Reviews - Atomic Anna | The StoryGraph

254 reviews for:

Atomic Anna

Rachel Barenbaum

3.83 AVERAGE

jenmat1197's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is the story of three women. Anna - a brillian scientist in the early part of the century whose life changes on the day of the Chernobyl explosion. Her daughter Molly and Molly's daughter, Raisa get intertwined with Anna's life when the explosion throws Anna ahead in time where she sees Molly shot and dying. Anna goes about trying to figure out how to build the time machine so that she can save Molly and fullfill Molly's request of then saving Raisa. Throughout the story we go back and forth in time over the course of all three women's lives to see what brought them to this moment and what it would take to change it.

I found this book for $2 at a used bookstore and thought it seemed interesting. And it was. I really enjoyed the story and the flow of the book. I think it is well written with good character development. I liked most the characters and there was just a hint of mystery as the story went along, but not so much to keep the reader unnecessarily in the dark. I was surprised when I looked this book up on Amazon that it only had 200 reviews because I think it was great. Time travel done right!

worldroamer's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

meesha84's review against another edition

1.0

DNF after page 150.

genizah's review against another edition

3.25

Inventing a time machine and using it to

solve your mommy issues

is really a waste of a time machine.

abcdebz's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed this book! The idea of time travel and that much desired option of going back to rectify mistakes is understandably interesting but I liked that there were physical consequences for Anna. I also really liked that not everything was simple: it wasn't just one trip to rectify the one decision or event that would obviously make everything perfect but that it required several goes and it still didn't make absolutely everything all sunshine and roses because that's not realistic. I liked the different perspectives and individualities of the narrators, though it would have been interesting to hear more from Yulia as she was so intertwined with everything despite not being directly involved in the actual project itself. Overall, definitely would recommend!

baileydouglass's review against another edition

2.0

DNF at 35%

This was an interesting idea and story but I found one of the character’s story to be too depressing and predictable feeling to make it worth slogging through it for the rest.

emtur007's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 48%

For the content, I found it to be boring. The writing style is boring and very basic and while the theme of the story is adult, it feels detached from the actual writing and thinking of the characters. The description of the drug use is very banal and doesnt earn the emotional weight it should carry.