REVIEW: The Power (Naomi Alderman)

Book: The Power

Author: Naomi Alderman

My rating: 4/5.

Premise: The world is a recognisable place: there's a rich Nigerian kid who lounges by 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 twist of nature, the world changes utterly.

[⚠️CW: violence, rape, child abuse] 

This was an interesting read for me. We see how the patriarchal society deals with women being able to physically overpower men. Over the course of the novel, we see society flipped, with women rising up and claiming power. It's makes quite a scary read at times, especially in the last 100 pages. Throughout, the author draws parallels with the world we live in: women get the credit for a man's work, women brazenly sexualise men, women patronise men. There are also some very distressing scenes. All these are familiar if you swap the genders. Some bits were a little stretched in my opinion. I think the speed at which women in some countries overthrow the male regime was not realistic. I liked how the book was set up. It's introduced as a historical fiction written by a man in this new matriarchal society. The emails between the male author and Alderman also mirrored the sexist undertones within society and the publishing industry. This isn't a book that leaves you thinking "yeah, I wanna live here". It leaves you wishing we could live in a world where people are equal regardless of gender. Overall, a really interesting dystopian.