Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Power by Naomi Alderman

132 reviews

jojopotato's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

5/5, 10/10, all the stars. An incredible deep dive into life and a world if women held power, with a little extra evolutionary help (I’ll leave it at that). A really interesting discussion about the focus of male or paternal figures in history/religion, and how we particularly glance over or don’t give as much relevance or importance to women or maternal figures in history/religion (e.g., Mary, Fatima, Gotami, Rebekah). Also really good discussion on what power is and how we as humans handle power and make decisions regardless of gender. 
I really enjoyed the four main characters and following their story from chapter to chapter. Alderman is truly an incredible story teller and this book completely pulled me in and captured my attention. I could not stop telling people about how it made me think and reflect and almost see the world a bit differently.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Gore, Body horror, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

Look I put a lot of content warnings on here, but this is a book about the shifting of power and what it would look like if women became more powerful than men. It essentially leads to world war and talks about the importance of understanding how power and money and violence lead to destruction. No matter who is holding that power.

janeywaneyb's review

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

kys831's review

adventurous challenging dark hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Rape, Torture, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Kidnapping, and Genocide

curious_reader's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Murder, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Violence, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, and Rape

Minor: Domestic abuse and Drug use

jasbah's review

challenging dark sad tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Rape, Sexual violence, War, Torture, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Drug use, Medical trauma, Blood, and Gore

Minor: Trafficking and Child death

mer3bear's review

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

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

madredeleones's review

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, War, Torture, Suicide, Gun violence, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexism, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Medical trauma, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Medical content, Cursing, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, and Drug use

Minor: Religious bigotry and Racism

innerweststreetlibrarian's review

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

threadybeeps's review

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