Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Power

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Power by Naomi Alderman

381 reviews

james1star's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

This is a book I know I will have to reread to fully compile my thoughts and what actually went down in it. I enjoyed it very much, it’s not my genre but did find the reading to be accessible, it pulled me forward and on the whole I would recommend it.

The plot starts in the future with the author, Alderman, being sent a manuscript for a book written by a male friend who’s asking for advice and this book is written as a faux history in some sense of past events. He wants to tell the story he’s made up of what might’ve gone down and how something started leading up to a big event that we get to at the end of the book. In it, one day girls of around fourteen-sixteen learn they have ‘the power’ whereby they can sent electric through their hands to inflict pain. What ensues is a revelation of how this fact impacts the world and society now it’s no longer the men who have the (physical) power and advantage with the gradual changing dynamics of political influence into the hands of women. We get perspectives from four main characters: Roxy, an Essex gangster child, Allie, an abused orphan in America, Tunde, a Nigerian reporter (the only male character with a real voice), and Margot, an American politician (I’m not 100% on the facts as writing this a while after reading it).

I really loved the way it presented the stupidity of gender based discrimination, violence and misogyny as here the shoe is on the other foot in a sense. It’s refreshing and I think Alderman really cleverly showed the subtleties and outward sexism present (laws and way men are viewed on the street, assaults, men getting attacked and being made to feel afraid) in our contemporary societies in different countries as it’s really set in our time. There’s a lot more to the book, different sub-plots and honestly I think it would be a great one to study. Some scenes are difficult to read but I though it was very clever and there’s many things to think about and take away from it. Some parts didn’t wholly make all that much sense and plot points slightly irritating too that meant I didn’t love it but it was still very decent and I’m certainly willing to give this a future reread.

I really loved the ending (this isn’t a spoiler as it’s after she’s read the book and her advice) which sums up I think the message portrayed: ‘Neil, I know this might be very distasteful to you, but have you considered publishing this book under a woman's name?’

Content Warnings

larysletters's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

This book makes one think about if women had physical superiority, would they start behaving like men? Sadly, the ending was very rushed and there were a lot of unnecesarrily violent scenes.

Content Warnings

p_a_griffin's review against another edition

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dark sad tense medium-paced

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

1.0

This book needs some serious content warnings! It's not a poorly written book, but the entire story focuses on violence and rape. I read the whole thing, but I really wish I hadn't. Maybe if you've never experienced trauma, it would make you think, but I don't need that in my fiction. CW: violence, rape, molestation, war, more violence, more rape.

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neens_m's review against another edition

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challenging 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? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

meganemarshall's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5

3.5 rating.
This concept was really interesting, but I feel like it fell flat in many areas. The book starts with a letter from an author writing to another author to like 'Hey, what do you think of my book'. So I think that I ruined the book a little bit cause i was thinking the book was gonna be written with journal articles and documents used mostly to explain. It did that a little, but I was disappointed there wasn't more.

There were 4 main characters' POV but sometimes also side characters POV. It would sometimes swith POVs in confusing places. I didn't actually connect to any of the characters. One character storyline would get more interesting, while the others were kind of boring, and then it would switch, and it never really stayed consistent.

At times, the plot felt really weak jumping between all these characters, which they do end up crossing paths at times. Each of their stories didn't really have a good arc. Then there wasn't a really good main arc throughout the story. The book was an odd mix of hypocritical concepts, simplifying dynamics, going from one extreme to the other, but also having really important explanations of things that women deal with.

Overall, the idea was really interesting, but the execution was just not there for me.

Content Warnings

mkegley's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

bestkasescenario's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

4.75

Loved it! The ending felt a little rushed and it didn’t feel “complete” but I still loved the book in its entirety. Excellent storytelling & I did find it a little Atwood-esque which made sense at the end to learn that Atwood mentored Alderman. Stoked to watch the show, I hope it lives up to the book.

Content Warnings