Loved it. It was horrible and scary and thrillingly awful. This is the type of book that scares me. I seriously hope I never have to face an event of that sort or magnitude in my lifetime.

The writing was odd but enjoyable. Or rather the structure was odd and the writing transparent. ( )

Firmly situated in the legacy of feminist dystopian fiction, this novel was a brutal and gritty look at the ways sexism could play out with violence in a world sparsely populated. The ongoing death toll with barely a honorable human male in sight was tough to get through, but is still simmering in my brain hours after finishing. ( )

I started reading The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison without knowing much about it. I knew I had requested it from NetGalley*, which is why I had a copy of the book, but had forgotten the premise. This was one of those books that when I started it, I just didn't want to put it down. It also was one of those books that when I finished it, I went on Facebook to make sure all my friends were ok. That is how deeply drawn into this book I became.

The story is a plague has wiped out most of the world's population so much so that men outnumber women 10-1. A nurse wakes up after getting the plague and doesn't know how much time has passed or what is going on, except that most of her hospital is dead and the number of babies born had been decreasing.

Throughout the book as she discovers the world, she realizes that the plague was far worse than she thought and women are in trouble. She grabs years and years worth of birth control because if a woman is impregnated, it will mean death for the woman and the child. She ventures out into the world which is filled with danger for her. Men have become no more than animals who use women for sex or trade. After being almost raped, she realizes she must traverse the world as a man, while still looking to help women in the world stay alive.

I am going to end the summary as this is the first part of the book. The book will also be about the people she meets and how she chooses to survive in this world. It is a gritty and harsh world she lives in and Elison pulls no punches when it comes to describing the world our protagonist walks. There is always a sense of danger and it doesn't let up, except for a few parts here and there.

One of the major things I appreciated about this novel, besides how well it was written, was we get conclusions to minor characters stories. For example, our protagonist will travel a small while with a former bar girl from Las Vegas. They will part ways, but rather than just let the bar girl ride off into the sunset, a few chapters later we get what happens to her and where she winds up. Elison does this with almost all the characters, which is not something that happens in many of these types of books.

To put it bluntly, I was blown away by this book. It was great sci-fi and an incredibly engrossing story. Nothing seems out of the realm of reason in that world. I also found it an incredible look at feminism and could extract so many parallels in the feminist movement.

I gave this one 4.5 stars.

*I want thank NetGalley and 47North for the advanced copy of the paperback edition of the book. I received it for free in exchange for an honest review. ( )

This review also includes the other two books in the series: The Book of Etta and The Book of Flora.
I am a huge science fiction/fantasy fan. The Stand by Stephen King was my favorite apocalyptic novel. This series rates among the best in the genre. It has the good vs evil and end time nightmares. What makes this so great stand out above the usual in that genre is that the author addresses issues that have been hidden since time immemorial. The idea of gender identity and intimacy details that "normal" heterosexuals have no clue about and are usually unwilling to even discuss are explored and presented in details that made me love the characters and I felt I was truly invested in their lives. This author took me places that I had never explored in my imagination. It does have triggering events, rape and violence against women and children but that doesn't detract from the story and it helps underline the existence of those horrors in real life.

I will be reading more from this author and am sure her other works will be eye opening as well. ( )

A fast one day read. More to say later. ( )