Whores: A Gender War Dystopia

Preview — Whores by Nicolas Wilson. In the near future, women's rights are eroding. Those who buck the system are hunted as gender criminals by the authorities when they're lucky, and rogue militias when they aren't. Alex Harmon, a newly minted gender crimes detective tasked with bringing recalcitrant 'feministas' to justice, pursues a woman cast into a resistance group by circumstance. The tactics of his pe In the near future, women's rights are eroding. The tactics of his peers and growing unrest force him to question his goals and allegiances, as he finds himself dragged into a brutal guerrilla war for the minds and bodies of a generation of women.

Whores contains some graphic violence, adult language, and mature themes. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Whores , please sign up. Lists with This Book. Okay, I've been wrestling with how to write this review for a while now. I'm still not sure what's important here.

This is the quandary: On one hand, take this as a dystopian novel about the near-mid-range future and it's okay. It's a bit dark and gritty, but, hey, that's Dystopia right? I kind of liked the almost terrorist like, cloak and dagger, resistance fighting action here. Sure there was foul language, and, some really evil nasty torture, as well as redneck men on the rampage doing dastar Okay, I've been wrestling with how to write this review for a while now. Sure there was foul language, and, some really evil nasty torture, as well as redneck men on the rampage doing dastardly things to women but, as a straight story, inflammatory content aside, this could hold water without too many holes.

I could follow it through the paces and didn't balk at the noirish, gritty feel. The violence was not refined, it had a crude feel to it that made it seem all the more distasteful both because of its cruelty and how real it felt when reading it.

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The characters were a bit "chatty" for your standard dystopian novel when seen in this light but there may be an explanation for why they were that way. I even found the female heroine group to be realistic, under the circumstances and exhibit a sense of purpose and courage under grossly adverse conditions.

Why show us the future and tell us were all doomed become victims or assholes without showing us the way out. I also found it a bit too Noirish and gritty for my tastes. I mean, it was on par with a Zombie Apocalypse Novel for violent content and in the nature of the violence. Again, this may not be a problem for some people.

This changes if we use some of the scenes as a metaphor to explain or an example of a greater theme or ideal at work here, if I were only a one handed reviewer. Now, to the other hand: As a socially conscious book that is making a statement about women's issues in modern society and taking a shot across the bow at gender based discrimination and inequity I'd give it 3.

Wilson credit for finding a way to make complex problems understandable and drag those things that are confused and masked in subtlety kicking and screaming into daylight. Wilson is right, his book shows us with delicate subtle niceties exactly what a double standard means. Lots of points given by me for that. Given my distaste for gritty nourish violence, this eases that concern greatly. Second class citizens are second class, regardless of how well they are kept. It is a distasteful word when applied to any person or profession.

I take no offense at the title. Whores are criminals, the title suggests that by calling all, or most women whores the same way humanity has labeled groups under racially separating epitaphs used based on the nature of their ethnic or gender group, not their character here whores is significant. Even having the characters call them whores as a means of labeling and separating them from meaningful humanity. To me, this story came across as suggesting that this is the direction that the USA is heading. Even though some of these things have happened here, they have not been problems in the US, or at least not problems in the context of world events like those sited here.

Setting this in Philadelphia, a city integral in the forming of this nation and the lives of the Founders without any real international evokes powerful National pride issues. Even in the dystopian city that this was set in, this was a national theme, not an international one. I just have difficult translating our current gender confusion and problems into this kind of dystopian situation. Again, as pure science fiction, I bought it. The problem is that, even if one makes the leap between worldwide gender gaps, human issues regarding women and the problem of gender bias and those in the US, all issues brought out in this book are overshadowed by one problem that clearly is an issue in the USA.

Abortion Abortion- the book starts with abortion, ends with abortion, and, has the questions and issues surrounding abortion soaked throughout the entire story. There are only two arenas in the U. This is an accurate counter-reflection. What this book could have said about the very unfair nature of how our society treats men as its familial head of the human house-hold and what is expected of women, their worth, talents and abilities could have been exemplified in this book.

Instead, reminders of the overwhelming issue of abortion is on every page sucking the story dry of any other abuse of position and power that is also there, even the "Life of David Gale" style ending cemented in the insanity of the abortion issue and all but guaranteed that any ground made discussing other things that perhaps could be fixed would be forgotten. It is also important that we come up with a solid ruling and answer to settle right to life vs. This is a tactic that the conservative right has either knowingly or accidentally made its prime weapon for disrupting any momentum gained in a women's initiative.

