A necessary read

This book is phenomenal.

At times, it addresses social issues as tongue in cheek. In other instances, the commentary is presented in as all too real and difficult to swallow.

I do not want to give anything away, but this novel really makes you think about our current social climate, politics, "human nature," power dynamics, and the like.

If you enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale, 1984, or any other sci-fi novel focused more on social commentary, then this is the book for you.

On top of that, Adjoa Andoh's narration is wonderful. Her accents are great, her character voices varied, and her delivery is exceptional. She creates suspense through pregnant pauses (pauses that are not as grammatically clear in the printed copy of the book) and appropriately quickened sentences. That description may seem generic, but I struggle to find narrators who truly pay attention to the story and deliver with appropriate conviction.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

224 people found this helpful

Amazing Audio Performance

Super weird science fiction set in the near future that seemed oh so real to me. Some parts bordered on horror and language was edgy so this might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it was a very satisfying read at this moment in history. What woman would not want the power to shock the daylights out of someone (read: a man) with just her thoughts! Kudos to Naomi Alderman for her creative twists and turns and for making me see the world we live in now from a new angle. Would love to discuss this one with a friend over coffee or a glass of wine. Audible 20 Review Sweepstakes Entry

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

109 people found this helpful

Top Book of 2017? I Couldn't Get Halfway Through

Any additional comments?

I'm honestly surprised that this book was on the NY Times' and NPR's "Best Books of 2017" lists. I have to assume that it is due to the timeliness of the concept, and the possible conversations around it. However, I got about 4.5 hours into the book, and it had not yet meaningfully engaged with those ideas. On top of that, the book is written in such a bland, predictable, unchallenging manner, that I went back to double check I hadn't picked a book from the Young Adult section of these lists.

Unfortunately, Adjoa Andoh's performance detracted from the story rather than elevating it. Her accents are over the top and cartoonish. We get heavy handed treatments of a southern belle, a hispanic nun in the US (who is voiced as Catalan rather than South American), middle eastern prisoners, and a Slavic head of state. Her British street urchin and African teenager are a little better, but still laid on quite thick.

All in all, I don't see (hear?) what any of the fuss is about. There has to be a book out there that does a better job with the interesting questions The Power attempts to pose.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

81 people found this helpful

Beginning pulls you in, but end doesn't hold up

The set-up to this book was one of the best I've listened to in a while. The premise of this new power and how it takes hold around the world makes for a gripping story. Unfortunately, without giving away too many spoilers, it feels like the author takes the easy way out at the end. The narrator handles all the various accents well, though over plays some at times.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

80 people found this helpful

Faulty Premise

It was (or could have been) a good story, but what it devolved to was channeling the worst fears of the whiny MRA set, who believe that women, if empowered, will turn around and do to them what they've been doing to us for all of recorded history. I don't buy it. Some women would be jerks if they had physical power over men, and there would be some retaliation in play, but not to the degree it has been happening to us all these centuries. Honestly, women roaming around in packs, gang-raping men? Nah. It isn't just a case of they'd do it "because they can" as the author assumes. There are examples of women in power who are tyrants and there are examples of women in power who are not - mostly, they are not. Women, when empowered, make excellent and fair executives, bosses, and professionals. Empowered women actually create the best societies. The author believes that women, empowered, would simply devolve into packs of wolves. I don't buy it. That said, the story and characters were interesting and the reading was well-done.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

78 people found this helpful

Wanted to enjoy it more

So much potential for this premise, so woefully squandered. I really wanted to love this book, but between characters I didn't like, story that refused to go anywhere for the first 2/3 of the book, and painfully flat writing, I found myself just trudging through this one. by the time it finally caught my interest in the last few chapters, I was just ready for it to be over.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

73 people found this helpful

I hated the voices the narrator used

The narrator used different voices for different people, as is customary, but it felt like she made silly voices for women and very silly voices for teenage girls. I did NOT like that, to the point that I will go get this book to read instead of listening to it.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

58 people found this helpful

Interesting premise, clever elements

The premise was fascinating and there were many clever elements. The central characters were fairly well developed, but the story rests more on navigating the central plot more so than conflict or twists, save for a few minor ones. I thought it was ingenious to use unsympathetic characters to illustrate human beings’ capacity for inhumane behavior even when stereotypical gender roles are reversed. It was sobering though to see how damaging patriarchal societies can be, by shining a light on societal norms through a matriarchal lens.

