dare to anyone who might wish to make trouble. 

There were dragons who showed up in ladies sewing circles. 

And dragons who attended labor meetings. 

And dragons who marched with farmworkers. 

And dragons who joined anti-war committees.

No one knew what to do with them at first. Newspapers didn't report it. The evening news remained silent. People averted their eyes and changed the subject. Cheeks flushed; voices faltered. Most people simply assumed that if they just ignored the dragons they would go away.

You need to take care of yourself. The world is changing, and it needs you to be well. Go to bed. Get some sleep. And start keeping your eyes up. The skies are full of promise. You are less alone than you think.

"Anger is a funny thing, And it does funny things to us if we keep it inside. l encourage you to consider a question: Who benefits, my dear, when you force yourself to not feel angry?" She tilted her head and looked at me so hard I thought she could see right into my bones. She raised her eyebrows. “Clearly not you." 

 My anger at the situation, I noticed, was strangely calming. I took a deep and slow breath through my nose as I smiled sweetly, as I sharpened my tongue.

I was never allowed to be angry, was I? My ability to discover and understand the power of my own raging was a thing denied to me. Until, at last, I learned to stop denying myself.

Coley T

Memory is a strange thing. It reorganizes and connects. It provides context and clarity; it reveals patterns and divergences. It finds the holes in the universe and stitches them closed, tying the threads together in a tight, unbreakable knot.

sometimes, I feel that we are all tricked by love, and its rigid requirements of pain. 

Laura Mei

There is a tremendous power in remembrance. Indeed, it is memory that teaches us, and reminds us, again and again, who we truly are and who we have always been.

I really like the revelations made here about anger: in the first quote, that anger and the fear it causes isn’t something you can ever take back, and in the second quote, that anger is so often a mask for something deeper and more raw that you’re too afraid to voice. 

I also think this page gives you a lot of insight into Alex’s mother, who is such a mysterious character in the book. 

Bethany Jenkins

Beatrice jumped. And then she held herself terribly still. She had never been afraid of me. Never before this moment. But now she was. I could see the fear, harsh and livid, pressed into her face. I couldn’t take this moment away. Another Before and After.

, said a voice deep inside me. I ignored it. I didn't think about it. I pretended it wasn't there. 

“Inappropriate." My voice had edges and weight. 

Please don't leave me. You can't leave me. We only have each other.

We spend our lives as adults making sense of the memories we carry with us from our childhoods, but we must still be beholden, always, to the facts.

Jayme Bosio

“All I know is that we all just spent a lot of damn time learning nothing of consequence, except what it feels like to get your ass handed to you by a goddamned librarian.” 

I was four years old when I first saw a dragon. I was four years old when I first learned to be silent about dragons. Perhaps this is how we learn silence - an absence of words, an absence of context, a hole in the universe where the truth should be. 

Nica Rhiana

The work of storytelling requires a person to remain in a state of brutal vulnerability and punishing empathy.

Emilie

Victoria Justice

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

Leticia Leal

2.5 stars. It's a bit heavy handed, innit. Also, it was impossible to gauge the size of the dragons, like they were so big they destroyed buildings, but could also apply lipstick?

What if women could turn into dragons? This is the concept of this book, which clumsily uses dragoning as a metaphor that seems to sometimes be about gender, sexuality, race, and a number of other stand ins. It is a sweet book with a lot of heart, but the main concept can turn silly from time to time and take away from the overall narrative strength. 

In the 1960s, after a history of people hushing up stories about women turning into dragons, our protagonist Alex grows up in a household where she's taught to keep her eyes down and not push, not ask questions. People aren't allowed to talk about dragons - it's taboo in a similad way that talking about feminine hygiene is taboo. Alex has a lovely aunt who eventually dragons and disappears for a long time and a deeply uptight, wary mother who wastes away from illness. This book does not have high opinions about men and this is embodied in a father who is a Leave It To Beaver nightmare. Ultimately it is about Alex and her young cousin turned sister Beatrice. It is about their bond, their struggles, and their choices while growing up in a world that wishes to keep them and all women small. 

Things work out in the end, but it's hard to navigate the metaphors in this book without twisting myself into knots to get at what the author is trying to say aside from "patriarchy bad" and "females are strong as hell".  

I think they could've cut out 100 pages and it might've been a better read. 

Krys C

What if women could turn into dragons? This is the concept of this book, which clumsily uses dragoning as a metaphor that seems to sometimes be about gender, sexuality, race, and a number of other stand ins. It is a sweet book with a lot of heart, but the main concept can turn silly from time to time and take away from the overall narrative strength. 

