When we went on lockdown (almost one year ago...), I signed up with Voracious Readers Only. I really enjoy getting the emails every day about new and different books. When I first signed up there were sooooo many books that sounded so interesting! When this one, Maternal Instinct, popped up in my email, I knew I wanted to read it.
I stated in an earlier post that part of the reason why I took such a long break from doing any reviews was because I had two pregnancy losses. When I got an email from VRO with this book, I hadn't gotten pregnant yet. I was terrified - I live with endometriosis and for the last 17 years I have not known if I would be able to get pregnant.
The day after I got my BFP (Big Fat Positive), I started to read this book. While I read it, I would put my hand over my belly where my baby was growing. This book made a much bigger impact on me because of its topic and because I could so personally connect with it.
I miscarried four weeks later.
Maternal Instinct (by Rebecca Bowyer)
Published by Story Addict (2019).
Intended audience: young adult or adult (this is based on my opinion as a secondary teacher). This book uses accessible language.
https://www.storyaddict.com.au/
https://www.goodreads.com/rebecca_bowyer
SUMMARY
The story takes place in a future Australia under a new political regime that is, in its own twisted way, striving to create a type of "equal" society. This is a feminist dystopia that centres around themes of motherhood, reproductive rights, and personal choice versus societal expectations. All young women are expected and forced to carry two pregnancies over three years under the National Procreation Service.
In this society, their Mater and Pater system is superior to "how things used to be". It's supposed to be better than the time when women were expected to cook, clean, work outside of the home, and raise children. It's supposed to be better than when children were ignored, beaten, or killed in their own homes by their own parents. It's a society that exercises complete control over a woman's right to have reproductive choice and agency over her body, and has normalized this control by highlighting how society has benefited because of this control.
The story follows Alice and her biological daughter, Monica, who has just given birth to her first son, Oscar. As the story progresses, you witness the characters as they begin to question and resist society's rules and expectations, and as they begin to grow as individuals that are faced with huge challenges that conflict with society. Finally, you listen to the characters as they come to terms with what it means to be a mother, what their definition is of being a mother, and how their relationship with motherhood transforms.
TEXT-TO-TEXT CONNECTION
Voracious Readers Only compared this book to The Handmaid's Tale, Vox, 1984, and Brave New World.
The Handmaid's Tale is pretty much my absolute most favourite book, with The Testaments being a close second - however, I know that there are other books that I really love as well. I have started Vox but haven't finished it yet. I read 1984 and Brave New World about 15 years ago and while I remember the big ideas, I don't remember the details.
Yes, this book definitely has some links to The Handmaid's Tale - both books pivot around reproductive rights being taken away from women in society, become institutionalized and normalized, and then are a huge major stepping stone in maintaining that "successful" and "equal" or "balanced" society. Really, women's bodies are being controlled and commodified.
Vox... while I haven't finished it, I can speak (ha... if you've read the book or know the premise of it, you might get the humour of what I just typed) to the link made with this book. Vox is about a society where women are not allowed to speak more than 100 words per day and they wear a bracelet that counts their words. If you speak more words, you get zapped. The more you speak, the bigger the zap.
I think this was a really well crafted story. It's very clear that Bowyer really considered the world that she wanted to bring you into - her world-building was very well done. I really enjoyed the story line, I loved the conflicts, I loved the character transformations, and I loved the twists that made the story even more complicated. Her characters became three-dimensional and interesting and realistic because of the conflict that she threw their way. I really enjoyed getting to know them. I honestly would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in this topic, especially if they enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale and are looking for something else in this genre.
As a teacher... I think it would be great book to bring into the classroom. I think that it would really alert young adults to injustices and it would allow for some magical class discussions and personal transformations. Additionally, I think this book would open the door for discussing fundamental rights, especially reproductive rights.
RATING
Here is where I get frustrated. As I said above, I really enjoyed the book. But I hated the ending. I hated it. It's probably the most realistic ending, but honestly, after I closed my Kobo upon finishing, I was just mad. I didn't feel like it fit with the character. I don't know how else I would have changed the ending, but it just didn't feel like this ending fit with the rest of the book. For that very reason, I had to knock off one star from 4 stars to 3 stars. (Why not five stars? Because again, a 5-star for me is exceptional and I am left wanting more.
3/5 stars 🌟🌟🌟
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