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129 reviews for:
The Radium Girls: The Scary But True Story of the Poison That Made People Glow in the Dark
Kate Moore
4.24 AVERAGE
129 reviews for:
The Radium Girls: The Scary But True Story of the Poison That Made People Glow in the Dark
Kate Moore
4.24 AVERAGE
sad
challenging
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cancer
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
fast-paced
One of those books that just touches your soul. These women's stories need to be heard by so many. It's definitely one I will recommend from now on. Just the pure injustice that happened to these women blew my mind.
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
To begin with, while newspapers of the times may have called the women who used radioactive paint to paint clock dials "radium girls," we now live in a time when we should be calling them women, because they were. Many may have been young, yes, but they were still working women who don't deserve to be remembered with the belittling name of "girls." Moore used "girls" in her original edition of this book and does so even more in this "young readers' edition," and it's disrespectful and infuriating.
I've read the non-young-readers' edition of this book, and came away from this edition confused as to who the author and publisher think the young readers' edition is for. The regular edition is perfectly fine for average readers ages 13 or so and up, and this young readers' edition lifts whole passages out of it without change. At the at the same time, this new edition includes new text that is astonishingly condescending to readers of, say, 8 and older. So the target audience for this is very unclear. The cutesy material added to dial down the ages for the marketing of the book is pretty horrifying given the seriousness of the topic.
As in the original edition, too, the author spends a lot of time detailing how pretty the dial-painters were, as if their beauty is what made it so awful that they died in the ways that that did, rather than the fact that they were human beings who were routinely lied to in their workplaces. Whether their hairstyles were "cute" or their smiles "shy" is objectifying and irrelevant.
Finally, the writing just isn't very good. It's often repetitive and full of tired phrases and cliches, and not terribly compelling. I can't in any good faith recommend this book or its original edition because of these myriad issues.
I've read the non-young-readers' edition of this book, and came away from this edition confused as to who the author and publisher think the young readers' edition is for. The regular edition is perfectly fine for average readers ages 13 or so and up, and this young readers' edition lifts whole passages out of it without change. At the at the same time, this new edition includes new text that is astonishingly condescending to readers of, say, 8 and older. So the target audience for this is very unclear. The cutesy material added to dial down the ages for the marketing of the book is pretty horrifying given the seriousness of the topic.
As in the original edition, too, the author spends a lot of time detailing how pretty the dial-painters were, as if their beauty is what made it so awful that they died in the ways that that did, rather than the fact that they were human beings who were routinely lied to in their workplaces. Whether their hairstyles were "cute" or their smiles "shy" is objectifying and irrelevant.
Finally, the writing just isn't very good. It's often repetitive and full of tired phrases and cliches, and not terribly compelling. I can't in any good faith recommend this book or its original edition because of these myriad issues.
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
This story presented a very compelling piece of history I had never heard of prior to reading this novel. The Radium Girls were treated so unjustly and gaslit by their company; it was heartbreaking to see the company's greed and selfishness time and time again. The story did a fantastic job of highlighting the women's bravery, good spirts, and desire to seek justice alongside their families.
But the story does get a big muddled down by the seemingly random switches from woman to woman, making their stories and names often undistinguishable from others. Had the author laid out the story differently, with more precision and care, then this would have been more successful.
3.5 stars, but could have been 5 stars if the information was presented more clearly.
But the story does get a big muddled down by the seemingly random switches from woman to woman, making their stories and names often undistinguishable from others. Had the author laid out the story differently, with more precision and care, then this would have been more successful.
3.5 stars, but could have been 5 stars if the information was presented more clearly.
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
informative
medium-paced