A review by booksnailmail
Outlawed, by Anna North
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
This one left me scratching my head. The concept of it was unique and brimming with potential, but an obscene lack of character development and reliance on second wave feminism left this feeling behind the times.
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The novel is about Ada, who is part of a society where teenagers are married and have babies by a young age. Having children is so valuable, that in some ways, this society is de facto matriarchal. Women with many children are revered and can be independent from their husbands. Still, town sheriffs are exclusively male. However, so-called “barren women” are blamed for miscarriages and hanged as witches. After a year of unproductively “lying with her husband”, Ada’s mother, a midwife, sends her to safety in a convent. Ada longs to study medical textbooks rather than Bible verses, and so she runs away to find the Hole in the Wall gang, who may help her reach this nirvana.
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It’s shocking how this cast of characters manages to be wholly one dimensional and white, given how much this author gave herself to work with. The main flaw to me was the lack of intersectional interrogation. The characters of color and non-binary/lgbtq characters seem like afterthoughts, introduced too little too late. I wish the author set up the this book on the premise that this society doesn’t just outlaw barren women, but deviancy in any way. I think to redefine and feminize a Western, we need to understand the history of these towns. It is semi-insulting that the author sprinkled in one biracial character, but never allowed her to interrogate her identity, seek out other Outlaws of color, or acknowledge the history if chattel slavery. Along the same lines, there are one or two Indigenous characters who are wholly unexplained. How do they interact with White, Christian outlaws and townspeople? It was inauthentic and a disservice to not give these characters any humanity.
As for the “feminism” in the book, it felt so outdated. The author could have expanded on why Ada’s mother is a midwife but not a doctor. She could have explored systemic barriers to her training, and how religion dangerously discredits science in this town. The author also mentions some evangelicals who preach racial purity, and I would have been curious to know if there are barriers for women of color in becoming midwives or if there is organized resistance among midwives to push back on accusations of witchcraft. Also, there are non-binary characters and LGBTQ characters introduced, and even Ada at one point questions her sexuality, but the lack of discussion here was a loud silence. I wonder why the author would choose to include them in the outlaws but then not explain their histories? Ada is unexposed in her hometown because a lot of discourse is hush hush, but once she joins a ragtag outlaw gang, I think it interrogation of privilege and inclusion of histories would have served this novel better.
As you can tell, I found the journey through this novel overwhelmingly underbaked, and the ending was just as such. Abrupt. However I am not surprised this book was chosen for multiple BOTMs and celebrity book clubs. In the novel, there is a point that white women were the most violent upholders of racial purity, and the most violent to women who were thought to be witches. Perhaps the applause and lauding of this book as a stereotype-breaking novel is a small example of such.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The novel is about Ada, who is part of a society where teenagers are married and have babies by a young age. Having children is so valuable, that in some ways, this society is de facto matriarchal. Women with many children are revered and can be independent from their husbands. Still, town sheriffs are exclusively male. However, so-called “barren women” are blamed for miscarriages and hanged as witches. After a year of unproductively “lying with her husband”, Ada’s mother, a midwife, sends her to safety in a convent. Ada longs to study medical textbooks rather than Bible verses, and so she runs away to find the Hole in the Wall gang, who may help her reach this nirvana.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
It’s shocking how this cast of characters manages to be wholly one dimensional and white, given how much this author gave herself to work with. The main flaw to me was the lack of intersectional interrogation. The characters of color and non-binary/lgbtq characters seem like afterthoughts, introduced too little too late. I wish the author set up the this book on the premise that this society doesn’t just outlaw barren women, but deviancy in any way. I think to redefine and feminize a Western, we need to understand the history of these towns. It is semi-insulting that the author sprinkled in one biracial character, but never allowed her to interrogate her identity, seek out other Outlaws of color, or acknowledge the history if chattel slavery. Along the same lines, there are one or two Indigenous characters who are wholly unexplained. How do they interact with White, Christian outlaws and townspeople? It was inauthentic and a disservice to not give these characters any humanity.
As for the “feminism” in the book, it felt so outdated. The author could have expanded on why Ada’s mother is a midwife but not a doctor. She could have explored systemic barriers to her training, and how religion dangerously discredits science in this town. The author also mentions some evangelicals who preach racial purity, and I would have been curious to know if there are barriers for women of color in becoming midwives or if there is organized resistance among midwives to push back on accusations of witchcraft. Also, there are non-binary characters and LGBTQ characters introduced, and even Ada at one point questions her sexuality, but the lack of discussion here was a loud silence. I wonder why the author would choose to include them in the outlaws but then not explain their histories? Ada is unexposed in her hometown because a lot of discourse is hush hush, but once she joins a ragtag outlaw gang, I think it interrogation of privilege and inclusion of histories would have served this novel better.
As you can tell, I found the journey through this novel overwhelmingly underbaked, and the ending was just as such. Abrupt. However I am not surprised this book was chosen for multiple BOTMs and celebrity book clubs. In the novel, there is a point that white women were the most violent upholders of racial purity, and the most violent to women who were thought to be witches. Perhaps the applause and lauding of this book as a stereotype-breaking novel is a small example of such.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Torture
Moderate: Abortion