This "Electrifying" Book Needs the Electric CHAIR ⚡️🪑 The Power Wasted My Time [cc]
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 เม.ย. 2021
- The Power by Naomi Alderman was a miss for me. Here's why. Spoilers regarding the general messaging/overall theme of the book!
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I feel like The Power might have worked better as a short story overall. It’s like the author had a point/message they wanted to get across, then ran off in a million controversial directions that barely connected to get some plot in the dang thing ⚡️
Yes! I want the correspondence from the beginning and end reworked into a short story
Did Jesse ever make a video talking more in depth about why they dislike handmaid's tale? I've never heard someone be so critical of it before, and I'm curious why
I haven’t but maybe I should!
@@JesseOnTH-cam I would definitely watch it
@@justanotheryoutubecommente2 So would I!
@@JesseOnTH-camThat would be very interesting! Yeah!
When dealing with "power relations" one should recall Paulo Freire's seminal book "Pedagogy of the oppressed" so as to understand the oppressed/oppressor dialectic intersubjective paradoxal turn.
Anyway, I did appreciate your review very much: insightful and honest. ❤
Lol I listened to a book podcast about this and the hosts really enjoyed it but I was like.... this sounds AWFUL. IDK I think I've just moved past the idea of "what if X group who's on the bottom is on the top now!!!" as like a radical thought process. I think what's more radical is to imagine what it would take to create a more equitable world...
Totally agree
I read The Power last week and I swear to God that I aged 100 years after reading that. It was all over the place...
LOL
I read your comment as "I swear to God that I spent 100 years reading that" Which was honestly my experience looool
@@victoriah4648 Also the amount of times that I slept while reading this book was unprecedented 🤣
I was so confused at the beginning when you listed all the positive aspects of the novel, I'm so sad the author fucked up such a good concept :(
Haha 😆 i actually dont LOVE shredding books so I try to always say SOMETHING positive about ones I dislike. I do this because nuance matters to me. Plus, I think folks deserve to know the good with the bad, so they can make up their own minds whether they’d like to read it or not, you know?
Thank you I read this book early in my feminism journey and I rated it lower but didn’t know why. You just put it into words. ⚡️⚡️
I’m really glad this helped! I struggled at first to pinpoint why I was so disturbed by it also
The concept sounds good and sounds like a good societal study if this happened, but the execution 😬⚡
I haven’t even read this book but I’m here for the tea hahaha ☕️
I liked the Handmaid's Tale when I read it, but I've gotten to read so many more BIPOC/Queer speculative fictions over the last couple years that I'm sure it would hit different (and reeeal narrow) now. I didn't really have The Power on my radar, and now I won't need to put it there! ⚡️
Would you mind telling me which ones you read that you thought were good? I’d like to add them to my reading list
while I did enjoy this book, I really loved this analysis! I found myself nodding along so much throughout it and this is why I love book tube. I love gaining new perspectives on books because it helps me to carry those perspectives into other books that I read ⚡️
I am always super sus of everything that has Handmaid's Tale comps. So I avoided this book! But my resolve was wavering because everyone was so heckin' hyped about it. I was planning to read it, but I'm SO glad I waited for your review. SO, so glad.
I haven't read this book but this makes me not want want to, lol. I agree with what you were saying about how people talk about Eastern countries. That's something that really bothers me. Like I'm also mixed (my dad's side of the family is from India) and I mostly hear people saying how awful and backward my culture is, but they don't even think how that's incredibly racist and misogynistic. And like, why are you pointing fingers, shouldn't you look in the mirror? Patriarchy is everywhere. Like of course we can talk about the issues that exist within our own communities, but when it comes from a white perspective it's very condescending and harmful. Lol white feminism is the worst. I recently read Koa Beck's book White Feminism, which is a fantastic read. She really dives into corporate feminism and pop culture as well. ⚡
⚡⚡⚡ Ancestors always be letting you learn the hard way....
You’re a breath of vivid, fresh air in the online book community!
⚡⚡LOL I generously gave this book 3 stars back when I read it for my book club. Cannot for the life of me remember any characters, settings, "plot"... this video is appreciated
I think I might use this book as sort of an..."inspiration" I guess?
A book where women gain power from their ancestors for it to be a blessing or a curse...👀⚡⚡
OH how I hated this book. Not only does it make women abusive, violent rapists, it happens immediately. The. First. Generation. to have the Power goes full-on white man. I was screaming at the book THIS IS NOT FEMINISM!
