Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Power by Naomi Alderman

15 reviews

supernova_reader's review

challenging dark sad tense medium-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

epellicci's review

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

1.5

I found The Power was horrific almost for the sake of it as the book went on, and the plot lacked confidence as the story headed towards its conclusion. The final chapters trail off into an ambiguous and stilted jumble which felt given up on when considering the particular and uncomfortable detail which Alderman went into throughout the rest of the book. The four characters leading the narration lacked dimension, and I found the way that everyone (excluding Tunde) had basically the same goal of political/religious dominance in mind lazy.  As the book progressed, the characters personalities basically all bled into one for me, and at times I forgot whether I was reading from Allie's perspective or Roxy's. A concept with a lot of potential, executed badly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Medical content, Misogyny, Slavery, and War

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

alexbobalex's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-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

Everyone should read this book at least once. It’s a story everyone can relate to, as we all are affected by gender and it’s power dynamics. This book made me relook at human history itself, and wonder. All that being said, strongly recomend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Trafficking, Torture, Violence, Stalking, Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Religious bigotry, Racism, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Hate crime, Gun violence, Gore, Grief, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Cursing, Confinement, Cannibalism, Bullying, Body shaming, Body horror, Blood, Biphobia, Antisemitism, and Acephobia/Arophobia

LOOK AT THE TRIGGER WARNINGS. This book it for a mature audience and contains many, many triggers.

ginadapooh's review

challenging dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Violence

mfsquared's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

3.0

To be frank, I'm not sure how to tease apart the quality of the book from the fact that I disliked it (or rather, disliked its premise and conclusions / message). Did I think it was well-written? If memory serves me right, I didn't think it was badly written. Did I think it was an interesting concept? Sure. But it irritated me, I didn't enjoy reading it, and once I finished it I did not understand what all of the hype was about. Part of what I found so uninspired was the idea that you write a book about a literal power reversal (not subtle) between men and women and you just... Turn it into a story where the same terrible things happen in the world as before, but now women are perpetuating them and men are the victims? It didn't feel original or meaningful to me, just frustrating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Mental illness