A whole book of "y'all live like this!?"

Most interesting in how it flips the standard utopian novel of the time. Now, the utopian citizen is the visitor to our world instead of the other way around - resulting in an inverted analysis of the ills of "ourland" instead of presenting a utopia that criticizes social mores through its structure.

It's hard to review something like this. I loved it because it is absolutely fastinating to me, what a white utopian feminist saw as the utopian ideal back in the early 1900s, and how that compares to what I, a (also white), rather utopian-feminist (by my own definition, not necessarily how others define it) think of a utopia.. not that I often have. This book (and Herland) have been a feast of ideas and things to think about and consider, and I love that, even if there are several things I very much disagree with. I will say, halfway through this book I started reading Gilman's biography which enhanced the reading immensely, and given it quite a bit of context (not to mention the countless articles about Gilman & her works I've read since starting this!).

I really, really want to write an updated 'version' of Herland. I lack follow through for such projects, so I'm sure it wont happen, but I sooo wish I could actually do it. It would be so fascinating to explore.

5 stars for world building, - 1,000 stars for racism

2.5

Nowhere near as good or engaging as [b:Herland|531509|Herland|Charlotte Perkins Gilman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403189138s/531509.jpg|83484]. At the end of Herland I was really looking forward to Ellador discovering our world and hearing her thoughts about it but, my oh my, was this boring. The actual storyline is kept to a bare minimum and feels more like a pretense to let loose a bunch of theories and criticisms about early 20th century society. Most of them time I did not feel knowledgable enough (about economy, sociology, history) to confirm or contradict her views. Because of this, I also wasn't always sure whether Ellador was criticizing racism or reproducing it. Some of her comments definitely made me uncomfortable.

It did not give what I needed it to give

The sequel to Herland was both good and disappointing. I loved that it picked up right where Herland left off and proceeded to tell a wonderful story of Van and Ellador's world travels. However, the like 5 or 6 chapters of the book were nothing more than Ellador making profound political and societal statements. And I literally mean for chapters. There is no story to be had until the last chapter where they return to Herland to live happily ever after. That last chapter was so rushed, especially compared to the fact that Ellador is on a soapbox for chapters upon chapters. Perkins Gilman rushes the end of the novel almost as an after thought like, "Oh right, I forgot, I had a story to tell. Hm I guess they can just go back to Herland and have a kid." Don't get me wrong, most of what Ellador spouts off is profound and wise (except for the casual racism and anti Semitism), especially for the time this was written, but it could have been done in a better way that was a part of the storyline instead of it becoming the storyline.

Overall, I was expecting it to be better than it was. If it hadn't gone off the rails, I would have enjoyed it much more. Still, I love Charlotte Perkins Gilman as a writer and even when I was sick of Ellador's thoughts, it was still an enjoyable read.