The Power
by Naomi Alderman
If you haven't yet picked up a copy of Naomi Alderman's The Power, what are you waiting for? This electrifying novel sets up a world where women wield the power (literally) and become the dominate sex in society. The quote on the front of the book is praise from Margaret Atwood telling you the book will make you "think twice, about everything." And that, at least for me, is what makes this story so worthwhile.
In the world of The Power young women are discovering an electrical force developing inside their bodies. It is treated at first like the latest drug fade. The teenage females are getting it and using it in secret; it is disgraceful if it is found in your home; young women found using the power are kicked out of their homes. Then the younger women start to awaken the power in their moms, aunts, grandmothers, etc. Turns out every women has this power inside them and the world order reverses drastically.
There are some powerful themes dealt with in these pages. Gender roles are naturally a huge element of the story. Alderman does an excellent job showing how these roles are self imposed by society by explaining logically why they could very easily be the opposite of what we currently believe. Eventually men are viewed as the gentler sex, women the aggressors. After all, women are the ones who have to protect their children, making them always defensive and ready to attack. It is amazing how absurd the idea of gender sounds when you turn all of our preconceptions around.
Some of the other themes addressed include some you would expect (rape and domestic violence) and some you might not (refugee crisis and gender reassignment). She covers so much territory and yet I was absorbed in every detail, invested in the characters and the fate of the world. Be forewarned there are scenes that are meant to make you feel very uncomfortable, and I definitely found myself squirming during some of the more explicit moments. Which is part of the point, of course. No matter who commits the act we feel violated when we play witness to an invasion of someone's body and personal freedom.
How the novel in presented is very reminiscent of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and for good reason. Atwood was very involved in the birth of this novel as she mentored Alderman during its development. Both books are dystopian worlds on either end of the spectrum of women's rights and neither allows a rosy picture to be painted of the direction we may be headed.
The Power won the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction last year and chimes in at a solid 382 pages.
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