The Change: the must read debut feminist fiction novel and crime thriller of 2022!

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Patriarchy demands of men that they become and remain emotional cripples. Since it is a system that denies men full access to their freedom of will, it is difficult for any man of any class to rebel against patriarchy, to be disloyal to the patriarchal parent, be that parent female or male.”

No one had seen the woman who lived at 256 Woodland Drive since early November. Now it was late April and the house looked abandoned…The owner’s name was Harriett Osborne, and though she wasn’t new to the neighborhood, few people on Woodland Drive could claim to know her.” The Change is like a guttural rage scream (and somehow a soft, tearful hug) of a book, and I couldn't have loved it any more." --Emily Henry I will say, I appreciate her taking the time to point out ways men are hurt by patriarchal structures, as well as noting that the more militant arenas of feminism do not make space for men to share pain and grow. However, even this latter subject is treated with a slight air of condescension, sort of a "I'm-not-like-other-feminists" attitude. But mostly I was bugged at the frequency with which hooks makes grandiose, superlative statements that have no real support and don't actually withstand scrutiny. For instance, she writes, “Whether watching daytime soap operas, a porn channel, or X-rated movies, children in our nation are more aware of the body and of sexuality than ever before” (77).The book isn't perfect. There are few New Agey passages here and there, which I can be overly sensitive to. (But I think we don't have a language for some of these concepts that won't seem cheesy or New Age.) Also, some of her pop culture critiques seemed inaccurate and out of place. Germaine Greer has given women just the book they need for this time of their lives. Read it, pass it on, talk about it, disagree with it, keep the circle going' Washington Post I haven't loved the previous hooks books I've read, even though I agreed with them, because I didn't find her writing style clear or elegant enough. But this one resonated deeply. As someone assigned male at birth, I’ve often struggled to feel comfortable expressing my emotions. Much of the work I’ve done as an adult has been to reconnect with my body and allow myself to hear and express my own feelings. These quotes and many others resonated with me and encouraged me to continue that self work.

I hope The Change finds a large audience. I for one will be recommending it, and have already been telling people about it as I was in the midst of reading it.

Did no one think to cast standup Bridget Christie in the upcoming Barbie movie? If it’s true, as Christie asserts, that “The Hulk is the only menopausal role model in the history of TV and film”, then having Christie play Menopausal Barbie alongside Issa Rae as President Barbie and Nicola Coughlan as Diplomat Barbie in Greta Gerwig’s panorama of modern womanhood might have helped. As it is, she’s had to do it all herself. As usual. Christie writes and stars in The Change – her sitcom debut – as Linda, a much put-upon wife, mother and retail worker who reaches a crisis point at her 50th birthday party. There is only one emotion that patriarchy values when expressed by men; that emotion is anger.” (p. 7) Llevo estudiando masculinidades desde hace varios años y hay una curiosa tendencia cuando se habla del tema: la condescendencia al momento de explicar la identidad masculina. El, por lo demás, comprensible resentimiento colectivo que existe por parte de las mujeres, las personas trans y las identidades masculinas no hegemónicas hacia los hombres (y nuestra falta de voluntad colectiva de trabajar nuestras violencias y dejar de chingar al prójimo) ha hecho que la discusión común (incluso en textos más o menos serios) sobre la masculinidad peque de simplista: mucho se habla sobre privilegios, de mansplaining, de micromachismos, de pacto patriarcal, etc; y poco sobre cómo es que todas esas conductas forman parte esencial de la identidad masculina y el extremedamente difícil trabajo que supone, ya no solo reconocer esto, sino cambiarlo, debido a toda la profundidad de su dimensión psicológica (entre otras cosas). Y no es que no se tengan que gritar esas cosas (se tienen que gritar), sino que no podemos obviar que la "deconstrucción" de la masculinidad no solo se trata de tener voluntad por hacerlo, darse golpes de pecho, reconocer privilegios y "dejar de chingar" sino que, básicamente, se trata renunciar a todo lo que nos han dicho toda la vida que significa ser un hombre, con los altísimos costos que eso supone. Es una chamba urgente, sí, pero complicada y para la que no existen tantas guías. Y aquí es donde entra bell hooks (así, en minúsculas). Nadie habla de la masculinidad como ella. Combina un análisis despiadado de las violencias masculinas con una empatía impresionante por los dolores propios de los hombres y el resultado es sorprendente. Cuando es necesario, hace críticas feroces a las estructuras sociales y relacionales que dificultan que los hombres nos trabajemos. No deja nada fuera. Nadie se salva: ni los hombres heterosexuales, ni los homosexuales, ni las mujeres, ni las feministas, ni las instituciones, ni la religión, ni su propia familia, ni ella misma. El alcance de la mirada crítica de hooks es total. Hay pensamientos en este libro del que podrían originarse tesis enteras. Y siempre, una voluntad puesta: para cambiar, los hombres tienen que aprender a amar, y si no generamos las condiciones relacionales para que podamos emprender este trabajo (todos, todas), simplemente, no sucederá. Brillante.

That all being said, I do have a concern regarding The Change‘s effect on the series as a whole. For example, in “The Venetian Dialectic”, Venice survived the Change, one of the few major cities to do so. Granted they accomplished this goal by expelling every non-Venetian from the city to face certain death, but they survived and at the time of the story are quite prosperous. Yet I don’t remember any mention of Venice during any of the times Stirling referenced Italy and the surrounding areas. Its possible he has somewhere else, but it concerns me that the world has become a bit more crowded. What? What evidence does she have for this claim? And is it even a competition? Do we need to label "the process" as "far more damaging" for boys than for girls? John Birmingham‘s “Fortune and Glory”: Three scavengers search through ruined Sydney for lost treasurers and try to avoid cannibals. I wouldn’t call this a traditional crossover, but John did use characters from his Without Warning series, so it certainly puts the two timelines in the same neighborhood. Boys learn to cover up grief with anger; the more troubled the boy, the more intense the mask of indifference. Shutting down emotionally is the best defense when the longing for connection must be denied.” (p. 50)Also, her examples and generalizations did not really match any of my experiences and seem to not hold when looking at the men and women in my environment. This may be because her observations are wrong, or because my environment is different. Because I am not from the US, I give her the benefit of the doubt. M.T. Reiten‘s “The Demons of Witmer Hall”: Two university students in North Dakota struggle to understand the Change and survive in a world where authority has broken down. Interesting look into how scientific minds would react to the laws of physics suddenly going haywire. Really? Seriously? What basis is there for making this claim? Plenty of children in the past grew up on farms and knew quite a bit about the sexual habits of a range of animals. Plenty of children grew up in one-room cabins or tenements; if anyone in the household had sex, everyone would have been in the room for it. People were born, got ill, convalesced, died, and were prepared for burial AT HOME, and kids would have seen bodies in such states. Miller triumphs...THE CHANGE is that rare treat: a suspenseful story with great pacing, memorable characters, and an engaging voice. Fantastic in every way, this fierce anthem against misogyny is a smash."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) I loved the combination of so many genres here. There's the magical realism and women's fiction as mentioned, but there's also a mystery to be solved and a great deal of action along the way. This book can