Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Power by Naomi Alderman

4 reviews

kk_gotit_goinon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

This book is incredible. I can't tell much without spoilers but it's awesome and I highly recommend it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Hate crime, Addiction, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Slavery, Torture, War, Violence, Abandonment, Classism, Death, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexism, Drug abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship

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

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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

lovelymisanthrope's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.5

I have had this book on my radar for over a year now, but I was initially interested because this book is set in a world where women have more power than men. I have also always enjoyed dystopian-style books, so I was excited to try an adult dystopian.
"The Power" follows a handful of different points of view in a near future world in which women have suddenly developed this electric power. Because of this power, women take charge and start ruling the world. But, with great power some women are finding it difficult to not become corrupted.
For a book about a physical power that can kill someone almost instantly, I thought this book was paced very slowly. It took me so long to get into the story, and it really hindered my enjoyment. While I was reading this story, I thought it was so ludicrous to see that the women were corrupted by power and the men were disgruntled by their new place in the world, but I think that is the point. Whether we like it or not, women are treated as lesser in every aspect of life in our world, and the men do not want to give up the power they wield because they are afraid of the competition and inferiority that may be brought on by having women in power. When you read that women are in charge and causing all of this chaos, it sounds crazy, and I think that says way more about our society than it should.
I did enjoy that one of the perspectives we got was from a male journalist. He was such a great ally to women and did not seek to take their power away. He appeared like a neutral third party and was able to report without bias on the chaos that inevitably ensued because of this power.
Overall, I enjoyed what this book was trying to do, and the message it was trying to convey, but for me it just fell short kind of short in some ways. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Death, Child death, Murder, Torture, Rape, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Stalking, Physical abuse, Misogyny, and Hate crime

welkinvault's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.0

The idea behind this novel is just astounding.  The novel just rips along and pulled me with it.  but  - I had a lot of reservations with it, one of which is that it is very cis gendered, and it actually felt dated.  

and the ending, the back and forth between ?academics? it just made me laugh as it was so clumsily done. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Violence, Child abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, and Sexism

Moderate: Slavery, Toxic friendship, Trafficking, Sexual harassment, Vomit, and Religious bigotry