The Hunt by Brad Stevens
In a futuristic Britain women no longer fight for equality – not because there is no need to, but because there is no point. After years of being continuously stripped of their rights, i.e. the banning of abortion, prohibiting homosexuality and a mandatory uniform, UK women are subjected to the worst discrimination in history. When a feminist terrorist group attempt to gain back power by planting bombs in public, the totalitarian government decide to regain control by creating something called the Hunt.
The Hunt is a weekly event in which ten women and ten men are placed in a deserted district in London, the objective being for the men to find and capture the women to torture, humiliate and rape them. This act reminds the women who is in charge and affirms the men’s dominance.
The novel follows Mara, a writer quietly fighting against Britain’s struggles by penning feminist crime books for foreign audiences. She has successfully dodged being entered into the Hunt until her twenty-fifth year when she receives the dreaded letter. She is justifiably petrified as she awaits unknown dangers, so how will she cope with ten men hounding her? Will she manage to escape torture? If not what will her captor attempt to do, and will she be able to fight back?
The novel is certainly an interesting look into sexism and is very direct with its message as it uses violent imagery and disturbing scenes of humiliation to back its points. It is very extreme in its content and I did find the overall concept hard to to accept seeing as it displays a very different reality to the one we experience today, but then again the dramatic issues discussed are prevalent in some modern day middle eastern countries. The tortures featured were quite sexualised and in some ways romanticized, but I will commend the author’s bravery for such controversial material.
Mara was an intriguing character as she was both a strong feminist and a reluctant conformist, yet I found the fact that she was a lesbian a bit of an overkill in terms of acting as a tool to project the author’s ideals. This being said I enjoyed her contradictory behavior which seemed fairly realistic considering the circumstances, and she was generally a substantial focal point.
Overall this was an intricate tale. Although I felt it was in need of a good editor to trim and solidify its structure, The Hunt is an original take on modern feminist issues.
THE HUNT will be published by Vamptasy on April 10th.
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