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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Ever wonder how me came to discover and acknowledge the reality of extinct species and dinosaurs? Find out more through this incredible fictional tale of two little known historical fossil hunters who bent the Victorian era expectations of their genders and the stigma of spinsterhood to make world-changing discoveries. Bonus, I got to relive my own journeys to London, Brighton and Lyme through this tale!
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
In this work, the setting is in early 19th century England in Lyme Regis and features two real protagonists, Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot along with other characters and a historic accounting of their lives and backgrounds. Those are the facts and they are easily researched. It's the creation of a story albeit it fictional based on those facts that brings life to the story. I loved it, and thought the author wrote a wonderful tribute to these two remarkable women.
This book is a 3.5, but I rounded up because I read it in 3 days which, when you work as much as I do, says a lot! While not nearly as beautifully written, and certainly containing characters that made me cringe in their falseness (Elizabeth's nephew and his staged questions), this book was compulsively readable, as Chevalier has proven herself in the past.
A neat story, although in trying to stick to the facts she knew about the Philpots she ended up creating fairly 2 dimensional characters in all of those that people this book except Mary, Molly, and Elizabeth. Margaret and Louise especially get the short end of the "interesting" stick, as they never really stray from their original interests in plants or fashion/men.
The insider's view of English society (esp as it applies to women) in the early 19th century was striking, and felt much more stark than Austen's descriptions. What a frustrating time to be a woman, and to think at my age I'd already be a used up spinster!!!
The lightning imagery was just weird and didn't really work for her. All in all, while I was obsessed with this book for a few days, it feels a little like an amateur novel. Again, 3.5 stars!
A neat story, although in trying to stick to the facts she knew about the Philpots she ended up creating fairly 2 dimensional characters in all of those that people this book except Mary, Molly, and Elizabeth. Margaret and Louise especially get the short end of the "interesting" stick, as they never really stray from their original interests in plants or fashion/men.
The insider's view of English society (esp as it applies to women) in the early 19th century was striking, and felt much more stark than Austen's descriptions. What a frustrating time to be a woman, and to think at my age I'd already be a used up spinster!!!
The lightning imagery was just weird and didn't really work for her. All in all, while I was obsessed with this book for a few days, it feels a little like an amateur novel. Again, 3.5 stars!
adventurous
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Real! science-y women build a friendship, make world-altering discoveries and fight for credit. What’s not to like!
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
This book has lots of stuff I like: fossils (I was the kid who memorized all the names of the dinosaurs), 19th century lady naturalists, debates about our place in the universe, women who DGAF and do what calls them.
The book also centers a female friendship as the most important relationship. Elizabeth Philpot has resigned herself to spinsterhood. She loves looking for fossils and especially gravitates to fossil fish because they lead with their eyes, as she does. Elizabeth looks to the features that people lead with as an indication of their character: people lead with their chins, their hair, their hands, their noses.
Mary Anning feels almost as if she is struck by lightning (which she actually has been, so she knows!) when she finds a fossil that is truly special. She has "the eye" and can find the patterns hidden in chaos that leads to fossils. Mary also seeks fossils for something beyond pleasure: they bring in much-needed income for her impoverished family. Elizabeth can be a genteel amateur, Mary needs the money. Mary also speaks of feeling "hollowed out" when she considers the vast sweep of time and her tiny place in the universe. I know what she means and liked the description.
Fossils were controversial during this time period because they implicitly challenged the idea of an unchanging universe created by God. If creatures existed that no longer exist, does that mean that God makes mistakes? Unthinkable. But somehow this must be explained. My own parents, who believe that the earth took literally six days to make, told me that dinosaurs just never made it onto the Ark for some reason. It's difficult to understand just how many changes in philosophy and understanding have taken place in the last few hundred years until you look at something like fossils and consider just how they altered how people saw the world.
The book also centers a female friendship as the most important relationship. Elizabeth Philpot has resigned herself to spinsterhood. She loves looking for fossils and especially gravitates to fossil fish because they lead with their eyes, as she does. Elizabeth looks to the features that people lead with as an indication of their character: people lead with their chins, their hair, their hands, their noses.
Mary Anning feels almost as if she is struck by lightning (which she actually has been, so she knows!) when she finds a fossil that is truly special. She has "the eye" and can find the patterns hidden in chaos that leads to fossils. Mary also seeks fossils for something beyond pleasure: they bring in much-needed income for her impoverished family. Elizabeth can be a genteel amateur, Mary needs the money. Mary also speaks of feeling "hollowed out" when she considers the vast sweep of time and her tiny place in the universe. I know what she means and liked the description.
Fossils were controversial during this time period because they implicitly challenged the idea of an unchanging universe created by God. If creatures existed that no longer exist, does that mean that God makes mistakes? Unthinkable. But somehow this must be explained. My own parents, who believe that the earth took literally six days to make, told me that dinosaurs just never made it onto the Ark for some reason. It's difficult to understand just how many changes in philosophy and understanding have taken place in the last few hundred years until you look at something like fossils and consider just how they altered how people saw the world.