The Power by Naomi AldermanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
[Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.]
What would happen if suddenly women held all the power? We find out one possibility in The Power by Naomi Alderman. The book itself takes the form of a novel written by a man, 5000 years after The Cataclysm, which took place presumably in current times. The author is writing a novelization of what happened the day young women came into their electrical power, and the aftermath of how that changed and shaped the world.
At the time I read this, a whole bunch of men, celebrities and political commentators and movie producers and politicians, have been accused of rape and sexual harassment. Several have already lost their jobs. Hopefully the rest will follow. Women are starting to reclaim some of their power. And that has been in the back of my mind the whole time I was reading The Power. Alderman has managed to put out a culturally relevant piece of speculative science fiction that resonates strongly with what is happening in the US right now.
There is a lot to like about The Power. Roxy Monke was probably my favorite character, because even though she had the power, we find out exactly how strong she is when shit hits the fan. (Spoiler: Strong AF.) Mother Eve was also incredibly interesting. Who was the voice inside her head? Was it really God? Or was it something else? Was she just mentally ill? I was amazed that a traumatized teenager could essentially start her own worldwide cult, help create a new country, and then tear the world apart just by taking the power to name God. Tunde was also interesting, in that he was able to become a prominent and world-famous journalist after chancing on a video CNN wanted to buy. The "end" of his story line was discouraging, but hopeful. I wish we could have seen what happened to him.
Margot Cleary and her daughter Jocelyn were not nearly as interesting as the other perspectives. Frankly, I could have done without them. While they grounded the conflict in the US, I didn't feel that aspect of the story was very relevant or even advanced things very much. Yes, the US was one of the countries that ended up starting the Cataclysm, and sure we needed to see why, but their stories were far too frequent when I really wanted more of Roxy, Eve, and Tunde.
What the book comes down to is, power corrupts. And absolute power corrupts absolutely. When we rejoin the author and "Naomi" at the end, we see how much society has been flipped upside-down in 5000 years.
Where the book lost me is the end. The discussion between Naomi and the "author" of the book is a direct switch of genders. She suggests that he publish it under a woman's name in order to escape the "men's literature" genre. She questions whether it is possible that there could have possibly been legions of male soldiers 5000 years prior. She calls the author's historical record "fun," suggesting that it's not legitimate. She undermines him completely while proclaiming to be his friend. This is something that has been happening to women for centuries. And while it was a hoot to read, I felt it was a little too obvious, like a lecture. The end of the actual story, just before this conversation-in-letters, leaves so much open-ended that I feel a little cheated. I wanted to know what happened to Roxy and Tunde. I'm assuming that Eve/Allie didn't make it through, since she's surrounded by nukes and there is apparently a huge nuclear war on the horizon. The voice deserts her. Who was the voice? And what happened to her former foster
But overall, I found the book relevant, interesting, and worth reading. I struggled with the brutality. But knowing that it was what women have been experiencing for thousands of years, I couldn't ignore it as unnecessary to really get the point across. 3.5 stars, rounded to 4.
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