Review #47: Fiction
Whisper Network by Chandler Baker
I liked the format of this book a lot; the switching between present and past, and the use of interviews and legal documents throughout could have been confusing, but were actually very effective in conveying the story from multiple points of view, foreshadowing, and keeping a good pace. I also really enjoyed the unconventional “We” as narrator. It put the story directly in the hands of the reader. It’s my story, it’s your story, it’s our story.
There are also a lot of great feminist moments, especially between mother and daughter, but also between friends. Feminism truly is at the core of Baker’s writing and it’s very refreshing to see a book so unapologetically speak to these issues. However, there are areas where this feminist thread falls apart, and those details really unravel the whole thing for me.
What I didn’t like was that although Whisper Network is very timely in relation to the “Me Too” movement and it details these experiences that every women has had in the work place, and the thoughts every working woman and working mother has dealt with, it ultimately gets overshadowed by a story of another woman turning on her coworkers. It’s supposed to be a story about shitty men and what women go through, but my take away was more focused on women working against their own interests and hurting other women. I couldn’t get over it being a story that is trying to vilify men, but further vilifies women in the process.
In the end, fans of Big Little Lies would probably like this a lot, if they want to basically just read that book again. The similarities are strikingly obvious.
[Spoilers ahead]
There’s sexual assault, a child results from this assault, a man falls to his death, it’s ultimately an act of self defense by a woman/women against this man, etc. It’s just Big Little Lies in an office building.
Even if it’s not executed perfectly, books like this — with these characters and these stories — need to exist.
My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.
*cover art from Amazon.com
Amber Reads a Book 