THIS
It was always a cautionary tale about what happens when we get the ‘power’ we always think we wanted, but don’t realize that ‘power’ corrupts 🤷🏼♀️
Racist cope ho
This book has been on my list for so long, you just saved me so much time now that I don’t have to read it
I think you're pretty spot on. I watch your booktube because I want to hear more about what people who aren't carbon copies of me think, so it's good and interesting for me when I can say "we're 90% in agreement, but you definitely noticed some things that I can of glanced past" because that's how I learn. Thank you for that. ⚡️
I love when you gush about books you love because you do it so well... But you are also so SO GOOD at tearing down a book I can’t even highlight one of your punchlines they are *all* amazing ! 😂⚡️
🥺🥺🥺😭thank you!
⚡ I am so glad to hear you give voice to the problematic nature of this book. I was so hyped for it and when I read it I wished that I hadn't. I appreciate this video because I was having a hard time articulating my issues with it and no I don't think you're being too idealistic I agree with you on that
⚡⚡⚡Getting back into books after a year's reading slump, I love ur videos!!!
⚡⚡⚡ i love how in these reviews you still give positives of the book!
I've gone back and forth over the years as to whether I wanna read this book or not, but you've just confirmed every reason I was skeptical about reading it and then some, so thanks for helping me reach a conclusion lol ⚡️
i was thinking about buying this book so i'm glad you uploaded this before i spent my money lol. i may still get it from the library to critique. i love your analysis.
⚡⚡ Love the evenhanded analysis. And your outfit is 🔥❤️
Thank you so much for this review. This is the one book I never finished for my book club. At the time I couldn't figure out what made me uncomfortable with it and you've nailed it.
I don't know if you've done one in the past, but I'd love a video/to know what children's books you recommend and enjoy. You have intrigued me.
Love your videos!! ♡
Thanks for your review Jesse, I think I'll be crossing this one off my tbr, disappointing that something with such a cool premiss fell so flat. (lightning)
I recently found your channel and I love these rants so much. I wanna write a book so you can rip me to shreds. It would be an honour 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
LOL!!!!!!! stoppp haha! I much prefer to enjoy books but oof when one lets me down this bad, I gotta shout about it haha
⚡️Still haven't read this. Even still, looking forward to reading it but think that all your points are valid. Looking forward to seeing if I feel the same or if I find a different meaning to those things you've outlined.
⚡⚡loved this! So glad I watched this before picking this book up! I've been waffling on it for awhile and so glad I did! ⚡⚡
⚡yes!!!! I read this in march, and dnf'd at page 200, I just couldn't take it anymore. Just as you said, I thought the premise was fantastic, so interesting, so thought provoking....I just totally didn't like how it was executed, for all the reasons you said. I didn't like having 4 separate perspectives either. I have 2 other Naomi Alderman books on my tbr, so let's see what I make of those!
Ah wish I had seen this before I ordered The Power 🥴 Just found your channel and I'm loving your book taste!
Oh Moo! And thank you!!
Omg yes 👏🏼 thank you! I DNFed this one. Just could not get through it.. i thought it was just me.
Just got ready to start this book… thanks for the heads up
i hope you have a good experience with it or rather some helpful things to think about while reading!
I couldn’t get through it 🙈
Love this video! 💪🏻
It's this EXACTLY ⚡️I'm almost done with this (didn't intend to read it...the book club I'm part selected it) and i haven't been able to figure out why it was giving me the "ick". Thank you for putting into words why I was feeling lukewarm at best about it.
I'm actually glad you talked about this book cause I saw it everywhere but something in me just didn't sit right with me also ⚡⚡⚡🌩️
I agree with everything you said. I had such high hopes for this one and it was a big letdown. ⚡
I agree with you that I wish it had a happier ending or the author took a different route with the concept 😅😅 the “if’s” are killing me
Lmao I haven't seen this video in a long time and now I'm debating rewatching to remember what the "ifs" are 😂
⚡️ great analysis as always!! i think it could've worked in the hands of a more competent less white feminist author, because we see time and time again that even in opressed groups people en masse have a tendency to "kick down". not all people, of course. but it is a trend that power does corrupt. i personally think this couldve been solved by creating different factions of women en masse around the world-- some rebuilding society around peace, and some attempting to do that before ultimately going down the same path as their opressors, building systems in place with good intentions perhaps but with inherent flaws that end up leading them a worse and worse path of fascism. of course, in group fighting and racism transphobia homophobia etc would all have to be finely adressed, and i dont think it's something alderman is capable of doing, especially since she clearly has racist tendencies herself.
