Stefen’s Bookclub – March

The Power
by Naomi Alderman

If you’d asked me a month ago if we’ve read Naomi Alderman‘s The Power for Book Club, I would probably have said we have. The reality is that we haven’t, it just gets mentioned a lot. When I realised this I decided to correct that oversight. The Power is an unusual book in that it’s presented as a historical fiction account of a massive cultural shift that starts in the present, as told by someone in the far future. What we have is also not the final version, but one in the process of being edited, as the interjections by the author and editor between chapters reveal. It purports to be the story of how our world became theirs, and it begins with a small number of teenage girls who develop the ability to generate a massive electrical current within their bodies that they can discharge with a touch to incapacitate or even kill. As time passes, more women acquire this ability which appears access an evolutionary development that only appears in female bodies. The power dynamic of the world shifts and each cultures and community responds it its own way. Through a variety of viewpoints all over the world we witness the changes this brings about, as understood by the author base on what to them is ancient history. It’s an unusual and interesting read and there’s lots to unpack in the story and the meta narrative between author and editor. I think this is going to be a wide-reaching and fascinating discussion.