Review: Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey
Upright Women Wanted follows Esther, a young woman who flees an arranged marriage by stowing away in the carriage of the Librarians, a group that presents as women who are the pinnacle of morality who spread state-approved texts across the country but in actuality (this is in no way a spoiler) are queer women and nonbinary folks who serve as spies and smugglers across the country, bringing goods and people to safe houses. It is a wonderful feminist post-apocalyptic western about how one small group of people resist a fascist government. It is very short and fast-paced, so it is an incredibly quick read.
If you love the sound of this and you love short books, I would assume this will be five stars from you; I am almost always in the mindset of wanting just a little bit more from short books in this style, which I know is not their purpose, so I do feel a bit unfair for giving it four stars, but that is how I do feel about the book.
This book really excels at its deep dive into Esther's mind; her character has a tremendous journey throughout the book dealing with trauma that happened before the book began and the events of the narrative. We get to live in Esther's head as she gains confidence and knowledge and decides who exactly she wants to be. I loved watching her hone in on what exactly she wanted to do with her life; it was a tremendous reading experience.
The plot is fast; so much happens in this book. I could read hundreds of pages of this story, or just multiple books set in this world; it was truly fascinating to live in this space.
Sarah Gailey also does an excellent job of working through the greater themes of this book into the narrative in such a smart and focused way. I am very excited to pick up more of their work, even if it is all shorter novels. I particularly liked a part in the middle of the books that was very much in conversation with the kill your gay's trope, and the way this book explores the ways in which women hide parts of themselves to be palatable to certain men. It is a truly fantastic exploration of so many topics.
Side note: I am in love with this cover. As soon as I saw the cover I knew I was reading this book.
I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads and The StoryGraph. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes speculative fiction, people who want to read queer narratives by queer authors, people who love feminist fiction, and those who love short narratives. This is a book that will make you deeply engage in the narrative, even though it only takes a few hours to get through.
