A review by toniclark
Atomic Anna by Rachel Barenbaum

3.0

Atomic Anna is brilliant in its conception — part sci-fi and part historical fiction — and it must have required a lot of research in astro- and nuclear physics. It incorporates multidimensional characters and many other topics and themes from complex family dynamics to toxic relationships. But, to me, the pacing seemed off. The story really drags, with a lot of redundancy and beating us over the head with the same moral dilemmas. How many times must one read “Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.” Most readers will have a pretty good idea of what the ending will be, just not how it will come about, and I, for one, just wanted to get to it a little faster.