Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

(bad “Electric Feel” joke)

The Power by Naomi Alderman

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The Power is horrifying in a lot of ways, one of which is how parts of it are also rather cathartic, which it shouldn’t be on the whole. If that opening sentence sounded a little confused and contradictory, that’s because it reflects my feelings about the thing. On the one hand, it’s about women getting to win, but on the other hand, the violence and abuses of power by men and women make it hard to feel good about anything, because it comes off as […]

Absolute Power Corrupts… Well, You Know…

The Power by Naomi Alderman

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Man, this book is intense. I actually finished it a  while ago, but I had to digest it a little before I could even start to think about writing up a review. I liked it? I mean, I did like it, but there are some parts that are a little tough to get through. I’m glad I did though. This is a story asking the question, what would happen if, all of a sudden, every girl on the planet around 16 years of age could […]

When Evolution is Sudden and Dramatic

The Power by Naomi Alderman

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This novel was reviewed quite a bit on the site last year, but the mixed reviews (“interesting concept but …”) made me decide against reading it.  I was looking at potential book clubs to join and one of the ones I was considering listed this novel as the next read.  I didn’t make it to the book club but I read the novel, thinking I might go. In many ways, I enjoyed this novel much more than I thought I would (I’m sure lowered expectations […]

The Power, by Naomi Alderman (A belated start to CBR11)

The Power by Naomi Alderman

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    I’ve been stuck in a weird reading hiatus recently. Weird for me because I’m normally the type of nerd who considers it bragging rights if I make it to 50 books in year. It’s an identity point for better or worse. However, for a lot reasons, (most of them uninteresting) I just…stopped for about a year and a half. I’m not completely sure what happened to all the time that I used to spend reading (Twitter definitely played more of a role than […]

Heckin’ Yes – The Power

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Post-apocalyptic fiction is my my favorite genre. I am also on a kick of reading rocking female authors. Also, I love Margaret Atwood, and she mentored Alderman and has mentioned this book as one to read. Soooo, post-apocalyptic fiction with Margaret Atwood’s seal of approval should be a slam dunk for my tastes, and oh, it certainly was. In Alderman’s world, “the power” is a muscle across the collarbone of young women that allows them to send out electric shocks to animal, vegetable, or mineral. […]

This felt a little good to read right now

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This weekend was either the worst weekend or the perfect weekend to start and finish reading The Power by Naomi Alderman. It’s a what-if novel – what if first teenage girls and the women awoke within themselves powerful abilities that made them the physically dominant gender? What would change? How would it change? And how quickly? I have a feeling that Naomi Alderman is a big N. K. Jemisin fan because her writing style feels very similar, just … stilted. Like it’s not how she naturally […]



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