Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Power by Naomi Alderman

184 reviews

leaknezevic's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Death, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Genocide, Sexual violence, Child death, Blood, Sexism, Rape, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Torture, Stalking, Drug use, Slavery, War, Violence, Pedophilia, Murder, Misogyny, Hate crime, Gore, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Grief, Vomit, and Excrement

shelfdeprecation's review

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Sexual violence, Murder, and Torture

surelyyoujess's review

adventurous challenging dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Genocide, Murder, Sexual assault, Confinement, Cursing, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death, Drug use, Gore, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, and War

haileearynn's review

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Thought-provoking and well-written. But not something I particularly enjoyed reading due to the dark storyline and reminders of real-world injustices that left me angry and upset throughout much of the book. Glad I read it, but probably not one I would ever read again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Drug use, Sexual violence, War, Child abuse, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Violence, Genocide, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Torture, Religious bigotry, Rape, Trafficking, Slavery, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Death, and Colonisation

kingsteph's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Sexism, and Torture

Moderate: Antisemitism, Homophobia, Murder, and Drug abuse

Minor: Slavery and War

ibadella's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

wow this was really disturbing! what made it all so horrid was of course that none of it is invented, and every horrible instance was at the same time so deeply familiar

i am really impressed by how the author takes a super simple and not unexplored idea and really sees it through

the pacing of the story was artful, the gradual unraveling of plot and character development made the truly violent moments doubly jarring.

there were a few things i wish had been explored more within the scope of the book but i understand that the book does an excellent job distilling a vast number of issues into a fairly short narrative

particularly i wish there’d been a little more challenging of the biological essentialism (it’s explored a bit through certain characters) but i sort of get it because of the biological anthropology framing. we still get a very deep implicit understanding of the cultural construction of gender and its binary understanding as a defiance of biology and lived reality.

i should say i read this mostly at night before bed and it gave me very icky scary nightmares near the end 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: War and Trafficking

Minor: Racism and Ableism

waclements7's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

I found this really disappointing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, War, Blood, Hate crime, Torture, Sexual violence, Gore, and Trafficking

Moderate: Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Child abuse, and Drug use

vickie0326's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Sexual violence, and War

Moderate: Sexual assault

mcrowey's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Rape, and Child abuse

nytr's review against another edition

4.0

At times infuriating and difficult to read, but only because it holds a mirror up to the horrors of the world and reflects them back from  terrifying new perspectives.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault

Moderate: Sexism, Violence, Torture, and Slavery

Minor: Suicidal thoughts