Customer Reviews

Turning on the Girls

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is not just one of the most inventive and hilarious books I've read this year, it's one of the funniest ever. Benard has you laughing on just about every page. She takes the idea of a world in which women are charge and uses it to skewer --well, just about everybody and every idea even remotely p.c. It's the kind of book you want to call your friends to quote lines from. (And even my husband was laughing out loud when I read him parts.)

Benard has just got such a great, rollicking voice, and no target is taboo. Combine that sense of humor with an appealing main character, Lisa, who is charged with the difficult task of finding new ... fantasties for women in the new world order, and her charmingly clueless sidekick, Justin (who's being reeducated in a series of nine month long courses), and you've got a very fun book that also makes you reconsider your own preconceptions -- which is what the very best fiction does: reveals the world to you in a completely fresh way. So be warned: if you don't like to have your view of the world challenged, if you can't stand the idea of sacred cows being taken down, and you can't laugh at the foibles of men and women alike, this book isn't for you. But for the rest of us, we couldn't ask for a better, more clever guide to the absurdities of gender warfare.

Women rule the world. Borderline males who can be fixed are reeducated with counseling and medication. Die hard chauvinist pigs and similar non-repairable disorders are exiled to Zone Six.

A growing black market thrives with the selling of contraband consisting of the most dangerous element to society, romance novels. In the Ministry of Thought, Lisa searches for a permissible sexual fantasy so women will not regress back to the outlawed romantic urges of previous generations. To accomplish her mission, Lisa conducts research into the banned pornography of the past. With the help of her reeducated assistant Justin, they go underground, but soon find themselves in trouble in Zone Six from throwbacks of both genders.

1984, with a totally female dominated society, is the underlying foundation to this strong satirical futuristic tale. The story line hammers at everyone across the spectrum for excessiveness in personal agendas even as the plot acknowledges the recent gains by women in western society. Readers will enjoy TURNING ON THE GIRLS because the novel is humorous yet biting with no sacred icons allowed to escape the grip of the plot's teeth. Although the establishing of the setting requires patience, once the ride reaches the acme of the first incline, it is a swift no stop wild trip into social irony.

Harriet Klausner

Jennifer Crusie meets Gloria Steinem and a good time is had by all.

The author makes no secret of her intentions here -- from the start she explicitly says that her sci-fi premise (the feminists have taken over and are trying to figure out what to do with all those incorrigible men) is not plausible. But who cares? As she says, if a man like Orwell can write a novel with talking animal characters, she's "entitled."

Although a light read, the author's detailed knowledge of the various genres of "erotica" and feminist writings about it (from de Sade to romance novels to Paglia to Ayn Rand) sustains the book intellectually.

The Orwell reference fits, but only if you think Animal Farm and not 1984. It definitely is not one of those angry, serious 1980s "feminist sci-fi" books like Margaret Atwood's "A Handmaid's Tale" or Suzy McKee Charnas'"Walk to the End of the Earth." If your expectations are more along the lines of Connie Willis' lighter works, the Bridget Jones series, or even ... romance queen Jennifer Crusie, you won't be disappointed.

One final warning -- despite the packaging, this book is not erotica.

What a great book. I was laughing from the opening pages and didn't stop til the wonderful ending line. I suppose as a man I should be offended that women have taken over the world and men have to be re-educated, but Benard is so evenhanded in her satire of the human species you'd have to be crazy not to love the book, and the world she imagines. Or maybe you'd write a review without actually having read the book; who knows. All I can say is I am ordering her previous book, which seems very different than this, but anyone who can make me laugh so much I'll follow anywhere.

Benard's writing style is excellent for her subject. From the beginning she establishes an informal atmosphere as the narrator of the novel. At once she is matter-of-fact and sarcastic, drawing from both 1984 and Story of O to create a world that provokes thought just as much as it might scintillate our baser instincts. The novel begins rather slowly, acclimatizing the reader to the feminist-run version of life. The satire here is breathtaking (from laughter) as Benard pokes fun at everyone, from the ice-cold elite of the feminist regime to the pathetically paternalistic and two-dimensional counterrevolutionaries. (In portraying men in such a light, is Benard even making light of both ultra-feminist/anti-masculinist views and the male-dominated world of Orwell's 1984? The intrigue thickens.) After the orientation, the novel takes off into political intrigue, and then there is just no putting down this book. If that were not enough, the author develops the main character's story into a romancenovelesque subplot. Brava, Benard!

