UPRIGHT WOMEN WANTED (audiobook) by Sarah Gailey
Published in 2020 by Tantor Audio.
Read by Romy Nordlinger
Read by Romy Nordlinger
Duration: 3 hours, 52 minutes.
Unabridged.
A 2021 Hugo Award Finalist
A 2021 Locus Award Finalist
A 2020 ALA Booklist Top 10 SF/F Pick
A Booklist Editor's Choice Pick
Book Riot's Best Books of 2020 So Far
Named a Best of 2020 Pick for NPR | NYPL | Booklist | Bustle | Den of Geek
A 2021 Locus Award Finalist
A 2020 ALA Booklist Top 10 SF/F Pick
A Booklist Editor's Choice Pick
Book Riot's Best Books of 2020 So Far
Named a Best of 2020 Pick for NPR | NYPL | Booklist | Bustle | Den of Geek
I have a weakness for dystopian literature. I don't do too much of it because so much of it is repetitive - usually it is World War III caused by a nuclear or bio-warfare attack by the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese, the North Koreans, or the Americans. But, I do enjoy seeing where the author thinks we will break down and how we might recover and rebuild.
Upright Women Wanted fit the bill - a future world in which the western United States has devolved back into a Wild West environment ruled by iron-fisted sheriffs that enforce a strict moral code. Their rules include a death penalty for sexual crimes, such as homosexuality and lesbianism. The main character, Esther, had a short-lived romantic relationship with another female who was put to death for holding resistance propaganda material that she was reading because she did not want to forcibly marry a man. When Esther was assigned to marry that man, she fled.
The world she fled to is not very recognizable as modern America. The United States is involved has been involved in a war for so long and has devoted so many resources to that war that the home front has fallen to disrepair. For example, paved roads no longer exist - rich towns have gravel roads. Everyday people ride horses, use wagons and carry pistols. The clothing looks more like a western TV show than ours does. Modern jet planes still exist and are used by the military but civilian TV and radio no longer exist. Also, three states are pretty much out of the union - Utah, Florida and Maine.
Esther stows away in the wagon of two women known as Librarians. Librarians bring literature, movies, news and packages from one town to another. If you have seen the Kevin Costner movie The Postman or read the book by the same name, the librarians serve roughly the same purpose as The Postman did in that movie/book. They knit together these communities and are welcomed almost as celebrities when they arrive.
This book won a lot of awards and I am not sure how. Before I get judged for it, be aware that I had no problem with the book's lesbian content. I knew that was in the story when I downloaded it and I was interested in seeing how that was worked into the story. Turn out it was pretty much like I imagined.
Careful: spoilers ahead
I was disappointed in the story because so little about the dystopian future was explained (like who was American fighting the war with and how did it let the home front deteriorate so badly) and the book felt more like the introductory chapters to a much longer story than an actual complete story. I would say that it was a novella, but novellas usually have an actual ending and this story just sort of ended at what felt like maybe the halfway point, maybe even not that far along. It felt like a solid start, but nothing more. I was not bothered at the themes of the book, I was bothered by the fact that it just...abruptly ended.
More spoilers:
The government in this story, at the local and national levels, is very much into censorship. It is odd to me that no one wants to censor the materials that the librarians carry from town to town considering that libraries are often targets for censorship. I know the book was published in 2020, but a common theme of the news in 2021 was "concerned community members", lawmakers and other politicians that clamored for schools to remove books from school and classroom libraries. There were even concerted attempts to remove books from regular public libraries.
The idea that a government that executes people for simply possessing propaganda would not also regulate what amounts to an Old West style bookmobile carries is laughable. It would be more appropriate to have the librarians subject to thorough searches at every checkpoint and town.
I rate this audiobook 2 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: UPRIGHT WOMEN WANTED by Sarah Gailey.
Upright Women Wanted fit the bill - a future world in which the western United States has devolved back into a Wild West environment ruled by iron-fisted sheriffs that enforce a strict moral code. Their rules include a death penalty for sexual crimes, such as homosexuality and lesbianism. The main character, Esther, had a short-lived romantic relationship with another female who was put to death for holding resistance propaganda material that she was reading because she did not want to forcibly marry a man. When Esther was assigned to marry that man, she fled.
The world she fled to is not very recognizable as modern America. The United States is involved has been involved in a war for so long and has devoted so many resources to that war that the home front has fallen to disrepair. For example, paved roads no longer exist - rich towns have gravel roads. Everyday people ride horses, use wagons and carry pistols. The clothing looks more like a western TV show than ours does. Modern jet planes still exist and are used by the military but civilian TV and radio no longer exist. Also, three states are pretty much out of the union - Utah, Florida and Maine.
This book won a lot of awards and I am not sure how. Before I get judged for it, be aware that I had no problem with the book's lesbian content. I knew that was in the story when I downloaded it and I was interested in seeing how that was worked into the story. Turn out it was pretty much like I imagined.
Careful: spoilers ahead
I was disappointed in the story because so little about the dystopian future was explained (like who was American fighting the war with and how did it let the home front deteriorate so badly) and the book felt more like the introductory chapters to a much longer story than an actual complete story. I would say that it was a novella, but novellas usually have an actual ending and this story just sort of ended at what felt like maybe the halfway point, maybe even not that far along. It felt like a solid start, but nothing more. I was not bothered at the themes of the book, I was bothered by the fact that it just...abruptly ended.
More spoilers:
The government in this story, at the local and national levels, is very much into censorship. It is odd to me that no one wants to censor the materials that the librarians carry from town to town considering that libraries are often targets for censorship. I know the book was published in 2020, but a common theme of the news in 2021 was "concerned community members", lawmakers and other politicians that clamored for schools to remove books from school and classroom libraries. There were even concerted attempts to remove books from regular public libraries.
The idea that a government that executes people for simply possessing propaganda would not also regulate what amounts to an Old West style bookmobile carries is laughable. It would be more appropriate to have the librarians subject to thorough searches at every checkpoint and town.
I rate this audiobook 2 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: UPRIGHT WOMEN WANTED by Sarah Gailey.
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