Their Roar

Name: Their Roar
ISBN: 9787522521923

西西莉雅·艾亨 / 丁雨洋Jiuzhou Press · ChinaMay 2024

3.7

Word count: 128K words
Chapters: 144
ISBN: 9787522521923

Report an error Find this book

Summary

Twenty-seven stories of twenty-seven different women, gathering twenty-seven fragments that seem unbelievable in everyday life but actually happen to you and me, or right beside us... There is "The Woman Who Slowly Disappeared," about appearance and age anxiety: those women who are no longer girls all disappear... There is "The Woman Put on the Shelf," about love in name depriving women of themselves: "love" turns us into kittens, into puppies, into trophies and medals... There is "The Woman in Disintegration," about being crushed by the accumulated trivialities of marriage and work life: what pierces us is every moment of everyday life... Under seemingly surreal premises, author Cecelia Ahern writes out the real inner turmoil and struggles of women, using absurdity and humor as weapons to roar out women's true voices.

Editor's review

Their Roar is the latest work by Irish bestselling author Cecelia Ahern, released in 2022 and brought to Chinese readers by Jiuzhou Press in 2023. The book marks a notable shift in Ahern's style—from the warm, healing love stories of her early career, such as P.S. I Love You, toward more socially critical, allegorical feminist narrative. After its overseas publication, the book quickly reached bestseller lists and sparked wide discussion; its Douban rating currently holds steady in the 8.0–8.5 range, with reader reviews generally focused on its bold premise and profound social metaphor.

The novel builds a highly charged dystopian world: one day, women around the world begin to emit an uncontrollable, deafening roar. This roar is not subject to will and erupts in moments of anger, fear, suppression, or agitation, thoroughly overturning the existing power structures and modes of communication in society. Ahern uses this surreal premise as a prism to sharply refract the long-suppressed emotions, neglected demands, and systemic voicelessness of women in reality. The roar is not a simple physiological phenomenon but an eruption of collective unconsciousness, a physical rebellion against millennia of social discipline.

Ahern's writing is delicate and layered. She does not reduce the story to a battle of the sexes but delves into how the roar affects individual women of different ages, professions, and backgrounds, as well as the complex reactions of men under its impact. The book's multi-perspective narration presents a social panorama extending from family to workplace, from politics to the streets. The author skillfully blends psychological thriller, social allegory, and exploration of human nature; the plot moves briskly with mounting suspense, wrapping serious reflection on communication, power, and the legitimacy of emotion in a science-fictional shell.

As an editor, I believe the book's value lies in its strong resonance with reality and its intellectual provocation. It transcends the ordinary genre novel and is more like a magnifying glass forcing us to examine the rules of emotional management that are taken as "normal." The core question Ahern raises is striking: when a group is deprived of the right to express anger calmly, how will the accumulated energy finally be released? This is not only a story about women but an allegory about listening, understanding, and systemic change.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in feminist and social-issue fiction
Readers who enjoy dystopian premises and literary social allegory
Longtime Cecelia Ahern fans seeking something beyond pure romance and open to an author's stylistic shift
Psychology or sociology enthusiasts concerned with emotional expression, communication, and power relations

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting the author's early style and looking for light, healing love stories
Realism purists who cannot accept surreal premises or allegorical narration at all

Reading tips

Set aside demands for 'plausibility' for the time being, accept the allegorical premise, and focus on the emotional and intellectual core behind the story
While reading, pay attention to how different characters react to the 'roar'; this mirrors how people in real society respond differently to women's emotions
After finishing, try asking yourself: what would it be like if you were in that world? This helps connect the book's issues with personal experience

About the publisher

Jiuzhou Press China · Founded in 1993

Jiuzhou Press is a comprehensive publisher with humanities, social sciences, and classic works as important publishing directions, maintaining a sustained focus on philosophy, history, literature, and social culture. Its catalogue includes works by modern literary masters such as Xiao Hong and Lu Xun, as well as intellectual and art history works by Xu Fuguan, including A History of Chinese Theories of Human Nature: Pre-Qin Volume, A History of Han Thought, and The Spirit of Chinese Art: A Study of Shitao. It also translates and introduces overseas academic works such as Peter H. Wilson's The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy and Peter Suber's The Case of the Speluncean Explorers, and covers cross-cultural exchange themes such as From Dunhuang to Samarkand. Its publishing character lies in balancing the organization of original texts with academic translation, forming relatively stable author and title resources in categories including philosophy, military affairs, theory, and social culture. More complete information about the press's publishing history and plans is limited in publicly available sources; this summary is based only on the titles in the catalogue.

