Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

The Power - does it get better ?

35 replies

mstrotwood · 05/01/2018 20:34

I read the first 50 pages of The Power by Naomi Alderman last night and fail to see what all the hype is about. I like the idea a lot but am so far not very impressed by the way it's written.

Does it get better or change drastically ? Or is there any other reason why I should read on ?

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Tedster77 · 06/01/2018 20:52

I’ve never even heard of it Confused but the Bees book mentioned is great!

Rolypolybabies · 06/01/2018 20:50

Kinda gets better, but all a bit handmaids tale copy ending for me. Then read the afterword and saw attwood and just kept thinking she would have done a better job of it.
Meh. Had high hopes for it

TeachesOfPeaches · 06/01/2018 20:46

I read the whole thing which was a waste of time. Good idea but poorly executed.

InfiniteCurve · 06/01/2018 20:17

I'm (I hope!) almost through listening to it as an audiobook.The concept is ok,but it's not exactly novel - and I agree with AKAmyself ,it's coming over to me now as " women are just as bad as men".Though I do think that,possibly -or at least I don't think a world where women had the power would be all sweetness and light.The book has made me,as a longstanding feminist, think "well,if that's the result of the power balance between men and women being altered ,what on earth is the point?"
I doubt that's what the author was aiming for...
But perhaps if you had never thought at all about the effect of the imbalance of physical power and gender relations it might be more of an eye opener?

AKAmyself · 06/01/2018 20:05

The thing is, the reviews are very good!

reynoldsnumber · 06/01/2018 19:37

Well, I really loved it. I will read it again for sure.

Pure escapism from our male dominated world, and great concept that I thought was really thought provoking. I can see I'm in a minority!

I like sci-fi /concept books, Margaret Atwood etc

BaconAndAvocado · 06/01/2018 19:29

I'm reading it at the moment and I'm finding the style of writing very juvenile. Such a shame because the premise of the book has great potential.

Saying it's like the Handmaid's Tale is like comparing a fish finger to an oyster.

Stitchosaurus · 06/01/2018 19:22

I liked it! I think power corrupts so I can imagine women (or myself at least) going a bit nuts with it all if the tables turned. I'd bloody love to be able to zap people Grin

ARichVernacular · 06/01/2018 19:15

I also found it deeply unconvincing, with weak characterisation and schlocky plotting.

IamLucyBarton · 06/01/2018 18:35

It is quite annoying when books so heavily promoted turns out so crappish and then real gem sit in the corner and get hardly mentioned.

Often a good way to chose books is not to go with the bookshop display but to read reviews in (proper) newspapers or literary magazine.

lifechangesforeverinjuly · 06/01/2018 17:40

No it doesn't, I preserved and wish I'd not bothered

ladyballs · 06/01/2018 17:34

There were a few pages at the end that made me laugh. Otherwise no.

Another vote here for The Bees. I absolutely love it.

KickAssAngel · 06/01/2018 17:27

Well, I read loads of YA (I teach that age group) and studied YA fem lit for my MA, so maybe I'll appreciate it to some degree.

Thankfully, I still have some other book vouchers and can get a Zadie Smith book as well.

Glowerglass · 06/01/2018 17:22

No it doesn't it's pish. Very juvenile and utterly lacking in subtletly. Would be a reasonable YA book I suppose.

FucksBizz · 06/01/2018 17:19

I found it very dull. Great concept, very poorly executed.

Invisimamma · 06/01/2018 17:18

I liked it, I thought it was fairly intense and a captive read.

Not amazing, and I probably wouldn’t read it again but I did enjoy it at the time.

KickAssAngel · 06/01/2018 17:16

Oh, no. I have just bought this - full price, hard back! Luckily I used a gift certificate, but I read the first couple of pages in the store and wanted to read more. the premise sounded interesting and it's endorsed by Margaret Atwood.

It's literally sitting on the coffee table for me to enjoy (or not) this afternoon!

Fairylea · 06/01/2018 17:08

I gave up a third in!

AKAmyself · 06/01/2018 17:03

solasum yes, the only good, fleshed out character was the photographer ie the one male. Which of course makes sense in a “meta” reading as this is a book supposedly written by a man etc etc but it just pissed me right off: It takes peculiar skill To write a work of “feminist” fiction without a single decent female character! (Never mind that feminist here is simply a marketing label as the whole thing is about as feminist as can of baked beans)

AKAmyself · 06/01/2018 16:58

I read it until the end but boy was it a slog! I found the first 4/5 really boring and pedestrian, the last 1/5 shockingly (and unnecessarily) violent. I had nightmares afterwards so I would say at least it was effective, but overall it made me really really angry.

I think the point Is to illustrate how male privilege works and how it self reinforces but it is just too easy to read it as “women are exactly as bad as men”, which I intrinsically disagree with.

IamLucyBarton · 05/01/2018 23:17

Agree completely. I am half way through since september. I won't finish it. I'll just read the end unless someone cares to spoil it here ahaha

Fretnworry · 05/01/2018 23:08

I don't think it does get better, sorry. I was most disappointed. Found it tedious and predictable.

Pippin8 · 05/01/2018 21:41

I got this to read on my summer holiday as recommended by a poster on here.
It was hailed as good as the handmaids tale. I did read the whole book as I was a captive audience. I thought it was pure bilge & a waste of money.

TooMinty · 05/01/2018 21:39

Read The Bees by Laline Paull instead, it's a great book

AnneLovesGilbert · 05/01/2018 21:21

Bugger.

Swipe left for the next trending thread