Red Clocks

A Novel

By: Leni Zumas

Narrated by: Karissa Vacker

In this ferociously imaginative novel, abortion is once again illegal in America, in-vitro fertilization is banned, and the Personhood Amendment grants rights of life, liberty, and property to every embryo.

Five women. One question. What is a woman for?

In a small Oregon fishing town, five very different women navigate these new barriers alongside age-old questions surrounding motherhood, identity, and freedom. Ro, a single high-school teacher, is trying to have a baby on her own, while also writing a biography of Eivv?r, a little-known 19th-century female polar explorer.

Susan is a frustrated mother of two, trapped in a crumbling marriage. Mattie is the adopted daughter of doting parents and one of Ro's best students, who finds herself pregnant with nowhere to turn. And Gin is the gifted, forest-dwelling herbalist, or "mender," who brings all their fates together when she's arrested and put on trial in a frenzied modern-day witch hunt.

Red Clocks is at once a riveting drama, whose mysteries unfold with magnetic energy, and a shattering novel of ideas. In the vein of Margaret Atwood and Eileen Myles, Leni Zumas fearlessly explores the contours of female experience, evoking The Handmaid's Tale for a new millennium. This is a story of resilience, transformation, and hope in tumultuous—even frightening—times.

Critic reviews

"[A] lyrical and beautifully observed reflection on women's lives.... Highly absorbing.... Zumas is a skillful writer, expertly keeping each of her characters in balanced motion, never allowing one to dominate the rest. Her cunning device of not revealing the name of each character in the sections she narrates grants us a multidimensional perspective on all four women, highlighting their roles in one another's stories. It's a beautiful metaphor for the interdependence of women's lives."—Naomi Alderman, New York Times Book Review

"In an alarming peek into a dystopian future, a group of women navigates family and motherhood in an America that has outlawed abortion, in vitro fertilization, and adoption by single women. Each of the interwoven story lines is complex and heartbreaking in its own way, and overall it's a fascinating and unsettling exploration of the limits society can place on women's bodies."—Samantha Irby, Marie Claire

"The story is set in a small Oregon town in a future that Mike Pence can almost see if he stands on his pew...This provocative exploration of female longing, frustration and determination couldn't be more timely, and yet there's nothing fleeting about it. With Red Clocks, Zumas has written a novel that's political without being doctrinaire, that expands the dimensions of our most pressing social debate."—Ron Charles, Washington Post

"Intricate and alarming, Leni Zumas' riveting second novel, Red Clocks, arrives just in time....Wry and urgent, defiant and stylish, Zumas' braided tale follows the intertwined fates of four women whose lives this law irrevocably alters....Lit up with verbal pyrotechnics and built with an admirably balanced structure, Red Clocks is undeniably gorgeously written.... Indispensable."—Chicago Tribune

"Zumas has written a work that's preoccupied with what it means to live inside a woman's body, and to exist in that body in a world that's long viewed it with fear and unease.... A thoughtful, complicated picture of womanhood-and a fierce argument for individual choice.... Red Clocks is relentlessly interrogative but always humane.... Red Clocks instead is deeply, intentionally personal. Rather than trafficking in sweeping generalizations or one-size-fits-all dictates, it focuses on the uniqueness of all of its characters, who are nevertheless linked by the immutability of their bodies. The familiarity of the book's world, just a step removed from our own reality, is the most shocking thing about it."
—Atlantic

Odd

This storyline had so much potential, the theme so relevant to today’s politics, but it just came off as odd to me. Really, really odd. There is a lot of jumping around of characters and subplots that I found distracting and while it will all connect (sort of) by the end I didn’t care. I did get the authors intent (I think, sort of, maybe) and the writing isn’t bad but in the end this book just doesn’t gel right. Save the credit.

Fabulous!

The story flips between 5 women experiencing important moments in each woman’s life. I did not find it difficult to follow the flips between each woman & timeline. The moment I realized the importance of the relationship between the “Healer” named Gin & the “Daughter” named Mattie, I got a flush of exhilaration!
If you are interested in women’s issues & the biological plight we all face, this is a VERY good book.
I listened to this book during my hour long commutes to & from work. If you liked The Handmaid’s Tale, you will enjoy this!
The narrator did an incredible job expressing the character’s age, tone & individuality!

Worthy to be compared to Handmaid’s Tale

Given today’s political environment and talk of Roe v Wade, this was a timely read. Imagine a world where Roe v Wade is overturned and the legislature (which folks seem to forget is equally powerful as President) make laws that limit a woman’s right over her body at point of conception. The author present the day-to-day perspective of 4 women. But while it seems mundane in that she presents their lives as normal, where the book climaxes is quite as chilling as Handmaid’s Tale.

A glimpse at what the future could hold?

With eerily realistic interpretations of a Government agenda gone awry this story hit too close for comfort on many levels. It's a compelling story with a surprising ending that left me wanting to know more about what the next 10 years of these women's lives looks like.

Where was the climax?

I had very high hopes for this book. I expected to feel enraged or empowered or SOMETHING at the end but it fell very flat. I enjoyed the character building a lot even though one of the characters was not really interacting with the overall uniting force of this unjust law. I wish there was more of an impact made on their lives based on their experiences. Also... why was she eating dirt?!?!?!