Women Talking

By: Miriam Toews

Narrated by: Matthew Edison

Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's Summary

A transformative and necessary work - as completely unexpected as it is inspired - by the award-winning author of the best-selling novels All My Puny Sorrows and A Complicated Kindness. 

Based on actual events that happened between 2005 and 2009 in a remote Mennonite community where more than 100 girls and women were drugged unconscious and assaulted in the night by what they were told (by the men of the colony) were "ghosts" or "demons", Miriam Toews' bold and affecting novel Women Talking is an imagined response to these real events. 

The novel takes place over 48 hours as eight women gather in secret in a neighbor's barn while the men are in a nearby town posting bail for the attackers. They have come together to debate, on behalf of all the women and children in the community, whether to stay or leave before the men return. Taking minutes is the one man trusted and invited by the women to witness the conversation - a former outcast whose own surprising story is revealed as the women speak. 

By turns poignant, witty, acerbic, bitter, tender, devastating, and heartbreaking, the voices in this extraordinary novel are unforgettable. Toews has chosen to focus the novel tightly on a particular time and place, and yet it contains within its 48 hours and setting inside a hayloft an entire vast universe of thinking and feeling about the experience of women (and therefore men, too) in our contemporary world. In a word: astonishing.

©2018 Miriam Toews (P)2018 Penguin Random House Canada Ltd.

Funny how a man read “Women talking” to me

Great and amazing story that needs to be told.. but not by a man. Disappointed.

Women talking

The story is quite interesting so far. Might prefer narration by a woman for this book.

Monotone and repetetive

I expected more of the story to be about the women, what life was like, the realization of what was happening to them, and their daughters, how the men made them feel about it. Not a lot of emphasis was put on any of that, it was glossed over. It was repetitive, why should they go? why should they stay? but the reasons that were given had no real fight to them, It was frustrating to continue, and I was just relieved when it was finally over. I know the story is there, it just wasn't told in a way that made me interested in the characters, real or fictional. The narrator was not good. I sped the story up to 1.50.

Women Talking

Since I was raised Mennonite I can relate though I was not in as restrictive a sect as this book. It is just so hard to believe that this happened though I know it is true, makes me so much more aware of work yet to do where such restrictive practice is in place!! Well written and I am so glad she took such care in demonstrating the thought processes and the care with which these women had to plan, knowing the cost of their decision. Would like to see a continuing saga.

Mennonite thumbs up!

I really enjoyed this both as a reader and as a Mennonite myself. Although my "strain" of Mennonite ancestry has modernized over the generations after migrating to the US, this reminded me that others have not. I loved the struggle between staying true to their religious beliefs (however archaic) and their internal voice that says that this was not ok under any circumstances.

scary story

Scary because it is based on actual events. Scarier because the issues these women are dealing with, to stay or leave in order to protect themselves and their children from the men beating and raping them (or the men allowing them to be beaten and raped by others) are faced by most women in the outer world too. Wanted to read the book before the movie debuts. It didn't disappoint. Now can't wait to see the film.

Moving and Beautiful

I had no idea what to expect from this book. It was not my usual purchase but I’m so glad I took the chance. It wasn’t depressing, but a wonderful glimpse into women dealing with horrendous abuse in a dignified, compassionate and very realistic dialogue. It’s rare to hear authentic discussion around sexual abuse but this seemed so insightful and strangely uplifting. This is for everyone, not just women.

Fabulous!!!

The book is absolutely captivating! The events read like this was back in the 1920's, or earlier. Every once in awhile something would jolt my memory that this was the year 2009!!!

Brave Women

Women have been abused by men throughout the centuries, How fasinating, for such an isolated group of women so unfamiliar with the outside world to rise up against them in our on going fight for equality. I found the conversations of
the women a bit philosophical and that as the reader I needed to be in a constant state of introspection. It was a uplifting
read, I could feel their strength and courage mixed with a little bit of rebel in their plans as they set forth blindly.

Disappointed

Just wanted more information about the individual women & the life they led. No good character development & no satisfactory ending.