Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore

109 reviews

mondovertigo's review against another edition

dark informative sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Gaslighting, Death, Blood, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Grief, Gore, and Cancer

Moderate: War

Minor: Abortion

miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

This is important
I didnt like a lot of the writing but i think a lot more people need to know about this and i respect her for writing it
Its often infuriating and hard to read and so fucking sad but this narrative needs to be told. The way that women and workers are constantly and consistently ignored for company gain does make you start to lose all hope in humanity thought.
That the worst possible scenario was barely listened to (and arguably not listened to) leaves little room for hope

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Death, Medical content, Miscarriage, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Murder, Terminal illness, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, and Grief

mightymegan25's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, and Terminal illness

rosemaryandrue's review

dark emotional informative medium-paced

4.0

Radium is a fad in early twentieth century America, and consequently makes for booming business for numerous large corporations. So when employees of the United States Radium Corporation start falling ill with a mysterious, horrific disease, the industry scrambles to cover things up.

I've heard the story of the Radium Girls before, but I did not really know the details of the struggles that the women went through, and how thoroughly they were betrayed by their employers. The author wrote in the afterword that she wanted to put the stories of the women at the center of the tale, and I thought she succeeded in this remarkably, really bringing home the horror of the situation. I also learned for the first time how these women contributed with their lives and deaths to the study and management of radioactive elements to this very day.

However, I thought the end was abrupt - after the death of Catherine Wolfe Donahue, we whizz through the subsequent court cases - I suppose because the endless appeals have been covered in depth elsewhere, but I wish we got some more detail there about how it was achieved.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Death, Miscarriage, Sexism, Cancer, Infertility, Medical content, Terminal illness, and Medical trauma

irishrose7777's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Terminal illness, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Infertility, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Sexism, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

danimacuk's review against another edition

informative sad slow-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Ableism, Death, Medical content, Misogyny, and Sexism

alexisgarcia's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

this was so informative. i think this is one of the most accessible non-fiction books i have ever read. this is because it was written in a narrative way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexism, Cancer, Gaslighting, Gore, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Infertility, Medical trauma, Blood, and Grief

scorpi07's review against another edition

informative sad slow-paced

3.75

Wow. This is a gruesome, overwhelming, informative story. Though it's hard to hear how flagrantly radium has been used without safety precautions, I'm glad this tale is being told. I also like that this book showcases the lives of the women most effected and shares their human stories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Death, Medical content, Terminal illness, and Blood

Moderate: Miscarriage, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical trauma

Minor: Domestic abuse

raneyak's review against another edition

informative sad tense slow-paced

3.0

I think the overall story is incredibly important and I appreciate the author’s dedication to centering the girls themselves in the narrative. However, the pacing was very slow during the second half of the book, which mostly focused on the court dealings. I also wasn’t in love with the author’s writing style. Some of the details seemed wholly unnecessary, such as when she points out how attractive some of the people were.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Cancer, Body horror, Medical content, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, and Death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Pregnancy

fraise's review

challenging informative sad medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Gaslighting, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Death of parent, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Infertility, Miscarriage, Child death, Domestic abuse, and Pregnancy

Minor: Abortion