Review: In Defense of Witches: Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial by Mona Chollet, narrated by Alix Dunmore

 

My dad introduced me to this book after an associate mentioned it to him. 

It begins with an introduction by Carmen Maria Machado. Machado is an author that I read earlier this year. Her introduction sets the tone well for the rest of the book. 

Chollet explores many topics related to the way women have been treated and their experiences. A few of the topics she selected stuck out to me particularly. She writes about motherhood and how it is inherently tied to the patriarchy. Women are expected to learn and do well as children but later must forget these tasks in order to better raise their children. Chollet wonders if this is a waste. She also writes about the social pressure that women face to have children. Women who don't want children may feel they should have children because it is a societal expectation. 

She also writes about relationships. There is a heteronormative concept of relationships presented in society. A husband and wife are what people expect. She talks about women who deviate from this. Women who are single, women who never marry but have lovers. The idea is that love is not the end-all goal in a woman's life. She looks into the interesting phenomena of men leaving their wives as women grow older in order to pursue women in their 20s. 

The topics Chollet looks at had me contemplating the way in which I explore my own identity and the world around me. Women have historically been faced with difficulties due to their gender. Chollet's choice to tie this to witch hunts and to show that women have essentially been hunted in this way for the entirety of their lives. 

I highly recommend this book for those looking for feminist reads and wanting to explore the experiences and history of women. I will say that this excludes the history of queer and women of color. It talks about women in a broad way and likely relates mostly to cisgender, heterosexual, white women. However, the statements made are still valuable to feminist thought. 

Dunmore does an excellent job in her narration. I will mention that if you find British accents off-putting, you might want to stick to the written work. 

As always I recommend looking at StoryGraph for a list of content warnings. 

Happy reading!