Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

The Power by Naomi Alderman

33 reviews

penguins_save_lives's review

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, and Rape

Moderate: Medical trauma, War, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Torture, Police brutality, Murder, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Sexual harassment, and Stalking

esmee_bos's review

adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Trafficking, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Police brutality, War, Hate crime, Rape, and Violence

vivikasweiven's review

challenging dark emotional funny reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, War, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Torture, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Murder, Misogyny, Cursing, Child abuse, Medical content, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Death, and Adult/minor relationship

karmapen's review

medium-paced

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

1.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Child abuse, Violence, Torture, Police brutality, Murder, Misogyny, Drug use, Bullying, Rape, Sexual violence, War, Sexual assault, and Trafficking

Moderate: Blood, Ableism, Body shaming, and Abandonment

Minor: Child death

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.

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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

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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

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

paukinra's review

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Antisemitism, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Drug use, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, War, Child abuse, Police brutality, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Grief, Hate crime, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Rape

steds's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad 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

3.5

As audiobook. Intense, interesting, thought provoking.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Torture, Trafficking, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Murder, Police brutality, War, Genocide, Hate crime, Slavery, Violence, Bullying, Death, and Gaslighting

bethanie_l's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

4.0

Wasn't sure about this one as I'm slightly apprehensive about the gender switch society concept. It can often be weaponized to say "see? You're just as bad as men so there's no point in feminism." This was not that. It felt more like... like pointing out that these things that are so horrific to see crop up are things that already happen to women in real life. And I can't deny that sometimes I long for men to understand what it's like to be afraid to go jogging at night, that you can't wear headphones because an attacker could sneak up, you can't wear your hair in a ponytail because they could use it to grab you, you can't run in secluded areas because they could abduct you in seconds. The first half is satisfying in this way, seeing women stand up for themselves and seeing men not feel in control anymore. It devolves into horror, but again nothing more than what already happens to women. Is that an excuse? Of course not. But it should be a wake up call to any men who read it. I wonder if they'll even understand that this book is a mirror, even though towards the end I feel like we're being bashed over the head with it. It made me cry deep sobs and I love it for that. 

Issues: very cishet view of gender and sexuality. There's no room for trans characters. One intersex character, but it doesn't go into the gender issues really. Felt like the

voice in Allie's head being Samuel from the Bible

was a very weird choice. And the graphic rape scenes were a bit much, even knowing the framing device of them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Body horror, Medical trauma, Murder, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Torture, Violence, Blood, War, Misogyny, Trafficking, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Child death, Confinement, and Injury/Injury detail