World Book Club: Naomi Alderman, The Power

[MsF1t]

Did anyone else listen to this? Admittedly, I am already irritable and irritated as my children have yet again conspired to prevent me sleeping all night (hence listening to this), but...

This was one of the best books I read in recent years. It felt unashamedly feminist and was all the more energising because of it.

I don't know why I didn't expect the usual interjection of 'but why didn't you write about trans people when they are the most vulnerable and marginalised...?' but of course that was asked. And it seems that the author could only apologise and talk about how 'the debate has moved on since the book was written'. And that one of the characters is probably in some way 'intersex'. FFS.

Apparently the TV series currently in development will address this apparently glaring omission. If it doesn't stay true to the book, I am going to turn into one of those outraged and raging nerds and become quite unhinged.

I mean... the book is quite clear about the biological basis for the existence of The Power, and for the original subjugation of women on that same basis.

Anyone?

I read the book but I didn't think it was feminist. the premise of the book is that it is human nature for all humans to be violent, to rape and to kill, and that the only reason that currently women are overwhelmingly the victims of these crimes and men the perpetrators is solely because men are on average stronger than women, and if some phenomenon made women stronger than men then women would instantly be just as guilty of rape murder and other violence as men are now. and also that the reversal in strength positions between the sexes would automatically lead to the subjugation and oppression of men.

it is more like a MRA's Orwellian warning about why it is so important to not let your woman get any sense of self worth rather than a feminist text.

Well, i don't personally think that women are perfect beings- so I don't imagine we would, given power after millennia of damaging patriarchy, somehow craft a utopia out of nothing. So, I would say it's quite depressingly realistic in that sense. Does that make it an anti feminist book? Not in my opinion. Either way, shoehorning transgenderism into it will give me the rage, personally.

I enjoyed the book, you might also enjoy Vox which was where women have a word limit every day.

The relationship between husband and wife was quite interesting I thought.

Very disappointing that the author had to apologise, particularly as it relates to biology and how men wanted to take the power from them, take their on their biology. (Trying not to give anything away!)

The thing that irritated me about it was that the power was all very well, but women still got pregnant and gave birth and that wasn't noticed. I would have been interested to know how the vulnerability of pregnancy would be affected by the power.

@MsF1t are the only possible options (a) that women are perfect beings and would instantly craft a utopia if the world was no longer in control of the pesky men or (b) women are only restrained from being violent, cruel and abusive because of being physically weaker than men on average? is there no possibility that there might be some middle ground between such extremes?

I thought Vox was an interesting premise, but dwindled into the ending.
Hard to see any relevance to transgender without completely changing the basic story - apart from confirming biology over gender, which isn't what the TRA's would want!

One of the things that I quite liked about the book was the "bookend" device of the correspondence between the male author and female editor; the language used and the attitudes it displayed. It was quite jarring.

I also liked the "artefacts" displayed throughout the book where the interpretation of the item was significantly different to our real world interpretation.

I didn't really like the idea that women would automatically turn into sexual predators but I felt that the author did that so she could put male into the "prey" category and that male readers could then empathise with what it's like to live in a world where pretty much all members of the opposite sex can overpower you.

I can't say I enjoyed the book but I found it an interesting read.

*Apparently the TV series currently in development will address this apparently glaring omission.
*
It would be possible to include a transman with the power or a transwoman without the power and stay true to the book. It will be interesting to see what they do.

I think the author's reference to one of the characters being "kind of intersex" can only refer to one character and if it is that character it's quite offensive to people with DSDs. It's hard to discuss without spoilers but I think the author may come to regret that comment if it gets wider coverage.

Ellues no, I don't think those binary outcomes are the only possible ones. However the author chose to follow the more extreme storylines and dynamics in her book: no doubt there would be moderates not brutalising the 'weaker sex' (pretty sure there are some of these in the book) but I think the reasons for those who did go that way were quite easy to see. They slipped into existing power structures or had likely been brutalised themselves and became power drunk.

While it's nice to think about a more nuanced result, the phenomenon is one that occurs almost spontaneously and that would be destabilising: I imagine it would be difficult to coordinate a coherent and fair society globally. Also, many of the strongest Power wielders are teen girls. So as much as I found the last third hard to read it felt more logical and I felt it was perhaps more honest than if it had catered to what I would wish might happen.

Good point, actually, Dolorsit. I think you're probably right. It was just the inevitable shoehorning in of the trans question that rankled, and her apology- she said the criticism had been levelled at her a lot.

I suppose part of what's annoying is this idea that a writer should be hectored over their choice to write as they wish on a subject of their choosing for not being sufficiently 'woke' and inclusive in the view of the reader. It isn't my place to dictate to the writer as a reader. In fact, I really admired her global take as it must have been quite complicated to get right.

Why doesn’t someone who is trans write a fucking book about them then? Why should someone change their story because of the feelings of a tiny few. Do we make sure every single bit of writing has at least one person from every background? No, we don’t so why should we do it for trans. Fuck them and their pathetic selves.