From the Bookshelf of Discourse in a Digital Age…

The Power

Naomi Alderman

Start date: June 14, 2018

Finish date: July 11, 2018

Why we're reading this: Sci-Fi July!
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Jul 10, 2018 Kenneth Hardcastle rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, revolution, hardback, feminism, apocalypse

All around the world, women are unlocking new potential. They now have the ability to unleash electrical energy and cause major damage to people and things. How would this change the world? The story primarily follows the actions of four characters: Roxie, the illegitimate daughter of a British crime lord; Allie, a tormented teen fostered in the American South; Margot, a politician on the rise; and Olatunde, an enterprising Nigerian journalist. At first, the women rise up against oppression, whe All around the world, women are unlocking new potential. They now have the ability to unleash electrical energy and cause major damage to people and things. How would this change the world? The story primarily follows the actions of four characters: Roxie, the illegitimate daughter of a British crime lord; Allie, a tormented teen fostered in the American South; Margot, a politician on the rise; and Olatunde, an enterprising Nigerian journalist. At first, the women rise up against oppression, whether men are threatening to kill them or merely talking over them in meetings. All too soon, the pendulum shifts in the other direction, and there are portents of even worse to come.

This book was not what I was expecting. This is not a fun sci-fi take on the rise of women in today’s political climate. It is a violent and unforgiving examination of the worst of humanity and what power does to those who possess it, no matter who has it or what form that power takes. Everybody would like to think a situation like this would not play out the way the novel does, but we’re too familiar with humanity’s base impulses to dismiss it entirely.

Probably one whole star of my rating is dedicated to the novel’s framing device. The story is set as a historical novelization of events in the distant past, complete with primary documents, illustrations of art and artifacts, and letters between the author and his(!) publisher. These letters are extremely clever and hint at a world shaped by the novel’s events. I hoped for a certain reversal of gender roles in this premise, and I loved what I found here.

Alderman does a good job of playing foreshadowing against unexpected twists. I was surprised by the actions in the book, especially the big twist in Roxie’s story, but I wasn’t surprised. Everything was well within the norm of humanity’s potential for evil. On the downside, there may not have been quite enough payoff for the setup that went into the novel. Between a few anticlimactic endings and the overall pessimism of the tale, I felt a bit let down by the conclusion. I’m unsure how to feel about Tunde’s complex relationship with UrbanDox, the men’s rights activists of the world. They had their typical repulsive air and blathering idiocy, but with a confusing tinge of actually being right about something for once. Overall, this book is a thrilling treatment of some very important questions facing our culture, but it does not translate into the most coherent of stories. ...more

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Jan 29, 2018 Naberius rated it it was amazing

That summary from the publisher is easier to use than to try to summarize this book myself (and it's shorter).

This story basically explores what the world would be like if the power balance changed, where women had all of the power in their hands (quite literally) and in doing so, exposes and engages with our contemporary world. The fact that women and girls have this power, which can actually kill a person, flips a lot of what our culture experiences, and in doing so, makes you really think abo ...more

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Jul 11, 2018 Teresa rated it it was ok

I did like the book. I am not sure the premise of the book, that women would rule much as men do. That they would lord the power over men, causing them pain as some men do to some women. However, I can see this happening in some degree in some places. I really did enjoy the book and at times couldn't put it down.
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