I found The Power by Naomi Alderman to be truly electric in every way. I am sure that many people will be familiar with the book and TV show, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Attwood which tells the tragic story of a world where women lose all their power and autonomy. In contrast, The Power by Naomi Alderman follows the story in which women from across the world are suddenly able to wield and emit electricity from their hands. This sudden shift in power completely turns the world on its head as women have become more powerful than men, meaning they can fight back against a lifetime of misogyny, sexism and abuse.
The novel follows multiple different characters as they navigate this new world where women are now on top, not without extreme backlash from the men who instigate terrorist attacks in favour of men power. One character that the book follows is a teenage girl named Allie who uses her powers to kill her sexually abusive stepfather and runs away to ultimately become a religious figure for women called ‘Mother Eve’. The novel also follows a young man named Tunde who decides to become a journalist, documenting the growing power of women across the world and finds himself in many dangerous situations as women seek revenge for what they have experienced.
It can be hard to swallow at times as the book follows the actions of many women who use their power to rape or to kill. It becomes apparent that women aren’t just becoming evil, or power-hungry, or violent – they are becoming more like ‘men’ who have been doing these things since the beginning of time. Is it revenge? Is it something that just happens when one has the upper hand? The end of the novel has a short chapter in which a male writer pitches this exact novel which he has written to an influential female author, in which she tells him it is a good idea but he should use a woman’s name if he wants it to be taken seriously. Do women act like this in the novel because it has supposedly been written by a man? Alderman’s novel begs all these questions which make it such an intriguing and fascinating read.
Alderman is able to satisfyingly bring all our characters together as the story converges at a party at the palace of a brand new ‘women first’ country called ‘Bessapara.’ In this country, men cannot drive; cannot leave the house without the permission of a woman; they cannot have a passport or any sort of freedom at all. It feels shocking, unjust, and excessive. Utterly dystopian. However, it just takes one quick google search to see these sorts of rules and laws are being enforced upon women in many countries across the world right now!
Alderman has a close relationship to Margaret Attwood, and even dedicated this book to her in which Attwood even suggested some ideas to her for the novel. It in some ways feels like a strange mirror to The Handmaid’s Tale as instead of women losing all our power – women gain all the power to shocking consequences. Alderman takes the reader on an incredible journey of this alternate universe where women come together and fight back against what they have gone through – and frankly I was totally blown away by it.