Red Clocks
by Leni Zumas
When abortion, single-parenthood, and in-vitro fertilization are
made illegal in America and complete personhood is granted to embryos, five women
wonder: “What is a woman for?”
With the success of the television adaptation of Margaret
Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and the
current political climate, feminist speculative dystopians have become a hot
genre. Red Clocks follows the intertwined
perspectives of five different women: Ro (“The Biographer”) an unmarried high
school teacher trying to have a baby through IVF while also writing a biography
of Eivør, a polar explorer in the 19th century; Mattie (“The
Daughter”), an academically inclined high school student, who is struggling
with an unwanted teenage pregnancy; Susan (“The Wife”) a depressed mother
trapped in a unsatisfying marriage; and Gin (“The Mender”) a modern-day witch
who provides herbal abortions. With these new laws, each character’s womanhood
is threatened. This “ferociously imaginative novel” is so experimental and ‘imaginative’
in style, it takes an intense focus to parse. Zumas has created a world that feels
plausible, teetering closer to contemporary fiction; yet, the fractured and
almost messy nature of the narrative creates a distance for the reader. What
should be an important and emotional character study is instead disconnected concept
writing. It is as though Zumas cared more about playing with style than making
a bold statement.
An intriguing premise that fell flat on creating an important,
cohesive plot with poignant characters.
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