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Amazon: A Novel
Transported from her matrilineal, Goddess-centered society to patriarchal twentieth-century New Jersey, Amazon warrior Antiope explores the “progress” that culture has made and offers biting insights into the absurdity of the male-dominated present.
178 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1992
2 people are currently reading
109 people want to read
About the author
Barbara G. Walker
36 books134 followersBarbara Walker studied journalism at the University of Pennsylvania and then took a reporting job at the Washington Star in DC. During her work as a reporter, she became increasingly interested in feminism and women's issues.
Her writing career has been split between knitting instruction books, produced in the late 1960s through the mid-80s; and women's studies and mythology books, produced from the 1980s through the early 21st C.
Her writing career has been split between knitting instruction books, produced in the late 1960s through the mid-80s; and women's studies and mythology books, produced from the 1980s through the early 21st C.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
December 3, 2009
One of my favorite novels of all time.
A must read for all women.
VERY feminine energy empowering!
A must read for all women.
VERY feminine energy empowering!
June 19, 2017
I'm going to be right up front about this: DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME READING THIS BOOK. And brace yourselves for spoilers, because I am going to go into considerable detail about what's wrong with it. If you don't want to bother with the specifics, then let me just state that it is an authorial tract. It is preachy, self-righteous, emotionless, and tedious to the point of pain. It completely disregards the idea of consent, normalizes female-on-male and female-on-female rape, demonizes Christianity, fetishizes uteruses and vaginas to the point of transphobia, and blames cis men for all ills in the world. You might be forgiven for thinking that it's a satirical parody of radical feminism, only it's not. This is pure Barbara G. Walker. This is what she believes.
Let's start with the plot. There isn't one. The "book" is basically a series of loosely connected anecdotes, most of which take place in our world (probably in the United States, but Walker never says) at some time in the twentieth century (most likely the 1970s, given the attitudes and the level of tech--for example, using a typewriter rather than a computer to write, no mention of the Internet, and so on). Save for Walker's stand-in (an older divorced woman journalist) writing a book called Amazon (yes, she's that blatant about it) and thereafter dragging Walker's mouthpiece (the time-traveling Amazon) to various interviews and shows spotlighting the book, the houses of rich fans, etc., very little happens.
This, sadly, is by design. Walker views the Amazon society as a perfect one in which women had power and authority over men. It is doubly perfect because her theory (which shows up in some of her essays) is that older women like herself were revered as crones and wise women, and that after their deaths, such women were worshiped as goddesses. If you have ever read anything else by her, you know that she is angry that our society doesn't revere crones or deify women.
By the very nature of the book's premise--time-traveling woman from an Amazon utopia visits twentieth-century America--Walker has written herself into a corner. If the land of the Amazons is perfect as it is, then, in her view, it should not change.
At the same time, Walker establishes that Amazonia is NOT perfect (more on that later) and that its people have been erased from history, their language, culture and beliefs forgotten. Yet when Antiope returns and tells her people of her journey to a terrible and unimaginable future, their reaction is, "Huh. Well, I guess the goddess gave you a true vision of a future in which our people are extinct. Oh well, back to normal life!"
And that's it. They don't do anything to try to avert that future. In other words, Antiope's trip has no impact: it does not save her people, and it does not change our world significantly. The trip is--say it with me, class--ENTIRELY POINTLESS.
And then there's the goddess. Walker. Never. Shuts. Up. About. This. Thing. Every time that Antiope opens her yap, she starts lecturing the reader about the pesky mother goddess and how great she is.
Now, I don't care if people believe in pagan gods. Worship whomever seems best to you; it is none of my business. But I don't like being on the receiving end of a sermon, and that is what this book is: a lecture about how awful our world is and how awesome it would be if women just overthrew Christianity and prayed to a mother goddess instead, because then all social problems would disappear.
This is honestly laughable in view of Walker's portrayal of Amazons. Okay, Amazon women decide when they're going to get pregnant and no woman is allowed to become a mother before she kills an enemy in battle. (You can fanwank an explanation for this--that a woman has to demonstrate that she can protect her young, for example--but Walker never bothers. That's just the way it is in Amazonia.) But if an Amazon doesn't want a kid, well, not to worry:
On the rare occasions when a morther birthed a deformed, underdeveloped, sick, or otherwise defective baby, she could refuse to name it or to baptize it with her milk. Then it would not be fed, would be viewed as a nonperson, and would soon perish.(Chapter 8, page 90)
That's the protagonist speaking, by the way. Notice how much she wishes this practice didn't exist? Notice how the mothers of sick or deformed babies implore their goddess for a miracle so that their children can live, and that it's agonizing to listen to a baby screaming for days as it starves to death?
