Dystopian vision of a 'Bible Belt' -led US government denying women jobs, votes, and voices, by making them wear bracelets that count their words - after 100, there's a jolt of electrocution to the arm.

I'd heard poor reviews of this book so avoided it for a while, but I came across the audiobook. I'm glad to have read it - although it's not a book to enjoy - and it has been especially emotive this week as exactly the sort of language used by the fictional politicians has been reported by the actual Republican candidates in the 2024 election - immoral women, shut them up, family values. In the book, the main character wonders how it all came to this - the drip drip drip, how much can they get away with? While, also knowing that things like this already happen around the world, and it is only when imagining it happening in the West that it feels shocking.

The book is funny (finding humour where you can) and tense. It is kind of a copy of The Handmaid's Tale without the sexual slavery and forced pregnancy.