One of the New York Times’s Ten Best Books of 2017A Los Angeles Times Best Book of 2017One of the Washington Post’s Ten Best Books of 2017An NPR Best Book of 2017One of Entertainment Weekly’s Ten Best Books of 2017A Bustle Best Book of 2017A Paste Magazine Best Novel of 2017A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2017Winner of the Baileys Women’s Prize for FictionOne of President Obama’s favorite … 2017A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2017Winner of the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction
One of President Obama’s favorite reads of 2017
”The Power is our era’s The Handmaid’s Tale.” –Ron Charles, Washington Post
“Novels based on premises like the one at the core of The Power can quickly become little more than thought experiments, but Alderman dodges this trap deftly — her writing is beautiful, and her intelligence seems almost limitless. She also has a pitch-dark sense of humor that she wields perfectly.” –Michael Schaub, NPR
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
An Amazon Best Book of 2017
WINNER OF THE 2017 BAILEYS WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION
What would happen if women suddenly possessed a fierce new power?
In THE POWER, the world is a recognizable place: there’s a rich Nigerian boy who lounges around the family pool; a foster kid whose religious parents hide their true nature; an ambitious American politician; a tough London girl from a tricky family. But then a vital new force takes root and flourishes, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power–they can cause agonizing pain and even death. And, with this small twist of nature, the world drastically resets.
From award-winning author Naomi Alderman, THE POWER is speculative fiction at its most ambitious and provocative, at once taking us on a thrilling journey to an alternate reality, and exposing our own world in bold and surprising ways.
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The Power I read this book with my adult daughter, and we both adored it. I’m recommending it for no other reason than that I purely loved it. It’s not a romance–I state that because this recommendation will go out to my followers, most of whom are romance readers. This is different. If it has a genre, I’d say it’s the same as The Handmaid’s Tale, or The Man in the High Tower. A kind of alternative reality story. But it’s also about men and women, and our perceptions about what those terms mean, and what would happen if those perceptions were turned on their heads. What if women were physically stronger? What if men were the weaker sex? And does absolute power corrupt absolutely? This is a fascinating, powerful, thought provoking novel. Its author deserves high praise. She also, it turns out, created a really fun exercise app called Zombie, Run! I have two daughters using that with me. Naomi Alderman has become a Shayne family favorite. Anyway, read this book! It’s amazing.
This book was described to me as “Margaret Atwood meets Hunger Games” and was a really interesting thought experiment. What if virtually all women started to have physical power over men? What would that mean for the world? What would it look like if women started saying and doing the same things to men that historically men have said and done to women?
Overall I enjoyed it, but for some reason, I didn’t find the story to be completely satisfying. I think that’s because what I was really craving was some vindication that if women gained power, all our problems would be solved and everything would be rainbows and butterflies. I know that’s not realistic (and I was well aware this was a dystopia), but as the book got increasingly violent, I became more resistant to the point it was trying to make. I honestly don’t know whether that says more about me or the book.
I definitely recommend it though – it was an engaging story and I expect it will stick with me for a while.
There is so little I can say about this book, because words fail me. It’s sometimes painful to read, because it resounds on such a deep and intimate level. All I can say is READ IT. Just be prepared.
Very thought provoking! Couldn’t put it down. Really challenges the societal norms of the past, present, and future. 10/10.
One of the best books I’ve read in 2018. Has a similar tone to The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, but in this book, the women hold the power. Literally!! Read it.
“People make what they need for themselves. If there’s something you need, something you really have to have – not just want to but have to, you’ll find a way to get it.”
Feminism artfully entwines with speculative science fiction in this story of epic role reversal. Environmental consequences have led to a change in the human genome. All females have what people are calling “the power” in which they are able to harness an electricity of sorts in the palm of their hands. Have women finally been provided a natural defense against violence or have women been gifted the ultimate weapon to set the world on fire? Either way, this book is an exploration of power in its rawest form. Told through four points of view, every factor is covered: gender, socioeconomic background, family systems, crime, politics, religion, media…you name it, author Naomi Alderman dissects it in this book. In my opinion, The Power does not present a storyline to follow for entertainment, because it’s so much more than that. Yes, it’s creative and well-developed and surprisingly poetic, but I think ultimately its purpose is to make the reader think. In a world where the hunter and prey violently shift roles, Alderman is not advocating for a sadistic manhunt, but she uses said manhunt to show that power can be abused no matter what gender/demographic holds it. The pendulum will always swing from one extreme to another, but at some point we all must allow it to rest at a respectful balance, and that is what Alderman is advocating for. Read The Power, watch the pendulum swing and destroy and violate all over again. Decide what world you want to live in and build it. Wake it up in those around you. That is power. I loved this book.
Brilliant novel, masterfully written, with sly dark humor. Reminded me so much of Margaret Atwood’s writing (and then I learned that Alderman worked with Atwood on this book).
When teenaged girls are suddenly able to produce electricity from their hands, the power dynamics of the world change. Men no longer dominate–anywhere. The first half of this book had me utterly enthralled. Alderman follows a few female (and one male character) during this transformative moment in the world. I was less impressed with where this transformation ended, but I am totally impressed by the author’s gift for storytelling and the philosophical questions she brings forth
Would have loved to have gotten more in-depth with some of the characters
This is an interesting dystopian novel because it involves a complete swap of gender roles in society. It begins far in the future where women are the dominant role, and men are considered to be kinder and gentler. It starts with an exchange of letters between authors. A man has written a book that details a time before women were in charge. The author writes history and this book is supposed to be based on real facts he’s uncovered.
The response from the female author, patronizing tone and all sets the stage so we can see we’re looking at a much different society. She thinks the world would be much kinder and (dare she say) sexier if men did run things, but you get the idea she doesn’t find the idea very realistic.
After that we jump to the past, which is probably around our current time. Girls all over the world are beginning to develop an electrical power that allows them to shock or even kill when in danger. The ones hitting puberty now are discovering it, but almost all girl babies are being born with it.
The premise is that women will now be the strong ones, and no longer subjugated by men’s physical strength. Over the course of the book we’ll see a lot of terrible things done by men, and how women begin to get their own back. We see the governments around the world trying to slow or stop this progression. And then gradually we see a lot of women abusing their power.
Of course, there are the good ones, the ones who try to protect men. The decent ones who don’t approve of the violence. But in the beginning quite a lot of people look away because “He must have done something to deserve it otherwise she wouldn’t have attacked him.”
Eventually we see a large portion of women becoming cruel, and they rape and kill when they feel like it. Men must have a female guardian and permission to travel, etc. The parallels can be a little heavy-handed at times, but so much of the early days resonates with what women are dealing with now and what they have dealt with over time.
It’s easy to see the underlying theme. It’s power, not gender, that causes abuse. There is no gender that is naturally kinder or crueler. It’s just a matter of the power they hold. I struggled with certain parts of it, thinking that it was unlikely that a female society, as a whole, would allow things to go so far. But you know, it’s really hard to say. There’s never been a situation where girls could be born and grow up knowing they were the powerful ones. That just a twitch could cause men to run away crying.
It is, as I said, a little heavy-handed in places and the parallels aren’t exact. Men are strong true, and for most of history have had political power too. But most of them can’t kill with a touch. So, women, end up with more power than men ever had. And they abuse it as much as men ever did.
How we get from the more current time frame to far in the future isn’t entirely clear and without revealing the ending I can’t really be more specific. But I can say I enjoyed the book. It was hard to put it down and the real-world grounding made it even more interesting. Would definitely recommend.
What would happen if women (and girls) had power over men? A thought provoking, cautionary tale.
I would call this sci-fy.
I couldn’t put it away. It was so different and haunting realistic. So much pain and abuse walking next to hope and prayers.
Respect!
It created a real world for me that led me to understand more about our own culture and society as well as being immersed in they lives of the narrators . I thought every perspective added to the novel and provided insight into the gender roles
I wanted to enjoy this book. It has an interesting premise and that alone kept me reading it, but I couldn’t connect to the characters and found it to be a struggle to get through. I managed to finish it, but even though it has some interesting ideas, I think what it needed was work on the actual characters. I just felt really removed from them and had a hard time caring about them.
I listened to this book and I think the following: First, the voice artist was brilliant. She made me wonder if I would have liked the book as much had I read it. I think I might not have. Also, the story was really good up until about the last half dozen chapters. After that it seemed like the author couldn’t figure out a way to end the story satisfactorily and so went back and added all the foreshadowing. Up until that point I kept asking myself, ‘why isn’t this a movie?’ The end gave me my answer. Still, the first 80% of the book was clever and engaging and the author managed to somehow bring together a fistful of threads in a plausible, natural fashion. It was wonderful watching those threads merge and seeing those characters start to relate to each other, but then… I would still recommend the book to anyone. It’s a very good story that does what few stories seem to do these days – it makes you think.
The Power Kindle Edition
by Naomi Alderman
Wow! What a devistating, amazing, thoughtful and stunning book. This is a new classic, set in a time not so far from our own, where women have gained the power to used electricity in their bodies.
Set up as a historical novel by an male writer name Neill in the far flung future. In constructing a narrative about his civilization’s distant past, I am reminded of Marija Gimbutas’s (and other Goddess Culture Theorists) work in reconstructing the per-historic world of ancient Europe.
There is the subtle theme that power corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely that rides side by side with the idea that gender is a shell game or rather that our gender roles and concept of strength is highly fluid.
The characters, be they male or female, are so extraordinary and so very real in their slow realization that there truly is no black or white when it comes to revenge, anger, and hope.
Much like The Handmaid’s Tale and its sequel The Testaments or The Gate to Women’s country, every horror and torture has truly happened in our past and in our present. This gives a sense or reality that you don’t often in see in Dystopian fiction. I could almost feel the sands of the Middle East. I could see the gray industrial sameness the post-Soviet crumble of Post-Cold War Eastern Europe.
I could barely put this down in order to sleep. It is that engrossing.
This book and Ms. Alderman truly deserve every prize they have won.
5 stars out of 5
https://www.amazon.com/Power-Naomi-Alderman-ebook/dp/B01N0Z1EY0
Loved this one right up to the ending, which I didn’t like or agree with. Every woman should read it.
If you like the End of Men series by Tarryn Fisher and Willow Aster, THE POWER is a great way to get your fix while you wait for the next book. There are similarities: women coming into power, women abusing that power. It’s a dark story definitely not for the faint of heart. (There are several graphic rape triggers throughout, so be aware.) THE POWER is a reflection of our current world, with power and gender roles reversed. It’s so realistic, it’s startling. The story follows several characters who you’ll come to love and sometimes simultaneously hate, each who exploit the situation in a different way. My favorite was Tunde, the only male main character, an aspiring journalist just trying to tell the truth and survive. An incredible read that will haunt me for a long time.
While the premise of “The Power” isn’t exactly new (women suddenly discovering they have electrical power coming out of their fingertips), the way the story line is laid out is fresh and even a little scary. “The Power” is claiming a permanent spot on my bookshelf!