Before She Sleeps – Bina Shah
Rating: Four Moons
Genre: Dystopian Fiction, Feminist Fiction, light Sci-Fi / Speculative elements
Disclaimer: I received this book as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Characters: 4
Setting: 4
Story:4
What I liked best: the emotionally depth of the characters
What I liked least: shifting POV narrative + time jumps
Recommended: Y
The book is marketed as dystopian feminist literature. But as a person not in possession of a uterus; my qualifications as a feminist are zilch. So allow me to rate it from the opposite gender perspective.
Bina has created a world deep and immersive with characters you deeply empathize with. But what struck me, as a man, is how accurately she describes the psyche of her male characters. She posses an understanding that, to be frank, I would not expect from a female. And in truth, I’m sure there are some men in the world who don’t understand men as well as she does.
Will this book join then ranks of great feminist dystopian fiction? I don’t know. But I would say it deserves a more broad audience than to be niched into that category.
Twitter: @BinaShah
https://www.amazon.com/Before-She-Sleeps-Bina-Shah/dp/1883285763/
Anonymity Gone 