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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
I actually DNF, but want credit for the boring hours I spent getting to main point of this book. Fascinating history, but WAY over told. No need to know every detail about what each girl looked like and what her home life was like. This could have been a Times article, or even a series of articles. It didn’t need to be a 400 page book.
Morbid curiosity causes me to read this book. In all honesty, it was a page-turner that was tough to stomach at times. That friction made this book enjoyable. It wasn't particularly well-written. Reading the author's note regarding previous books documenting the Radium Girls being largely about law and medicine made me dissatisfied with Moore's book. She desired to capture the women's personalities and lives. In all honesty, I didn't feel like I gained a meaningful sense of the women's personalities or even individuality. Perhaps she would have needed to take too many creative liberties or contact families too much. In the end, I feel that Moore created a book apparently similar to its predecessors, but more palatable to the public taste.
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
Sad point in history. Female factory workers being mislead into thinking their jobs were safe. They contracted radium poisoning while painting watch dials, and instrument dials for military aircraft with luminous radium paint. The "Ghost Girls ", or "Living Dead", as they were often referred to spent many years trying to seek justice against US Radium Corporation.
A compelling read, hard to put down. Very well written.
A compelling read, hard to put down. Very well written.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
medium-paced
The author’s note at the end about writing this book from the perspective of the women themselves rather than just about their court cases thoroughly underlines why this book needs to be read! Diaries are some of our best historical tools yet they’re overlooked in favor of official records that can only tell us so much about the big picture, rather than everyday.
This book was a massive undertaking and I’d recommend anybody interested in this to read, with the note that there are some VERY descriptive medical diagnoses and scenes.
This book was a massive undertaking and I’d recommend anybody interested in this to read, with the note that there are some VERY descriptive medical diagnoses and scenes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Medical content, Medical trauma
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
dark
emotional
informative
medium-paced
In a capitalist system, the bottom line is more important than the lives of the people who keep the wheel turning. This is such an important read, especially now. It's so disheartening to hear about how these women were lied to and gaslit at every turn, and while this happened a hundred years ago and set the precedent for many of our rights as workers today, it includes many important lessons about self-advocacy and the power of sisterhood.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail
This book should be required reading. Not just from a medical point of view but from a science/law/business/social justice point of view. I talk to everyone I can about this book. Read it!
I listened to the audiobook version, and found it to be long and drawn-out. While the various ailments the poor women suffered were interesting and I get that repetition drives home the point, by the third or fourth description of a dissolving jawbone and achy teeth I was ready to shut it off and never come back to it. Terrible injustices caused by big corporations. Sad, but at times too detailed and too descriptive.