When Women Were Dragons by Kelly BarnhillMy rating: 1 of 5 stars
"There is no room for sorrow in a heart full of fire."
I REALLY wanted to like this book. And my heart is sorrowful that I didn't.
Who wouldn't be drawn by the premise: that one day, thousands of women suddenly became dragons? It was SO FULL of promise, as were the opening chapters.
But then it dragged on and on, with the extended metaphor for women raging at the patriarchy losing its power the more it was repeated, that eventually I just got the impression that the book was merely about the virtues of being angry at the world.
And that's it.
The dialogue was flat and at times, didn't make sense. The ending was rushed. The writing was lackluster.
Also, the book tried to do so many things; referencing the COVID tragedy, the general lack of respect for scientific data, detailing the evils of racism, and prejudice against LGBTQ+ same-sex relationships, all in one book that was, originally, about feminism.
And I've long suspected this to be true not just in literature but also in film and other fields... that today, people are so afraid of being cancelled, of being called the opposites of allies, that they would put a book like this on a pedestal because of its topic, and not entirely because of the author's skill, nor the quality of the work itself.
Rage is all well and good, but no amount of anger can make up for lack of literary merit.
And I truly wish this book had it, that I may speak better about it.
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