Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Power by Naomi Alderman

69 reviews

super_ge3k's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

3.75

This was a rough one for me. The book is really good, but the violence and body horror had me pausing at times. I think it begins a really interesting conversation on society and womanhood, I remember having those debates in high school of if women just ruled the world instead would things change for the better? I am not saying this book is alluding that if women ruled the world it would be worse, but with all the hardships women and women of color specifically go through in every country; like how in every government it's decided to regulate what women wear and their reproductive rights…It’s not surprising that there is a blatant distrust for men. Gaining power and not wanting it to be taken away so you are never powerless again is so valid and real. There are also just fucked up people no matter the gender so the prospect of some women gaining power and being horrible humans proves that they were horrible before.  Also, I think it was a very accurate depiction of how men would react if all of a sudden women had electricity powers and they didn’t….especially the women-hating Reddit feed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Death, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

cjblandford's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Ultimately this book is about the corruption people endure when they hold power. There were some interesting concepts here, but because of the way it was written, I never fully connected with the characters. They felt a little shallow. I think this is a product of the book being presented as someone in the far future's research manuscript. I always felt like I was one or two steps removed from the characters and someone was describing their actions, but not their full emotional spectrum. So I never truly felt invested in them as people. I came the closest to caring about Roxy on a deeper level, but I still never felt truly invested in her story. 

I liked the concept of the victors writing the history, and how prehistory is nothing more than circumstantial evidence and hypothesis. The old cliche about those who control the past also control the future rings true here. But back to the main point of the book: absolute power corrupts absolutely. I felt that it was a bit heavy-handed with the violence, but as soon as women gained more power than men in this novel, all of the violence that men did to women in the past, were revisited to them, only more so. The book was not subtle about making its point. Its just too bad the execution of this concept wasn't as solid as it could have been. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Religious bigotry, Rape, Body horror, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Blood, Sexual assault, Sexism, Death of parent, and Sexual content

pebbletown's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Disappointing, for something so beloved by Margaret Atwood—its gender politics are largely boring and toothless. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Sexual assault, and Body horror

maddalynmoon's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Gun violence, Alcohol, Confinement, Body shaming, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Colonisation, Death, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Body horror, Bullying, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Trafficking

whailey's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual harassment, Torture, War, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Sexism, Trafficking, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Slavery, Bullying, Gore, and Sexual content

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Genocide, Confinement, and Police brutality

isabezza's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

3.75

I was inspired to read this book as a fan of Margaret Atwood, science fiction, and feminist fiction, but I have a mixed response to this after reading it. 

There are many notable and positive features of this story. I had my pen handy for underlining the powerful clauses, and I enjoyed the steady pace. Particularly, I enjoyed the underlying structure of the plot. Having a different narrator and POV for each area life the Girls' power effects, the reader is shown how the military, people's religion, World politics, the criminal underworld, and the media are slowly transformed and dominated by Women's power in this dystopian science fiction. 

However, this book was difficult to pick up again or stay engaged with for a long period of time. I personally found the story impossible to devour in a day or two; I had to keep putting it down. Although there are some very distressing chapters, my aversion was often due to disinterest in the character's themselves. Similarly, the ending was confusing and disappointing - it seems there was not an ending at all - as if it were rushed. 

Overall, an amazing plot (which I would recommend) but poor execution of the characters and the ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Misogyny, Torture, War, and Violence

btothebooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

There were a few times I stopped and though “what the hell did I just read?” in a way that was both slightly horrified and amazed at the same time.

The set-up is great and an amazing look at how cultures and civilization can shift. The different situations and stories that are followed and how they all connect and weave is some masterful storytelling (and one of my personal favorite plot devices). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

curious_susurrus's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Physical abuse, Blood, Body horror, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Gore, Murder, Rape, Torture, Trafficking, Confinement, Death, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racial slurs, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Blood, Colonisation, Homophobia, and Child death

jojopotato's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

5/5, 10/10, all the stars. An incredible deep dive into life and a world if women held power, with a little extra evolutionary help (I’ll leave it at that). A really interesting discussion about the focus of male or paternal figures in history/religion, and how we particularly glance over or don’t give as much relevance or importance to women or maternal figures in history/religion (e.g., Mary, Fatima, Gotami, Rebekah). Also really good discussion on what power is and how we as humans handle power and make decisions regardless of gender. 
I really enjoyed the four main characters and following their story from chapter to chapter. Alderman is truly an incredible story teller and this book completely pulled me in and captured my attention. I could not stop telling people about how it made me think and reflect and almost see the world a bit differently.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Gore, Body horror, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

Look I put a lot of content warnings on here, but this is a book about the shifting of power and what it would look like if women became more powerful than men. It essentially leads to world war and talks about the importance of understanding how power and money and violence lead to destruction. No matter who is holding that power.

mer3bear's review against another edition

dark inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Wow! I really enjoyed this book. I do have to agree with some of the others that it can kind of drag on at some parts and I also found Roxy’s storyline difficult to follow at some points and would get confused. I also normally don’t mind a lot of sexual content and I get its purpose in the story but a lot of the sex scenes felt very overdone and felt more YA-ish than the rest of the book. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and thought it was really smart in a way I hadn’t seen before. I think once you get about halfway through the book the ending definitely becomes predictable but the process to get there was still very fun to read and very thought provoking. I also wasn’t raised religiously so a lot of the mirroring and imagery with Christianity was fascinating to me. I didn’t know much about this book going into it but I saw that this author was an apprentice with Margaret Atwood (who I love) so I decided to give it a shot and I’m glad I did! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Body horror, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Death, Murder, Domestic abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual content, and Violence