I gave this book 2 stars, but I have to admit that some points that you discussed didn't even cross my mind. So, now I'm very close to drop that rating ⚡️⚡️
⚡! It's been a hot minute since I've been on booktube, but I had to tune into another episode of books that wasted your time 😂 I'm disappointed that the feminism and major allegorical potentials of this novel fell flat. As you were describing what the book did well, I felt myself actually getting really excited. I was like, "well tell me why it wasted your time because it sounds good to me???" I'm such a proponent for good world-building, so the premise of this book reading as a documentation of history and human evolution sounds awesome! Unfortunate. But great literary analysis as always, Jesse.
It's the worst when a book doesn't live up to its premise! This sounded like it would be so good
Jess is in their bag with this video! ⚡
The power is on my to-read list but after this review it might stay there for a while. Did you read The Book of the Unnamed Midwife its one of the rare post-apocalypse books which doesn't forget queer and poc people exist, I heard the power was similar an I wanted to read it for this reason
This sounds more like an anti-feminist narrative than feminist from what you're saying. I haven't read it yet, but I've talked to many people who share many of your misgivings about the novel, which is why I have put off reading it. I'm really not a fan of writing that claims to be feminist but is so clearly not.
I haven't read this either but to me this also sounds anti-feminist. I believe feminism fights for equal rights for ALL genders. Would there be people who want revenge for being oppressed if given the means to subvert their oppressors? Absolutely. But the fact that there appear to be no women in this book who want to create something resembling an even playing field, which would be true feminism in my book, speaks volumes.
THIS COMMENT summarizes my feelings exactly
I have to say you really had me in the first half ngl--I was really like "there's a lot of good things about this book that wasted your time"
😂😂
love the hat looking fabed out
⚡Hi there. I would like to add that I myself wrote a fantastical world where women have the potential to gain superpowers, but the world building got critiqued harshly for the same flaws that are overlooked in The Power. For a start, what did you think of the superpowers for women premise failing to consider trans women?
hi there! Trans women are women so ofc women getting powers can’t happen without including Trans women 💚
Hi Jesse I love your hat⚡️⚡️
Not “did I get the ARC” 😂 The first 7 minutes of this video had me forgetting this was a negative review!
⚡ i haven't read the power but this was so interesting, and the worst part is that the world building genuinely sounded good when you described it... i'm so sad.
YEAH it was highly unfortunate :(
⚡ This book has been sitting in my library list forever because I couldn't decide if I actually wanted to read it or not and I'm thinking I'll be hitting the delete button on that now
I recently did a discussion video on what a matriarchy and feminist society would really look like. Because some people think switching out women for men and oppressing them is feminism and I don't think so?? I also feel sad to know the feminism has no intersectionality. I have this book but haven't read it and now we shall see if I do or not ;.;
I watched that and LOVED IT
You’re so brilliant
😭😭😭🧡🧡🧡
Odd as it sounds, I would not label The Power as a 'feminist' novel.
After reading, I actually feel that the 'feminist' message of the book is tangential to the actual focus of the story, namely this: What happens when you give oppressed individuals power?
This is the key question the book actually asks. It does NOT consider what social structures would look like if women ruled the world. I think that's why people don't seem to like the novel - because it seems to be intentionally misleading.
Also, the book talks about this fantasy world ruled by men. I would love to see what that world is like! XD
Jack this comment is very interesting!!! Thank you for this take 🙂
I enjoyed this book. I always believed it was a cautionary tale.
really glad u enjoyed it. there's lots of good about it!
I have not read this book, and wasn't planning to do so, but now am I sure I will not do so. ⚡
⚡dang, you were really selling the book in the beginning! but then it took a turn....... tbh, I kinda wanna read it, treat it like an "autopsy", to see how writing about feminism can go wrong.
Also, while watching this video, I found myself wondering how the author talks about the idea of power coming from physical properties. Like I think a lot of the ways patriarchy manifests in the US doesn't have much to do with the average man being physically stronger than the average woman. So how can women gaining a physical advantage actually give them power in places where physical power doesn't seem to matter as much? I imagine this is answered in the book though!
I completely agree with you. I actually read another book by this author and enjoyed it years ago, so when this came out I was excited. I made it maybe three chapters in before I DNF'ed it and I'm still annoyed about it. It's such a shallow brand of feminism and I'm extra pissed because, like you, I found the premise exciting.
I do agree with you, I haven't been able to really put my finger on what doesn't sit right with me about this book. But I think it's that it's pessimistic while thinking it's realistic. It's deeply pessimistic. And for an exploration of power dynamics between men and women. We get like zero people in relationships?? Like Margot is married, and then she's divorced and her husband is never in the picture. But like show me their dynamic, show me how it shifts when she has the power. The only character that has a relationship with men is Roxy, and her family of gangsters. And you're So right about Tunde! Bothers the fuck outta me how he was just a piece of meat, every woman he has a real interaction with he either sleeps with or almost gets raped by..and like for what?? He's a journalist who wants to document the revolution with a secret submissive/pain kink I guess. But he's more plot device than character. Everyone is just like "ya let that one in, just that one" and why?? Cause he's hot??
