Cannonball Read 11

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Absolute Power Corrupts… Well, You Know…

The Power by Naomi Alderman

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Man, this book is intense. I actually finished it a  while ago, but I had to digest it a little before I could even start to think about writing up a review. I liked it? I mean, I did like it, but there are some parts that are a little tough to get through. I’m glad I did though. This is a story asking the question, what would happen if, all of a sudden, every girl on the planet around 16 years of age could shoot electricity out of her fingers? Like real, stop your heart, leave lightning trees electricity? […]

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8/28/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:21 |

When Evolution is Sudden and Dramatic

The Power by Naomi Alderman

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This novel was reviewed quite a bit on the site last year, but the mixed reviews (“interesting concept but …”) made me decide against reading it.  I was looking at potential book clubs to join and one of the ones I was considering listed this novel as the next read.  I didn’t make it to the book club but I read the novel, thinking I might go. In many ways, I enjoyed this novel much more than I thought I would (I’m sure lowered expectations helped), but also agree with the critiques. The novel is introduced as a potential historical […]

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Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

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8/26/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:45 |

The Power, by Naomi Alderman (A belated start to CBR11)

The Power by Naomi Alderman

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    I’ve been stuck in a weird reading hiatus recently. Weird for me because I’m normally the type of nerd who considers it bragging rights if I make it to 50 books in year. It’s an identity point for better or worse. However, for a lot reasons, (most of them uninteresting) I just…stopped for about a year and a half. I’m not completely sure what happened to all the time that I used to spend reading (Twitter definitely played more of a role than I’d like to admit to), but I also started and stopped any number of books. […]

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Buy the following on Amazon and help our mission to stick it to cancer, one book at a time:

We pay for our website first, and then all proceeds above and beyond those fees are donated to the American Cancer Society in AlabamaPink's name. Find out how else you can help support our mission.

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7/30/2019 | 's CBR11 Review No:1 |

Heckin’ Yes – The Power

The Power by Naomi Alderman

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Post-apocalyptic fiction is my my favorite genre. I am also on a kick of reading rocking female authors. Also, I love Margaret Atwood, and she mentored Alderman and has mentioned this book as one to read. Soooo, post-apocalyptic fiction with Margaret Atwood’s seal of approval should be a slam dunk for my tastes, and oh, it certainly was. In Alderman’s world, “the power” is a muscle across the collarbone of young women that allows them to send out electric shocks to animal, vegetable, or mineral. And it is a power only wielded by women. I KNOW RIGHT?! Things get real, […]

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12/14/2018 's CBR10 Review No:46 |

This felt a little good to read right now

The Power by Naomi Alderman

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This weekend was either the worst weekend or the perfect weekend to start and finish reading The Power by Naomi Alderman. It’s a what-if novel – what if first teenage girls and the women awoke within themselves powerful abilities that made them the physically dominant gender? What would change? How would it change? And how quickly? I have a feeling that Naomi Alderman is a big N. K. Jemisin fan because her writing style feels very similar, just … stilted. Like it’s not how she naturally wants to write, it’s an affectation. I’m a huge Jemisin fangirl so I feel you, […]

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10/9/2018 's CBR10 Review No:116 |

They understood their strength, all at once

The Power by Naomi Alderman

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CANNONBALL!!!! Sorry. I just can’t believe that it happened this fast for me. Back in the olden days of CBR 3,  I read mostly shortish YA books and still struggled to eke out 52 books and reviews by the deadline. Now that I am drunk on CBR 10 early completion power…..let’s talk Naomi Alderman’s “The Power.” The premise itself is very simple.  Young women begin to have the ability to harness electricity and manipulate it. Its source is a mysterious skein located in their collar bones. Once the young women are aware of this, they discover that they can also awaken […]

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10/4/2018 's CBR10 Review No:52 |

Whoever heard of a neurotic frog? Where do humans get off thinking they’re the pinnacle of evolution?

Rubyfruit Jungle; The Anubis Gates; The Third Hotel; Gun Love; Basic Black with Pearls; The Power; W or A Childhood Memory; Foreign Affairs by Rita Mae Brown; Tim Powers; Laura van den Berg; Jill Clement; Helen Weinzweig; Naomi Alderman; Georges Perec; Allison Lurie

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Rubyfruit Jungle – 4/5 Stars So I didn’t know much going into this novel except that it’s seen as an early and fairly beloved novel about growing up gay as a woman. So in MY mind, that meant some stolen glimpses at girls, some little caresses, and other subtle moments that read pretty clearly through a contemporary gaze. Turns out this book was published in 1970 or so and is SUPER GAY. What is super gay? Well, I guess I don’t know how to answer that at all except to say that this book is unafraid to be blunt and […]

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9/18/2018 's CBR10 Review No:351 |

Speculative extremes of women’s futures clearly demonstrate how everyone loses when inequality wins

Red Clocks: A Novel and The Power by Leni Zumas and Naomi Alderman

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I’m reviewing these two books together because despite their opposite takes on speculative futures, they use similar storytelling techniques to describe how women’s lives might be different in both the near, and far future. Naomi Alderman’s The Power imagines a future where women develop an ability to physically harm others with electric shocks. Due to the release and dispersion of an environmental hazard, women begin to develop a “skein” within their bodies which allows them to physically overpower people (men) with a jolt of energy. The strength of this ability varies from woman to woman, but seems to be stronger in women and […]

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8/13/2018 's CBR10 Review No:11 |


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