When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill [Family Reads]

Why we chose Kelly Barnhill’s When Women Were Dragons

Ash and I went for out for breakfast one day in February. We wandered into a nearby bookstore, where When Women Were Dragons was on display. Ash mentioned it was on her TBR – she thought the cover was gorgeous and liked that it’s a standalone. It was also on my TBR. As a fan of Barnhill’s middle grade work (see: my review of The Girl Who Drank the Moon), I wanted to check out her debut adult fiction novel. We agreed to give it a go for Family Reads.

Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours, except for its most seminal event: the Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales, and talons; left a trail of fiery destruction in their path; and took to the skies. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex’s beloved aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn’t know. It’s taboo to speak of.

Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of this astonishing event: a mother more protective than ever; an absentee father; the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and watching her beloved cousin Bea become dangerously obsessed with the forbidden.

Goodreads

Our Discussion 💬

**Discussion best enjoyed if you have already read the book – spoilers ahead!**

Compelling Narration

I read this book in under 24 hours. I hadn’t planned nor expect to do so. I was wary the story would be too didactic for me, after reading The Ogress and the Orphans. I read maybe 30 pages before bed one night, and then spent almost the entire next day finishing the book. There was just something compelling about the narration! Ash and I were in agreement on this point. Even though we also agreed that the story probably wouldn’t sound that exciting if we summarized the plot…

Ash liked the perspective of an older Alex narrating the story of her younger years. Such a narrative technique isn’t usually our favourite, but Barnhill uses it to satisfying effect in this book. Another technique which Ash and I are typically wary of is the inclusive of scientific interludes. We usually find such divergences boring or interruptive, or that that they don’t contribute as much to the plot or worldbuilding as we would like. When We Were Dragons makes good use of its interludes, which we think is in large part due to how cozily they fit alongside Alex’s narration.

Alex

What intrigued me about Alex is that at no point does she express any concern, interest, or daydreams that she herself might become a dragon. This is not a point that I interrogated much, lol, but it was something I noticed. I suppose the easiest explanation would be that Alex (at least believes she) is comfortable enough with herself and with her station in life. When I mentioned this observation to Ash, she commented that she also noticed it and attributed to Alex’s lack of ability to think crtically about anything that exists outside of math or science. She doesn’t look inward and reflect on her own life – therefore, she never takes the time to think about or interrogate her ability to ‘dragon out’. The influence of her upbringing is here – she doesn’t question her parents, she doesn’t question her aunt. There’s a lot one could unpack with Alex.

While Alex seems to not have an awareness (or a spine, as Ash put it) on certain topics, she does take a stance on others. Her insistence on her name being Alex and not Alexandra is one example. She’s aware she’s not feminine but doesn’t understand that she’s in love with a girl. She has a naive view of the world around her, for the post part, and growing out of that is a main focus of her character arc.

One of Ash’s favourite scenes was when Alex didn’t know that the ‘cow’ she heard in the woods was actually a dragon. At that time, she’s buried so deep in the non-acknowledgement of dragons that the idea never occurs to her, even though the creature in the woods is clearly not a cow.

Second Wave Feminism?

Most of our discussion focused on Alex and the narrative structure of the story. We didn’t delve much into the main feminist themes but certainly we could have spent the night debating that! I found the story somewhat less didactic than The Oprhan and the Ogress but uhh… I imagine if you’ve read much feminist litertaure, you wouldn’t think this book subtle or nuanced. It is a story about white women set in the 1950s, written in response to recent American politics. I would it put a few notches to right of the Barbie movie, if the Barbie movie is at the left end of a spectrum of ‘critically feminist stories’.

A Couple Other Notes

Ash made a great observation about the generational difference represented by Alex’s cousin Beatrices’ experience of dragoning, reading Beatrice as representative of new generation creating its own change.

Neither of us expected the dragons to return, and to return and remain dragons at that. It was quite a creative twist, and made for interesting reading when the story felt like it was about to start dragging.

Final Thoughts 💭

I gave this book ★★★½ and Ash gave it ★★★. When Women Were Dragons isn’t a particularly challenging read, but something about Alex’s voice kept us reading. Recommended for fans of historical fiction set in the 1950s.

Further Reading 📰

🍂 Read an excerpt
🍂 Author website
🍂 Interview @ Clarkesworld Magazine
🍂 Reviews: Sia @ Every Book a Doorway

Do you know any other authors who write both middle grade and adult fiction?
Share your dragon book recs in the comments!