It’s after 8pm and I’m settling in for the evening, but I wanted to take advantage of this cat-free time (Riley is too busy watching the birdies and squirrellies from the open patio door to want to sit on my lap) to tell you very briefly about the amazing book I finished reading yesterday.
My book club will meet on Saturday to discuss Women Talking by award-winning Canadian author Miriam Toews, and while I’ll admit that I’m not a huge fan of this author’s novels, I thought this one was stellar, so powerful, disturbing, insightful, and ultimately hopeful. This novel centres on a group of women in a fictional Mennonite colony in Bolivia who have been systematically drugged and raped over the course of years. The offending men have been moved to a city jail for their own protection but will be released on bail in just a couple of days, so the women meet in a farm hayloft to discuss their options for how to proceed. They can neither read nor write, and they don't speak the language of the country they live in, but an archaic dialect of low German, and yet they must discuss their future and decide on a plan of action. They have three options: Do Nothing, Stay and Fight, or Leave. Their discussion, as recorded by one of their ex-communicated brothers, is presented in this novel, which the author states is “both a reaction through fiction to… true-life events, and an act of female imagination”. This novel was inspired by real events which occurred in the Manitoba Colony in Bolivia from about 2005-2009. The fact that these events took place at all, and continued to take place even after the offenders were jailed, is horrifying and deeply disturbing, but these are remote communities completely isolated from the rest of the country and basically left alone and ignored by the government, so things are obviously allowed to happen under the cover of secrecy. This book brings to light these events, although this is a fictionalized version of the story of these very real, very tormented victims of an authoritarian patriarchal community. As beautifully written as it was disturbing, this brilliant, sparse, yet deeply moving novel is a must-read for any serious readers of fine Canadian literature. But be warned that the subject matter is serious and some scenes may be disturbing to some readers and evoke personal trauma. I loved, loved, loved this book and am very happy to have added it to our book club list, or it may have gone unread by me forever. This doesn’t do the book or the story justice, but I have to close now, as it’s nearing my bedtime.
Take care and enjoy the warmer days ahead!
Bye for now... Julie
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