Hiya, welcome back to the Waterstones vlog, it's Imie here. I hope you're all doing
really well. So today my kind of recommendations are based around a theme and
that theme is about a book release that's coming out in September.
So The Handmaid's Tale sequel, the Testaments, is coming out on September
the 10th and as a company we're very excited about it but my shop
specifically is super stoked about it. We've been raving about The Handmaid's
Tale for ages and we're really excited to see the sequel. So kind of in honour of
that and wanting to do something special for the occasion. For the past 12 weeks,
every week, we've been reading a feminist dystopian which we're all then going to
discuss at the pub (because where else are you going to discuss feminists dystopians?)
and I thought I'd share three of my favourite ones from that list. So the
three I'm going to talk about today are these three. So you've got The Farm by
Joanne Ramos, When She Woke by Hilary Jordan and The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall.
They're very different in style. One of them's YA, one of them's very
atmospheric and one's very realistic. So it's quite interesting to see how they
all deal with the same theme of the female body which is a very important
topic at the moment with a lot of what's going on in the world. It's really
interesting to see how realistic some of these have become. So the first one I
want to talk about today is The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall.
So this one is set in the Lake District where a woman named Sister, as we're not
given her real name, is running away from an oppressive regime and an oppressive
marriage to this group of women called The Carhullan Women who are almost
fabled in her eyes, she's idolized them since she was a child reading about them
in newspapers. And she sets off on this journey to find them and when she finds
them she's a bit unsure whether she's really agreeing with everything
they're saying and everything they want to do. So she's trying to find her place
in this other society after escaping a society that didn't value her. So it's a
really powerful read because of the way Sarah Hall has a combination of very
strong characterization and very beautiful atmosphere. So the two of them
bring together this kind of immersive style that throws you into this story
where you really root for Sister and try to
understand her whilst seeing this world that you know around you. It's quite a
weird feeling but it's absolutely wonderful and I really recommend her.
So the next book I'm going to talk about is the YA one,
which is When She Woke by Hillary Jordan. So in this one our main protagonist
Hannah has been accused of murder because she had an abortion of a child which she
will not name the father of. So as her punishment her skin is dyed red and
she's kept in a cell for a number of weeks where she is videoed 24/7 for the
public to see. And when she's released back into the real world
you're shamed for having this red skin because everyone knows it's what you've
done and she's trying to find a way of having a life again with the help of her
father and of her pastor whilst trying to understand everything that's led up
to this point. And trying to live in this world that's really against her. So it
reads really well and has a lot of themes in it; of coming of age, of power,
of rebellion, of the woman body. Like, it's just really wonderful and the ideas
behind the way the punishment and the world works is really clever. So I'd
really recommend this one, it's kind of like a Ray Bradbury mix with Margaret Atwood,
it's really good. So the final one I want to talk about is also I think the
most latest release out the lot which is The Farm by Joanne Ramos, and it's also
the one that seems to be set closest to today. I'm sure this could be
happening in America right now kind of thing, it's just crazy. But it's also
the least strong about the feminist side to it all. She covers a lot of other topics
such as race and integration and power generally, so it's really interesting to
read in that side as well. So story focuses on a character called Jane who
runs out of money, is struggling as an immigrant in America, she's trying to
look for a chance when her aunt recommends this place called Golden Oaks
where you get paid a ridiculous amount of money to be the perfect birthing woman.
So you become impregnated and then have to carry the baby to term and then
give it away to this rich family. So Jane goes into this thinking you'll be
absolutely fine, it'll be a lovely kind of time, she gets shown around
the whole place. But she quickly realizes not everything is as it seems and she's
lost a lot of power. So it's a really interesting read because it's about how
much do you own your body and how much are you willing to give up to get the
money kind of thing. It's really interesting and the mix with the
other themes really adds to it as well. And the fact that it feels very much
of the now time just really adds to kind of the horror of it all. So it's
really interesting to read and all three ore brilliant reads, I'd really recommend
all three. Especially if you love anything like The Handmaid's Tale and
don't forget to get The Testaments when it comes out because I'm sure it's
going to be fantastic.