Mini-Review

It’s 1955 and there’s a “Mass Dragoning”: lots of women turn into dragons and fly away. This is clearly a feminist allegory: a story of an ongoing fight against oppression. It’s not subtle, but who cares? I really enjoyed watching this scenario play out. Some people might find it too one-sidedly polemical, but I was fine with that – hey, it’s just one novel. For me, it was an enjoyable imaginative way of looking at second wave feminism. It’s told through the first person perspective of Alex, who’s a child at the time, spliced with scientific reports and testimony to HUAC. I like the way that it is knitted in with the Cold War and the struggle for equality in all sorts of arenas: race, sexuality & gender identity. Definitely kept me turning the pages. Bonus: kick-ass librarian.

Fyi: sexism, death, parental death, abandonment, cancer, homophobia, denial, repression.

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