No. You can't notice that, because Walker doesn't describe it. Antiope never questions this practice and never describes anyone else questioning it. This is the way it is for goddess-worshipers in her society, so obviously it must be correct.
But that's just her culture, right? Well, no. Listen to the fate of smiths:
Smiths were seers, wizards, and highly respected craftsmen among my people. They were considered so valuable that sometimes the Council of Mothers deliberately had them lamed so that they would not run away and join other tribes...In this way, they honored their tutelary craft god, Velchanos, the lame deity whose forges lay under the mountains...Our tradition said that the Goddess Herself had loved Velchanos as Her favorite son, had lamed him, and had sent him down to the underworld to force the lightnings and rule all the smiths. (Chapter 2, pp.13-14)
Again, despite spending years in the future, Antiope never questions the morality of this. At no time does it ever occur to her that governments should not cripple citizens and parents should not cripple children. It must be virtuous, because the goddess does it!
Furthermore, in Chapter 11, Antiope states that the "Council of Mothers"--the government that rules her society--advocates cutting the hand off of a man who uses a "stick, stone, blade, or any other weapon" to injure a woman or child, and chopping the dick off of rapists. This becomes so popular in-universe that there are roving bands of female vigilantes chopping the hands off of men who are even rumored to be abusive, because screw evidence and the rule of law, right? But not to worry, because threatening and disabling abusive men never backfires and makes things worse for abused women and kids, oh no. And as for the men who were innocent but got their hands chopped off anyway? Well, who cares about them?
This is not only stupid and insensitive in the extreme but a prime example of double standards. Antiope herself rapes one man who backs away from her and tells her that he doesn't want to be unfaithful (which you would think she would grasp, since she can canonically read minds) and sexually assaults a woman and another man (Antiope's idea of sexual invitation is "grab another person's boob or dick"). This happens despite all three indicating multiple times through words and actions that they do not want sex. Unfortunately, Walker's concept of rape does not encompass "has sex with another person without their consent," but is strictly penile. As a result, Antiope never grasps that she herself is a rapist--and therefore never changes and never suffers any adverse consequences.
Now, remember at the beginning when I said that Walker fetishizes uteruses and vaginas? Well, she does, and, in-universe, she builds them into architecture. The book features not one but two massive temples to the goddess, one that's part of a cave system underground in Themyscira and one in twentieth-century America. Both contain small "womb rooms" (dark fleece-lined chambers in which a naked woman is supposed to curl up and "meditate" as if she was in her mother's womb--talk about infantilizing women!). Both contain vagina-shaped doors. The American temple has a statue of a goddess as its walls and ceiling; she is giving birth to the sun. A little girl's room in the American temple has a bed streaked with human blood to represent maidenhood, which Walker views as starting with the first menstrual period. (Ew.)
Over and over, Walker pounds on the same tediously ableist and transphobic message: women are defined by their body parts and how well those body parts work. I think that women with Turner syndrome, PCOS, and endometriosis, just to name a few diseases that can cause infertility, as well as trans women, might not be thrilled with Walker's stubborn insistence that a properly functioning cisfemale body is all and everything. She even has one tertiary character plan her own assisted suicide when her body develops a terminal illness...and implies that the woman would have called an ambulance for help if her friends had not been there to ensure that she didn't change her mind.
There's also rather a lot about the temples. We get two tours of two temples, four religious rituals (two in America and two in Themyscira), and at least six confrontations in which goddess doctrine conflcts with mainstream American cultural values. It gets wearing after a while. There are only so many ways that you can scream "Shut UP!" at a criminally dull book.
Fundamentally, this book is a 178-page pagan Chick Tract. It is not entertaining (unless you like dry, pedantic, ill-researched tripe that ends with domestic terrorism); it is not empowering (unless you also like books that fairly drip with hatred for men and that feature protagonists who are perpetually on the verge of attacking, maiming, humiliating or killing someone with a sword); and I would certainly not call a book that places such overweening emphasis on the conception of infants and the infantilization of women to be feminist. Rather, I would call both ideas reactionary ones.
Bottom line--there are better books out there. Please find and read them instead. Let this hate-filled drivel be utterly forgotten. That, truly, is what it deserves.
Let's start with the plot. There isn't one. The "book" is basically a series of loosely connected anecdotes, most of which take place in our world (probably in the United States, but Walker never says) at some time in the twentieth century (most likely the 1970s, given the attitudes and the level of tech--for example, using a typewriter rather than a computer to write, no mention of the Internet, and so on). Save for Walker's stand-in (an older divorced woman journalist) writing a book called Amazon (yes, she's that blatant about it) and thereafter dragging Walker's mouthpiece (the time-traveling Amazon) to various interviews and shows spotlighting the book, the houses of rich fans, etc., very little happens.
