3/5 stars.
ebook, 118 pages.
Read from September 1, 2019 to September 3, 2019.
Having loved The Yellow Wallpaper, I was intrigued when I saw this trilogy of feminist books on sale for a really cheap price. How could I say no?
Moving the Mountain is the first book in the Herland trilogy which is based around a feminist utopia. While the last two books in the trilogy are chronological, this book while carrying similar sentiments, is in a different setting and with different characters. This book is narrated from the perspective of a man who has been living abroad for the last 30-years and when he returns home has come to find that his country has completely changed. His sister is thankfully there to fill him in on all of his outdated ideas and views. Women have taken a prominent place in society and have turned it into a completely functioning utopia. The narrator finds it all hard to conceive at first but he slowly comes to see the benefits of this new society.
This book is a novel with long essay-like passages explaining exactly why the variety of different aspects of this new society are successful. The author seems to have thought of everything with this new society and takes you through a debate about why her setup for this new world is ideal. Other than the blatant suggestion of eugenics, this reformed society sounds pretty darn nice. The ideas in this story must have been so far ahead of its time seeing how this book was published in 1911! Ms. Perkins must have been quite a woman.
The majority of concepts in this book are intriguing but I did find myself at times scrolling aimlessly through a few pages that went on a bit too long. The ending, however, was immensely satisfying. If you’re into feminist reads, I would consider this one a must.
The Pluviophile Writer 
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