The best book I read this month was Women Talking by Miriam Toews. She is a Canadian writer with a Mennonite background, who was inspired by the story of women in a Mennonite colony in Bolivia who were drugged and raped at night by the some of the men in the colony. Amazingly, the story is philosophical and even funny, rather than depressing. The voices of the women in the novel, trying to decide what to do, whether to leave the colony and strike out on their own (although they are illiterate and poor), are distinct and thoughtful.

I thought of this book when I heard a review on the radio of the Netflix adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel Normal People. The reviewer said that the television adaptation substituted sex scenes for the interior monologue of the novel. The fact that everyone says this works (I haven’t seen it yet) suggests that the narrator in the novel was not struggling with any deep concepts. The novel, which I have read, starts in high school, where an unpopular girl and a popular guy have a secret affair. Perhaps you recognize this story line? As someone who did not attend a large conventional public high school, I will never understand the fascination those years hold for most people. All I wanted was to leave my small school, to get on with my adult life, to find people I could talk to, which seemed way more difficult than finding a guy interested in sex.

Toew’s novel speaks to the condition of the majority of women, burdened with children, unable to earn a living, in thrall to men who are indifferent if not hostile. Even those of us who are well-educated and can earn that living typically contribute so much more than our partners do to home and hearth, as thousands of women are re-learning during this pandemic. We want so much for our children—just as the fictional women in the colony do.

Toni Martin Writes