Okay, here's my preface: I didn't pay money for this book, it was given to me as a gift. That's probably the only reason I didn't stop reading it thirty pages or so in. It's not a good book, it really isn't. (Also I read the German translation so maybe some issues I have with the narrator and the writing in general stem from that, but I'd want to hear from those who have read it in both Spanish and German to make that judgement.)

Where do I begin? I wrote down a long list of notes of things that bothered me about this book: the writing is shallow, unfunny and incredibly ordinary. There's nothing that motions you to dive deeper into the setting, to connect with the characters, no, everything just seems to magically and unrealistically _fit_. While the intention and premise of the book isn't the worst thing on the market, the way the author presents it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Real events and actions are framed in as "radical", as ways to shock readers (there's a whole chapter of machos coming up with different ways to stalk, harm, abuse and traumatize the women in their lives), when in reality, all of these things happen to non-male individuals every day. The narrator makes it clear that he intends to push women so far that they finally take control of their life and fight the patriarchy, but the fact that none of these actions are actually out of the ordinary means that these men are just assholes. Plain old misogynists. They're not even well written ones! When you think about other books that showcase sexism and patriarchy with actions pulled from real life (The Handmaid's Tale comes to mind), you at least have well-written characters who are terrible and awful and horrifying. It's a reimagining and retelling of misogyny throughout the years, not just a flat out reproduction. I, a woman, did not enjoy or laugh at page after page of men saying they want to do all these horrible things to women, to see a strong female figure almost get stabbed for no real reason than some character's injured male ego. There are never any consequences for the horrors these men choose to inflict on women, which makes it hard to see the lessons ("this is why men should be feminist!") that are being praised by reviewers in the media.

I don't know how this book is supposed to be funny - it's a satire, some might say. But isn't satire supposed to punch up, and not down? The narrator's voice seems sneering and patronizing most of the time, which does not make me believe in the genuineness of the third part of the book: the feminist utopia. We are primed to read these utopian factors (raised importance of consent, no gender gap, no harrassment) as something ridiculous, because throughout the entirety of the book, we have followed a character who pretends to be willing to learn, but in the end refuses to. It all feels like a massive joke, and I'm not laughing. I'm annoyed I wasted two evenings reading this.

A few other critique points that did not fit in here, but shouldn't be ignored: there are more feminists than Judith Butler, but for some reason she was name-dropped multiple times (as well as the Bechdel-Test? Who talks about the Bechdel-Test offline? Futhermore: Cisfeminism is out, folks; we like our feminism queer and intersectional. In general, there's a lot of iffy "feminist" things happening in this book: lesbian porn as a symbol of "wokeness", polarisation of women vs. men, ...). (White) Men around the age of 50 who are hailed as the voice of a generation (presumably the current generation) feels very off. The original title ("El aliado" - The ally) feels a lot more fitting than the German one ("Der Feminist" - The feminist), given the performative activism people partake in so that other may call them allies. Finally: does the author know how social media works? Because it does not work like that.