Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - The Only Woman in the Room

Famous actress Hedy Lamarr has a lot of secrets. She's from a Jewish family during one of the most anti-Semitic times in the 20th century. She arrived in America after fleeing her wealthy arms dealer husband. She has a brilliant mind that she hopes to use to help stop Nazi Germany to make up for warning no one about the imminent Anschluss.

I did enjoy reading this, which based on my rules means it's a 3 star at least. However, I don't think Marie Benedict's execution did everything the book blurb lead me to expect from this book by a long shot. I assumed this would be divided between Hedy's relationship with Austrian arms dealer Friedrich Mandl and her time in America as an actress/inventor. The first part was done well, as I watched with concern as the young Lamarr (then known as Hedy Keisler) fell in love with a much older man in spite of the red flags, in part because her parents encouraged her, hoping this would protect their family from the threat of anti-Semitism from Nazi Germany. The second half seemed more focused on her rise as an actress while she heard about how her home country of Austria fell and relegated the inventing work that Hedy did to very short montages...even though it seemed like the climax of the story was somewhere in the very brief interludes of her inventing work with the pianist George Antheil. Perhaps the worst failure is that you have to read the Author's Note to know how important frequency hopping is to modern technology, which seemed pretty important. Perhaps an epilogue about her and Antheil receiving acknowledgement for their invention would at least execute that part?

The characters are interesting, although I often wanted more time with many characters. Even Mandl, who I immensely disliked for his manipulative and abusive tendencies, seemed to vanish off the face of the earth after Hedy's escape, which (while perhaps what really happened) struck me as implausible given how controlling he was. Lamarr and Antheil's working relationship and friendship is important, but the damage done to their relationship by Lamarr's fear that he did see her as just a sexual object like so many others is resolved in less than a page. Mrs. Mayer, the wife of the head of MGM Studios, is interesting and instrumental in keeping Hedy from being another victim of her husband vanishes once Hedy's career gets off the ground.

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jcapstack's review against another edition

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adventurous informative medium-paced

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

4.5

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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

The Only Woman in the Room is historical fiction based on the life of Hedy Lamar. I was heavily invested in the first section which focussed on her relationship with Austrian arms dealer Friedrich Mandl. Plenty of tension due to domestic abuse and the rise of Hitler, especially given her Jewish ancestry. I was less interested in Hedy’s Hollywood years but wished for more detail on her inventions, especially the radio guidance system for torpedos. My mouth hit the floor when I read why the Navy wasn’t interested. “I must admit it would be hard for us to sell our soldiers and sailors on a weapons system created by a woman. And we’re not going to try.” A pity there wasn’t an author’s note indicating whether or not that was an actual quote.

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silver_valkyrie_reads's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

For starters, wow! I didn't know Heddy Lamar's life story at all, and this was some fascinating history!

This is the first book I've read by the author, and for most of the way through the book I was pleasantly surprised by her lack of over-the-top feminism in presenting the story. The husband clearly crossed lines in his behavior, and I appreciated the simple presentation of that story. Unfortunately, toward the end, there is an eye-rolling instance of "The Navy was dumb about this thing BECAUSE she was a woman". (Go read Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed for plenty of examples of the Navy being dumb in exactly same way whether women are involved in the situation or not.)

Well worth reading if you enjoy historical fiction, or lesser known historical stories in general.

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