Women Talking

WOMEN TALKING

by Miriam Toews

 

Nominations: BookTube Finalist 2020, Dublin Longlist 2020

 

Date Read: January 30, 2023

 

Although short, this is a powerful piece about faith, safety, and the power of women when they realize their own worth. Further, Women Talking is a testament to the importance of knowledge and the education of women. The women of a secluded Mennonite sect in Bolivia have been drugged and sexually assaulted, often many times over, by the men in their sect. What makes this worse is this novel is based on true events.

 

Toews has given the women a voice here, debating whether they should stay and forgive their abusers – their fellow fathers, brothers and sons – and move forward as if nothing ever happened or to leave and start over on their own somewhere else. What these women experienced is nothing short of horrific and add to that that many victims were children, one as young as three years old and the reader is left with disbelief that men could be so vile.

 

Told through the lens of Arthur, an ex-communicated member of the community who left as a child when his parents were banished for their progressive ideas and has now returned as an adult. Arthur is at a low point in his life, having been released from prison for stealing a police horse, and is unsure of where to turn. His continuing instinct is to commit suicide. One, one of the women discussing what direction the women should take, asks Arthur to take the minutes of the discussions these women are having amongst themselves. He takes their minutes even though the women will never be able to read them, having never been taught how. Arthur finally realizes that him taking the notes was the entire point, not providing the women with a record.

 

There are two topics that were never addressed and that just baffle me – from a fictional standpoint and a non-fictional one. First, how did the men formulate this plan? Who brought it up first and how? How did they know their “idea” of drugging and raping women would be well-received? What did their discussions about it look like? Because numerous men were perpetrating these crimes, they took a certain amount of coordination. Eight (probably more) men didn’t independently come up with drugging the women and raping them. I just can’t understand.

 

Second, the voice Toews gives to these women is somehow unbelievable. There has been some dire fallout from these rapes through one woman’s suicide and Ona, a single, pregnant victim is blamed for her own condition. But overall, these women discuss these acts and their future calmly and rationally. I would be so flame-raging angry, especially if I was the mother of that 3 year old. Tiny bits of rage seep out here and there but overall I was floored at how calm Toews made these conversations.

 

Although I understand this dialogue happens against uneducated women, there clearly is a dynamic of power and control that these men lust after, not the women’s bodies. The women, though, debate whether they are considered animals or not, considering their livestock is treated better overall than themselves. A man that could look at a 3 year old and decide to “go there” is clearly sick and goes even beyond their other crimes. The lack of respect and regard for the women of this village is ultimately what caused this situation to spiral out of control. 

 

Even still, I am gutted that something like this actually occurred in real life. The voice Toews gives to the voiceless is enthralling, however, I would love to hear from the original victims who actually went through this experience. This entire event has caused me to lose faith in humanity once again. 

“Nothing is so firmly believed as that which a man knoweth least.”