This, sadly, is by design. Walker views the Amazon society as a perfect one in which women had power and authority over men. It is doubly perfect because her theory (which shows up in some of her essays) is that older women like herself were revered as crones and wise women, and that after their deaths, such women were worshiped as goddesses. If you have ever read anything else by her, you know that she is angry that our society doesn't revere crones or deify women.
By the very nature of the book's premise--time-traveling woman from an Amazon utopia visits twentieth-century America--Walker has written herself into a corner. If the land of the Amazons is perfect as it is, then, in her view, it should not change.
At the same time, Walker establishes that Amazonia is NOT perfect (more on that later) and that its people have been erased from history, their language, culture and beliefs forgotten. Yet when Antiope returns and tells her people of her journey to a terrible and unimaginable future, their reaction is, "Huh. Well, I guess the goddess gave you a true vision of a future in which our people are extinct. Oh well, back to normal life!"
And that's it. They don't do anything to try to avert that future. In other words, Antiope's trip has no impact: it does not save her people, and it does not change our world significantly. The trip is--say it with me, class--ENTIRELY POINTLESS.
And then there's the goddess. Walker. Never. Shuts. Up. About. This. Thing. Every time that Antiope opens her yap, she starts lecturing the reader about the pesky mother goddess and how great she is.
Now, I don't care if people believe in pagan gods. Worship whomever seems best to you; it is none of my business. But I don't like being on the receiving end of a sermon, and that is what this book is: a lecture about how awful our world is and how awesome it would be if women just overthrew Christianity and prayed to a mother goddess instead, because then all social problems would disappear.
This is honestly laughable in view of Walker's portrayal of Amazons. Okay, Amazon women decide when they're going to get pregnant and no woman is allowed to become a mother before she kills an enemy in battle. (You can fanwank an explanation for this--that a woman has to demonstrate that she can protect her young, for example--but Walker never bothers. That's just the way it is in Amazonia.) But if an Amazon doesn't want a kid, well, not to worry:
On the rare occasions when a morther birthed a deformed, underdeveloped, sick, or otherwise defective baby, she could refuse to name it or to baptize it with her milk. Then it would not be fed, would be viewed as a nonperson, and would soon perish.(Chapter 8, page 90)
That's the protagonist speaking, by the way. Notice how much she wishes this practice didn't exist? Notice how the mothers of sick or deformed babies implore their goddess for a miracle so that their children can live, and that it's agonizing to listen to a baby screaming for days as it starves to death?
No. You can't notice that, because Walker doesn't describe it. Antiope never questions this practice and never describes anyone else questioning it. This is the way it is for goddess-worshipers in her society, so obviously it must be correct.
But that's just her culture, right? Well, no. Listen to the fate of smiths:
Smiths were seers, wizards, and highly respected craftsmen among my people. They were considered so valuable that sometimes the Council of Mothers deliberately had them lamed so that they would not run away and join other tribes...In this way, they honored their tutelary craft god, Velchanos, the lame deity whose forges lay under the mountains...Our tradition said that the Goddess Herself had loved Velchanos as Her favorite son, had lamed him, and had sent him down to the underworld to force the lightnings and rule all the smiths. (Chapter 2, pp.13-14)
Again, despite spending years in the future, Antiope never questions the morality of this. At no time does it ever occur to her that governments should not cripple citizens and parents should not cripple children. It must be virtuous, because the goddess does it!
Furthermore, in Chapter 11, Antiope states that the "Council of Mothers"--the government that rules her society--advocates cutting the hand off of a man who uses a "stick, stone, blade, or any other weapon" to injure a woman or child, and chopping the dick off of rapists. This becomes so popular in-universe that there are roving bands of female vigilantes chopping the hands off of men who are even rumored to be abusive, because screw evidence and the rule of law, right? But not to worry, because threatening and disabling abusive men never backfires and makes things worse for abused women and kids, oh no. And as for the men who were innocent but got their hands chopped off anyway? Well, who cares about them?
This is not only stupid and insensitive in the extreme but a prime example of double standards. Antiope herself rapes one man who backs away from her and tells her that he doesn't want to be unfaithful (which you would think she would grasp, since she can canonically read minds) and sexually assaults a woman and another man (Antiope's idea of sexual invitation is "grab another person's boob or dick"). This happens despite all three indicating multiple times through words and actions that they do not want sex. Unfortunately, Walker's concept of rape does not encompass "has sex with another person without their consent," but is strictly penile. As a result, Antiope never grasps that she herself is a rapist--and therefore never changes and never suffers any adverse consequences.
