The Change by Kirsten Miller
My rating: 4/5 cats
“You’re saying women aren’t allowed?” Jo asked.
“Of course we’re allowed,” Harriett replied. “Women are allowed everywhere these days. Golf courses, nudie bars, the Racquet and Tennis Club. It would be scandalous if we weren’t allowed. So instead, we’re just not invited.
The fact that this wasn’t news to Jo made it no less shocking.
“The truth of it is, I don’t think most of them really question our intelligence or abilities—though they don’t mind us believing they do,” Harriett continued. “We’re just turds in the punchbowl. We spoil their party. They don’t want us hanging around.”
i did not expect to like this one as much as i did. it sounded very much like The Power, a book i thought was o-kay, but i didn’t love it as much as everyone else seemed to.
the success of the handmaid’s tale adaptation opened the floodgates on paradigm-shifting feminist dystopias (and YEESH—this is either the perfect time or the worst time for me to finally get around to reading Red Clocks, right?), and the #metoo movement sparked a rise in empowering female revenge novels (with or without supernatural power-powers, but—it must be said—far too many witch-novels). i’ve read and liked several of books coming out of this wave, but with some others, i’ve found that the concept is strong but the execution is…not.
to use christina dalcher as an example, i have read two of her buzzy female-centric speculative novels—the “women have no power” Vox and the “women have all the power” Femlandia, and they were both pretty meh: too broad in scope, too facile in their treatment of their themes, and not addressing some fundamental questions in their constructed worlds. there was plot but no compelling message to the story. not that i’m expecting social fantasy novels to come up with a solution to gender inequality and the perils of the patriarchy, but it would be nice to walk away from a book with something more illuminating than flashy window dressing.
The Change is so much more than window dressing. for one thing, it’s not trying to take on too much. it’s a small-scale story where, instead of trying to loop in alllll of womankind, it’s centered on three women who experience transformations triggered by menopause: nessa can see the ghosts of murder victims, jo can channel her hot flashes into pure metal-melting incandescence, and the stunningly confident harriett emerges from the ashes of her marriage and career as some sort of sensual nature-goddess, feral and giving zero fucks. (or, giving A LOT of fucks, but not taking any guff about…anything)
it’s essentially a character-driven mystery novel in which these women become literally em-powered by THE CHANGE, using their gifts to obtain justice for a number of “expendable” young women lured, used, and brutally murdered within an exclusive long island enclave, their killers insulated by their wealth and power.
the three central characters are excellent and more than the sum of their powers. they are bright and lively, with half a lifetime of experiences stacked up in their respective backgrounds to aid in their amateur investigation, and a willingness to get their collective hands a little dirty seeking justice for the forgotten victims.
despite the dark situation, there’s a lot of humor and light weirdness threaded throughout, especially in their dealings with particular kinds of men. all of them have endured men behaving like shits—been condescended to, groped, dismissed, passed over professionally (and the chapter where jo is applying for a business loan is GOLD), and while menopause may mark the end of their fertility, it is only the beginning of a new stage of womanhood, and things are gonna get ferocious.
Jo could feel the fire shooting through her veins and waves of energy traveling down her limbs. She saw heat ripples radiating from her skin and smelled the grass singing beneath her feet. She’d tried her best to control it. Now Jo closed her eyes and let go. Nothing had ever felt so good.
She knew then what she was meant to do. She knew why Nessa had found her. Nessa was the light in the darkness. Harriett was the punishment that fit the crime. She was the rage that would burn it all to the ground.
it’s fun, compelling, fast-paced, and cheeky, but above all, fierce. and, since lady-cancer catapulted me into premature menopause, i’m expecting my powers to manifest ANY DAY NOW. best not piss me off, yeah?
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