Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The Power by Naomi Alderman

36 reviews

charisw's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Hate crime, Stalking, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

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

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

alisonvh's review

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Is this book about gender dynamics or is it about the nature of Power?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Sexual content, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Rape, Violence, and War

pocket_mouse's review

dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, War, and Hate crime

Moderate: Child death, Body horror, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Violence

eve_o's review against another edition

adventurous challenging fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Murder, Rape, Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Slavery, and War

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Torture, Child death, and Confinement

Minor: Excrement, Alcohol, and Trafficking

kackjennedy's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Murder

Moderate: Kidnapping, Genocide, Physical abuse, War, and Slavery

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

mamaquiereleer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Murder, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Racism, and War