Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Power by Naomi Alderman

93 reviews

greenmind's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

3.25

Strange one. "What is natural?" 
I liked the premise, the structure and the prose style itself. But I'm not necessarily sure that a matriarchy would behave like this so I struggled a bit with the idea - it's a book inside a book though, so maybe it works better in that regard - it's written by a fictional man, so maybe his idea of a matriarchy can only be considered from a patriarchal fantasy? Or maybe it really is that hard to imagine a true matriarchy which could function differently than what we ourselves know after thousands of years... It made me think about the ideas brought up in here a lot though, so I think it's successful speculative fiction, in that sense. Personally, I found it lacking believability at times and it also grossed me out in a way which surprises me because I've read a lot of disgusting writing which hasn't caused that reaction. I'm just convinced women would gang-rape, slave-own and murder men, women and children for fun and with glee in the way that men regularly behave in warzones. I think the power would be wielded differently, and we can see how in the handful of matriarchal cultures around today or documented. Mothers still love and protect their sons, but the boys are socialised very differently and the older men behave differently within that... but I'm still unsure what I make of all of this. The "end notes" chapter from the female writer to the "male writer" character of the fictional book we've just read say much of the sorts of thing which run through my mind... but I'm unconvinced still, even though I feel made fun of by the author for that in a way. I still think the fact men don't get pregnant and give life makes them more likely to want to control women as a resource for reproduction all the more - and you can see that trend with the push towards normalising surrogacy and artificial womb science, in their interfering superstition in female healthcare, the power structures and beliefs of all major religions. The power isn't so literal as a jolt of physical electricity, but more the creator power which woman demonstrate when they grow new humans. Men are very uncomfortable with women controlling their own reproductions, as this would control all reproduction globally. One could argue that the effort to cut women from motherhood through tech and brothel-market capitalism hints at where essential power really lies, but the story has no space for mothers and babies here. It is certainly all very thought-provoking. The Father and The Son makes less sense to me than The Mother and Her Children in terms of creation myths, but... that's patriarchy for you. I’ve never heard of an equivalence of the violence men perpetrate towards women and female children daily being something women do when they are able to. I find those who argue that “woman totally would” are revealing themselves as naive about the reality of sex differences in crime statistics - 98% male for violent crimes.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, Ableism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, War, Forced institutionalization, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Torture, Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

whailey's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense fast-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual harassment, Torture, War, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Sexism, Trafficking, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Slavery, Bullying, Gore, and Sexual content

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Genocide, Confinement, and Police brutality

kimveach's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Trafficking, Cursing, Stalking, Sexism, Bullying, Genocide, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Toxic friendship, Torture, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Addiction, Death, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Blood, Misogyny, Physical abuse, War, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Violence, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Vomit

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.

---

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.

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! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Body horror, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Death, Murder, Domestic abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual content, and Violence

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

---

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. 

---

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

courtwj's review

Too bleak right now. Not connecting to many characters. Feels like it will end with men redominating or women oppressing men.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Sexism, Violence, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Murder, Sexual content, Gaslighting, and Pedophilia

gellyreads's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

2.0

I am so conflicted about this book. I love the idea, but I am a bit infuriated by the corruption of power. I also feel like I didn't have to see that much violence. Maybe I'm just idiotic or too hopeful, but I don't believe that this is what would happen. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Death, Sexism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Moderate: War

Minor: Abandonment

starlitpage's review

challenging dark medium-paced

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

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug use, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: War