The premise of The Power is a subversion of current social norms where men dominate, to one where women discover that they have a physical superiority, an ability to electrocute and disable, even kill, men. However, The Power is a prize-winner and seems to have been universally lauded, most notably by Margaret Atwood (Alderman’s literary mentor) whose ground-breaking novel The Handmaid’s Tale has just enjoyed a very successful television adaptation.

I’ll give you an example: I enjoyed Station Eleven but I couldn’t get this nagging thought out of my brain that we were dealing with one small part of the United States, and I just couldn’t quite believe that the rest of the world had been similarly afflicted and could not make contact – pre-electricity societies managed to get around the globe fairly successfully! Perhaps that why SF writers write in this genre, because they are free of those constraints, but to me it seems a bit lazy. With science fiction, however, it irritates me that all normal conventions are suspended. When reviewing a novel set in our own time we expect realism in the sense of standards that we recognise as possible. For example, when reviewing a historical novel, we expect accuracy, realism, research. I’m not sure what the norms and expectations are, so the things I might criticise or dislike are perhaps standard constructions in science fiction. Because I’m not a big reader of this genre I find it quite difficult to review. I’m not a huge fan of science fiction my last foray into this genre was Station Elevenby Emily St John Mandel, which I think I probably enjoyed more than The Power if I’m honest. For me, it was not better than Stay With Me. I took it on holiday with me and read it in just a handful of sessions (my favourite way to read) and I’m afraid to say I was a little disappointed.

I’d also read Do Not Say We Have Nothing and Stay With Mefrom the shortlist this latter book is wonderful and so I was expecting great things from The Power. So earlier in the week, I posted about the Man Booker 2017 shortlist and today I want to tell you about a prize winner, The Power by Naomi Alderman which won the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction in June. This year’s shortlist was a strong one, so it did well to come out on top.

The power by naomi alderman review