Play Book Tag discussion

[Posting this here because I chose it specifically for the tag, I hope that's ok. I'd count it as dystopian speculative fiction so I can see why it's been lumped in with sci fi, but I don't think it fits at all...]

The title “red clocks” refers to wombs – and this book is an in-depth exploration of what it means to have one. The book is set in a fictional near-present where the “Personhood Amendment” makes it legally murder to terminate a pregnancy at any time, and an additional law known as “Every Child Needs Two” is about to restrict adoption to state-approved married couples. The story is told from the perspectives of four female characters whose roles, predicaments, and desires intersect with these two laws in a variety of illuminating ways. I liked the fact that contrasting experiences and viewpoints were shown, and that the book led to an authentically satisfying but not credibility-straining resolution.

(Side note: I was intrigued to discover in the end notes that the part of the book that sounded least likely to me – a speech given by a Canadian prime minister describing their alliance with the US in terms suggesting a biblical marriage – was actually copied verbatim from an address given by JFK to the Canadian parliament in 1961. Truth, as always, is stranger than fiction.)

I loved this one. Thanks for the reminder.