The Power by Naomi Alderman
We’ve all said it many times, if women ran things…..it would be different. Well imagine a world if women did have power, what would that world really be like?
This is exactly what Naomi Alderman examines in her electrifyingly compelling fourth novel, The Power, in which young women around the age of 14 or 15 find themselves in possession of a mysterious electrical spark that they can use at different strengths from barely shocking someone, all the way to killing them. Not only do these young women possess this power to “cuppeth the lightning in her hand [and] commandeth it to strike” she can awaken this power in older women too. The source of this power lies in a skein in the collarbone, and its origin is somewhat murky, possibly related to a nerve agent released during World War II.
When a young Nigerian man named Tunde captures this phenomenon on a video that goes viral we soon learn that the phenomenon is, in fact, global. Tunde becomes a globetrotting journalist chronicling events and looking at how society changes as a result of this unleashed power. The other three main characters are a young American, Allie Montgomery-Taylor, who uses it to kill her abusive foster father; Roxy Monke, daughter of a London crime boss who uses it against the criminals who kill her mother and Margo Cleary an ambitious American mayor whose daughter possess the power, and also awakens both her mother’s abilities and ambitions for higher office.
It is irresistible of course, to think that such a devastating power would be used for good. Soon we hear of the overthrow of an oppressive regime in Saudi Arabia because of a girl uprising; the world capital of sex trafficking becomes a women’s haven as a result of a takeover by the President’s wife and the support of hundreds of thousands of girls; an Ethiopian woman rescued from imprisonment by a man. “It’s been a year. There’s been footage on the TV of riots in faraway and unstable parts of the world, of women taking whole cities.”
It’s a marvelous device to flip the script of the world we know today of course. “They’d separated the boys from the girls on the fifth day; it seemed obvious, when they worked out the girls were doing it. Already there are parents telling their boys not to go out alone, not to stray too far…Boys-only busses took them safely to boys-only schools. They fell into it easily. You only had to see a few videos online for the fear to hit you in the throat.”
As the girls grapple with their abilities Alderman is particularly astute at conveying how they cope. The power is thrilling and exciting, and as they learn to use it on boys, a low level sexual tension simmers - “One had done the thing to a boy because he asked her to: this story holds much interest for the girls. Could it be that boys like it? Is it possible they want it?” Girls are truly the dominant sex “You can see it on the internet. Boys dressing as girls to seem more powerful. Girls dressing as boys to shake off the meaning of the power, or to leap on the unsuspecting, wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
But it would be too easy to simply reverse roles for genders and leave it at that. Ultimately, Alderman concerns herself with the question of the nature of power itself. If you have it, what would you do with it?
Her characters represent the different manifestations of power, exercised through the lens of religion, crime, and politics.
The military becomes female dominated.
A women’s republic is created.
A quasi-religious movement for women emerges as they are implored that She (God) loves them all “You have been taught to despise everything you are and that your body is impure and could never harbor the divine. You have been taught to despise everything you are and to long only to be a man. But you have been taught lies.”
Men are cowed by this newfound power imbalance and unleash their misogynist solutions on their internet chat rooms – frankly that part looks like it could have been sourced from the many forums that exist today, in our reality.
Roxy uses her power to upend her crime family’s whole business.
Margo Cleary manipulates the power to climb up her ladder of ambition, and make some business deals on the side.
As power builds, the way women handle it becomes remarkably familiar and Alderman concerns herself with the question of why do people do what they do when they have power? Does human nature trump gender?
It’s a marvelous piece of speculative fiction that is also a globe-trotting thriller, a meditative examination of belief and its appeal. Its also frankly fun to read, at least the parts where, like watching a female Marvel comic heroine, you find yourself cheering every time a woman rights a wrong with her new found power.
The actions of so many of the women when things go bad are graphic and gruesome. But then one realizes that they are in fact real and happening in real life today, only to women and perpetrated by men rather than the other way around.
The structure of the book is wonderfully clever. It’s a history, told from the vantage point of far in the future, a countdown of this period that leads to some kind of cataclysmic end. There are interesting sketches of the archaeological finds of the time too which are worth your attention. The writer of said history is Neil, and he is seeking the input of Naomi, who is clearly a more successful writer and he wants her approval. The language in their epistolary exchange would be familiar to many women except, as with the history being told, roles are reversed. He is deferential and uncertain. She is pompous, and condescending. It’s a wonderful coda to the premise of the whole book and is worth your attention all the way to the very last line which will leave a smile on the face of any woman who reads it.
BEFORE YOU READ
Length: 378 pages
Genre: Speculative Fiction
Themes: gender roles, violence, sex, power, faith media,
Commitment: With so much news these days about the abuse of power by men, this is a world worth spending time in. It will make you think.
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