Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

The Power by Naomi Alderman

95 reviews

the_pysselfia's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Religious bigotry, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Murder, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual harassment, War, Sexism, and Sexual content

clingy_anteater's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

hellenalawliet's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, and Rape

Minor: Blood and Death

auberginehayz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.5

Audio book

I went for 3.5 stars but it was almost a 4! I would recommend it strongly but with caveats because of graphic/disturbing content.

The first two thirds of the book were amazing. Such a good concept, compelling and with scenes that were gripping and really resonated. Then it went chaotic and grim in a way that I couldn't tell if was poor pacing or meant to have that shocking and confusing effect on the reader. Then it wrapped it up nicely at the end in a reasonably satisfying, if pessimistic, way. The grim stuff was depressing because I wanted to root for some of the characters, I didn't want so many of them to end up behaving terribly. But maybe humanity would be that terrible.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Child abuse, Rape, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Violence, and War

wanderinginthewoods's review

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual harassment, Torture, Death, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, 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

ren_dragon's review against another edition

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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Medical trauma, War, Sexual harassment, and Murder

sallytiffany's review

dark emotional sad 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? No

3.0

It started off really good and had a good premise but quickly became religious and political. Not a bad book when read for school but not one I would read for pleasure. I also really didn't like the ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Gore, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Body horror, Excrement, and Domestic abuse

sophieennis's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Abandonment, Drug use, Sexual violence, Trafficking, War, Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, and Pedophilia

samdalefox's review

adventurous challenging dark sad 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? No

5.0

Top line summary: feminist, sci-fi, dystopian, hard hitting deliciousness. This book takes a hard look at the current power structures of the world through a gendered lens, then unravels what could happen if that gendered power was inverted, and to a lesser extent subverted. It reminded me of that quote "be grateful women only want equality, not revenge". Although clearly a feminist book, the failures of the human condition irrespective of gender are also highlighted. The end 'chapters' (an email exchange outside of the main story narrative) were particularly satisfying in this respect. It's also important to highlight that this book, while excellent in my opinion, is a little dated in its feminism. There's no great care exploring sex vs gender (biologically or socially), no clear attempt to include intersectionalism, and no mention of non binary or trans people.

I've quoted ryanjaydavidson's review below because I largely agree with it and think it's an apt summary:

"The concept of this book is brilliant, and there are a multitude of allegories, symbolism and inversions that hit you like a tonne of bricks throughout. However, while it starts strong and the action is consistently ferocious, it’s clumsily executed as a whole piece and scuppers momentum at various key stages of the narrative. A lot of comparisons have been made to the speculative fiction of Margaret Atwood, but for me it lacks the rumbling sense of dread that is so prevalent in Atwood’s work."

Despite its flaws, I'm still giving this 5 stars because it caught my interest and compelled me to keep reading. The violence in, althoughddifficult to read, never felt gratuitous. I was completely hooked and invested. This is a wonderful book to start conversations about many different aspects of feminism, sexism, and misogyny. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Child abuse, War, and Violence