Reviews

The Power by Naomi Alderman

makayla_15's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

3.5

luminous's review against another edition

4.0

This needs to be a genre. I love seeing roles and expectations flipped on their head. The Power is imperfect and a bit of a slog in the middle, but still utterly worth it.

purak007's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-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

kingablush's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective 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? No

2.5

heathlbag's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

3.0

debmeg's review against another edition

4.0

Incredibly disturbing, gripping, clever book which I couldn't put down but which made for hard reading, particularly toward the end. I couldn't stop reading but I can't say it was an 'enjoyable' read - but I doubt it was supposed to be. Very well done.

maketeaa's review

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

a very interesting commentary on marginalisation and brings into question the reasons we are often given to justify why our social order is the way that it is. alderman demonstrates to us how, often, the political landscape and distribution of power we take as innate in the world often arises almost as an accident, as a sequence of events that eventually creates a perfect breeding ground for public figures to sow their seeds and profit from the tensions between the groups beneath them. i think what really interested me was what felt almost like a racialisation of gender, and how a lot of the narrative reflected patterns of genocide -- in particular the justifications given at the beginning for killing men, to make them pay for their 'previous sins', similar to how genocides often occur as a result of one group who perceives themselves to be oppressed against the other. i think this racialisation and the rhetoric that cropped up to further separate men and women to justify their power gap (and in the case of men, brutalisation) was itself a very smart thing to do, because not only does it say something about how arbitrary the sexist stereotypes we live with are, but also how dangerous racial stereotypes and separation can become. overall, this is a very interesting look at power and the dangers of this power becoming instititionalised, but, most importantly, how this power can be made to seem normal to us through a careful shifting of lenses of our ways of understanding the world -- religion, history, and law.

i guess my only gripe is just a personal taste one: i wish it didnt read so... YA-y sometimes? some of the action scenes just felt a little unnecessary and i would've been way more interested if the focus had been more on the sociological aspects rather than that.

sophieparr's review against another edition

challenging tense medium-paced

4.0

leggup's review against another edition

3.0

I liked the idea, the core concept (what if women had something inate/inborn that gave them power over their bodies and those around them), but hated the execution. I wish Margaret Atwood had written to that premise.

The book dragged. I think it would have been better suited as several short stories. A lot of the plot points were boring and overdone. Women would then be the rapists! Women would then be the X! The Y! I thought the religious approach was going somewhere, but it just turned into a sort of cult following. I thought there would be a reverse/retake on Christianity (Christianity as controlling womens bodies), but nope. The voice in the head is never really explained, is never really thought out. I hated the one character having to back pedal on everything because she's still affected by her rape and other kids getting raped (maybe- because he looks the same!!!). I hated the idea that all women are ready to throw off the oppressive men equally as soon as they have a weapon. It's so reductionist.

I also hated the ending. The idea that it doesn't matter, men or women in power, it all ends the same. There's no twist of hope, no move to progress or move towards worse. It's the exact same. It's boring. It makes no difference who is in power.

Also, are we supposed to think that the different groups inacted the cataclysm using .. nukes? It's implied but not stated. Would that mean that there are still weapons more powerful than The Power ;) ?

leggup's review against another edition

3.0

An interesting premise but completely mistreated. The verdict: the world is exactly the same with women in charge. Humans are bad and cruel and oppressors. The writing of the rape and murder was gratuitous and unnecessary. Gender is binary. The story within-a-story was lazy and overdone.