Now, remember at the beginning when I said that Walker fetishizes uteruses and vaginas? Well, she does, and, in-universe, she builds them into architecture. The book features not one but two massive temples to the goddess, one that's part of a cave system underground in Themyscira and one in twentieth-century America. Both contain small "womb rooms" (dark fleece-lined chambers in which a naked woman is supposed to curl up and "meditate" as if she was in her mother's womb--talk about infantilizing women!). Both contain vagina-shaped doors. The American temple has a statue of a goddess as its walls and ceiling; she is giving birth to the sun. A little girl's room in the American temple has a bed streaked with human blood to represent maidenhood, which Walker views as starting with the first menstrual period. (Ew.)
Over and over, Walker pounds on the same tediously ableist and transphobic message: women are defined by their body parts and how well those body parts work. I think that women with Turner syndrome, PCOS, and endometriosis, just to name a few diseases that can cause infertility, as well as trans women, might not be thrilled with Walker's stubborn insistence that a properly functioning cisfemale body is all and everything. She even has one tertiary character plan her own assisted suicide when her body develops a terminal illness...and implies that the woman would have called an ambulance for help if her friends had not been there to ensure that she didn't change her mind.
There's also rather a lot about the temples. We get two tours of two temples, four religious rituals (two in America and two in Themyscira), and at least six confrontations in which goddess doctrine conflcts with mainstream American cultural values. It gets wearing after a while. There are only so many ways that you can scream "Shut UP!" at a criminally dull book.
Fundamentally, this book is a 178-page pagan Chick Tract. It is not entertaining (unless you like dry, pedantic, ill-researched tripe that ends with domestic terrorism); it is not empowering (unless you also like books that fairly drip with hatred for men and that feature protagonists who are perpetually on the verge of attacking, maiming, humiliating or killing someone with a sword); and I would certainly not call a book that places such overweening emphasis on the conception of infants and the infantilization of women to be feminist. Rather, I would call both ideas reactionary ones.
Bottom line--there are better books out there. Please find and read them instead. Let this hate-filled drivel be utterly forgotten. That, truly, is what it deserves.
June 10, 2016
I saw this book in a used bookstore and loved the premise --- a real-life Amazon warrior being magically transported into our time and commenting on our society --- so much that I devoured the book eagerly.
It reads quickly, probably due in a large part to the simple and straightforward style in which it is written. (It's written from the amazon's point of view, and she is illiterate and, though insightful and smart, fairly naive and uncomplicated. Her sentences are mostly short, plain and powerful, and her narrative is linear and straightforward.)
The best parts of it (for me) were where it most resembled Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland, in which a similar (albeit reversed) culture clash takes place between male explorers and the amazonian natives of a hidden all-female society. The amazon is amazed and appalled at the men and women she encounters, who each appear to her stunted and incomplete.
Sadly, there was a lot less of this culture-clash narrative than I would have liked --- the author seems to breeze through those parts so she can get on with the part of the novel that most interested her: the obsessively detailed descriptions of Goddess worship as practiced by the amazon and those modern-day women she influences. I found those parts of the book boring, and I expect you will too unless you have a particular interest in Goddess spirituality.
It reads quickly, probably due in a large part to the simple and straightforward style in which it is written. (It's written from the amazon's point of view, and she is illiterate and, though insightful and smart, fairly naive and uncomplicated. Her sentences are mostly short, plain and powerful, and her narrative is linear and straightforward.)
The best parts of it (for me) were where it most resembled Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland, in which a similar (albeit reversed) culture clash takes place between male explorers and the amazonian natives of a hidden all-female society. The amazon is amazed and appalled at the men and women she encounters, who each appear to her stunted and incomplete.
Sadly, there was a lot less of this culture-clash narrative than I would have liked --- the author seems to breeze through those parts so she can get on with the part of the novel that most interested her: the obsessively detailed descriptions of Goddess worship as practiced by the amazon and those modern-day women she influences. I found those parts of the book boring, and I expect you will too unless you have a particular interest in Goddess spirituality.
December 12, 2011
Read this years ago. I'm a fan of genre/spec fiction, mythology, feminism, LGBT characters, etc. This novel should be in my wheelhouse.
I remember actually throwing "Amazon" against a wall, I was so annoyed by it. Unsubtle prose and unsophisticated feminism that veers towards misandry. I wanted to love her, but Antiope is a philosophy construct and mouthpiece, not a legitimate character. To be fair, I have a particular distaste for that style of writing regardless of the message, so your mileage may vary.
I remember actually throwing "Amazon" against a wall, I was so annoyed by it. Unsubtle prose and unsophisticated feminism that veers towards misandry. I wanted to love her, but Antiope is a philosophy construct and mouthpiece, not a legitimate character. To be fair, I have a particular distaste for that style of writing regardless of the message, so your mileage may vary.
