Native Tongue

Native Tongue, Book 1

Originally published in 1984, this classic dystopian trilogy is a testament to the power of language and women's collective action.

In 2205, the 19th Amendment has long been repealed and women are only valued for their utility. The Earth's economy depends on an insular group of linguists who "breed" women to be perfect interstellar translators until they are sent to the Barren House to await death. But instead, these women are slowly creating a language of their own to make resistance possible. Ignorant to this brewing revolution, Nazareth, a brilliant linguist, and Michaela, a servant, both seek emancipation in their own ways. But their personal rebellions risk exposing the secret language, and threaten the possibility of freedom for all.

©2019 the Feminist Press at City University of New York (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Future dystopia with peripheral aliens

Suzette Haden Elgin’s Native Tongue is dystopia as well as a female nightmare. Written in the early 80’s it recounts the repeal of the amendment giving women voting rights (in the early 90’s). In addition, their status is reduced to second class status that is tantamount to a fundamentalist theocratic regime with the religion. The story takes place at the beginning of the 23rd century. In this future, Earth has encountered multiple alien races and a restricted set of families with the right genetics for languages wield power. Their women are trained as toddlers for the various alien tongues. The premise of the tale is that a few women are developing their own language that will somehow allow them to regain their former status.

Elgin’s tale unfortunately suffers from inadequate world building. There is no explanation for the change in women’s status that has led to the current state of affairs. In addition, although there are plenty of aliens races, each one involved with complex trade deals with Earth, there is no description of what this trade actually consists of, nor does there seem to be any impact of alien technology and other tradeable goods on Earth societies. Societal organization seems no different from the time the book was written. Finally, the notion that a specific language spoken only be women as some sort of code is their ticket to social evolution seems farfetched.

The narration is decent with modest character distinction. Pacing is a tad slow.

Native Tongue -- as good as I remember

This book explores how language shapes reality. It's an underrated classic which uses actual linguistic techniques and theories to shape a believable world.

Interesting concept, poor delivery

The concept of the book is interesting, but for a story about women creating their own language we see surprisingly little of them. Instead, the story bounces around between a host of awful men. The men are ALL terrible. Usually, there are at least a few members of an oppressing class who see and disagree with what's going on and and take steps to be an ally to the oppressed group. Not so with this book. The writing created a characature of terrible men that was so over the top it was laughable which made the story difficult to relate to.

In addition to the unbelievable males in this book, the story doesn't focus in on any one character so it you aren't given the chance to form an emotional connection with any of them. You're not rooting for the women because you feel indifferent towards every character.

Overall good concept, but poorly executed.

INCREDIBLE

I absolutely loved it. It made me rethink the way women "manage" men today and how men's emotions are so stupidly crucial to our success. An incredible feminist read and I can't wait to finish the series.

Listen Closely

I loved this book and plan to go back and read it also because listening made it easy to miss things. Very intelligently written and I can’t wait to listen to the next in the series, I’m hoping there is more:). Like the Handmaid’s Tale, it is frighteningly close to how things can go drastically wrong in today’s society with just the change of a few laws.