What they know for a fact is that all sides and angles of life in the United States struggles and anguishes over this problem. Why is there a litmus test for any candidate from either party to be this way, or that way on the abortion issue? Planned Parent-hood brings healthcare to more women who do not have enough health insurance or who are limited by their financial position and unable to get that care through a regular doctor or at any health clinic.

Focus on abortion and they have to fight to keep the money they use to help any woman with things that no human being should be denied. Sure, we have these problems and they are difficult problems, so, why not give us a recipe to try on how to bake a cake that solves those problems or at least options to explore. Nor am I saying that the Abortion vs. Right to life is too complicated to solve, too hard to solve or depict it as something less than it is. This book bundles all women's issues under one red banner. A socio-politico-theological Trojan Horse if you will.

This is where we get into what I call sleight of hand. Even the title tells us there is sleight of hand at work here. In the "Not a factual account" why include so many things that are actually real issues and then hide those issues beneath the blood-gravy of the abortion vs. In one sense, it is over reaching because it takes on too much in a way that divides the support that is there for things that could be solved, so that it falls short of having what it takes to reach a good conclusion. Wilson has more conservative political views than that, or than I do. I believe there are people who think that way.

Most Made for TV movies have something anchored in the real world to help us enjoy the story. So, for message, I give it a 2. Not because these aren't real women's issues, but because this book ties everything under together in the anti-abortion war and sucks things that could be solved, given proper motivation time and inspiration, into a much more chaotic and difficult problem. It's my opinion but this sets women back if we take it as a "message" on social gender politics.

This is a readable book and even though the violence is not for me, Nicholas Wilson is a storyteller. I actually like the terrorist cell like cloak and dagger maneuvering in the plot.

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If you want to support women in a broader, human rights based philosophy then separate these to arguments lest all the ground you gain on solvable problems will get covered up in the sandstorm of Roe Vs. View all 10 comments. Apr 30, Christy Stewart rated it it was amazing Shelves: This book scared me like no other work of fiction has. Many reviewers are skeptical as to the likelihood of the premise but nothing presented in it is something that hasn't been in Western socio-political policies at one point, and to those of us who live as the least privileged sect of women these things aren't imaginary, they just aren't ALL completely legal yet.

The reason the book scared me so much is because it not only resonated with my fears but reflected my experiences even as I read it. I set down the book to take a call from a friend who spent the night listening to her neighbor beat his girlfriend then found a trail of blood leading from his doorstep out into the street; the girlfriend couldn't be found and the police told my friend and the girl's family they simply weren't interested and refused to take the photos of the blood that my friend took before the boyfriend cleaned it up.

This is the safest story I can tell. Much worse happened to other friends during my reading and the fact that reviewers underplay the seriousness of this premise scares me as much as the book itself. Mar 01, S. Not a controlled dive, but a hit-the-bottom-of-the-quarry, backbreaking dive. Would a lot of women fight back? As the gender war progresses, the reader gradually hears the chilling personal tales of the fanaticized women in one particularly active cell.

On the whole it seemed well balanced, although it would have been nice to hear something from someone functioning in society but not part of the actual warring parties. I received a gift copy of this book in exchange for an honest, non-reciprocal review.

Oct 18, Aria rated it it was amazing. I've read a few of Nic's in-progress novels on his blog, and was excited to see Whores presented in an easier-to-follow format than reading blog entries. This is an odd novel. It's fairly short, probably more of a novella than a full novel, and I finished it in a single night.

While a lot of the characterizations and dialogue handles tough issues like sexual abuse, torture, and poverty deftly, there's still a gritty pulp feel to it,and many bits of dialogue that could have been written by a pop-c I've read a few of Nic's in-progress novels on his blog, and was excited to see Whores presented in an easier-to-follow format than reading blog entries.

While a lot of the characterizations and dialogue handles tough issues like sexual abuse, torture, and poverty deftly, there's still a gritty pulp feel to it,and many bits of dialogue that could have been written by a pop-culture obsessed 14 year old boy, albeit one who was born in the 80's. I was surprised how much I was affected by Whores. I am fairly politically aware, and once I started researching some of the elements that shape the political climate in Whores, I was disgusted by how many of them are rooted in the political culture of the past few years.

While Whores definitely takes the current gender conflicts to a level that is pretty unthinkable with the mechanics of our government, the misogyny and sexual conflict is rooted deeply enough in reality to resonate. I am a survivor of abuse, and sexual assault, and normally I hate seeing it in books. Authors don't seem to treat it as anything more than a plot device, gimmick "As if it wasn't enough that he is politically at odds with our character That's the thing that made Whores shine to me.

