The Fictional Woman

The saying goes, “it takes one to know one” and while this saying is usually used as a stinger in schoolyard arguments, it’s still a loaded gun of truth. In the case of The Fictional Woman, the first non-fiction work from Tara Moss, it takes one to know and speak for a demographic. 

In her book, Moss explores the intricacies and injustices of the labels that society stamps on women and enlightens her readers with a blend of statistics, discussions, and personal anecdotes. Beginning as a memoir reflecting on her beginnings as a model and later, writer, she gets to the meat of social injustices towards women with the aid of statistical research, examinations of women’s representation everywhere, ranging from fields of politics to film and television as well as geographically around the globe and historically through time, and illustrations from her own experiences. The brilliance of this book is that it’s a well-rounded and perfectly blended piece of non-fiction that is both entertaining and enlightening. Over the course of 300 pages, two stories are told: the personal story of Tara Moss, which in itself is inspirational, exciting, and sometimes scary, and the story of the ‘fictional woman’; a culmination of all of the different labels given to women by society throughout history and her development from past to present, ending in hopeful thoughts for what she can be in the future. 

While it may be tempting to lump this book in with many others that make up the subgenre of ‘feminist literature’ because of its content, one mustn’t fall into that trap. Moss may write about the social treatment and representation of as well as attitudes towards women however, she does not write with a hidden message or ‘feminist agenda’. The tone of the book is conversational and down-to-earth with Moss’ research on various subjects broken up by her personal experiences of them backing up her points. 

There is no fiery and overtly stimulating language or tone like Clementine Ford’s Fight Like a Girl (which is also a great read), it’s more of an educated and experienced dinnertime discussion that allows for readers to reflect and ponder while simultaneously turning pages. 

While there are some chapters that feature more academic content than personal that can become a tiny bit of a drudge, the overall pace of the book is exactly what you want in a work of non-fiction. It’s consistently stimulating and compelling without whacking the reader with sensory overloads in one place and leaving them bored in another. 

In our household, this is the book that has been recommended to a plethora of different people and has made the rounds from one set of hands to another with only good thoughts on it being reported back. I now recommend it to you. 

Author: Tara Moss 

Published: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2014