Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

The Power by Naomi Alderman

34 reviews

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

colinjames's review

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Drug use, Genocide, Rape, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Moderate: War

Minor: Police brutality

marykatesbooks'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

WOW.
for the first third or maybe half of the book i felt like i was reading a good book but not connecting, or maybe missing something. then as the plot started to develop at a faster pace it felt like i couldn’t look away from the car crash that the characters were headed into. i LOVE that alderman didn’t just create a feminine utopia with her work. instead she called into question the belief that power, when wielded by women, is good and positive. the ending was a shocking but oddly perfect end for the characters and their stories, and the emails at the end framing it in a new perspective… just woah. it made me go back and flip through the book with this new view. 
my only issue with the book is how graphic some of the violence and rape was. this isn’t a criticism though because i think it added to the strength of the plot and the comparison to modern rape-culture. that being said, it was still difficult to get through some of those moments, probably because it was evoking memories of actual situations that women currently face. it was so easy to visualize the scenes in this book with the genders flipped since that is how it normally is. 
overall, i thought this was a phenomenal book because it didn’t just use feminine rage as an outlet for pent up anger about EVERYTHING. alderman took the opportunity to highlight feminine rage while also pointing out the flaws that can accompany power, especially when it’s at the expense of others. 
i wish there was more of each character. i want more chapters telling me more about them as people and what their lives are like outside of the snippets in the book. ugh it was so good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Rape, War, Blood, Gun violence, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Death, and Genocide

Moderate: Grief, Body horror, Confinement, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Dysphoria, Incest, and Child abuse

non graphic depiction of rape of women, graphic depiction of rape of men

claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Sexism, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, War, Rape, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Torture, Sexual content, Gun violence, Grief, Gore, Death, Cursing, Murder, Medical trauma, Medical content, Hate crime, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Body horror

Minor: Self harm, Bullying, Child death, Abortion, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Slavery, and Suicide

ehrycyna's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Murder, Rape, Death, War, Torture, and Trafficking

Moderate: Child death, Genocide, Gore, Kidnapping, Police brutality, and Sexual content

gabgeh's review

adventurous dark reflective tense 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

5.0

Incredible. Amazing. Thought-provoking. Best book I've read this year. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Torture, Violence, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Trafficking, War, Xenophobia, Body horror, Death, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Transphobia, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Abandonment, Death of parent, Drug use, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Slavery

annir's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexism, Transphobia, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Violence, Drug use, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Gun violence, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Classism, Islamophobia, Child death, Hate crime, Slavery, Torture, Confinement, Cursing, and Body horror

niliii's review

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

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

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, Medical trauma, War, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Drug use, Physical abuse, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Police brutality

Minor: Infidelity, Pregnancy, Vomit, Excrement, and Trafficking

lhartjed's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Misogyny, War, Domestic abuse, Murder, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Torture, and Violence