Book of the month January 2017 - The Power by Naomi Alderman

[RachelMumsnet]

We're delighted to announce our first book of the month for 2017 will be Naomi Alderman's thrilling new novel, The Power. Find out more about the book. Join us in reading The Power over Christmas, post up your feedback on this thread and join the discussion with other readers and author Naomi, on here between 9 and 10pm on Monday 23 January.

If you fancy joining MN bookclub next year, discover all the books we'll be reading in the first 6 months of 2017 - both fiction and non-fiction. Each month we'll be offering up a chance to access free copies of all these books, and join the authors and other readers for webchats from the comfort of your own home (no babysitter required). Do make sure you're signed up to the books newsletter to ensure you have the up-to-date info on all book giveaways and author webchats.

Thanks for your time tonight Naomi, I've really enjoyed this webchat.

It's been so awesome to talk to everyone about this book. It makes me so happy to know that it's making people think and talk and get angry... it's so easy to slip into complacency, and I guess if I wanted to do anything with this book, it was to make the familiar strange again. To slap us in the face with it and go: "look! this is not OK, is it?!"

I'm so happy it worked for so many wonderful readers.

Thanks for the answer Naomi; interesting! I'll look forward to seeing this and reading more of your work now.

Yes, thank you! I love your energy and optimism!

Thanks Naomi! Think you've awoken the power in many of us! Thanks Mumsnet!

@Hygellig

One more question if there's time....with 'the power' do you imagine there still being female and male-dominated professions? Would traditionally male-dominated industries become very low status and poorly paid?

Oh yes, definitely. Also lesbianism would be criminalised, while gay men would be seen as unthreatening/humorous. (Obviously both of those by HORRIBLE PREJUDICED PEOPLE.) It is a very interesting question why sex between two men was criminalised but not between two women - I don't believe the Queen Victoria story ;-). I think if you have The Power then the sex you have is IMPORTANT, and if you don't have it, then you're not really having sex at all and it doesn't really exist.

Thanks for the great reply. In the absence of a sudden noticeable change in physical power, it is books like yours to provoke thought, amongst other tools, that are needed to "fix it". With two young daughters and Trump in the Oval Office now, I hope we keep on the path to enlightenment! Thanks for a great book.

RIGHT! And after a final sudden outburst regarding gender, I am going to slip off into the night, only stopping to press my fingers to the centre of your palms, send off a little jolt, and feel the answering echo in your skeins...

The power is coming, my friends.

xxxxx

I loved the power, from the blurb it's not something I would normally read but it was brilliant! I loved the letters at the start and end adding that extra layer of twist to the story and the actual author!

Thanks to everyone who took part in the webchat last night. What a great start to bookclub 2017. A reminder that February book of the month is Keith Stuart's A Boy Made of Blocks. All the copies have been allocated but if you can get your hands on a copy there's still plenty of time to read ahead of the webchat on 1 March.

Having thought about the way women in the book choose to use the power (violently) and the author's admiration of the (largely) non-violent feminist movement I'm finding myself dwelling on how these two things can be reconciled. Why could women not choose to use their power constructively? Don't know. Maybe I'm over-thinking it!

I wondered if there could have been a more positive ending, for example with women using their power constructively and instigating a more equal and peaceful society. But I suppose it wouldn't have been as hard-hitting and had the same message in terms of shocking people into thinking about the current state of the world. People sometimes say that if women ran the world, we wouldn't have any wars, and most murderers and violent criminals are male. However, presumably even if only a small proportion of women wanted to be violent and selfish and use their power to hurt others, that might be enough to set society on a negative path.

Argh can't believe I missed this chat! Brilliant to read through all the very intelligent comment and questions and Naomi's wonderful answers. Also chuffed to bits that she quoted one of my comments too :)

Will be seeking out some of her other work and eagerly awaiting whatever comes next...and telling everyone to read The Power!!!

I wasn't a fan particularly. I do love a good dystopian work- Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World in particular- and the more contemporary Stephen King Running Man-I just didn't find this a page turner despite a controlled and skilful use of language. Looking forward to the next book of the month.
:)

What I really enjoyed about the mums net book of the month is that it challenges you to read books you would never normally choose. Well this book was one of those books I would not normally chose.

To be honest I was confused by this book. Was was this book trying to be, was it a novel, was it a sociology book ?. Was it a sci-fyi book . I am still not sure what "Gene" this book would fit in. The only conclusion I could come up with was it was an author trying to challenge society's' views of women , and she attempted to do this in the disguise of a novel.

When I started the book I found it was very easy to read. There were interesting female characters, who had interesting stories . You could see that these "Ladies" worlds would come together at some point in the book. So far so good.

However the book then went off into the world of "sci-fi" were these ladies had "the power". This was so un-realistic that I thought I am reading a sci-fi book. I immediately thought someone who likes female super-heros would enjoy this book.

As the book progressed you could see the story was introducing more and more themes about how women are treated in society. These were introduced through the various stories and characters of the book coming together as the world unfolded around them.as the book progressed I felt the reader was so bombard by all the themes I felt that I was losing interest in the characters of the book. However It is a credit to the author that she did manage to combine so many themes into this story.

When I read a book, I read as a form of relaxing. So if you want to pick up a book to read as form of relaxing after a busy day this book is not for you. But that being said It is a good read in terms of challenging your views on womens role in society. However for me its not a novel in the traditional sense. Its a challenging social text. It is the think of book that I think those studying sociology or who love sci-fi would love.

Once again mumsnet Thank You for giving me the opportunity to try out a new type of novel to read that I would not normally choose. I look forward to the next book.