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heidenkind's review against another edition
I really don't think these kinds of books work for me.
vincentkonrad's review against another edition
1.0
read this because someone in a twin peaks facebook group recommended it as relevant somehow. it's not. and it's dead boring.
frakalot's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The "Girl" is Lilda and the "Golden Atom" is her subatomic home at the bottom of a valley carved out by an indentation on a gold ring. We find out about her by way of The Chemist, as the story begins he is recounting his discovery to a bunch of the lads; The Doctor, The Wealthy Businessman, The Banker and The Very Young Man. To my best recollection their names were never given and these descriptors were how they were referred to throughout the story.
While peeking around the surface of his gold ring under a microscope The Chemist discovered the world which Lilda inhabits. After perving for a little too long one afternoon, the lenses of his microscope unexpectedly shatter and instead of recreating the experiment, he sets his mind to developing a drug which can reduce size instead. He also synthesises a pill to do the opposite and a pill that simulates death but from which the patient may still be revived. I'm not sure why the latter, but I think it was part of an early plan to visit the world on the gold ring which he later discarded in favour of the shrink-and-grow pills.
With some successful experimental results The Chemist convinces himself to give it a try and manages to find his subatomic sweetheart. On returning he gathers his friends to recount his most impressive adventure. His friends then agree to look after the ring while he departs on yet another solo voyage but when he fails to return they decide to keep the ring in safe storage at a museum.
Eventually he gets a message back to the gang and they decide to go in after their long lost pal. This is where the real adventure begins because we get to follow the journey all they way to Lilda's world and it's an epic of its own kind.
During chapter 18 the party of travellers are resting in the woods when The Very Young Man points out "this beats anything we've done yet, gee it's nice here" at which point I couldn't help realising that the journey to the woods had been not much more than terror and gruelling effort in the almost never-ending (or rather ever-extending) descent down the valley walls.
As they shrink distances between points increase, but this also means that smooth surfaces eventually become rough and contoured meaning that the smaller they get the easier it is to climb down a slope but the further away the end of their journey gets.
The pills work with a cumulative effect and counteract each other equally so ultimate growth or shrinkage is controlled by how many of each pill has been consumed. This feature is used to produce various comical effects one of the first examples being when they decide to crush a pill and try to each consume equal portions of their pill, but the minute difference in what they each consume leads to all 3 of the travellers progressing to different heights.
Well, they eventually find The Chemist and Lilda and learn about their society and help quell a rebellion and The Very Young Man falls ridiculously in love. It's a simple kind of narrative written in what I thought was a pretty dry descriptive language.
The joy in this is the creativity and imagination that went into Cummings' world. The grow and shrink pills are put to great use. The characters and relationships I found a bit dull but overall the adventure is quite a bit of fun.
While peeking around the surface of his gold ring under a microscope The Chemist discovered the world which Lilda inhabits. After perving for a little too long one afternoon, the lenses of his microscope unexpectedly shatter and instead of recreating the experiment, he sets his mind to developing a drug which can reduce size instead. He also synthesises a pill to do the opposite and a pill that simulates death but from which the patient may still be revived. I'm not sure why the latter, but I think it was part of an early plan to visit the world on the gold ring which he later discarded in favour of the shrink-and-grow pills.
With some successful experimental results The Chemist convinces himself to give it a try and manages to find his subatomic sweetheart. On returning he gathers his friends to recount his most impressive adventure. His friends then agree to look after the ring while he departs on yet another solo voyage but when he fails to return they decide to keep the ring in safe storage at a museum.
Eventually he gets a message back to the gang and they decide to go in after their long lost pal. This is where the real adventure begins because we get to follow the journey all they way to Lilda's world and it's an epic of its own kind.
During chapter 18 the party of travellers are resting in the woods when The Very Young Man points out "this beats anything we've done yet, gee it's nice here" at which point I couldn't help realising that the journey to the woods had been not much more than terror and gruelling effort in the almost never-ending (or rather ever-extending) descent down the valley walls.
As they shrink distances between points increase, but this also means that smooth surfaces eventually become rough and contoured meaning that the smaller they get the easier it is to climb down a slope but the further away the end of their journey gets.
The pills work with a cumulative effect and counteract each other equally so ultimate growth or shrinkage is controlled by how many of each pill has been consumed. This feature is used to produce various comical effects one of the first examples being when they decide to crush a pill and try to each consume equal portions of their pill, but the minute difference in what they each consume leads to all 3 of the travellers progressing to different heights.
Well, they eventually find The Chemist and Lilda and learn about their society and help quell a rebellion and The Very Young Man falls ridiculously in love. It's a simple kind of narrative written in what I thought was a pretty dry descriptive language.
The joy in this is the creativity and imagination that went into Cummings' world. The grow and shrink pills are put to great use. The characters and relationships I found a bit dull but overall the adventure is quite a bit of fun.
andreadv's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.5
jack & aura have my heart
marksegel's review
3.0
I only read The Girl in the Golden Atom. I was impressed by how far ahead of his day Ray Cummings was. It was a okay read but it was clear it was written in the early 20th century. The concepts are fascinating but the science didn't hold up. It also appeared to mirror Gulliver's Travels in many ways.
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