Even though the violence and abuse described is graphic, gratuitous, and hard to fathom, Nic writes about it with humanity, focusing on the victims, how they respond, the choices they have to make to recover, and the ways it affects the community around them, as well as the societal causes that have made that kind of violence, if not acceptable, tolerable. Even though the sensitivity to his "victims" was the element that stuck out the most to me, because of my own experiences, it's a comparatively small part of the overall novella. Nic usually writes very terse, graphically violent stories, and Whores is no exception.

Most of the lead characters are at best, criminals, at worst, terrorists, and the plot follows their fight very closely. It's certainly not for the faint of heart. Nic seems to take a perverse pleasure in incorporating acts of sadism and violence to even the good-guys actions that is unsettling.

They're as bad as what they're fighting". But in context, it feels like karma.

Whores: not intended to be a factual account of the gender war

Certainly Whores is not for the faint of heart. But it's well written, and relevant for anyone currently living in the USA, of breeding age. Mar 16, Michael Gallagher rated it really liked it. It would make a great movie script or TV series x-rated for violence and is not for the faint of heart. Transitions from scene-to-scene and interview-to-interview are well managed, though the characters, mostly women, sometimes possess male characteristics. The reactions and points of view of the characters are reminiscent of Vietnam war films and it is somewhat unbelievable that these people would spend so much time lecturing each other about their politics.

Crisp, clear prose dominate the dialogues and sparse descriptive passages. Long, intensely ideological dialogues diatribes take place in a kind of vacuum. The politics and the practices of these characters are together, but do people really act like that in war. I do not know but I have my doubts. There is very little non-cerebral dialogue and scarce setting to situate the reader.

Combined with the rough narrative style, the overall picture lacks surroundings to be a highly successful novel, but needs only camera directions and location notes to win as a movie script. Though expertly devised and cogently argued, this dystopian novel aches for visual freedom to carry the day.

It would brilliantly suit the silver screen. Jan 05, Kevis Hendrickson rated it really liked it. Whores by Nicolas Wilson is a gritty exploration of a not too distant future where the Battle of the Sexes has gone totally wrong. Wilson paints a bleak future where women have lost their rights and are treated by society as second-class citizens. A series of interconnected events are related, revealing the harrowing plight of a small, but determined group of women and men who fight to overcome the oppression of women and the extreme lengths the government goes to put a stop to them.

Aside from t Whores by Nicolas Wilson is a gritty exploration of a not too distant future where the Battle of the Sexes has gone totally wrong. Aside from the solid writing, what impressed me most was how convincingly the author portrayed this world. There is one scene in particular that gives me the chills every time I think about it.

Even more noteworthy is how real this all seems, as if it would only take a little nudging for our own society to mirror the one in this book. In some ways, it already does. I enjoyed the journey with the characters and found many of the best moments to be when they shared their personal histories. My only complaint is that there was a bit of proselytizing in the book that grew tiresome after a while.

Much of the language is coarse, reflecting the gritty atmosphere. But overall, this is a highly polished and well-presented tale with intriguing characters. I would definitely recommend this story to anyone who ever wondered what the world would be like if society's discrimination against women went into overdrive. Mar 04, Clair Coult rated it really liked it.

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This is not a novel for the faint hearted. It's a hard hitting and graphically explicit account of a time when women's rights are not so much being eroded as being totally annihilated. Contraception, abortion and even basic women's health care is illegal. Women are treated little better than walking incubators and the gender criminals who dare to fight the law are hunted, tortured and made a public example of to deter any other women from daring to challenge legislation.

The book throws you strai This is not a novel for the faint hearted. The book throws you straight into the action as the police storm an illegal abortion clinic. The violence is graphic but not in a gratuitous way. The underground resistance use equivalent force to fight for their rights as the police do to uphold the draconian laws. The story is told from different perspectives which gives balance and completeness. Whatever your opinions on women's rights, the authors unique insight on the subject will get you thinking outside the box and perhaps questioning your own morals.

You soon come to sympathise with the plight of the underground resistance.

How could any government make it a crime to treat breast cancer or end a molar pregnancy? How could any sane human being uphold such laws?

It's not an easy read, the violence is graphic, the language explicit and the subject matter challenging, but the story is compelling and you won't be able to put it down. I received a free copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. Jan 15, Kerry rated it liked it Shelves: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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