March 3, 2009
My mom read me this book as a kid. It's incredibly deep lez, focused around motherclans, with scenery to die for. Such as the system of caves that is the womb of the goddess. And the chamber behind the red felt-covered yoni door, where our heroine is presently nestled awaiting her rebirth.
This book explains a lot of my early spirituality. It was my first introduction to bleeding, where the heroine stumbles into the woods to bleed into the ground. Right now I'm reading it aloud to Tyler.
This book explains a lot of my early spirituality. It was my first introduction to bleeding, where the heroine stumbles into the woods to bleed into the ground. Right now I'm reading it aloud to Tyler.
July 24, 2016
I got this book for free from the bookstore I work at because it'd just been laying around for a while and it looked like something I'd like.
I loved it. Amazon basically tells the story of an ancient Amazon warrior who's sent by the Mother to modern America to combat patriarchy. It sounds overly feminist when it's put that way, and it is super feminist, but the book does a fantastic job of pinpointing all the things that go wrong under patriarchy and making such a strong case for reversing those problems. It's an amazing read, and it only took me a few hours to read it. I'd definitely recommend it
And there was one part, specifically, that I wanted to mention. It's kind of a spoiler, so if you're planning on reading this but haven't read it yet, PLEASE STOP RIGHT HERE because I don't want to give away the catharsis, but I need to mention it. There's a scene in the temple where one has to lift the veil to see the Goddess, and underneath the veil there's a mirror. And I think, out of all the images in this book, that's what'll stick with me. Compare that to Christianity and God being made in man's image. I can't tell you how many times I've heard men say that. I can't tell you how many times I've heard men say that and then qualify it with some shoehorned in, non-biblically-authentic feminism and add something like ''men' means all humans, now, not just males, ha-ha... ha.' But you'd never get away with holding up a mirror and saying "look at God." In the Christian church it's a sin to love yourself. Your love is for others. Your love is a guilt trip because you ought to love others that way and if you love yourself more something's wrong. But here... this. If it was real I'd sign my ass up right now. This is what the women of the world actually need to hear.
I loved it. Amazon basically tells the story of an ancient Amazon warrior who's sent by the Mother to modern America to combat patriarchy. It sounds overly feminist when it's put that way, and it is super feminist, but the book does a fantastic job of pinpointing all the things that go wrong under patriarchy and making such a strong case for reversing those problems. It's an amazing read, and it only took me a few hours to read it. I'd definitely recommend it
And there was one part, specifically, that I wanted to mention. It's kind of a spoiler, so if you're planning on reading this but haven't read it yet, PLEASE STOP RIGHT HERE because I don't want to give away the catharsis, but I need to mention it. There's a scene in the temple where one has to lift the veil to see the Goddess, and underneath the veil there's a mirror. And I think, out of all the images in this book, that's what'll stick with me. Compare that to Christianity and God being made in man's image. I can't tell you how many times I've heard men say that. I can't tell you how many times I've heard men say that and then qualify it with some shoehorned in, non-biblically-authentic feminism and add something like ''men' means all humans, now, not just males, ha-ha... ha.' But you'd never get away with holding up a mirror and saying "look at God." In the Christian church it's a sin to love yourself. Your love is for others. Your love is a guilt trip because you ought to love others that way and if you love yourself more something's wrong. But here... this. If it was real I'd sign my ass up right now. This is what the women of the world actually need to hear.
April 30, 2014
I read this book long enough ago that I don't remember when it was.
I adore this book and it made me long for an egalitarian society.
I think of it often in our society; how can one not? There is such rampant, patriarchically condoned violence in our society, how can anyone with an ounce of compassion and passion not wish that respect for women as people was ingrained?
I thrilled at the story and each development in it.
It was a page turner.
I adore this book and it made me long for an egalitarian society.
I think of it often in our society; how can one not? There is such rampant, patriarchically condoned violence in our society, how can anyone with an ounce of compassion and passion not wish that respect for women as people was ingrained?
I thrilled at the story and each development in it.
It was a page turner.
April 9, 2020
This novel is an inspiration to find The Mother. This is a tale of what if -- what if an accomplished young woman were transferred from the ancient lands of matriarchy and worship of The Mother into modern day New Jersey and patriarchy. What would she think of our morals and crimes and worship and laws? Could such a woman survive here? Would she have an lessons for us?
December 9, 2014
re-read recently, and love it every time
think I'm gonna buy this book for my nieces...
think I'm gonna buy this book for my nieces...
May 12, 2012
Listening to the audiobook. I love the book, but am not thrilled with Ms Walker's choice of a reader. So I listen beyond her childish inflections. I disapprove of other reviewers' description of this as a "Lez" book. This book is not nearly as well written, but is one that is almost on the par of "the Red Tent". So while not on my "required reading" list, it is a recommended read for all women. I wanted our heroine to be flashed back to her homeland so many times. It is a place where things make a little more sense, even in light of the progress made since this book was written.