Some much of this book is an Almost. It almost says something, it almost has characters.
I also don't like the framing device. Cause it's a speculative fiction from 5000 years in the future but it knows how the internet works and what Gmail is?? I don't even think that's a nitpick. She framed it like this, and she didn't have to. If I wrote something about even like 50 years ago it would be full of inaccuracies. It just doesn't work overall. It is not a sum of its parts.
White female authors: *bare minimum*
White readers: "OMG YASS QUEEN INVENT FEMINISM"
Screaming
I tried to read that Ian K. Smith book and ended up DNF it @ 20%. I can’t wait for that review. Too bad this book was a let down. What a great premise! ⚡️⚡️⚡️
Apparently I own this book. Now I'm wondering what past me was thinking.
The Power just seems.. so uncomfortably bio-essentialist to me. Where does it leave trans women, trans men, and nonbinary people? And especially that passage about men dressing up as women to seem like they have more power is really uncomfortably reminiscent of transphobic myths of transwomen being "predatory males." Idk it just seems like such, such cis-feminism :/ Thanks for a wonderful review and discussion though!! ⚡️⚡️⚡️
Brett - you are so deeply right. This was a major concern of mine as well. Loved how you worded this
🦠I can't find my Lighting but, would you accept an amoeba for evolution???
Im obsessed with this
Thunderbolt and lightning, very very frightening...
This was exactly my reaction to reading this book.
I can't tell you how much I agree with this entire video, I was so disappointed with this book, especially the ending!! 🙈🙈
I love this video
The author has said that it isn’t a feminist novel, but it was marketed and upheld as such anyway. The last 3/4 of the book felt like what men are afraid feminism will do to the world.
I totally missed the white feminism vibe, I am a recovering white feminist and I really appreciate this opportunity to call myself out on that poop.
I didn’t know she said it wasn’t a feminist novel, thank you for that! I completely feel you on the majority of the book being what some fear feminism will do to the world. 🙌🏽
⚡⚡⚡⚡
So, I haven't read this book, I own it but I haven't read it yet. But based on this video, it sounds like this book:
Has great worldbuilding✅
Good political knowledge on how it will change the systems if the dynamic changes ✅
And that dynamic will be an exact mirror of what we have now.....in every way....just the leaders look different ✅
And the conclusion: women will oppress everyone the moment they can, because that's just how the world works ✅
I mean, I don't want it to look like that, but bar for humanity is soooooooooo low😂😂😂
The power absolutely wasted my time. Stopped reading a third of the way through. Had to comment before the video even started 😂😂
LOL!
I haven't read the power yet, but the world building doesn't even make sense either. Like if the electrical power was was an evolutionary thing, than why haven't men developed a way to block the electricity yet??? By becoming inculcated / grounded. Personally I feel like the book would've made more sense if it whent the Sci/FI / fantasy route
Ha ha ha! I read this and thought the same thing! Could have been SO much better!
lightening
Even though I haven't read a book, I agree with what you said. After reading a few reviews and realized that turns out that women become the monsters when they get power in their hands, I decided not to read it cause it feels unrealistic to me. That's not feminism. Not even white, cis, straight, able-bodied feminism. Maybe a few women would try to destroy everything, but they would be a minority.
I enjoyed this video, thanks for sharing your thoughts ⚡
I haven't read the book, but I agree with the point that it would have been interesting to see women try to do 'better'. Not just because the whole 'every single person of a group who suddenly gains power oppresses others' is boring. But also because I'm the type of person who has to believe that there is some goodness in people or I'd go mad :')
There's 2 things most people missed.
1. The author is an extremely unhappy and unhealthy human that lives an uncomfortable and unfulfilled life. She is filled with anger and resentment and the desire for revenge. This is why the book is so filled with these same things.
2. Males have evolved to be better and stronger at everything. To need to be able to use violence when necessary and preserve it when not necessary often against their own best interests and survival. Males have evolved to have methods of resolving conflicts without violence. And thus we haven't scorched the earth but rather created all the wonders of the modern world we live so comfortably because of. Women on the other hand are quick to violence even when they are clearly not strong enough. I never hit a woman nor did any of my friends but we've all been hit by multiple women. Women have no idea how to control their impulse to physical violence, emotional creatures. So of course they would scorch the earth and destroy the past.
⚡️ I read this book maybe a year ago and have done my best to block it out but yet, I agree with everything you said!