版权信息
慢慢消失的女人
1
2
3
4
5
6
被摆在架子上的女人
1
2
3
4
5
长出翅膀的女人
1
2
3
4
5
被鸭子投喂的女人
1
2
3
4
5
发现皮肤上有咬痕的女人
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
以为镜子破损的女人
1
2
3
4
被地板吞下后遇到很多同类的女人
1
2
3
4
点了海鲈特价餐的女人
1
2
3
4
吃照片的女人
1
2
3
4
5
忘记自己名字的女人
1
2
3
4
5
6
随身携带一块表的女人
1
2
种下了怀疑的女人
1
2
3
4
5
退换丈夫的女人
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
失去了常识的女人
1
2
脑袋里长出羽毛的女人
1
2
将心脏戴在袖子上的女人
1
2
飞走的女人
1
2
3
拥有一套得体西装的女人
1
2
3
4
5
讲女人语的女人
1
2
3
4
保卫性腺的女人
1
2
被简单归类的女人
1
2
3
跳上马车的女人
1
2
3
4
绽开了笑容的女人
1
2
3
总觉得邻家芳草更绿的女人
1
2
解体的女人
1
2
3
4
5
挑选樱桃的女人
1
2
3
4
5
怒吼的女人
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
后记

FAQ

Is this book very different in style from Cecelia Ahern's previous works?

Yes, markedly so. This book is an important shift in her career, moving from warm, healing love stories to socially critical and allegorical narrative, with grander themes and a colder, more intellectual style.

Is the 'roar' in the book a metaphor or an actual surreal event?

In the novel's setting, it is an actual, uncontrollable physiological phenomenon occurring in women worldwide—a surreal premise. But through this extreme premise, the author metaphorically explores the deep predicament of women's suppressed emotions and blocked expression in reality.

Is this book only suitable for female readers?

Not at all. Although centered on women's experience, the issues it explores—communication difficulties, power structures, emotional expression—are universal. The portrayal of male characters is not flatly antagonistic either, and many male readers report gaining reflections on themselves and their relationships with society.

Related on WeRead

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

西西莉雅·艾亨 Author

Cecilia Ahern is an author about whom relatively limited public information is currently available; the library holds only one of her works, Their Roar. This work is categorized as foreign literature, and judging from the title's暗示 of "they" and "roar," its subject matter likely revolves around women's experiences, emotional conflict, or some kind of collective voice, carrying strong emotional tension and narrative direction. Because exact information about the author's nationality, dates of birth and death, original English name, and writing career is lacking, it is not possible to introduce her life background in more detail or to determine the place of Their Roar within her body of work. Based on the available clues, Ahern's writing seems to approach real-world issues through group portraits or a female perspective, and her language may combine lyricism with impact. Readers who wish to learn about this author might begin with this work and sense its narrative temperament and central concerns; should more complete author information become available, her creative trajectory and literary position would still need further supplementation and observation.

丁雨洋 Author

Ding Yuyang is an author about whom limited public information is available; existing sources do not confirm nationality, dates of birth and death, or educational background. Two works by this author are held in the collection, A Journal of the Plague Year and Their Roar, commonly classified under foreign literature. Judging from the titles and the classification, the writing seems to touch on two kinds of subject matter: historical catastrophe and the situation of women. The former may unfold its narrative through the extreme circumstances of plague, while the latter may focus on women's experience and emotional expression. The considerable distance between the two subjects suggests the author has tried different themes. Because interviews, prefaces, and other checkable materials are lacking, it is currently difficult to assess the writing style and literary influence with certainty; readers may turn to the original works to learn more about the narrative approach and central concerns.