In the 1960s, after a history of people hushing up stories about women turning into dragons, our protagonist Alex grows up in a household where she's taught to keep her eyes down and not push, not ask questions. People aren't allowed to talk about dragons - it's taboo in a similad way that talking about feminine hygiene is taboo. Alex has a lovely aunt who eventually dragons and disappears for a long time and a deeply uptight, wary mother who wastes away from illness. This book does not have high opinions about men and this is embodied in a father who is a Leave It To Beaver nightmare. Ultimately it is about Alex and her young cousin turned sister Beatrice. It is about their bond, their struggles, and their choices while growing up in a world that wishes to keep them and all women small. 

Things work out in the end, but it's hard to navigate the metaphors in this book without twisting myself into knots to get at what the author is trying to say aside from "patriarchy bad" and "females are strong as hell".  

I think they could've cut out 100 pages and it might've been a better read. 

At first, I thought this book to be about feminine rage - especially in the context of the 1950’s - but I soon discovered that it was more than that. It explored having the ability to choose the life you lead, whether you want something bigger than you currently are. It’s a beautiful book, a story on broken families, and building new ones, the freedom in forgetting, and the power in remembering, love that is beautiful and forbidden, and of course, accepting that we cannot control everything. I really liked this book, and Alex was an intricate character with a lot of depth. I’m glad I picked up this book. My only issue with this book, was it was too slow at times for me, often leading to me putting the book down for a while, but when it got interesting again it would captivate me for many pages.  

When I’m done crying, I may write an actual review. Loved this so much. 

Floofyflower

When I’m done crying, I may write an actual review. Loved this so much. 

Reread review: still hits real hard. 

I am still processing this book. It is amazing. It is difficult. It is joyful and light and transformative. It is also about pain and suppression. More than anything, it’s about all of the difficult and selfless ways that women love one another. I am on my knees, begging you to read it.

Emily McMeans

My throat is closed up and my nose is running and my eyes are puffy and leaking. This is one of those heart wrenching, sucker punch type of books that you can’t put down. Oh to be a woman. Oh to be Queer. Oh to be a Queer woman. I’d rather just be a dragon. Or both, I guess. I’m blowing my nose as I type this. Add this to the list of books that has made its mark on me and my brain. I’ll need 3-5 business days to process. 

The first adult novel by the Newbery award-winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon is a rollicking feminist tale set in 1950s America where thousands of women have spontaneously transformed into dragons, exploding notions of a woman's place in the world and expanding minds about accepting others for who they really are. Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours. But this version of 1950's America is characterized by a significant event: The Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales and talons, left a trail of fiery destruction in their path, and took to the skies. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex's beloved Aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn't know. It's taboo to speak of. Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of this disturbing event: a mother more protective than ever; a father growing increasingly distant; the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and helping to raise a beloved younger girl obsessed with dragons far beyond propriety. In this timely and timeless speculative novel, award-winning author Kelly Barnhill boldly explores rage, memory, and the forced limitations of girlhood. When Women Were Dragons exposes a world that wants to keep women small--their lives and their prospects--and examines what happens when they rise en masse and take up the space they deserve.

yes very slay!! I love 🤭 it's different from the books i usually which means I need more variety. very interesting read i felt very cool reading it 

emma 🍓

If you’ve struggled with family relationships, the maddening instruction that there are certain truths in the world that we are to accept without question, people who disavow science, and the deep simmering rage that comes with trying to exist as a woman in this world - you’re in the right place here. This book approaches these topics and so many more with a gentle and at times hilarious touch. I would definitely recommend this! If I were to make slight criticisms - there’s a couple loose threads (to me, at least - we’ll see if my book club clears them up) and at times it can be a little long-winded in explanations of things. But it was really beautiful.

DNF at approximately 50%. Honestly so disappointed at how this turned out. I was so excited to read it. It sounded powerful and reaffirming and full of righteous rage. But by like 30-40% it felt like the story was pretty much over. Yet it kept going and going, reading like bad whump fanfiction. You watch the MC get senselessly tortured by men and the patriarchy over and over and over with no real point and it just gets incredibly depressing and old. Not to mention once both of the female figures in her life are gone, there seems to be no purpose to there being dragons in the story at all. They lose their relevance, but we keep hearing about them. The MC themself never seemed in danger of becoming one, because at least that would have presented an interesting conflict. Just super let down because I was so looking forward to reading this. I pushed through to 50%, but in the end I was bored and saw no point to the story continuing.

Danielle Raymond 

This book had me until the dragons started carrying purses.

I loved Alex, and the way that I could feel her joy and sorrow and rage as if it were my own. I loved how the central female characters, Marla, Alex, Beatrice, and Bertha were written into life. The book was beautifully descriptive and very effective at giving me a sense of place and time. I loved the way the narrative voice changed as Alex aged; her perspective felt different but still distinctly Alex as she shifted from childhood to adolescence to young adulthood and to her old age. I loved the way the book navigated complex emotions and talked about forgetting and grief and abandonment. 

This book was interesting. And it was beautifully written. But not the book for me. 

It really is written in a memoir like style - although not a memoir in actuality. We read about the MC past from her eyes as an older woman as she grows up, much faster than any child should. We see her cope with loss and with the boundaries society set on women (specifically in the 50s/60s). She’s an incredibly brilliant child, skilled in math and science, but still a child for much of the story and a confused one at that. 

I think this idea was incredibly unique and incredibly interesting. However, I was just anticipating more. More of what I don’t know. Perhaps more of a story and less confusion? I did give this book a 3/5 though because while it wasn’t my favorite, I did love the characters Barnhill created, especially Beatrice, and the idea of dragoning into reality. This story had so much potentially, but as it is it just wasn’t for me.

Tace

This book was interesting. And it was beautifully written. But not the book for me. 

It really is written in a memoir like style - although not a memoir in actuality. We read about the MC past from her eyes as an older woman as she grows up, much faster than any child should. We see her cope with loss and with the boundaries society set on women (specifically in the 50s/60s). She’s an incredibly brilliant child, skilled in math and science, but still a child for much of the story and a confused one at that. 

I think this idea was incredibly unique and incredibly interesting. However, I was just anticipating more. More of what I don’t know. Perhaps more of a story and less confusion? I did give this book a 3/5 though because while it wasn’t my favorite, I did love the characters Barnhill created, especially Beatrice, and the idea of dragoning into reality. This story had so much potentially, but as it is it just wasn’t for me.

anxiouspixie

I saw a review that said this could have been a short story, and I agree. It felt very dragged out, though the concept was interesting.

Margaret McFarlane

When women where dragons is a wonderful book written by Kelly Barnhill. The story isn't something I read often. It's a mix of the reality of living as a woman in the 50s with the twist that dragons exist. The focus is on a girl who grows up having to deal with sexism and topics not deemed appropriate to be talked about. In between are parts written as a scientific report which made it a bit difficult to read for me as someone who learned English as a second language. But despite the difficulty this book was written well and empowered me as a woman. 

Lilliana Rüegg 

I quite enjoyed this. It captured the feel of the period well, and the perspective of the author with a life of regrets interspersed with the little joys of living rang true in a melancholy kind of way that kept me engaged. The way the author conveyed the experience of the social taboos around topics, the dragons of the books, was one of the better I’ve read in fiction and so clearly captures the queer experience of my own youth, and the feeling of being denied even the language to ask about the experiences I had to even begin to make sense of it. 

It was let down, to a degree, by an ending that was perhaps too convenient to match the tone of the book, letting down somewhat the political metaphors running throughout, and by presenting a version of the 1950s in which its metaphors were used only for the oppression of women without any meaningful acknowledgment of the racial struggles of the time until the very end when women-as-dragons conveniently “solved” the majority of social issues. 

Go in expecting a good story, written well, with good, compelling, and complex characters, and a generally progressive but not particularly deep political message. 

Izzy

I quite enjoyed this. It captured the feel of the period well, and the perspective of the author with a life of regrets interspersed with the little joys of living rang true in a melancholy kind of way that kept me engaged. The way the author conveyed the experience of the social taboos around topics, the dragons of the books, was one of the better I’ve read in fiction and so clearly captures the queer experience of my own youth, and the feeling of being denied even the language to ask about the experiences I had to even begin to make sense of it. 

It was let down, to a degree, by an ending that was perhaps too convenient to match the tone of the book, letting down somewhat the political metaphors running throughout, and by presenting a version of the 1950s in which its metaphors were used only for the oppression of women without any meaningful acknowledgment of the racial struggles of the time until the very end when women-as-dragons conveniently “solved” the majority of social issues. 

Go in expecting a good story, written well, with good, compelling, and complex characters, and a generally progressive but not particularly deep political message. 

