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A review by brighroosh
The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict
2.0
I was not "wowed" by this book. I had seen "Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story" documentary, so I was familiar with her and her incredible invention.
In this book, the details of her life sounded like an unauthorized biography, even though that term is not usually applied to historical fiction. It just had this sense of it being written for a specific audience (female?), with a lot of exposition to explain the setup. Do I need to know the cross streets in Washington, DC of the building where Lamarr went to propose her invention to the government? Sometimes the exposition went on for two pages and I had to go back to see who was waiting for an answer from Lamarr. What it told me was that Benedict wants you to know that she did thorough research of the things that could be known about Lamarr, overshadowing the lackluster dialogue by the author.
It was written in first person, and I never believed that those could have been Lamar's thoughts and words, no matter how hard Benedict impressed upon us Hedy's ambition to rise above being just a pretty face, her guilt and regrets, and her force of will that utilized her pretty face.
Benedict is a popular author, but I find her dialogue overly simplistic and yet tedious. I will not be reading any more of her books!
In this book, the details of her life sounded like an unauthorized biography, even though that term is not usually applied to historical fiction. It just had this sense of it being written for a specific audience (female?), with a lot of exposition to explain the setup. Do I need to know the cross streets in Washington, DC of the building where Lamarr went to propose her invention to the government? Sometimes the exposition went on for two pages and I had to go back to see who was waiting for an answer from Lamarr. What it told me was that Benedict wants you to know that she did thorough research of the things that could be known about Lamarr, overshadowing the lackluster dialogue by the author.
It was written in first person, and I never believed that those could have been Lamar's thoughts and words, no matter how hard Benedict impressed upon us Hedy's ambition to rise above being just a pretty face, her guilt and regrets, and her force of will that utilized her pretty face.
Benedict is a popular author, but I find her dialogue overly simplistic and yet tedious. I will not be reading any more of her books!