This book was on my TBR for a very, very long time. Of course, I heard all the hype when it first came out, but as most of my books come from the library, I tend to not read new releases all that often.

This book was a wild trip. Opening the book to a letter with a “Men’s Writers Association” letterhead, from a man writing deferentially who we assume is a significant woman author to curry her favour, immediately sets the tone for the book and sets a fascinating foundation for the rest of the book. I was blown away by the end of the end of those few pages.
 
Cw: rape

The question that I had, that took nearly two thirds of the book to answer, was what the timelines were. And I’m not sure if I just didn’t get it or if it was written this way, but I felt constantly unsure as to whether the book was written in the present day, with the Day of the Girls happening in the past, or if it was written in the near future, with the Day happening in the present. Eventually though, I started to see the truth that the Day was in the present, and the book was written in the far future, after a nuclear annihilation. This was WILD to me. I stopped, and went back, re-reading parts, re-examining some of the figures and images in the book, re-evaluating everything I had read in the story, and I LOVED that. 
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There were some parts that I didn’t appreciate so much, particularly the rape scenes. I understand they were included to show that true equivalency to the violence men perpetuate in our present, but I still didn’t like it. I’m an optimistic person, and I reject the idea that simply flipping the gender power script would cause so many women to become so incredibly violent, to the point of using nuclear weaponry.

As a result, despite loving the twist and broadly liking the concept, I think overall this book was just a *meh* for me. I think if this was an alternate-past storyline, written from our present, it could have worked a lot better, but I just can’t believe moving forward our global societies would go in that direction. And try as I might, I can’t suspend that belief.