Susan's Reviews's Reviews > Women Talking

Update to my review:
A movie, based on the true events described in Miriam Toews' novel, is now out.
It, along with this novel, has opened the world's eyes to the ongoing sexual abuse issues that still plague Mennonite and similarly closed communities! Miriam Toews, you lit the torch that illuminated this ongoing injustice! Bravo!



My local library book club chose the very topical book, Miriam Toews' Women Talking to review this week. We had a satisfying, lively and intelligent conversation - touching on all aspects of the plight of these women, and women in the world in general. We all agreed that humanity still needs to progress, but that we, as Canadians, have so much to be thankful for. Don't get me wrong: you will still find glass ceilings, discrimination of every sort, and political despots here (our Ford, U.S.'s Trump, Korea's Kim Jong-un, Burundi's Pierre Nkurunziza, and so on and so forth.... perhaps until the end of time? Let's hope not!!)



Miriam Toews left her own Mennonite community when she was 18. August Epp has many of her father's admirable qualities: he was a gentle and learned man, but whereas August's decision to commit suicide is prevented by Ona in the novel, Toews lost both her father and her sister (who suffered from manic depression) to suicide. Many readers question August's role in this story - the only male at the women's meeting. I see many reasons for August's inclusion, apart from the fact that he was the only one who could read or write. One reason may well have been an attempt by Toews' to immortalize her father by including him in this struggle against ignorance and oppression (a parallel struggle which may well have cost Toew's father his own mental well-being during his lifetime.) Another reason may have been the desire to include men in this discussion. This terrible injustice happened TO women, perpetrated by the male members of their commune, but men and women both need to be involved in any discussion about the perpetrators and the cause of this violence, so that all can be educated and exposed to the need to eradicate discrimination and violence in ALL of its forms. (In the actual Bolivian colony, a few men and children had also been raped/assaulted.)



There were many philosophical issues discussed by the women, and many readers questioned the ability of these women, who could not read or write, to understand, much less give voice to issues of freedom and complex religious ideology. Again, we have to remember that this novel is the author's version of what these women might have said had they been given the opportunity to hold such a meeting and decide their own fate: a sort of macabre fable or fairy tale.

While the conversations in this story may be fictional, the rapes were not, and, according to some reports, they continue today in that same commune in Bolivia, lending credence to the suggestions that some of the men who were arrested, tried and convicted of the mass rapes may have been selected by the Commune's hierarchy as scapegoats, and that many of the perpetrators still remain at large, continuing to terrorize those women and children.



Ultimately, the three decisions that were discussed by the women are decisions that women and, indeed, all humans all over the world, must make when confronted with discrimination and violence: Do Nothing. Fight. Leave.

Spoiler Alert: When, ironically, Salome goes in search of her young son, Aaron - drugging him and forcing him to leave the commune with the other women and children, none of the people in our group could condemn her. If she left him behind, she was leaving him to be raised to believe that rape and violence against women and children is acceptable. Salome is a parent (not a "baby factory") and part of her role is to nurture and teach her children. Salome was such a badass sh*t disturber. She and the other women had made so many sacrifices and had endured brutal treatment and hardship so that their children would not have to suffer. Often, the only weapon or defense was their female bodies as a lure or distraction away from their defenseless young. This, indeed, was a very sickening state of affairs.

Yes, the dialogue was often repetitive and circular in this novel, but then that, too, is the nature of many group conversations. The same material is rehashed and discussed exhaustively. People bicker sometimes just for the sake of it, or, as one of the women pointed out, because they hated to admit when Salome was right, because Salome always THOUGHT that she was right! (I also suspect that Toews' editor may have demanded a few more thousand words here and there to pad the book. Sigh! I wonder if Mitch Albom's editors ever pressure him for filler?!!!)

Toews is, and always will be, a superbly intelligent writer. Her fervent commitment to exposing our naive adherence to dogma and our willingness to turn a blind eye to oppression is admirable. So many others before her have tried, yet such atrocities continue unchecked.
These are troubling times, when despots seem to come to the fore and quash and destroy anyone brave enough to raise his or her voice in opposition or criticism. These fictional women of Molotschna had to decide to leave and evolve (and perhaps die trying) or to stay, suffer in silence, stagnate and "devolve". Ona, the one character in this novel who is said to "love everyone", despite being ostracized for her odd anti-social, spinsterish ways, is the true "saviour figure" or hero in this tale. She remains hopeful and loving despite her community's attempts to kill her spirit by raping and assaulting her body.



This was a very thought-provoking, timely read. It will not be to every one's taste, but progressive change very rarely is.