I wanted to love this book. I’m a huge fan of feminist dystopian novels, but this one didn’t wow me. I loved the concept….such creative ideas, but the way the story was told didn’t work for me. This felt like an academic novel, similar to 1984, so perhaps I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind to really “get it”. I wish the book and been broken up into smaller chapters and was more clear on what day it was in the story. Overall, loved the idea but found it to be a difficult and not really engaging read.

I was initially quite intrigued by the premise of this book, but the more that I read, the more disappointed and tedious this book became. That might have to do with the main setting of the book, which takes place in one of the institutes where the narrator works. We’re told a little bit about what the rest of the world is like now that the Movement is in charge, but we are never given the chance to see this for ourselves. The one time the narrator leaves, it’s to travel to another institute. I also would have loved to learn more about Rita, the icon of the Movement. All of her history and rise to power is portrayed second hand.
The narrator describes her duties as an instructor, and some of her tasks are graphic depictions of sexual acts and body parts, which may bother sensitive readers.
I’m trying to understand what the author was going for, a straight dystopian tale or a satire. The narrator also tends to go off into an often unrelated philosophical discussion while talking about a topic or example (in the same sentence mind you),and I not only found it confusing, but it also made the book hard to read. I ended up having to re read sentences and whole paragraphs over and over again to try and gauge an ounce of meaning.

I'm sorry, but I'm not even able to access a readable format as not all of us have a kindle.. Perhaps You should consider making a copy available for Netgalley Shelf.

I’m not sure this added anything new to the dystopian genre. The Movement hits the reader over the head with all the currently popular intersectionality tropes. Despite the publisher’s description of the novel as “dark and funny”, I found it straightforwardly “us vs them” and lacking nuance.

Book Review for The Movement
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