it all cycles back to this incredibly reactionary feminism that focuses on a time period far in the past in order to feel comfortable ignoring what that feminism built for us and how we look at feminist issues in the modern day.

the focus on white middle class lesbians in lieu of this feels pointed, particularly given the extremely loud subset of mostly-white lesbian terfs. the lack of interest in what happens post-dragoning to the liberated dragon-women free to rage and burn and live as they please, is glaring, as is a vague air of terfdom that associates womenhood intrinsically with the reproductive system and ability to have children- while we're given this perspective by hysteria-adjacent male scientists, the trans, post-menopausal, sterile, intersex, post-hysterectomy, etc point of view is entirely invisible, much less the point of view of poor women, women of color, or immigrant women. this is a book about how hard it was to be a post-war white housewife and it fails to tread any ground left vacant by the stepford wives (doing, frankly, even less than that seminal novel), making it essentially redundant reading in 2022, when feminism, even and maybe especially righteous feminist fury, is concerned with more complex matters. Not completely unreadable, but the magical realism and lyrical tone are undermined by the second-wave-feminist unexamined, uncomplex, unintersectional tone. Through loss, rage, and self-discovery, this story follows Alex's journey as she deals with the events leading up to and beyond the Mass Dragoning, and her connection with the phenomenon itself. It's taboo to speak of, even more so than her crush on Sonja, her schoolmate.įorced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of dragons: a mother more protective than ever a father growing increasingly distant the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed and a new 'sister' obsessed with dragons far beyond propriety. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex's beloved Aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn't know. But this version of 1950's America is characterized by a significant event: The Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales and talons, left a trail of fiery destruction in their path, and took to the skies. Learn about the Mass Dragoning of 1955 in which 300,000 women spontaneously transform into dragons.and change the world.Īlex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours.

When women were dragons review