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nrthstr78's review
2.0
The subject matter is so interesting, but it's written in the first person plural and it just becomes so repetitive that I found myself forcing myself to finish.
hspaulds's review
3.0
The style of this book is a bit odd, and I'm still not entirely sure if it was the best choice, but sometimes it really works. Overall, it's an interesting read about the lives of the women who's husbands worked on the atomic bomb, and I enjoyed it.
jennybellium's review
2.0
Like the concept, hate the execution. Hearing about the secret city where famous scientists developed the bomb while their families lived in barely-constructed houses has the potential to be an engrossing book. However, the conceit used in this just irritated me on every page - the author lumps ALL wives and ALL kids and ALL houses and ALL experiences into one weirdly generic story.
Something like this (not an actual quote): "We came from the east coast, from Germany, from England. We had two kids, no kids, a boy living with his grandparents, and then we had a baby who grew up to become a scientists himself, or we had a baby who grew up to hate science. They told us x and they didn't tell us x and they..."
I get it- and as an introduction, I think it could work. Shows the diversity of people and lifestyles. But she does this through the WHOLE book. It's irking me just recounting this.
Actual quote that kind of illustrates (assuming you can imagine this happening through the whole book:
"We took the car to the shop to get the oil changed. We dropped off our children's old bike tires, our worn-out bathing cap, and a bucket of nails our husbands left in the garage at the Junior Leagues' Metal and Rubber Drive. We bought a few more war bonds. Some of us had been smart enough to ask about gas and electric..."
So - using this construction - EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM took a bucket of nails somewhere, but only SOME had asked about gas and electric? I just can't handle the grammatical inconsistency.
Something like this (not an actual quote): "We came from the east coast, from Germany, from England. We had two kids, no kids, a boy living with his grandparents, and then we had a baby who grew up to become a scientists himself, or we had a baby who grew up to hate science. They told us x and they didn't tell us x and they..."
I get it- and as an introduction, I think it could work. Shows the diversity of people and lifestyles. But she does this through the WHOLE book. It's irking me just recounting this.
Actual quote that kind of illustrates (assuming you can imagine this happening through the whole book:
"We took the car to the shop to get the oil changed. We dropped off our children's old bike tires, our worn-out bathing cap, and a bucket of nails our husbands left in the garage at the Junior Leagues' Metal and Rubber Drive. We bought a few more war bonds. Some of us had been smart enough to ask about gas and electric..."
So - using this construction - EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM took a bucket of nails somewhere, but only SOME had asked about gas and electric? I just can't handle the grammatical inconsistency.
melanie_reads's review
2.0
Too many "we"s and not enough actual people. A whole book written from the POV plural protagonists is just something we cannot bear.
tvisser's review
3.0
Fictionalized companion to Girls of Atomic City. These families are relocated to Los Alamos and are just as secluded and sworn to secrecy as the families in Girls. The trials of living in close quarters and not really knowing what anyone else is doing, the friendships and secrecy. This followed by pride, remorse or guilt depending on the person and the view. I enjoyed the book.
bookswithmybulldog's review
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
migrex's review
4.0
Not a traditional novel. Very well-written and I think it's enjoyable to read something written in a different POV (in this case, 3rd person plural), but that choice seems to have gotten on a lot of people's nerves. Talks about a group of people I didn't know much about before and for me falls in the category of "Gee, wish I'd had that idea."
yetanothersusan's review
2.0
We didn't like this book. We don't like stories told in first person plural. We felt this made the story unnecessarily vague and lacking the personalization that would endear the story to the reader. We felt that the author perhaps told the story in this manner to avoid having to be detailed. But we felt that lack of detail lessened the impact of what was taking place. If we had something else to read we would have stopped reading this book after the second chapter. We only have the book an extra star because we have been reading other books on the same subject.
er_bear_20's review
5.0
I picked up "The Wives of Los Alamos" on a whim. But once I started the book, I couldn't put it down. Tarashea Nesbit wrote a captivating book on the families who's husbands created the Atomic Bomb. These families came from near and far, and created a special bound during a very scary time in History. This book was written in first person plural which I throughly enjoyed. It gave you the sense that this group of families experienced many trials and tribulations together, and while many times we feel as through we are alone. There are others who are going through the same.
I highly recommend this book.
I highly recommend this book.
thelifeofbookishmartha's review
4.0
The "we" instead of characters through me off but once I was able to get into the book it was an easy read and went fast. Maybe my love of history helped me to like this book.