A Better World by Sarah Langan

Linda is the protagonist. She, her husband Russell and their kids, Josie and Hip (15-year-old-twins) move in the beginning of the novel: To a company town, a "place with laws and order and guaranteed work". And also a fence and day workers from outside and no money. You just go to the supermarket and take what you need. You live in a house and ride a car. It's all without money - except for the deposit you have to pay before moving in.

Of course, it's not easy to be the new family in a town where most people have lived for a very, very long time, sometimes since birth. It's all very healthy, even the air outside within the fences. But after the family has spent some quality time together, it gets boring and strained. Everybody is polite, but also behaves very distant.

That's the point where I felt a bit boredom reading the novel myself, but only for a short moment. Then, Linda start's to meet people that behave differently and the plot moves into action. And suddenly, I am in one of the best novels I read in SF so far.

Linda does not only do what I would do. Sometimes I disagree. But I always can understand her way of handling things, I understand her impatience and her other flaws - which makes her a very believable, likeable person, who is an imperfect, authentic human being. 

Her marriage is also very believable (and, no worries, Sarah Langan, I never guessed this might mirrow your own marriage). It's also imperfect in many ways and therefore very believable, but of course it's not just bad. Russel behaves like a very believable man, there's a lot of structural sexism in the book, lots of patriarchal behaviour, but in some points, Russel even becomes aware and ashamed of this and tries to overcome these patterns, which makes him better than many others.

The same with Hip, the son, who is much more aware of gender problems, patriarchy and this figure is responsible for some of the best thoughts in the novel.

I am very in favour of Josie, who seems to be the first to want out of the community and for good reasons. I can identify a lot with her, and I love the relationship between mother and daughter, which takes a lot of damage, but gets lots of repair as well.

Also, the side figures like Anouk (who is somehow very spooky), Linda's first boss, Gal, Danielle, Rachel ... very believable, many flaws. Plus, there are some outright spooky figures as well who do not really have ambiguity, just badness. Which is fine. 

Of course you must always consider: Who's reading the novel?

I read the novel, a 46 year old woman, married, with two kids (still small). There are several parts in my life that are shadowed by the patriarchy and it's hard to fight against it. (Sometimes acceptance seems to be the easier way.)

Reading the novel, I feel very understood. Though the hints are very subtle. They are not as subtle as in Good Neighbours, that novel was so subtle about sexism and patriarchy that I would not be surprised to learn that the majority of readers had not even realized. It's mostly structural sexism and we are all so used to that.

In Good Neighbours, there is a mother who takes care of four kids and the husband is always absent. Like: literally always. He's working constantly.

Another mother gets up on a saturday, takes care of her kids and goes to work, while the husband is still sleeping. This seems to be normal and his behaviour is not challenged. 

That's about it, but I realized.

Here, in A Better World, the sexism still is subtle, but the main figure, Linda, is aware of the sexism, it's not as hidden as in Good neighbours. The two figures in Good neighours do not seem to question the behaviour of their husbands, it's normal for them. Linda tries to change something, but fails. 

More importantly, Russell, Linda's husband, has his moments in which he realises how he treats his wife. 

And, most interestingly, there is a dialogue, in which Linda's and Russell's son describes the behaviour of his Mum (Linda) towards him:

"That's because she thinks men can't do anything. She goes easy on them. That's why Dad gets away with so much. She thinks he's a house with holes in its roof."

Wow.  Got me! That's so true. I feel caught! Of course I suffer under patriarchy, but it's also true that I let men get away with more (and other stuff), because I usually decide: It's not worth it. They won't understand anyway.

There is an important man in my life. He cannot stand to be contradicted, his views to be challenged. By now, I have accepted that in such a way that I never contradict him. I just stopped. I gave up. It's over. There are also so many topics I won't discuss with him, because he won't understand anyway. He's a man. 

So, the deeper truth hurts. 

So, yes. This is one of the books that have changed me. I might even go so far and do a comparison between this book and a book which is just nice to read and well-written. I just have to think which book I might choose for that.