In The Power the world is a recognisable place: there's a rich Nigerian kid who lounges around the family pool; a foster girl whose religious parents hide their true nature; a local American politician; a tough London girl from a tricky family. But something vital has changed, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power - they can cause agonising pain and even death. And, with this small ...
Details The Power
| Title | The Power |
|---|---|
| ISBN | 9780670919987 |
| Author | Naomi Alderman |
| Release Date | Oct 27th, 2017 |
| Publisher | Viking |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fiction, Science Fiction, Feminism, Dystopia |
| Rating |
Reviews The Power
It doesn’t matter that she shouldn’t, that she never would. What matters is that she could, if she wanted. TW: rape.Ooh, this is a toughie. I have a lot of mixed feelings about Alderman's The Power. It's an intriguing and clever concept, but this never really translates into an engaging story.Imagine if one day, suddenly, girls developed a strange physical power: they can produce electricity inside them. They can use this power to hurt, to to...
When a male friend found out I was reading a book in which all women simultaneously develop the power to electrocute people and subsequently seize control of society, he responded "Tch, if that were the other way around, you'd go mad"... NO SHIT SHERLOCK! Damn right, the idea of a society in which one sex is systematically oppressed through the threat (or use) of physical and sexual violence infuriates me. The concept of one sex being disproporti...
Wow.I finished this novel at midnight last night and after I went to bed, I blinked into my pillow and tried to think of what words I would type into this box on Goodreads apart from that first one: wow. After a few minutes thought, I figured I could add "intelligent" and "uncomfortable" and "thought-provoking."The problem with all of those is that they get used so often that we see only hyperbole. This book, like many others, bears a jacket prin...
3.75
a brilliant read that explores power and gender dynamics in a fascinating and thrilling way! i do think this book favors the ideas and the writing over the story arc--some parts weren't quite as cohesive as i would've liked--but i did still thoroughly enjoy this! it was so captivating and frustrating and horrifying and familiar all at once. i will definitely be thinking about this book for a long while, and i think it would be an excellent choice...
Seriously?! Christ this is a mess. I'm obviously wrong considering all the glowing praise and award-winning going on here, but can't for the life of me understand what the fuss is about. I mean, great concept but poor execution. Way too many of the chapters felt off or forced, I didn't invest in any of the characters, and the ending didn't redeem it - in fact, probably made it worse.Very disappointed.
Click here to watch a video review of this book on my channel, From Beginning to Bookend. Roxy is a tenacious girl with an influential family. Tunde enjoys lounging poolside after his photo-journalism class. Margot is a politician with grand aspirations and a vulnerable teenage daughter. Allie is a young woman whose religious foster parents are not what they seem. Roxy, Tunde, Margot, and Allie have relatively normal lives, until something extrao...
NOW AVAILABLE!!Sometimes it's good to go to war, just to know you can.i’d enjoyed this author’s kinda-sorta The Secret History book, The Lessons, some years ago, and when i saw the cover and description for this one, i was very WANT for it. so, first things first: millions of thanks to lena for so generously sending me a copy, because it isn’t out in the u.s. until OCTOBER! sheesh.this is nothing at all like The Lessons, leaving realism beh...
Writing like this catches my attention....... “There is a feeling in his hand as if some insect has stung him. He looks down to swat it away, and the only thing on his hand is her warm palm.” “The sensation grows, steadily and swiftly. At first it is pinprick’s in his hand and forearm, then the swarm buzzing prickles, then it is pain. He is breathing too quickly to be able to make a sound. He cannot move his left arm. His heart is loud in...
The Power is a ride into dark fantasy by Naomi Alderman that starts off like an E-ticket attraction at Disney Resorts before fizzling out like a bottle rocket from Jerry's Fireworks. Published in 2016, Alderman's concept is thrilling and one that Rod Serling or Ray Bradbury might've given props to, using genre to address prejudice, intolerance and social inequality right here on earth in the present day. The novel develops a strong sense of myste...
I think I'm going to give up on literary awards. Naomi Alderman's The Power found its way into my hands by winning 2017's Bailey's Prize. The plot sounded so intriguing. Young girls around the world began developing 'the power', or essentially being able to shoot lightning from their palms. This discovery leads to a great event known as The Cataclysm, after which women become the dominant sex in society. It's fairly classic speculative fiction te...
5 Completely Rad and Rockin Stars. There are some novels that you feel, from the tips of your fingers, all the way to the bottoms of your toes. This is one of them. All at once, something happens, something strange, something inexplicable and yet, one by one.. every teenage girl experiences it. A feeling simply overtakes them and they strike out at everyone who has wronged them. She feels the thing like pins and needles along her arms. Like nee...
I think I've just stumbled upon one of those "Important Works" I keep saying is so necessary. No UF fluff with magical women or post-apocalypse SF nonsense where it's mostly about shocking us about the brutality of man against woman. (It seems that's mostly what it is, these days.) Indeed, what we've got here is a careful and complex study of all the gender roles turned on its head, slowly, surely, and irrevocably.We have women getting the power ...
