On Tuesday, August 28, eighteen members of the book club met to discuss Naomi Alderman’s The Power. This work of speculative fiction portrays a contemporary world where women are suddenly afforded the physical upper hand over men, via an ability to generate and wield electricity. The novel follows the trajectories of four women and one man over several years as this new gender power dynamic plays out in various cultural contexts across the globe. As a group we discussed the many questions raised by the text, including: what is means to be a woman, the effects of power on the psyche, and which characters, if any, reacted/adapted well to the new reality. Despite some issues with the novel’s prose from a literary perspective, the portrayal is a fascinating and uncomfortable one, perfect for discussion.