December 23, 2011
Young people today probably have not read the feminist literature of the 1990's. Amazon is a good book to begin with. The story is told through the eyes of an Amazon woman before the common era. She comes face-to-face with our modern civilization which she considers very uncivilized and unsafe for women and children. This novel questions many aspects of our lives that we accept and take for granted.
November 9, 2019
Trouvé dans une boîte de don d'une ancienne librairie à Montréal (L'Essentielle) à notre librairie (L'Euguélionne), je ne pensais pas tomber sur un de mes livres préférés cette année!
Une amazone issue d'une société matriarcale vieille de plus de 2000 ans avant notre époque se retrouve catapultée spirituellement aux États-Unis des années '70-'80 et constate avec horreur comment la société se retrouve changée et comment les femmes sont sous le joug patriarcal. Suivant l'exemple de romans féministes comme L'Euguélionne, Herland, Je ne suis pas née pour mourir et tant d'autres, on suis une protagoniste féministe venant d'une société matrilinéaire et égalitaire comparer son monde avec le notre, patriarcal, oppressant les femmes de mille et une manière amplement discutée dans le roman. Une des qualités de The Amazon est son humour: sorti dans les années '80, une des manières dont la société du roman découvre Ann (la protagoniste) est à travers le livre que l'anthropologue qui l'a accueillie publie, mais aussi à travers une vidéo de fitness que l'Amazon a produit pour montrer son entraînement d'Amazon, mais qui fut plutôt diffusé au public dans ce format.
L'Amazon se questionne aussi beaucoup sur ces propres limites et pas simplement celle de la société, ses réflexes sont souvent ceux d'une guerrière et brandir son épée est toujours sa première réaction face à l'injustice, c'est comique au début, mais on réalise peu à peu que la violence, dans un monde de violence, n'aide peut-être pas autant une société idéale bien que suite à une chaîne d'événements où les femmes se vengent des abuseurs et violeurs, le nombre de ceux-ci diminue drastiquement; bref, on est ambiguë face à la réaction qu'on doit avoir lorsque le système de justice n'est pas capable de la donner et que les femmes doivent l'obtenir de par elle-même.
Walker étant une sorcière néo-païenne, elle ne pouvait s'empêcher non plus de partager ses idées sur le sujet, c'est amené au sein même de la narration avec un culte de la déesse, une importance symbolique des pierres, un lieu de culte en construction, les religions dominantes très méfiantes face à ça, une exploration de certains rituels dans le roman. Ça ne ressemble toutefois pas à une thèse et s'inscrit merveilleusement bien avec l'idée du culte spirituel de l'Amazone elle-même et un besoin de retourner à ce qui a été perdu. Ce n'est rien d'absolument révolutionnaire non plus, et beaucoup de passage pourrait simplement avoir suivi la lecture de Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism plutôt que d'être inspiré du néo-paganisme. Les autres livres de l'autrice étant tous des essais sur le néo-paganisme (comme les cristaux, etc.) et vu l'appréciation du livre que j'ai eu, ça me donne quand même envie de voir comment elle voit ces éléments de son point de vue féministe.
Il y aurait beaucoup d'autres choses à dire sur ce roman à la trame narrative quand même un peu prévisible , mais qui aborde de nombreux enjeux de la violence conjugal, aux faillites du système de justice, à la représentation télévisuelle de stéréotypes qui confortent les préjugés, la destruction de l'environnement au profit du monde contemporain, du besoin d'empathie les un·es envers les autres (Ann a un espèce de don qui lui permet de comprendre les sentiments des autres) et bien d'autres thèmes féministes. Écrit dans les années '80, ce livre semble tout droit sorti des années '70 par son ambition de s'attaquer au système au grand complet et le remplacer par cet idéal de société matriarcal (pas gynocratique, matriarcal) en dénonçant tous les torts de la société et en étant aussi un manifeste de libération des femmes. Une bonne prémisse pour ce livre et son humour incessant malgré la gravité des discussions et la profondeur de la réflexion qu'elle peut avoir parfois (celle sur la violence était, encore une fois, la plus intéressante et nuancée), rendent ce livre un incontournable de la SFF féministe à mon avis.
