Naomi Alderman

Wow. I did not anticipate this to be so... Chilling.

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Recommended: Yes. But you need to be ready for it.
For a look into power, for a painful clever parallel with lots of tongue-in-cheek moments, for something that will challenge your perceptions about society and your own patterns of thinking, for an unflinching story of a world in the midst of change

Thoughts:
I wasn't ready for this. I should have known better, but I went into this thinking show more "Oh, it'll be a fun fantasy read about how crazy the world is after women develop the power to create and control lightning!" Looking back, I don't know how I was so wrong, but I'm glad I was because this story blew me away when I least expected it.

There were many times I found myself laughing and having a hard time believing the characters' disbelief at a world ruled by men. Then I stopped cold when I realized that the characterizations within, despite showing some of the extreme possibilities, are still my current reality and possibilities that exist in this world. Genital mutilation? It exists. Abuse of power? It exists. One gender oppressed and smothered due to social perceptions? Definitely exists. And I can't even count how many cruel, immoral, and evil things are done in the name of some God or religion or aggressive insistence in the lack thereof.

You have to be ready for this book. I wasn't, and maybe it was better that way, because it hit me without warning like a punch to the gut, and the impact was all the greater for it. Here's your word of advice though, and your recommendation to immediately find a copy of this and a few hours to read. show less

I read this on a 6-hour plane ride and was so pulled in that I finished the entire thing later that night. The degree to which Naomi Alderman both makes both genders understand how much women have to protect and suppress themselves, both consciously and unconsciously, is mind-boggling. The fact that she does not envision a female-dominated world as the end-all/be-all is equally amazing. I was so immersed into this narrative and this world that I actually felt myself changing during the show more reading experience - I believed that the power dynamic had flipped in our own reality as I was reading (as cheesy as that sounds), and so I felt no qualms about man-spreading in my plane seat (woman-spreading?) as the fellow next to me tried to encroach upon my leg space. A small thing, certainly: but how often does a book you read actually mold your own reality in such a visceral way? Extraordinary. show less

I immersed myself in a white-knuckle exploration of a dystopian world molded by billionaires gearing up for an impending apocalypse. The narrative introduces three tech CEOs orchestrating their survival, weaving in elements of private weather control, technological prophecy, and covert weapons. A diverse group, including the daughter of a cult leader and a non-binary hacker, takes center stage, hatching a daring plan to counter the billionaire's destructive agenda. The book's swift pace, show more short chapters, and unexpected twists create a gripping experience with surprises at every turn. Alderman masterfully constructs a world rich in technological advances, avoiding predictability while offering a thought-provoking reflection on real-world economic power dynamics. I highly recommend this original, and pertinent read. show less

A novel about two women, raised as Orthodox Jews and once girlhood lovers, now (since one married the other's cousin) struggling respectively with being a lesbian and with being an Orthodox Jew.

Usually I'm, at best, intensely frustrated with books about adulterous love triangles. Now this joins “The Princess of Cleves" to make the only two such books that, by contrast, I loved. (this probably has something to do with the fact that neither treats love as fated or impossible to resist or the show more most important consideration in the characters' lives.) And I believe it's the only book where I love all three main characters from beginning to end.

And the structure of it, mingling characters and culture and religion in one organic exploration of the theme (of which one example might be “Sometimes I think that my life is a punishment for wanting. And the wanting is a punishment too. But I think, if God wishes to punish me, so be it; that is His right. But it is my right to disobey.") is just wonderful. show less