As a reproductive health care worker in Chicago, Nisha is barely staying afloat in the ocean of abortion bans, screaming protestors, and her own all-consuming depression.
When she escapes to the Indian art exhibit at her favorite museum for a brief respite, Nisha suddenly finds herself bleeding, disoriented, and collapsed on the ground. The last thing she remembers is the statue that beckoned her to touch it. In the days that follow, Nisha feels a strange power coursing within her, one that attracts a host of dangerous and enigmatic characters who covet it for themselves.
Facing threats both otherworldly and distinctly human, Nisha must navigate uncertain alliances to piece together the centuries-old mystery of her odd and terrifying abilities. And as danger closes in on her loved ones, community, and the clinic she’s determined to protect, Nisha must make a choice about the life she wants—and fight all the demons standing in her way to get it.
I’m making a confident prediction right now that basically every review of this book is going to say that it is deeply timely – whether that makes it a particularly powerful, impactful read or way too real and therefore upsetting for readers is probably going to be the thing that is most divisive. As far as my experience goes, my ARC of We Dance Upon Demons came at the right time – in my deep throes of helpless anger about the erosion of reproductive rights and intensification of misogyny and Christian nationalism in the U.S. This book has its finger on the pulse and it has a LOT to say, some of which I really, really needed to hear.
In this reading experience, you’re exposed to the violent, exhausting daily reality of keeping a reproductive health center afloat in the post Roe v. Wade era. The hatred and danger from protestors are written with unflinching detail, and Patel gives a lot of space to the matter of antis – their varied arguments against abortion, their different tactics, their hypocrisy and hatred, and the endless struggle that healthcare workers face to provide services in the face of their virulent threats and harassment.
One of the things that surprised me the most about this book was how much I related to the main character Nisha’s experience in her job based on the time I worked as a sexual assault advocate. I was moved to write to the author about it and I described it like this to her: “the experience of pouring yourself into something you’re passionate about/raging at the horrible injustice that is the reality of the situation/vicarious trauma/burnout/trying to tread water and help people while fighting a massive current intent on sweeping everything away.” Nisha is deep in this struggle, in addition to coping with trauma from a leg injury, feelings of guilt and inadequacy about her perceived lack of professional achievement in the competitive Indian immigrant community, and stress due to the sudden appearance of her anti ex-boyfriend as a doctor at the clinic. So she’s dealing with a LOT and all of it feels very real, with her gradually building up her sense of agency and self-worth over the course of the book in a way that never feels fake or too easy.
I really needed to hear the book’s ultimate messages right now: we can learn from the resilience and resistance of those who have fought for rights and justice before us, and fighting the world’s battles by ourselves is a recipe for exhaustion and demoralization, while tapping into relationship, connection, and community are much more powerful. We can never know the difference that our actions make as they ripple out into the world and impact others’ actions, too.
Reading this book was absolutely a 5 star experience for me because of its (truly) empowering rage and passion for its subject matter. I will say that I don’t have incredibly strong feelings about the fantasy elements, which sometimes felt slightly too disjointed. I loved the concept of the flashbacks to Nisha’s ancestors and their lessons/battles throughout Indian history, but they felt a bit too short and surface level for me and they were narrated in such a distant way that I didn’t find them as impactful as I think they could’ve been with a different style. Otherwise, I took so much hope and encouragement from this book and I’m grateful for Vaishnavi Patel’s powerful work in writing it.
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