"Turning On The Girls" reminds me of the old Saturday Night Live sketch where Chevy Chase resolves a commercial mock-debate by declaring, "Relax! New 'Shimmer' is BOTH a floor wax AND a dessert topping!" It's a novel that wants to be both a spoof of utopian feminism and a feminist utopia. It fails because those two goals are as basically incompatible as dessert topping and floor wax.

For example, one character here is a ten-year-old girl, and we're treated (in the sense of therapy, not dessert) to multiple scenes of her excitedly repeating the lessons she's learned in class today. This is, for the most part, generic Women's Studies 097 material, delivered without any notable wit or insight. (Does Ms. Benard really imagine that anyone who doesn't already agree that female genital mutilation is a Bad Thing will have read this far into the book?) It would be genuinely funny if, for instance, she included a sixteen-year-old girl who's in the habit of reading banned books, getting (or trying to get) tattoos and piercings, and telling her elders where to shove their "nurturing points". But because Benard wants this to be, to some degree, a feminist utopia, she's never able to get the degree of critical distance necessary to make scenes like that possible.

On the other hand, if Benard wants this to be credible as a utopia, it needs to be at least reasonably believable. We may not need an explanation as to how this revolution came about, but there really should be one for how it's sustained. When it comes to one of the tougher questions in that regard-How do they deal with dissent?-she evades the question by descending into lowbrow humor. The opposition, "Restore Harmony", are Baywatch-watching buffoons who pose no credible threat to the regime.

That question is certainly one that deserves more thought. A censorial feminist dictatorship isn't going to be opposed merely by anti-feminists; it's also going to be opposed by those who are anti-censorship and anti-authoritarian. Banning Anne Rice, Ayn Rand, and (apparently) the Bible will earn one enemies from all across the political spectrum, many of whom will not be averse to violence.

But of course, she has to make the new order a dictatorship: the basic premise of the novel is as a spoof on Rush Limbaugh's notion of "FemiNazis". However, Benard rather likes the idea of women being in charge of everything, so she makes them nice Nazis. And in order to prevent the result from resembling "Bambi Vs. Godzilla", she has to make the opposition nice, stupid Nazis. It just doesn't work. Nice Nazis are neither likable, believable, nor inspiring.

Least forgivably of all, they're not that funny. Yeah, I know there are some who disagree, but for me, a line like "Give them an inch, and they'll have things back the way they were before, faster than you can say 'clitoridectomy'" doesn't exactly leave me rolling on the floor with laughter.

Maybe Benard was aiming for balance, but the whole thing comes off more as muddled. "Turning On The Girls" is a novel that simultaneously manages to take itself too seriously to be really funny, and be too silly to take seriously.

This book is unreal. Hysterically funny, unbelievably thought-provoking, and thouroughly amazing. It is, beneath the hilarity and wit of the characters and the suspense of the complex plot, a fantastic journey into the study of power and gender. I am a lesbian and I don't even want her world to happen! You will NOT be able to put it down for a millisecond. Benard, you are a true genius.

Cheryl Benard's second novel, "Turning on the Girls", is going to cause debate wherever it's read. It's part fantasy, part science fiction, part comedy, part novel, part sociology, part . . . well, you get the idea.

Don't let the cover of the book deceive you. I can understand why the publishers chose the image they did -- it specifically relates to the main character's attempt to find "acceptable" feminist erotica and her repeated encounters with women and men who keep reverting to the stereotypes of the past. The message you get from the dust jacket -- all the flowers! -- is not an accurate feel of the book's contents. This is a feminist fantasy with a humorous edge.

This book confused me for quite awhile. Before I even started reading it I thought that Benard had created just another anti-feminist book. But I was wrong. It's obvious that she views certain segments of the feminist camp as a little over the top, perhaps a little too serious, but still respects and honors the feminists of the past and those to come in the future.

