The Woman They Could Not Silence

3.5 stars

Here we have the story of Elizabeth Packard. A Victorian housewife doing Victorian housewife things. And then one day she had the absolute nerve to be inspired and uplifted while attending the first (or one of the first) Womens Rights convention. She had the unmitigated gall to have her own opinions and thoughts that did not match those of her husband. So he did what any upstanding husband would do....He had her committed to an insane asylum. AS WAS HIS RIGHT AS THE MANLIEST OF MEN. Insert the hardest of eye rolls here

I had never heard of Elizabeth Packard before. Which is a pity. I absolutely want to read about women yelling FUCK THE PATRIARCHY. Elizabeth not only fought for herself but for all women. She went from a relatively sheltered life to realizing that she was not the first women or the last to be sent away by husbands and fathers for daring to think outside of the box given to them by said men.

With all that a being said, this book for me was a tad too long. The length of a book isn't scary for me at all. But sometimes less is more. This could've have benefited from being a bit shorter. Do I regret buying it or reading it? Absolutely not. But it did drag a bit for me towards the second half. Still worth the read.

Fascinating subject matter, well-structured narrative, and solid writing but too long and in need of tightening.

I could not put this book down. It was an incredible story of perserverence.