When Women Were Dragons

Definitely more of a 3.5.

This is one more in a recent trend of feminist themed fantasy novels where the women have had enough of being oppressed in a sexist and patriarchal society which doesn't ever let them reach their full potential. It used to be very rare to find a true expression for female rage and even now, it's not something that's well accepted in real life, but I am glad we are getting some narratives which explore this anger. I liked how the author combines a coming of age story with these feminist themes and some fantasy/scifi elements sprinkled throughout.

I am just getting out of a bad reading slump, so I'm glad I found something which made me feel better but I'm upset that I am not really in the right headspace to do a full review. But I hope anyone who likes these kind of stories will give this a try.

In April 25th, 1955, 642,987 women shed their skins and became dragons. Alex was only a child, and her aunt was one of these women. That event had a big impact on Alex and her little family. It raised a lot of questions her young brain could not answer. And she now has a little sister, who up until recently was just her cousin. But Alex did not have an aunt! Because there were no dragons. And no one was able to talk about them. Until they came back, and they could no longer be ignored!
I listened to the audiobook last year, and I read it again this year. It is one of the books that raise a lot of feelings in me. I love to see a world where women don't put up with being put down and limited due to their gender. Becoming dragons is the perfect metaphor for letting the fire inside them flare up.  And seeing how their transformation did not have the same results everywhere. Some dragons were so angry that they burned everything and everyone that hurt them. Others stayed back and continued to live with their families. And others just decided to leave and go away to find their own destiny. 
With the dragons' return, we can see a society that is trying to slowly adapt to make room for these giant creatures. Just like society had to adapt to allow for women to take part in education and the workforce. However, it didn't seem that the change was enough. One of the things that don't sit too well with me is that a big chunk of society did not change. They continued to be the close-minded little people they had always been. Alex's dad is the biggest example of that. As hurt as he was by his wife's death, he turned around, abandoned his daughters, got married, and started a new family as if nothing happened.
But I guess that is a reflection of the real world we live in. Misogyny did not subside just because women were given equal rights to men.  Up until this day, even among the most educated, well-intentioned, and self-proclaimed “progressive” men, you will find hints of them thinking that women are less than.  When women were told that they belonged in the workplace, no one told the men that they belonged at home. This ended up with women being expected to work inside and outside of the home, while the expectations of men did not change. And I think this story reflects that but in a more positive way.

Spoiler-Free Review:

This book was the August/September pick for the Up All Night book club. I enjoyed reading it and found it thought provoking and deep— maybe a bit over my head. I enjoyed the writing style and how the story read like a memoir. This book follows the story of Alex Green. Alex is a young girl when she sees her first dragon— too young to really understand. The story is about how some women began spontaneously “dragoning” and how society changed and adapted with these events. This is a story of the harmful impacts of prejudice, societal change, the importance of talking about the past, and longing for more out of life. The pacing of this book started off a little slow for my taste, but it picked up around half way. The author talks about true events that inspired bits of the story in the acknowledgements, and it definitely sparked my curiosity to do some research. This is adult contemporary fiction, 16+ for themes and topics.

It hurts my soul to have to rate this one two stars. I LOVE The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill, so I had high hopes for this one. But unfortunately, I didn't love it.

When Women Were Dragons has some beautifully written scenes.. extremely so, but there are so many themes and allegories and points jam packed in, and they really detract from the story amd come across as preachy (where you can tell the author is trying to “say something” but mostly forcing it and interrupting the story flow).

Someone at my book club said it's like Kelly Barnhill knew she was only going to ever write one adult novel and tried to put everything she wanted to say in it. And that about sums it up..

This was an interesting one. It's about women having the ability to turn into dragons en masse and leaving behind the patriarchy of the 1960s. Where it gets weird is it's not really straight fantasy (which would have been fun to read!) but more so some sort of menstruation allegory (almost? Or something similar anyway) in that the fact that women are capable of turning into dragons is considered embarrassing to talk about and people turn a complete blind eye to. Which it's dragons! Hello! Can you really ignore that?