With regard to the voice actor, the “American” accents were terrible - to the point of distraction. I had previously listened to another book voiced by Ms. Andoh and she did a fine job. Further, Brits - even non actors - can usually do a passable American accent, so this was disappointing. No one speaks like this! It was beyond caricature. That said, it was probably a bridge too far to require a single actor to accomplish the wide range of US regional accents, genders, and ages, in addition to all the international accents. The Nigerian, Middle Eastern, and East European accents weren’t horrible, although far from accurate. The East Indian and presumably Latin American accents weren’t great either. It would perhaps have been more believable to just use her English accent throughout. She did, of course, do a good job with the nuances of regional English accents - Cockney-like for the gangsters, Queen’s English otherwise.

Overall, a decent read.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

21 people found this helpful

Cheap and tropey

Thought this would be a creative study of power dynamics and how physical strength is an overlooked factor. Instead it was just a piece of tropey dystopian lit. Gender swapping a patriarchy isn't innovative or challenging. Overall, it was like Hunger Games, a movie pitch in book form. Cheap.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

19 people found this helpful

Thought provoking concepts poorly executed

With all of the accusations against powerful men coming to light in the recent weeks/months there couldn’t be a better time for a book like ‘The Power’ to be released. This book asks audiences to imagine a world where women have the ability to flip the power dynamic. What would happen in that world? How would it change society as a whole? Now is a perfect time for these questions and having men in particular see how many of the tropes used to define women/feminity are a complete construct of the power inherent in a patriarchal society.

As these questions are raised and dealt with in ‘The Power’ they end up being more thought provoking than the narrative that accompanies them. I really wanted to like this book, and the POV characters chosen by Alderman were brilliant (a cult/religious leader, a senator, a journalist on the frontlines etc). These characters should have been able to capture in a comprehensive way the effects of the power on the world/society. However, I felt each character arch was lacking in the rich detail needed to fully engross the reader and bring to life this new world. This lack of detail ends up leaving the reader with a general sense of watching all of the events unfold from far above instead of being immersed in them.

With a ten year timeline leading up to ‘something’ (don’t want to spoil anything) there was more than enough space to cover the events leading up it and how the power changed society. Yet, most of the time these changes were told not shown: “Now they will know that they are the ones who should not walk out of their houses along at night” or “boys dressing as girls to seem more powerful. Girls dressing as boys…to leap on the unsuspecting”. These are two examples of where it would have been far richer to experience this fear through the eyes of the characters than to be told about it. There is one male character who experiences a rape in a bar, but it’s told later on and this removes the poignancy of how this act has changed how this character sees the world. Due to the lack of a fully realized world the character development suffers leaving most of the characters flat.

Alderman did include technology well into the story, adding emails, texts, online conspiracy forums, but because these elements were not incorporated in a fully realized world, they left me feeling that they were nice touches that lacked the depth to enhance the narrative context. Really this book either needed to be much longer to explore the many facets of this newly created world and all of the characters that it brings up or needed to go more micro and focus on say two characters and really dig into their narrative perspectives.

In the end I am left thinking more about the questions this books raises then thinking of anything that happened in it or any of its characters.

--
As for the narrator, I was less than thrilled with her accent choices and the producer of this audio book needed to work on the levels. There is quite a bit of yelling in this performance and often I had to adjust the volume as it would be too loud in my headphones. In general, I am not a fan of narrators who choose to yell frequently in there recordings as it dampens the effectiveness of its use. Overall I would prefer not to listen to this narrator again if I had a choice.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

14 people found this helpful