Fair warning: Rant incoming!
I took ages to read this book because when I started reading the USA election cycle had just started and even though I am Australian the side-show circus that is American politics dominated our news. What does this have to do with this book? The themes and topics of this book (written in the 1800s and set in the 1600s): Misogyny, control of women's bodies, "family bullshit values", religion causing misery and inflicting its "morals" onto all around it, and witch paranoia  (for modern times replace witches with gay people, or trans people, or immigrants) are once again raising their heads with a good helping of fascism to boot. Seeing the news and reading the world those men (and some women) would have American citizens return to in the name of "FREEDOM (mentally insert screeching eagle)" was too much for me. I took a break and hoped Americans could see what was happening to them. That was not to be. 

As an outsider looking in I am torn between sympathy for all the women and girls who are facing a return to ideals that should have been consigned to the dumpster fire of history 400 years ago yet seem to be impossible to kill; and anger at those who stand aside and are willing to sacrifice half the populace (some of whom seem to think they will be immune to the consequences of their support for a religious theocracy due to wealth, privilege, or sheer stupidity). My rage at this trampling of rights in the name of a supposed golden past (that was only ever golden for those who were in the position to piss on all below them) trumped my ability to see any redeeming features in this rambling, misogynistic work of repressed characters and paragraphs of pointless description. 
This is a book about the damage religion inflicts on everyone. The only reason to read it is to know what the past was like so we can fight to NEVER go back.
PS if you are a Trump stan FUCK OFF - I am not at home to your racist, misogynistic or religious justifications.