Herland

From a historical perspective, I can understand why this book is important. Gilman's satirizing of gender roles and gender essentialism were no doubt cutting edge in 1915; likewise, her critique of how patriarchy, capitalism, and colonialism are intertwined was pretty insightful. The problem is that a lot of her critique has become accepted reality in 2018, so it makes her commentary seem obvious and at times trite.

This wouldn't be a problem if the protagonists were anything more than the blandest WASPs that ever wasped. They're not, however, and the lack of strong protagonists for the story to hang from makes this more an interesting bit of trivia than a compelling read in my opinion.