The Power

Author	Naomi Alderman
Illustrator	Marsh Davies
Country	Great Britain
Genre	Science fiction
Publisher	Viking
Publication date	2016
Pages	400 pp
ISBN	978-0-316-54761-1

The Power is a 2016 science fiction novel by the British writer Naomi Alderman.^[1] Its central premise is of women developing the ability to release electrical jolts from their fingers,^[2] which allows them to become the dominant sex.^[3]

In June 2017, The Power won the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction.^[4][5] The book was also named by The New York Times as one of the 10 Best Books of 2017.^[6]

Overview

The Power is a book within a book: a manuscript of an imagined history of the tumultuous era during which women across the world developed and shared the power to emit electricity from their hands. The manuscript is submitted by Neil Adam Armon to another author named Naomi Alderman for an early read. The inclusion of the author's name is a subtle nod to the audience, as if the novel they are reading is the intellectual properly of Neil Adam Armon, stolen by Naomi Alderman.

Plot

The Power opens with a letter from a male writer from the "Men Writer's Association," asking Naomi Alderman to read his historical novel. He gushes praise upon Alderman and thanks her profusely for her time.

Roxy is an English teenager whose mother is attacked. She manages to defend herself, injuring one attacker, but another beats her up and kills her mother. Tunde is an aspiring journalist in Nigeria who starts to film women using their emerging power and publish it online. Margot is a mayor in Wisconsin who discovers her daughter Jocelyn is also developing these powers. Allie is a girl who is raped by her foster father and kills him with her powers before taking refuge in a convent.

The power is found to come from a newly discovered electricity-generating organ, called the "skein". As the power emerges across the world, Tunde's reputation allows him unique access to Saudi Arabia and elsewhere to document growing turmoil. Allie discovers how to use her powers to heal and becomes an influential religious leader, propagating a matriarchal doctrine. Margot develops training camps for the women to use their powers. As women in Moldova start paramilitary groups, Tatiana, the president's wife, steps in to take over the country. Rival Awadi-Atif develops a rebel army to oppose her. Tunde is nearly raped by marauding women in India. Margot becomes governor by using her powers to silence her male opponent during a debate. A drug called "glitter" enhances women's electricity-generating power. UrbanDox gains influence as an anti-woman activist. Roxy takes over her father's criminal enterprise. Tatiana begins to behave erratically, leading to mass killings of men.

Allie kills Tatiana and decides to take the world back to the Stone Age to reset its growth and structures based on women's powers.

The influential author responds to the young male writer, telling him it is a worthy book, but that he should publish it under a woman's name if he wants to be taken seriously.

Main characters

• Allie Montgomery-Taylor is a young girl who uses her power to kill her abusive foster father. She retreats to a convent where she becomes a religious figure named Mother Eve.
• Roxy Monke is the young daughter of a London mob boss and is a witness to her mother's murder. She meets with Mother Eve at the convent to seek help in strengthening her powers and ends up becoming Mother Eve's confidante.
• Margot Cleary is an American politician and advocate for training young girls on how to properly use their power. She creates the North Star Girls Camps across the country as part of her advocacy.

Other important characters

• Jocelyn Cleary is the daughter of Margot Cleary and experiences power fluctuations. Despite her difficulties, Jocelyn is able to awaken her mother's power.
• Olatunde [known as Tunde] Edo is a journalist who documents the growing power of women across the globe. He first gains recognition by posting one of the first videos of women using their power online.
• Tatiana Moskalev is the former first lady of Moldova. After killing her husband, she takes over the role of president and reconstitutes Moldova as a matriarchal country called Bessapara.
• Neil Adam Armon is the fictional author of The Power and a member of The Men's Writers Association. Neil reaches out to Naomi through letters to discuss her thoughts on his book. (The name is an anagram of Naomi Alderman.)

Development history

The Power is Alderman's fourth novel and was influenced by her relationship with Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood. The mentorship was arranged through the Rolex mentorship program. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph in 2012, Alderman explained the influence of Atwood's work on her as a novelist before the mentorship as, "I'd been to an Orthodox Jewish primary school where every morning the boys said, 'Thank you God for not making me a woman.' If you put that together with The Handmaid's Tale in your head, something will eventually go fizz! Boom!"^[7] In another interview regarding The Power, for The Guardian, Alderman described being inspired by Atwood, saying, "The one thing Margaret directly suggested was the idea of a convent."^[1] Within the novel, the setting of the convent plays a crucial role during the development of the power of women.

In December 2016, Alderman stated that "readers of The Power are already asking me if there'll be a sequel – there won't be another novel (probably), but there are definitely so many more stories to tell than I had room for in the book."^[8]

Literary significance and reception

The book, backed up by critics' reviews and awards, was broadly regarded as a significant work of literature.^[9] The Washington Post reviewer Ron Charles praised the novel as "one of those essential feminist works that terrifies and illuminates, enrages and encourages".^[10]

The Power was the winner of the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction in 2017.^[11] The novel was also featured fourth in The 10 Best Books of 2017 list by The New York Times.^[12] The Guardian's deputy literary editor Justine Jordan praised the book, stating: "it's also endlessly nuanced and thought-provoking, combining elegantly efficient prose with beautiful meditations on the metaphysics of power, possibility and change."^[13] In December 2017, former U.S. President Barack Obama named The Power as one of his favorite books of 2017.^[14]

There were some who criticized the novel. The New York Times Book Review contributor Amal El-Mohtar criticized the book for world-building and philosophical inconsistencies.^[15]

Adaptations

See also

• Biology in fiction, which considers this novel among others.

References