Book Review: The Power by Naomi Alderman

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 and women now have immense physical power--with a flick of their fingers, they can cause agonizing pain and even death. And, with this small twist of nature, everything changes drastically.
(The Power)

This book was incredible. Naomi Alderman's science-fiction dystopian novel took me for one heck of a ride. I went into it not really knowing what to expect or where a story like this would go. What I knew for certain was that the world, so secure in it's patriarchal status quo, had changed. Women and young girls discover they have the power to electrocute and kill with their bare hands. Because of this, the female gender is liberated and finally has the chance to fight back against the oppression and injustices they've endured since...well... the beginning of time. The entire book asks a great big question: What would the world be like if women had the upper hand?

Well, in this world, men--now angry and afraid--will be the ones who will need to "be careful" as they walk the streets at night.  Religions will birth more female-friendly sects. Governments will crumble with their kings, and war will be inevitable. Violent riots, new nations, female leaders and plenty of chaos.

All of this is being lived out and seen through the eyes of four main characters--Allie Montgomery-Taylor, a foster child formerly abused by her foster parents. Olatunde Edo, a wealthy Nigerian boy turned hard hitting journalist. Margot Cleary, an American politician who uses her newfound electric power to influence her campaigns. And Roxy Monke, a tough girl born into an infamous crime family.

There were so many fascinating aspects of this book that stuck out to me, mainly how this is not a matriarchal utopia as I'd almost hoped to find in the book as the reader. The Power didn't take the "Everything-Will-Be-Better-With-Women-In-Charge" road. Alderman shows her audience, sometimes graphically, how power can change everything and corrupt anyone. Women are liberated and strong in the story, yes, but some become cruel and twisted and power hungry and without mercy. We wanted to know what the world would look like if the power dynamics were flipped, so like a pancake in a frying pan they were flipped. Women had been treated like dirt, so why not treat men like dirt. women were treated as second class citizens with limited rights, so why not treat men the same? Women were susceptible to abuse and cruelty, so why not men?  I felt like the book was meant to hold a mirror up to our society and say, "this is what is happening to women everywhere, every day. Now let's switch things up a little."

While reading, my mind jumped instantly to Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" and I immediately got chills. Where Margaret Atwood's dystopian world shows women losing basic human rights under an extreme patriarchal government, Naomi Alderman's world shows the opposite.

"Men are no longer permitted to drive cars. Men are no longer permitted to own businesses. Foreign journalists and photographers must be employed by a woman. Men are no longer permitted to gather together, even in the home, in groups larger than three, without a woman present. Men are no longer permitted to vote--because their years of violence and degradation have shown that they are not fit to rule or govern."

It was also fascinating to me to see some women make choices that could revive and liberate while other women made choices that were by no means moral, all acting simply because they now had the power to do so. And there lies the double entendre!

If I were to have any complaints about this book, it would be that I felt there would be more to the story, more to the characters. The way the story progresses, I thought something huge was going to happen near the end--something epic like in the book of Revelation. But most of the time I was tossed back and forth between characters' lives as their world is flipped upside down. Another complaint (one I didn't know I had until a loved one pointed it out to me) was how the author portrayed Saudi women as having this quick willingness to rid themselves of their "oppressive culture" after discovering the power. The whole idea--rioting and blowing up cars and shedding garments--seems like a very poor Western perspective of a culture that has existed for centuries.   

All in all the story is a powerful, intense, exciting but uncomfortable read. I don't want to say I absolutely loved the book like most. There are definitely a few trigger warnings (child abuse, sexual assault, violence, rape). But I'm not going to say I wasn't sucked in, and I'm definitely not going to tell others not to read it. I give it a 3.5 out of 5 Stars at most. 




                                                                              xo Nina