The Power by Naomi Alderman

Little, Brown & Co., 400 pages, $26 (c2017)

Zap! “The Power” moves along like an electric charge. Here is a story with a page-turning impetus and a thought-provoking take on gender advantages and disadvantages. With #metoo humming in the background, a record number of women wanting to run for government positions, and story after story having emerged over the years about sex trafficking, kidnapping for slave labor, rape and abuse during genocides and, unfortunately, many more awful stories, “The Power” serves up an additional message.

It is mostly the primary characters Allie/Eve, Roxy, Tunde, and Margo who tell their stories in rotating chapters. Suddenly girls and women discover they have a special muscle/nerve bundle/whatever that is capable of building up and discharging electricity. Depending on the female’s control, the discharge may be a tickle or a killing bolt. Suddenly the power dynamics of male and female change. Women literally have the power. Men do not. Women are slowly becoming the decision makers, the rulers, the heads of their families.

Perhaps you have frequently heard how women are better mediators, diplomats, gentle arbitors of disagreements, how politics would be a different game if women were in the majority. Here is the thought-provoking part Naomi Alderman is suggesting: Would women actually be better?

Women who have been betrayed, misused, abused, and relegated to lower positions by men are getting their revenge. But not all women initially are taking this course, because not all men have taken advantage of women. But “The Power” takes place for the most part over a few years, so we see what changes women make to the world.

Teenager Allie takes on the mantle of Mother Eve when she becomes one of the first females to use her power. The "other voice" in her head comes from what she wants to believe is God, and She guides Eve to help other girls and women come into their own. Roxie is the daughter of a British crime head. She is tough, has street smarts and a lot of attitude. Margo begins the story as the mayor of a large city, but she has ambitions and perhaps the power is the answer to advancement. Tunde is a man. He bears witness, first as just some guy in Nigeria who lucks into a video moment, then as a reporter and blogger for major news sites. He represents everyman (who isn’t abusive, volatile, demeaning, or annoyed). Through his eyes we watch the world change and his fear grow.

Is this a feminist book? Or is it just for entertainment? Is it Alderman’s point that absolute power corrupts absolutely? I was intrigued by this book, read it rapidly, but felt unsettled at the end. Is this our lesson: No lack of power goes unpunished?

P.S. In the acknowledgements, Alderman immediately thanks Margaret Atwood, Karen Joy Fowler, and Ursula Le Guin. A trifecta of strong women writers!