Benard's humor hits most the target most of the time. Which brings me to my first warning: If you're uptight about your ideology, about feminism, you're guaranteed to have a least one of your sacred cows sacrificed. Benard leaves no one unscathed, whether it's New Age herbalists or macho guys with too much testosterone.

Benard shows several characters, both men and women, who are disgusted with what they see around them and are just trying to find their way. Lisa finds makeup disgusting and macho men sexist. Her work partner, Justin, just really wants to belong and, most importantly, have someone to love. Benard is going in the right direction, but I don't think she went far enough.

True, this book is supposed to be a politically relevant humorous fantasy. We're not supposed to get hung up on the specifics. So maybe what I'm about to argue would ruin Benard's entire story.

There are two fallacies presented here that made me decide that, while I did enjoy reading "Turning on the Girls", I ultimately do NOT like the book's message.

First of all, Benard presents the notorious and absolutely wrong view of global sisterhood. No where in the book do I remember a character being described in terms of race. Only after I had finished reading did I realize that I had pictured in my mind every single character as white. There's no mention as to how women were able to mend their fences and work together. Even more importantly, where did all the conservative women go? They're not all silly girls who wear long nails and makeup and cow tail to their man. The leap she makes in this regard -- with no explanation as to how all the various feminists worked together nor an explanation as to what happened to all the patriarchal women -- is disturbing because it helps to continue the fallacy that all feminists are alike. They're just not.

Secondly, I'd like to know why Benard didn't include a single male who was egalitarian. With the exception of one man, Lisa's final love interest, not a single male in Benard's book is seen as admirable. Yes, her administrative assistant, Justin, is shown in a positive light overall, but he is still presented as a bit of a wimp and lacking a backbone. She gives us stereotype after stereotype of males who aren't affectionate (and need pets to learn how to be a caretaker) or men who are slobs (tell that to my brother in-law who rants about my sister's constant creation of clutter!). True, this all part of the humor, but it's all easy targets. Going after macho and wimpy men is easy. So I'm surprised that Benard didn't pick on pro-feminist egalitarian men in this novel. But alas, they're nowhere to be seen in the text... I wish that the message of Benard's book was as good as her presentation, but it isn't. "Turning on the Girls" is a great read (be warned that it takes several pages in the beginning for Benard to grab the reader) and will create a lot of debate and discussion, but it's ultimately flawed.

Reading Turning on the Girls felt like reading a mystery novel -- instead of finding a killer, though, you're finding out whether society might be sustainable along lines of feminine values (values that themselves are not uniform among women). Cheryl Benard uses a light touch and a fair amount of wittiness in dramatizing feminist theory in a modern setting, with characters that are quite well enough portrayed to enable suspension of disbelief. The analysis of pornography and romance fiction is enlightening without hitting you over the head -- I especially delighted to find out that Ayn Rand's is basically a romance novel sensibility. You get the feeling that Benard wrote the book as an exploration, not to lead us willy nilly to a foregone theoretical conclusion. Her male characters are very generously characterized, and the best surprise of all was how all the major characters were seen as fair-minded and ethical. To imagine, even in the context of this book, that a considerate and ethical society can be a sustainable one was enough to make my day. Let me finally point out that this book is likely to be in all the feminist bookstores around the world -- or if it's not, it should be -- and that they need our support to stay in business.

Maybe it is not a good idea to let women rule the world. On the other hand, it makes a grand fiction. Ms. Benard's story telling is fast and captivating. Time passes rapidly and all of a sudden it is nearly the end of the universe. Because it is sort of a romance fiction the target is Valentine's Day. What happens before the day approaches and after; those are the happenings commingled with authentic characters that will catch a reader's attention. It is not a straightforward boy meets girl, they fall in love then hook up type of a tale. Lisa is an ultimate modern woman being brought up by the wave of extreme feminism. She works for the government on a special project that makes her miserable. Justin is her assistant. They become fast friends. They sometimes have to do the unthinkable for the sake of their assignment. The story is futuristic, fantastical, and funny. New ways maybe researched to theorize the precepts that arouse a woman but the old seeming obtuse ways sometimes help a lot and they are here to stay whether people like it or not.