Une amazone issue d'une société matriarcale vieille de plus de 2000 ans avant notre époque se retrouve catapultée spirituellement aux États-Unis des années '70-'80 et constate avec horreur comment la société se retrouve changée et comment les femmes sont sous le joug patriarcal. Suivant l'exemple de romans féministes comme L'Euguélionne, Herland, Je ne suis pas née pour mourir et tant d'autres, on suis une protagoniste féministe venant d'une société matrilinéaire et égalitaire comparer son monde avec le notre, patriarcal, oppressant les femmes de mille et une manière amplement discutée dans le roman. Une des qualités de The Amazon est son humour: sorti dans les années '80, une des manières dont la société du roman découvre Ann (la protagoniste) est à travers le livre que l'anthropologue qui l'a accueillie publie, mais aussi à travers une vidéo de fitness que l'Amazon a produit pour montrer son entraînement d'Amazon, mais qui fut plutôt diffusé au public dans ce format.
L'Amazon se questionne aussi beaucoup sur ces propres limites et pas simplement celle de la société, ses réflexes sont souvent ceux d'une guerrière et brandir son épée est toujours sa première réaction face à l'injustice, c'est comique au début, mais on réalise peu à peu que la violence, dans un monde de violence, n'aide peut-être pas autant une société idéale bien que suite à une chaîne d'événements où les femmes se vengent des abuseurs et violeurs, le nombre de ceux-ci diminue drastiquement; bref, on est ambiguë face à la réaction qu'on doit avoir lorsque le système de justice n'est pas capable de la donner et que les femmes doivent l'obtenir de par elle-même.
Walker étant une sorcière néo-païenne, elle ne pouvait s'empêcher non plus de partager ses idées sur le sujet, c'est amené au sein même de la narration avec un culte de la déesse, une importance symbolique des pierres, un lieu de culte en construction, les religions dominantes très méfiantes face à ça, une exploration de certains rituels dans le roman. Ça ne ressemble toutefois pas à une thèse et s'inscrit merveilleusement bien avec l'idée du culte spirituel de l'Amazone elle-même et un besoin de retourner à ce qui a été perdu. Ce n'est rien d'absolument révolutionnaire non plus, et beaucoup de passage pourrait simplement avoir suivi la lecture de Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism plutôt que d'être inspiré du néo-paganisme. Les autres livres de l'autrice étant tous des essais sur le néo-paganisme (comme les cristaux, etc.) et vu l'appréciation du livre que j'ai eu, ça me donne quand même envie de voir comment elle voit ces éléments de son point de vue féministe.
Il y aurait beaucoup d'autres choses à dire sur ce roman à la trame narrative quand même un peu prévisible , mais qui aborde de nombreux enjeux de la violence conjugal, aux faillites du système de justice, à la représentation télévisuelle de stéréotypes qui confortent les préjugés, la destruction de l'environnement au profit du monde contemporain, du besoin d'empathie les un·es envers les autres (Ann a un espèce de don qui lui permet de comprendre les sentiments des autres) et bien d'autres thèmes féministes. Écrit dans les années '80, ce livre semble tout droit sorti des années '70 par son ambition de s'attaquer au système au grand complet et le remplacer par cet idéal de société matriarcal (pas gynocratique, matriarcal) en dénonçant tous les torts de la société et en étant aussi un manifeste de libération des femmes. Une bonne prémisse pour ce livre et son humour incessant malgré la gravité des discussions et la profondeur de la réflexion qu'elle peut avoir parfois (celle sur la violence était, encore une fois, la plus intéressante et nuancée), rendent ce livre un incontournable de la SFF féministe à mon avis.
July 10, 2019
The main character rapes a man. There are no consequences for her. Rape culture is rape culture, whether it targets men or women. There are plenty of other complaints I have about this train wreck of a book, but first and foremost? The main character is a rapist. Don’t read unless you’ve got a gun held to your head.
May 1, 2021
I wrote a lengthy review and my phone died right as I was going to hit save. This book isn’t forth wasting my time re-writing it. I’ll just bullet point
*if this author things this is a love story she has a warped since of love. This is a toxic and really weird insta love kind of deal.
*the author hates men. All men. This book was preachy and just obnoxious in portraying every single man as a bad person. There is not a single man in the entire book portrayed in a positive way
*the main character is rapey. I’ll probably catch flack for saying it but she is. She hits on three people by grabbing their genitals. One married man she won’t stop until she sleeps with him and then berates him for not pulling out. The other two - Adam and Diana she keeps putting their hands on them even when they say no and tries to explain why they should have sex with her. If a man ignores consent people would be all over this
*if a woman doesn’t want to have a baby or if it’s I’ll or deformed they wait til it’s born and then let it starve in the Amazon way. I fail to see how a mother goddess would advocate for this
*the story advocates for women to exact vengeance for violence or rape against them via cutting off a hand or penis. The whole entire time she talks about how bad the patriarchal religion (Christianity) is and I find it hypocritical when the Bible says the same thing (an eye for an eye)
I just found this to be a poorly written book. There is so much better out there about feminism and feminine divinity.
