I have some problems with the execution, but the central narrative conceit is fascinating: given the chance to wield power like men, women will inevitably be as cruel and cold and calculating in its use as men. The matriarchy will not be a utopia; it will be a world very much like ours. (The greater point: the fact that so much of the cruelty remains the same, even though the power balance between the genders has flipped, speaks to its unnaturalness, its evitability---it only exists to perpetuate existing power structures, whatever they may be.)
At the same time, it’s not clear to me that a world run by women should be the exact mirror image of ours. Even if the capacity for cruelty and lust for dominance is the same in women as it is in men, I would have imagined it would manifest in different ways, not in the same exact ways.
This is especially the case with sex. As she becomes more powerful, Margot increasingly acquires a sexual appetite, having random hookups with younger male staff, a bit like Bill Clinton. There is of course the multiple rape scenes, from Ricky at the park to the graphic scene in refugee camp at north Bessapara. The underlying thought here is Susan Brownmiller’s take that rape is about power, not primarily about sexual release.
Allie’s arc was pretty hokey. It’s a bit unbelievable that a teenage runaway becomes the head of a major world religion and then president of a country in a matter of years. It also struck me that her political machinations are also far-fetched---would she really have killed Tatiana Moskalev to be president of Bessapara? (Maybe that’s the point Alderman wants to make: maybe I only think it’s unbelievable because Allie is a girl. If she was some kind of Alexander figure conquering the world at a very young age, perhaps I wouldn’t bat an eye.)
There were also some events in the book that defied suspension of disbelief. Roxy being able to run away while they were performing surgery on Ricky; or Roxy being able to escape the soldier with Tunde; Jocelyn driving to the factory on a whim; the very quick romantic arc of Roxy and Tunde. In general I thought the characterization was a bit thin, but I think that’s the product of a very plot-driven book.
The meta-fictional epilogue is very reminiscent of the epilogue of The Handmaiden’s Tale---maybe Alderman’s being in contact with Margaret Atwood influenced that? I thought it might be the book wearing too much of its influence on its sleeves. I loved the potshots to evopsych! And the illustrations were fun and a nice twist---I thought as I was reading that, as was lightly implied, the illustrations were artifacts found in our past, as evidence that the power had been present in women for a long time. It took me forever to realize what the “Bitten Fruit” motif was!)
Overall: a breezy, exciting read, with thought provoking ideas, but the execution sometimes left me wanting.