Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Power by Naomi Alderman

61 reviews

eve_o's review against another edition

adventurous challenging fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Murder, and War

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

Minor: Excrement, Trafficking, and Alcohol

wine_tea_paper's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

The best way to describe The Power is an alternate history dystopian. In a world where women control the world, things actually aren’t any better than when men control it. 

This book was eye opening, sad, and gruesome. Kinda like a car accident. You know you should stop watching but you just can’t help yourself. 

The Power is truly a must read book. It was pretty slow for me to get through but I still enjoyed every chapter of it. 

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
TW: sexual abuse, war, death 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child death, Death, and War

wanderinginthewoods's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Sexual harassment

scruffie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed reading this one, though the entire book is nightmare material (content warnings not to be taken lightly). Great pace, very tense, and adventurous. It draws attention to many social discrepancies and is full of female viewpoints and characters, which, in and of itself, felt refreshing.

That being said, I didn't appreciate the book's binary view on gender, the conflation of sex and gender, and the complete disregard for the multitude of gender identities; in this book "male" equals "man", "female" equals "woman", and that's all there is to it. Also, I had hoped that the book will have a more positive stance towards society; I've had my fill of the whoever-has-the-bigger-stick-must-oppress-whoever-has-the-smaller-stick point of view. That's alright though, I think the author delivered the narrative they chose pretty successfully.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Police brutality

Minor: Infidelity, Excrement, Vomit, Trafficking, and Pregnancy

alanaefarrell's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, and War

20sidedbi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

A BRILLIANT book in every way. Very similar style to Margaret Atwood but with Alderman's own genius shining clearly

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Child death and Trafficking

Because this book tries to explore what an inverse reality of sexism and violence would look like, Alderman does not shy away from the reality of sexualized violence. I don't think her descriptions were gratuitous or sexualizing of sexual violence, but they were unflinching.

maddiebusick's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

quickermorequickly's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

3.5

I feel like I read this novel about 5 years too late into my understanding of gender and power to be the target audience. The storytelling itself is gripping and compelling, but I feel a little queasy about the rigidly binary vision of gender that the author presents here. So much of the plot is in fact about biological function: who has the skein with the power (women), and who doesn't (men). The introduction of

a few men who have the skein

could have gone somewhere interesting, but didn't, since

the text reduces them to people with hormone irregularities or whatever

. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, and War

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Blood, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

kristene's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death

jen_again's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Sexual content