REVIEW: Women Talking

Women Talking
Author: Miriam Toews

As a former victim of domestic violence and sexual assault, this book was a rough, but powerful, read for me. The author states that the story is loosely based on truth. Over a period of four years, more than 100 women and children were sexually assaulted in a Mennonite community in Bolivia. The victims were drugged with animal anesthetic and assaulted, waking the next morning bruised, bleeding, and in pain. Victims were led to believe that demons were attacking them because they were sinful. When the men responsible were arrested, the victims were accused of lying, expected to just forgive them and not seek justice, and assaults continued. Miriam Toews took her outrage over reports of the case and wrote this book.

The story builds using notes from secret meetings of the women. They are illiterate, so a trusted man attends the meetings to record the discussions. I was immediately sucked into the story. Thinking about a community of women kept illiterate, isolated, and without any decision making powers was disturbing. The thought that this sort of thing still happens in the world made me realize how spoiled, unaware and blind I am because of the relatively easy life I live. I am college educated. I am not abused on a daily basis. I make my own decisions. I have money at my disposal. My husband does not control my life. I'm treated as an equal. I can only imagine how these women felt....  They had to meet in secret to decide to stay in the life they knew, or leave and try to start over again somehow.

I felt so many emotions while reading this -- anger, fear, sadness. But it also made me realize how strong women are. When faced with an almost impossible situation, women will somehow find the strength to power through and go on. When faced with a horrific, abusive situation, these women met secretly to decide what to do. They supported each other and they did not falter. Bravery. Intelligence. Compassion.

I loved the plot of this book. I kept reading because I truly wanted to know what happened to these characters. But, the story moves slowly. Maybe the plodding feel is because it's reported through meeting notes? Most of the story is told through conversations. It made things tedious at times. But, I do see why the author chose the format. It works with the characters and the situation. They couldn't just make a decision and act on it. They were powerless. Conversation, planning and secrecy were required. Slow, methodical planning. They had to think it through. Their choices were do nothing and let things continue.....stay and fight for safety in their community.....or leave and learn to survive in the world outside the community. Big choices. Coming from a religious sect, they had to rethink their entire belief structure. Heavy stuff. And not something that can be decided quickly. My emotional response to this story might be because I knew from the start it was based on truth. If I had been reading this story solely based on its own merits, I might have been more frustrated by its slow pace.

I would have liked a lot less discussion of religious doctrine and a little more action, but the format (meeting notes) limited the exposition to conversations. The focus, at times, was on religion a bit too much, although I do recognize that the characters involved are part of a religious sect. I could see this book being great for discussion at a Christian women's group or book club. But the constant religious overtones put a damper on the story for me. It made me mad -- women subjugated, lied to, victimized, traumatized -- in a community that should have been safe had there not been extreme villainy and hypocrisy occurring. It took my attention off the subject of rape and abuse and turned it more towards my dislike of organized religion.

All in all, a powerful story about women. A bit too much religion for me, personally. But, I still enjoyed it. I'm giving this book a solid 3 stars.

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Bloomsbury via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**