Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Power by Naomi Alderman

69 reviews

karaswils's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

This book gets 5 stars from me because of the amount of “holy shit” moments it has—in a good way. I love the way that power is explored as it relates to patriarchy, sexual violence, and a host of other dynamics. 

It’s also very dark and violent, so—be warned.

My biggest disappointment is that there is absolutely no discussion, exploration, or even a nod to queer folks, especially queer women, in this novel. For all that Alderman does to capture a variety of perspectives and responses to a worldwide phenomenon, the absence of wlw seems like a big oversight.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, and War

Moderate: Religious bigotry and Sexual harassment

mshusky's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

The idea behind this novel is just astounding.  The novel just rips along and pulled me with it.  but  - I had a lot of reservations with it, one of which is that it is very cis gendered, and it actually felt dated.  

and the ending, the back and forth between ?academics? it just made me laugh as it was so clumsily done. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Slavery, Vomit, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

niliii's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Minor: Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, and Antisemitism

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

ren_dragon's review against another edition

challenging dark 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: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual harassment, and War

candycain's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction and Abortion

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

keeper_of_dark_materials's review

challenging dark reflective 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

4.75

This is a brilliant insight as to what would happen when women had a physical advantage over men. It is a reminder that when the scales of power are taken away, we are all human and are all equally capable of violence, hate, kindness, and love. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, 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

xaphriel's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Medical trauma, and Murder