*if this author things this is a love story she has a warped since of love. This is a toxic and really weird insta love kind of deal.
*the author hates men. All men. This book was preachy and just obnoxious in portraying every single man as a bad person. There is not a single man in the entire book portrayed in a positive way
*the main character is rapey. I’ll probably catch flack for saying it but she is. She hits on three people by grabbing their genitals. One married man she won’t stop until she sleeps with him and then berates him for not pulling out. The other two - Adam and Diana she keeps putting their hands on them even when they say no and tries to explain why they should have sex with her. If a man ignores consent people would be all over this
*if a woman doesn’t want to have a baby or if it’s I’ll or deformed they wait til it’s born and then let it starve in the Amazon way. I fail to see how a mother goddess would advocate for this
*the story advocates for women to exact vengeance for violence or rape against them via cutting off a hand or penis. The whole entire time she talks about how bad the patriarchal religion (Christianity) is and I find it hypocritical when the Bible says the same thing (an eye for an eye)
I just found this to be a poorly written book. There is so much better out there about feminism and feminine divinity.
Read
June 16, 2021Some books you savor. Others you devour. A few consume the reader until all other thoughts vanish. This novel falls into the latter category.
Like Edward Bellamy’s imagined utopia in Looking Backward, Amazon imagines a world of harsh realities but encompassing warmth of friends, lovers, family, largely female, whose society brings them joy and pride even when they must make war on brutal invaders.
This novel casts an astute eye on our patriarchal world, dominated by male-driven religions and acceptable images of violence, mayhem and bloodshed, often directed at women. Antiope’s pointed questions display the wrongheadedness of a modern culture where women are afraid to walk the streets alone at night, men are infantilized by their wives and children are expected to commit petty acts of vandalism and harm to their peers.
Although this book was published in 1992, little has appeared to change. This book is intense, probing, sometimes stormy, and at other times unnervingly steely as Antiope contemplates this hard world into which she’s been catapulted and her place within it. Demanding, unflinching and scathing in the sharp glare it turns on our society, this book won’t be forgotten in a hurry.
Like Edward Bellamy’s imagined utopia in Looking Backward, Amazon imagines a world of harsh realities but encompassing warmth of friends, lovers, family, largely female, whose society brings them joy and pride even when they must make war on brutal invaders.
This novel casts an astute eye on our patriarchal world, dominated by male-driven religions and acceptable images of violence, mayhem and bloodshed, often directed at women. Antiope’s pointed questions display the wrongheadedness of a modern culture where women are afraid to walk the streets alone at night, men are infantilized by their wives and children are expected to commit petty acts of vandalism and harm to their peers.
Although this book was published in 1992, little has appeared to change. This book is intense, probing, sometimes stormy, and at other times unnervingly steely as Antiope contemplates this hard world into which she’s been catapulted and her place within it. Demanding, unflinching and scathing in the sharp glare it turns on our society, this book won’t be forgotten in a hurry.
August 22, 2018
Read this at the insistence of a friend, completed with gritted teeth basically as a favor to her. Embarrassing, plodding, terfy.
September 14, 2023
This book found me and I’m so glad for it
December 31, 2008
In an effort to up the ratio of books I finish reading to what I start, I've knocked this one off the list.
Antiope, a young woman warrior, has mysteriously traveled thru time.
She is from a women-led society that is perpetually at war with the Greeks. She somehow finds herself in current times and soon becomes a celebrity. The dust jacket promises "satirical social commentary".
Antiope finds much irony and contradiction in the way we live and tells us so.
I liked the idea of this book. I liked the way it gave an outsider's view of our society, but the story just never got traction for me. I think you might like it, but it just didn't do it for me While her views were interesting and refreshing, the basic story was a little predictable.
If you'd like to borrow it, or glance at it, that would be great.
Antiope, a young woman warrior, has mysteriously traveled thru time.
She is from a women-led society that is perpetually at war with the Greeks. She somehow finds herself in current times and soon becomes a celebrity. The dust jacket promises "satirical social commentary".
Antiope finds much irony and contradiction in the way we live and tells us so.
I liked the idea of this book. I liked the way it gave an outsider's view of our society, but the story just never got traction for me. I think you might like it, but it just didn't do it for me While her views were interesting and refreshing, the basic story was a little predictable.
If you'd like to borrow it, or glance at it, that would be great.
Read
November 3, 2014Charlz is reading me this amazingly deep lez book. It makes mention of a "Yoni Door" made of stone, covered in Fleece, painted red, slightly damp, "but not stale". Woah.
October 3, 2013
A mediocre book.
July 3, 2024
Radically feminist. Had some great ideas but some parts of the ending didn't work for me.
August 1, 2014
Pretty damn good. It was a very good experience, i would read this again.
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