Review: Red Clocks by Leni Zumas

An unmarried biographer seeks to document the life of a female polar explorer. A housewife wonders if there is more to life than being a mother. A healer is called a witch and blamed for a town’s misfortune. A teenager accidentally creates a new life within her. Despite their differences, these women are connected by the impending regulation on Personhood Amendment, which grants rights to embryos, outlawing abortion and IVF. In addition, adoption is soon to be permitted only to married couples. Through this legislation, the few rights afforded to women with regard to their own bodies are effectively removed, as the unborn child’s rights supersede that of the mother. 

In a world where humanism is removed from biology, pressures surrounding the function of women and their place in society become overwhelming, and many of the main characters slowly buckle under the strain.

It is always with trepidation that I pick up a book which is touted as ‘feminist’. Usually, such works focus on ridiculing and silencing men, rather than giving women a chance to tell a meaningful story. However, Leni Zumas has truly presented an impeccable narrative that empowers women. She gives voice to the women who have been told to quiet their own – the witch, the aging spinster, the pregnant teenager, the housewife. Mainstream female stereotypes are given life, reminding us that behind every label is a person with a vast collection of experiences, emotions and history.

Through the narrative of Red Clocks, Zumas seems to answer the question, “what is a woman?” with another question; “why must there be a single answer?” There is no recipe, cheat or guide than can dictate what it is to be female – from oppression and force to admiration and courage, women encompass it all.

Apart from beautifully crafted prose, there’s something otherworldly about Zumas’ style – her words are addictive, hypnotic and spellbinding, and her message is powerful. Zumas illustrates that there is poetry in despair, and meaning in menace. Through these quietly suffering women, the writer highlights the criticisms faced by many women the world over, and hints to the possibility of things being worse – that destruction can easily be veiled in good intentions.

 

Sometimes words and praise cannot adequately describe the impact a book can have – I find myself scrambling to find expressions which do justice to Red Clocks. This book is not ‘moving’, it is a movement. Leni Zumas has penned a softly spoken feminist manifesto; a gentle reminder of women whose lives are measured by the sticks of others, but who are nonetheless tied together by the strength of a single quiet ticking – the red clock that controls their bodies, their uteruses, their minds.

Red Clocks by Leni Zumas is published by The Borough Press, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, and is available in South Africa from Jonathan Ball Publishers.