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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My "spring break book" this year. Love love love. As a science teacher and novel lover, this is just perfect.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I found I enjoyed this more than I originally anticipated. The historical references to scientific discovery were well researched, and I thought the author did a good job inserting her characters in to the historical events and eras she utilized. I also found the alternating chapters helped keep the novel feeling fresh. I can't say that any one thing made this book stand out from others I've read, but everything was well executed
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
wild take that helping one or two family members is more important than stopping Chernobyl but who am I to judge
Thank you Net Galley and Grand Central for an ARC of Atomic Anna by Rachel Barenbaum. I lean more toward reading historical fiction, but this science fiction intrigued me and didn't disappoint! This book was about how a scientist who created nuclear power in USSR and then regretted the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. She used time travel to try to change the past to save everyone from that disaster as well as her family. This sweeping story tells tales from 1917 through the 1990s and is set in Russia, US (Philadelphia), and Germany. I love how the author weaved in all the science and history in this book. If you are looking for an interesting science fiction/time travel book, I recommend this one.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book badly needed better editing. It was a mess: too long, too many plot directions, poor character direction.
This is one of those book that ramped up to about four stars early on, but once it reached the end I was pretty disgusted with it. It explores a lot of interesting topics and ideas -- from clever layering of time travel jumps to postpartum depression, complicated family relationships, prejudice against immigrants, gaslighting and emotional abuse, and so on. It brings up many ethical conundrums -- do you save who is here or a zillion people from the past? Should you change the past at all -- even major tragedies -- when you have no idea how that will affect the future? And then... The novel takes a huge nose dive when it says it doesn't care about all those things and, perhaps, none of it matters (including the gaslighting and depression) because... LOVE. And that blood ties are all that matter. Plus we can throw in some stereotyping about another country that some simple research could have cleared up quick. I honestly found the end of the novel kind of gross in how it washed away all their real world problems... and in how this one major character who seemed to cause a bunch of issues because of her holier-than-thou attitude apparently is just right. Barf.
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The premise of the novel is innovative but I just found the characters to be too 2 dimensional and I could not get emotionally invested
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
April 26, 1986, Chernobyl suffers a catastrophic breakdown. In the moment of the explosion though, Soviet scientist Anna Berkova hurtles forward through time to December 8, 1992, where she meets her daughter Manya, who, covered in blood from a gunshot wound, begs her to try again to save Raisa, Anna’s granddaughter. Thus the plot spins forward, in multiple timelines with Anna as an old woman in late 1980s and early 1990s Soviet Union, Manya, who chooses to go by Molly, in 1960s and 70s Philadelphia and Atlantic City, flashes of Anna’s life with her best friend Yulia, who adopts Molly, in 1930s and 1940s in Germany and USSR, and of Raisa in 1970s and 80s in Atlantic City and Philadelphia. Anna uses clues from her family’s history and a the time machine she has built to work her way through history to try to save Chernobyl from destruction and to save her family.
@Pinkcowlandreads recommended this to me, and she knocked it out of the park with this recommendation. This is the “Meggiest” book I think I’ve read this year: time travel, nuclear physics, comic book heroines, a plot threatening humanity, achingly complex characters and the relationships that drive them, historical fiction, and beautiful writing. It’s interlaced with Jewish faith, an addict’s journey through recovery, and generations of family ties from 1917 Russia through 1992 Philadelphia.
There’s no way I’ll do this book justice in a caption, but it’s probably one of the best historical fiction books I’ve read recently (probably because it’s also science fiction, if I’m being honest). @roostercalls posted an “all vibes, no thoughts” review of Atomic Anna a while back, which first landed this book on my radar, and now that I’m sitting here trying to write a review, I’m with Erin on the complexities of this book providing structure but not overtaking the prose.
Rachel Barenbaum gives us characters with such depth, you can’t help but think they are real. Anna’s story arc might provide the backbone, but Molly’s struggles give the book a tangible pain, while Raisa’s timeline provides hope and scientific curiosity. Unlike many dual-timeline historical fiction books, this takes advantage of Anna’s own theory of time travel: of past, present, and future being everywhere at once, and wrapping all three women’s stories so tightly together as to make them inseparable. I appreciated the scientific explanations scattered through the book, and this is now up there with Connie Willis’s books as one of my favorite theories of time travel.
About a week after Lindsay recommended the book to me, I found an ARC of Atomic Anna in an LFL. I held on to it while I waited for a library copy of the audiobook. Now, I might purchase a finished copy and return the ARC to the wild for the next reader.
adventurous
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated