Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Power by Naomi Alderman

159 reviews

alisiakae's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The Power is an engaging story that definitely makes you think, and provides a lot to discuss with others. That's why it gets 3 stars. The story revolves around the theme of power: who has it, and how do they wield it? 

However, there were too many things about this story that bothered me. The gender binary for one, and the complete erasure of people who are trans, non-binary, genderqueer, etc. They were completely ignored in this world apart from some references to people with "chromosomal abnormalities" (why can't she just use the word intersex?). In fact, many of the discussions of gender in the novel seem to fall back on transphobic gender discourse and conflation of gender and biological sex.

I also take issue with a white, non-Muslim author using the "liberation" of Saudi Arabian women as a plot device. It felt very much like a Western perspective applied to a culture that is not the author's own.

Overall, I'm glad I read it, but I was really hoping for more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Transphobia, Trafficking, and Torture

kimveach's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Trafficking, Cursing, Stalking, Sexism, Bullying, Genocide, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Toxic friendship, Torture, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Addiction, Death, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Blood, Misogyny, Physical abuse, War, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Violence, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Vomit

janeywaneyb's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

vrhayes08's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Violence, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, and Gore

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Death, Genocide, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

mer3bear's review against another edition

dark inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Wow! I really enjoyed this book. I do have to agree with some of the others that it can kind of drag on at some parts and I also found Roxy’s storyline difficult to follow at some points and would get confused. I also normally don’t mind a lot of sexual content and I get its purpose in the story but a lot of the sex scenes felt very overdone and felt more YA-ish than the rest of the book. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and thought it was really smart in a way I hadn’t seen before. I think once you get about halfway through the book the ending definitely becomes predictable but the process to get there was still very fun to read and very thought provoking. I also wasn’t raised religiously so a lot of the mirroring and imagery with Christianity was fascinating to me. I didn’t know much about this book going into it but I saw that this author was an apprentice with Margaret Atwood (who I love) so I decided to give it a shot and I’m glad I did! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Body horror, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Death, Murder, Domestic abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual content, and Violence

startjpw23's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I loved this book. The books speculates what would happen if teenage girls acquired a power that made them more physically powerful than boys and men. It takes place over an extended period of time. It was thrilling from beginning to end. The intensity really never let up. My only slight concern was that there were a few threads that I wanted to be better resolved at the end. This was the only reason I didn't rate it 5 stars. Note that I wouldn't consider this a YA book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Rape, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Death, Medical trauma, and Misogyny

saara_ilona_muu's review against another edition

challenging tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Torture, and War

innerweststreetlibrarian's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

W O W! 
I really needed the first half of this book after the grinding misogyny of the last one I read, but oof it got really hard to keep going once I was about halfway through. Definitely needed more contemplation time between chapters to process what was going on. And that was quite a LOT. Very, deeply thought provoking, and a tad horrifying. Basically excellent. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Death, Sexual assault, Drug use, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Torture, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Hate crime, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Trafficking, and Gun violence

Minor: Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

paukinra's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Drug use, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, War, Child abuse, Police brutality, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Grief, Hate crime, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Rape

threadybeeps's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

 I binged this in three days but it made me, um, really mad. The final 1/3 or so was violent in a way that truly repulsed me. I am struggling to articulate my thoughts, I'm sure other unfavorable reviewers have already said it better than I could. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Child death, Gun violence, Sexism, Sexual assault, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Trafficking, Child abuse, Blood, War, Violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Body horror, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis