Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict

7 reviews

mysterymom40's review

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Sexism

Moderate: Bullying, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Ableism

bella_01's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I absolutely adored this book. I feel so sympathetic for Mileva. Regardless of how much she contributed to Albert's work, she was another unfortunate woman who's potential was smushed by a man. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, and Grief

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Antisemitism, and Infidelity

chelle22's review

adventurous emotional inspiring

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Abandonment, Alcohol, Infidelity, Antisemitism, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Blood, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Child death, Sexual content, Slavery, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, War, Grief, Death of parent, Racial slurs, and Sexism

readerette's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The story is depressing, given a woman in a 'man's world' of study falling in love with one of those men and having the relationship, and life, take unfortunate turns. It's a good story, just emotionally taxing to read.

The writing is good, though the rumination gets to be a bit much at times. I like the incorporation of Mitza and Albert's cultural backgrounds because it lends historical regional context to the story.

This may not be true for you, but most of the historical fiction I've enjoyed has been about characters loosely inspired by real people (e.g., some characters in historical romances), or about people for whom there is a lot of data to reference so minimal embellishment is required (e.g., the wives/lovers of some kings), so that might explain the following concern I have with this book:

Per the author's summary at the end, many of Mitza's relationships as described in the book are made up or nearly totally embellished, and her contributions to the work commonly attributed to Albert can only be guessed at because there's no hard evidence, only suggestion (even from Mitza's firsthand documents). So the book feels like a personal and professional indictment of Albert Einstein through Mitza's experience, but it's only based on oblique references in letters and the barest of biographic data about Mitza and her family and friends. It is classified as fiction, but it skewers a well-known, recent historical and scientific public figure in ways that feel eminently real with little call to do so.

Edit: another reviewer shared a blog post that seems to describe most of the facts we know about Mitza and offers some interpretations of her and Albert's surviving letters and what family members and friends are recorded as saying happened. In my reading, the basic facts match, but anything else is truly open for interpretation; there are no "lost drafts" or public statements or news articles or anything like that to suggest evidentiary basis for the book's claims (or quite frankly, the blog post's) of Albert's aloofness toward his wife or how much of his success he owed to her scientific and mathematical mind. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/the-forgotten-life-of-einsteins-first-wife/

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Terminal illness, and Infidelity

Minor: Pregnancy

greatexpectations77's review

emotional informative sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a really well-researched solid book. I love when I can tell that an author was a huge nerd about something. This really made me think about how often we pretend that men achieve success by themselves, when they so frequently have a partner making their lives 100 times easier by taking care of all of the minutiae.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Ableism, and Misogyny

Minor: Antisemitism

msjk427's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.0

This was really good and completely turned some of my thoughts on Albert Einstein on their head. Previously, the first book I'd read of this type was Half Life about Madame Curie. While I enjoyed the science and story of Mitza in this book, the writing didn't entrance me quite as much as Half Life had. However, the story of Mitza was an emotional one and I can relate to both the notion of others taking credit for one's ideas, as well as the notion that sometimes we dim our own lights to appease others. Overall, a good read especially if you enjoy science and/or reading about overlooked historical figures. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Sexism

Minor: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

rillastone's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child death