Living Dolls – the Book Club verdict

Posted by Stephen Dumughn in Blog, Book News, Reader Feedback, Virago Book Club

Our current Virago Book Club selection is Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism by Natasha Walter, and as you might expect, it's a book which has been generating plenty of debate and comment. Here's a selection of what readers have been saying so far:

'Although not an easy book, it is an important one, that anyone who cares about the future of our society should read.' Lydia Moore

'I’m shocked at how little has changed, in fact we have more or less returned to where we were before second wave feminism; the only real difference seems to be that women are now just “liberated” and “empowered” to behave how they like without adopting any sort of a feminist conscience.' MarkF

'Reading Living Dolls I felt both encouraged and depressed: encouraged by discovering I wasn’t the only person worried about the issues Walter raises and depressed that the situation has got to the stage it has.' Dee Ingram

'Overall I found this a powerful, insightful book. I don’t think you necessarily have to agree with everything Walter puts forward, but it does give you a lot to think about and it’s a debate, I think, which is worth having . . .  I think we all, not just women, need to be guarded against the idea of ‘choice’ being taken away from us – not just women but men, and willing to put up a fight before we lose it. Walter’s book throws that challenge down to us. It’s a book I’ll be recommending to my friends.' Belinda Farrell

'I found Living Dolls an interesting read and much more accessible than I thought it would be. I don’t think it answers many of the questions it poses, but in truth there may not be very many ready answers to these huge issues. In the end, just bringing them to our attention may be enough.' Susan Berwick

'It has woken me up to a number of things I need to be clearly thinking about, and I will be telling everyone I know about the importance of reading it too. I realise how dangerous it is to take generalisations as truth, and to lightly pass them on as truth, and how easy it is to take the lazy way of forming opinions without informing oneself beforehand.' Gwalia Bach

Have you read Living Dolls yet? If so, then visit our dedicated Book Club forum to talk about it with other readers.

Natasha Walter will be talking about the book to an audience of Book Club members on the 5th of July. If you'd like the chance to attend this or future VBC events, why not sign up to the Virago Book Club here?

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