Nomansland
Author: Lesley Hauge
Series: ---
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.
How Received: gift from Kristi
Sometime in the future, a lonely, windswept island is populated solely by women. Among these women is a group of teenaged Trackers—expert equestrians and archers—whose job is to protect their shores from the enemy. The enemy, they’ve been told, is men. When these girls come upon a partially buried home from the distant past, they are fascinated by the strange objects—high-heeled shoes, teen magazines, make-up—found there. What are they to make of these mysterious things? And what does it mean for their strict society where friendship is forbidden and rules must be obeyed—at all costs?
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When I first saw the summary for Nomansland a while back I was awfully excited; I love weird dystopian societies. But I saw Kristi's less than enthusiastic review (along with a few other reviews) and tempered myself; it wasn't going to be as good as I initially hoped. I still wanted to read it.
Honestly, I don't think it was worth the read. I read it in one sitting, but that's only because the book itself is so very small. In 243 pages, Lesley sets forth what has the potential to be this intriguing dystopian society where women rule and men are nonexistent, but she crams too much into a short period of time.
You learn little about the most interesting characters, and relationships are so hastily made that they're hard to believe. The society itself doesn't make much sense because nothing is elaborated on or explained. The only reason I related to the main character was because I was as confused by everything going as she was.
Even when they find the relics from times past - make up, high heels - they seem to figure out what they're meant for automatically. If they really are so disconnected from what people used to be, they shouldn't have. They should assume that high heels are some weird sort of glove-weapon or something, even if there are images to help them. (And even so, how do you figure out that mascara is meant for your eyelashes? It could have been for anything.)
All in all, everything moved quickly and I was left with a feeling of indifference at the end of it. The world and the characters had potential, but they weren't elaborated on, and I ended up not really caring.
Overall Rating & Final Comments: 4/10. An interesting concept but not really worth the energy to read.