The best thing I can say about Leni Zumas's novel about reproductive politics, Red Clocks (#719), is that I didn't have to finish reading it. I almost gave up twenty pages in, but I did plow ahead for an additional forty pages before I finally gave up.
This dystopian near-future novel has been compared favorably to The Hand Maid's Tale (which I also did not like). In an America only a couple of years down the road, a new Amendment has been added to the Constitution - The Personhood Amendment, which grants full rights of life, liberty and property to fetuses from the moment of conception. Abortion is no longer legal, nor is in vitro fertilization - the embryo cannot consent to the process. I did not have any trouble picturing Mike Pence as the presidential candidate who signs the bill the day after his inauguration, so I can very well imagine this happening.
What I did not like was the disjointed manner of jumping from unnamed character to unnamed character in their varying situations: mother, healer/witch forest crone, unwed teenage girl, single woman seeking to become pregnant before it is too late both biologically and legally. The narrative never settles, blending in the story of a nineteenth century female Icelandic polar explorer. Much of the imagery is distasteful to me. Again, the ecstatic cover blurbs completely perplexed me. It's up to you if you want to see for yourself, but I certainly cannot recommend Red Clocks.
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