One additional thing that annoyed me to no end was the fact that the author just DID NOT trust the reader to understand any of her very obvious metaphors. Like she spent the whole book hamfisting them in and basically bludgeoning you over the head with them and still had the audacity to come out and state them outright. Like I got it, Naomi, your metaphors were just bad
YES!!
OOF. I heard so many mixed things about The Power.
Then again, I have started The Handmaiden's Tale 3 times, and never got past the halfway point.
So maybe I should have known that books being compared to that is a big red flag.
Also you showing the picture of the flat while talking about Tunde made me giggle.
Also! 🌩Lightning!
Ugh don’t bother hahaha just let that book beeee
Whats ur fav thing to cook?
Was really curious about how this could out trans people, and if trans women would become more accepted or trans men more vilified. Plus it could relegate nonbinary ppl as men-lite away from our current "women-lite" situation. Lost potential.
⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡ looking forward to your next video
God that book gave off such TERF vibes. It made me so uncomfortable
There were some parts that I liked in this book but there were so many parts where I was just frowning and some that were so difficult to read (e.g. the rapes). It was such a great concept and the back and forth between the “author” and the female colleague was interesting and kinda funny but overall I would give this book a 3 :/
Def feel you
I got this book as a gift for Christmas and just reading the synopsis put me off from reading it (especially as a trans dude, I'm always wary of how gender is handled in speculative "what if all women/men have x that distinguishes them" stories). I'm glad I can get rid of this book without guilt now!
It's happen to me that I came to lecture as part of National Service that I do and desied to learn about feminism (also my friend she wants to go there) and what happened was like at 1:27, I thought wait are we not talking about different ideas of femininitsm? And only the fact men get more money than women as, I only enjoy talk with cis guy about (most women there were like "you are worng" to stop talking you don't know what is like) whlie I try to understand his point of view we agree in some stuff others not so much one the thinks we agree on was this lecture talk about only form the point of view (not even joking) the issues of white able cis women face and most women (including the one who pernset the lecture about toxic manliness.
And what I learned there that I need to find someone who I think disagree with and talk with that person
⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️I read the Power in March, and I constantly thought it was odd how Naomi Alderman constantly goes out of her way to discuss science with the skeins and provide all these reasons for why some boys have a skein, etc. and then not use that to discuss trans and nonbinary people?? It was the perfect set up! I kept waiting for the daughter to be nonbinary but that never happened! It felt like a deliberate exclusion
BIG OOF. I'm staying clear away from this one. Thanks for suffering on our behalf. 😅 ⚡
I was intrigued by this book because of the premise, and i've heard a lot of opinions on it but i swear no one brought up the white feminism of it all???
I am crossing it off my TBR
Also, i read "disobedience" by the same author and I think that worked way better because it centered jewish women so it was an own voice novel. Maybe she should have stuck to that.
Lighting :)
💜💜💜
such a great review! I wish i had your reviewing abilities you got a talent for it hehe💜✨
⚡
Naomi was a student (or something like that) of Margaret Artwood. Soooo... it's not that surprising
I really didn't like this book either - GREAT premise, less than great execution. I felt that it should have been a short story!
Oh dang! Scathing review lol I must say, I enjoyed this book for what it was worth! The negative portion of your feedback is debatable, I'd have a response to each point. I respect your ultimate conclusion, but it does seem like you have a strict checklist of what you're looking for in a novel
⚡Have you read The Philosopher's Flight? It's one of those history reimagined urban fantasy books that asks the question what would have if magic was an equalizer for the oppressed minorities. It follows a white boy who has been admitted into a majority female poc university and his ambition to be the best flyer. It's not as silly or sexist as I make it sound but it's also not really groundbreaking in any respect. The author just postulates that if women and poc had powers then history would just jump forward to semi equal rights with a lot of oppressive men creating new religions to try and justify suppression of such powers. Again! This is not a very groundbreaking book! The plot and characters were kind of meh, but the world was at least complex and interesting.
Oh my God!! I literally forgot that I hated some parts of this book because I read like the first third of it a couple months ago and then finished it later 🫣🫣
Saudi Arabia is often described as the world's largest women's prison. India has been labelled by several human rights organisations as the most dangerous country in the world for women. Remember: feminism and its revolutions were born in the West so, of course, the changes would be deeper and more profound in Western countries.
theres a lot about this comment to be unpacked but imma leave it alone and just say thanks for sharing ur perspective
@@JesseOnTH-cam, I should point out that I used to live in the Arab world and taught children from Central and South Asian countries. Feminism, in whatever form it takes, is an import to these regions - hence the varying degrees of success.
12:24, 💯💯💯