This was sort of like: Put some elements of The Hunger Games, The Handmaid's Tale, and Star Wars in a cocktail shaker, toast to The Imminent Apocalypse, pour neat and extra dirty and drink - which sounds AWESOME, and also very apropos of the 2017 zeitgeist...yet....I didn't love it. I admired it, to be sure, and it def left me totes curious about inquiring into this author's other works. But as many other eloquent reviewers have already noted, it...
What a horrible mess of a book. As soon as I heard of the idea of The Power I wanted to read it – it’s simple and completely revolutionary – you’ll know it already – women throughout the world develop a power somewhat like ELECTRIC EELS!!!!! But better! (One might hope – when did an electric eel ever run for president? Also may I say this is no cheap mockery, there is a scene where a character ponders a tank of ELECTRIC EELS quite ear...
Grande idea. La prospettiva di questo romanzo è capovolta. Le donne acquisiscono improvvisamente il potere di controllare l'energia elettrica (il titolo originale dell'opera è appunto "the power"). Ben presto questa abilità le porta a sopraffare gli uomini, sempre più marginalizzati e discriminati. Il rovesciamento del femminismo è un'ottica che spiazza il lettore e lo avvince completamente. A questo si aggiunge una prosa molto pop - forse u...
I feel so sad giving this book such a low rating because it had so much potential. It follows three female-identifying characters and one male-identifying character who reside in a world where girls and women have the power to produce electricity and hurt, torture, and kill people. This newfound ability brings about an amalgamation of changes, including political power plays, shifts in male-female relationship dynamics, and the burning question o...
Need to think about this one a bit before I review it as my minds a little blown and all over the place. In a very good way. Alderman creates an empowering (pun not intended) and in turns terrifying* alternate world where power is literally (and electrifyingly) in women's hands and follows how the power effects them. Which is the greater power; love, hate, survival, revenge?*Not terrifying because women are in charge but because of what some of t...
"Are patriarchies peaceful because men are peaceful? Or do more peaceful societies tend to allow men to rise up to the top because they place less value on the capacity for violence?" ponders a male historian living in a matriarchal world where women hold the power. This book doesn't just flip gender roles. It delves into complicated discussions around systemic oppression, power, rape culture, gender, and religion. The book is an unflinching dyst...
In The Power, young women have developed the ability to control electricity. It shifts the balance of power between the sexes and the world begins to come apart at the seams.It is told from the point of view of a few women and a man. They each have different stories and experiences that Naomi Alderman blends together to create a powerful statement about how we live.This is one of the most disturbing books I've ever read, but also, most brilliant....
A great thriller with a somewhat dissatisfying ending...
This is an insightful, fictional exploration of shifts of power and the repercussions that a such sudden and dramatic change can have in society.I am absolutely amazed by this work by Naomi Alderman, this is the first book I read from her and definitely won't be the last.In the story, women in contemporary times develop the ability to emit electricity through their hands which can be used to physically hurt other people, they call this ability "t...
Okay The Power won the Women’s Baileys prize for fiction in 2017 so I recommended we read this in my bookclub which we will be discussing this week. A good bookclub read? Yes, plenty to talk about. The world turns around when teenage girls develop a lightning strike physical power. There is a reversal in gender roles. Women are now in power, but do they start to solve the woes of the day? No. They turn into barbarians who rape, murder, enslave,...
This was another of those books reviewed on the radio and given loads of positive hype. I love sci-fi, I love Margaret Atwood (Alderman's mentor), and I'm a feminist. I wanted to read this book because what could go wrong?The first 20 chapters seemed to be ok. Naomi can write, well, of course she can, and the premise was sound. Women have been altered genetically by pollutants and have developed a skein. This enables them to generate electricity....
"The power to hurt is a kind of wealth."What if women suddenly became the dominant sex? What would the world look like? Would it be a better place? These are some of the questions Naomi Alderman asks in this thrilling Atwoodian tale. Get ready to hear a lot more about The Power - it's one of the favourites for this year's Baileys Prize and the TV rights have already been snapped up.Teenage girls across the planet develop the ability to deliver el...
I thought this was riveting! A thrilling, scary, violent Atwood/Bacigalupi combo.
I don't have the words to fully express how I felt about this book right now. But it was hands down one of the most thought provoking books I've read in a long time
So much has already been said about this book that nothing I say will count for much - it has been sitting on my to-read shelf since shortly after the paperback came out last year. As always I will start with the positives. The concept is nothing if not bold, its sweep is all-encompassing, it undoubtedly made me think and it is not at all difficult to read. The Biblical and historical parallels are cleverly done and it does have plenty to say abo...
A completely plausible and believable piece of fiction that suggests a world run by women would be no different than a world run by men. The swapped gender stereotypes and roles in society hurt as much as they ring true. Sometimes you can't see a thing until you get a full view of every side.The final line before the author signs off is now my favorite last line of all time. THE POWER is a brutal, rage-inducing, thought-provoking novel that shoul...