"Memory is a strange thing. It reorganizes and connects. It provides context and clarity; it reveals patterns and divergences. It finds the holes in the universe and stitches them closed, tying the threads together in a tight, unbreakable knot."

When Women Were Dragon's follows the main character, Alex, through her life, as the women around her begin to turn into dragons.

This is a brilliant novel focusing on feminism and the power women can hold. It calls out all the injustices in the novel's society and uses the passion and spirit of the main character's voice to drive home the stories mission and messages into your own heart and mind.

There are a few different forms of imagery formed within this book, which are played with and built on throughout the story, giving the writing a lyrical element in my mind, producing many quotes I loved.

This was a book that made you want to stand up and direct attention to all the areas society still lacks in upholding women's rights to equality, and one whose characters will stick with me for a while to come.

Narah Quinn

“I am here to point you to the fact that once upon a time, humanity worshipped the Divine Feminine, and that in that time all of humanity was in thrall of her power and strength, both procreative and destructive, both fecund and barren, both joy and terror, all at once.” – Kelly Barnhill.

When Women Were Dragons is a fierce, unapologetically feminist, novel that I read (almost in it’s entirety) in one sitting. Despite knowing essentially nothing about it apart from the fact I loved the cover, the blurb was intriguing, and Dragons I am so very glad this book exists.
Set in an alternate 1950/60’s America, where on a single day in 1955, thousands upon thousands of women spontaneously transform into Dragons, it’s such a shock to the patriarchy that it’s forbidden to talk about.

Alex, our main character – bright, academically inclined and with zero plans to marry in a time when keeping house and raising babies was all women were good for - was a child when the day known as The Mass Dragoning took place and her aunt sprouted wings and took to the skies. As per the blurb, Alex is forced into silence and now must live with the consequences; a mother more protective than ever, a father growing increasingly distant, a dragon obsessed cousin she must now call sister and an aunt she must forget ever existed.

The pacing can seem a little slow in the start, but throughout it worked well, adding in to Alex’s narrative, historical accounts, newspaper articles and snippets from the wonderful Dr. Gantz’s findings from his study of Dragoning, and added depth and richness to the world building. The one thing I would love a bit more of background/information on, is the knots. I know about using knots in spell casting and magic, and as they appear throughout the story - they have history, and lore, - and I would have loved for them to be more fully explained, but I can’t say much without spoiling it. 

There are other truly wonderful characters that I adored, in particular the local librarian, Mrs. Gyzinska, who was Alex’s biggest supporter and whose own story I would love to read as a companion novel. 
For me, I think one of the most striking features of this novel is the relevance. We like to think we have come a long way societally (which in many regards we have) but we are still fighting the same fight. In one later scene, during a protest, a Dragoned protestor is holding a sign that reads “My Body, My Choice” and **** if that didn’t feel familiar. This book is important.
I read a quick review (I avoid anything long until I’ve read it myself) a couple of days before I started it, that said When Women Were Dragons is ‘a wonderful ode to the strength and resilience of women, who have been transforming into dragons for centuries. Women who have been put down by men, humiliated, held back, told “no”, abused, ignored. They feel the power inside then and emerge anew. For all women and female-identifying people are full of magic.’ And if that doesn’t make you want to read this, I’m not sure what will!

Beth Bartholomew

This book was sent to me from the publishers in exchange for an honest review. 

What started as a short story has developed into a brilliant story about feminism and the power women hold. Following our main character, Alex, throughout her life as those around her start to turn into dragons, but only the women. This book questions the way things are and the rules women have always been taught. It did a fantastic job of standing against the system and empowering its female characters and readers. 

Initially, this book started slow, focusing a lot on Alex's early years. I found it didn't really get going until we saw Alex get further in her education and discover more about herself and her wants and desires. Once we established this though, there was a lot more to route for and the clever story started to unfold. 

I love it when books call out the flaws in society and this one did big time, in the way the patriarchy has a resounding hold over so much. Alex is a fiercely feminist main character and fights for what she believes in, values I strongly agree with. As a result of the mission this book goes on to spread the feminism message, you'll definitely feel passionate alongside these characters. 

I loved the way the dragons were used to show the fury of the women and also their power, something both beautiful and terrifying all at once - uncovering years of unhappiness and oppression. There were a lot of metaphors hidden in this book, but I'll leave those for you to discover yourself. A very enjoyable and unique book.   

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

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Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

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Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill