The Power by Naomi Alderman| Published October 10th 2017 by Little, Brown and Company | 382 Pages | Goodreads
DESCRIPTION
“She throws her head back and pushes her chest forward and lets go a huge blast right into the centre of his body. The rivulets and streams of red scarring run across his chest and up around his throat. She’d put her hand on his heart and stopped him dead.
Suddenly – tomorrow or the day after – girls find that with a flick of their fingers, they can inflict agonizing pain and even death. With this single twist, the four lives at the heart of Naomi Alderman’s extraordinary, visceral novel are utterly transformed, and we look at the world in an entirely new light.
What if the power to hurt were in women’s hands? ”
MY RATING
★★★★☆ (4/5)
REVIEW
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 “the power”. As you can imagine, some of them start zapping personas non-grata right away and that’s all I want to share about the premise.
The story is told from the points of view of four people, Roxy, Tunde, Allie, and Margot, they are characters with different backgrounds and paths in life.
My favorite part is the ending which left me reeling. Overall, the story was deeply incisive and imaginative, I highly recommend it.
Really excellent post Carol! This one is super high on my TBR!
Thank you. It was the selection for my IRL book club this month, we really enjoyed it ☺️
Wonderful review! I’ve had this forever and keep meaning to read it because I’ve heard such wonderful things, and somehow I just haven’t gotten to it yet. Having just read Vox, this might be a good read to shake off the residual feels from that. Just the idea that we women could walk confident that we could protect ourselves, that we weren’t vulnerable…it’s kind of hard to fathom, sadly.
Myndi, I’m not sure if this book will shake off the residual feelings of VOX, it might be even more chilling 😶
We had a great discussion on our book club meeting about this one.
Sure sounds like a empowering read for women with the hint of sci-fi/fantasy? Hmm, definitely checking it more out. 😊