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Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated The Book of the Unnamed Midwife in Books

Oct 24, 2017 (Updated Oct 24, 2017)  
The Book of the Unnamed Midwife
The Book of the Unnamed Midwife
Meg Elison | 2016 | Gender Studies, Science Fiction/Fantasy
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A dark dystopian tale about prejudice
This is a pretty excellent dystopian novel, almost like an amalgamation of The Road and The Handmaid's Tale, exploring women's role in an apocalyptic setting.

After a fever kills most of the Earth's population, specifically women and children, making childbirth deadly, a midwife attempts to survive an extremely precarious situation for her gender. In the new world, women are routinely raped and sold, used as baby making machines and commodified as a bartering tool.

Her only option is to disguise herself as a man and attempt to make her way across the country in search for a beacon of hope. She faces age-old prejudices, such as religion and patriarchy, while trying to be a guide to humanity.

No doubt, it is extremely dark, and some of it is very disturbing, so brace yourself for feeling a little queasy.
  
Wakenhyrst
Wakenhyrst
Michelle Paver | 2019 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Horror, Paranormal, Thriller
8
8.6 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
Pacers ability to bring locations to life (0 more)
Edwardian Gothic Horror
Michelle Paver has this exceptional ability to create a location that always becomes the lead character of her stories. Here it is The Fen and the Manor House within it. You can smell the pond weed, hear the birds and visualise the location immaculately. This incredible writer also always manages to create suggestions and hints of horror without ever over stating it. Its a beautiful subtlety which makes it even more haunting. This book also highlights strong feminist values simply by portraying female strength she ridicules the notion of patriarchy.
As you know I don't like to give away the story, wanting you to discover the pages yourself. Wakenhyrst is set in the early 1900s and is a dark githic thriller about past deeds haunting the now, and like her other books it's spectacular.
  
Mary Queen of Scots (2018)
Mary Queen of Scots (2018)
2018 | Biography, Drama, History
Mary Queen of Scots” tells the story of two women fighting to rise above the status quo and take the power that they were genetically entitled to. Yet, their paths are forsaken by the omnipresent patriarchy, despite their high status and crowns.

The film is a display of the hard hands of men attempting to crush the ambitions of women. The manipulative and aggressive power of the patriarchy is a theme sown throughout the story.

This tale is filled with twists and turns, betrayal, romance, gore, and heartache. It is a portrayal of a timeless theme.

The audience will be placed in another world of the distant past where life was poor, brutish, nasty, and short, as Leviathan would have put it.

Margot Robbie as Queen Elizabeth I, embodies a woman absorbed by the challenge of maintaining her crown. She forfeits her femininity to become a masculine ruler out of necessity and the impact upon her is great in sacrifice.

On the other hand, her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, played by Saoirse Ronan, is an ambitious leader with hopes to bring peace between two kingdoms at all costs.

Ronan delivers an elegant and passionate performance as Mary, a headstrong and fearless lady of power with rosy cheeks and eyes full of brightness. She believes in love and she believes in truth, but she also believes in war. The audience will experience where her values and virtue lead her.

If escape from the mundane modern world is what the movie goer desires, this will be the perfect film. It is a balance of everything and a reflection of life itself in all its most ugly and beautiful moments.

Director Josie Rourke has delivered a riveting historical drama onto the big screen.

The film has an ethereal and realistic way of reviving this piece of our past. But heed my warning, it will not be for the faint of heart.
  
On the Basis of Sex (2018)
On the Basis of Sex (2018)
2018 | Biography, Drama
Legal bio-pic has a title that makes it sound like a recipe for a failed marriage; unfortunately it's not as interesting as that. Felicity Jones plays a young Ruth Bader Ginsberg, battling the patriarchy first at Harvard and then in the courts, aided by her husband Marty (it's Armie Hammer time!).

Well-mounted and with some decent performances, and there are some startling revelations (sex discrimination was not considered unconstitutional in the US until fairly recently), but the actual story of the main case covered by the film is not that gripping (a lot of discussion of legal procedure and tax law), and the earnestness of the film also threatens to make it a bit indigestible: of course RBG is an important figure fighting for a good cause, but that doesn't mean any film about her has to feel like The Lives of the Saints. The documentary about Ginsberg is also flawed, but more peppy than this.