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A review by brittanykroeckel
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
2.0
2.5 more like
I wanted to really like this book and I believe it touches upon a very intriguing and important topic. However the book was hard to follow and writing was dry IMO. Some parts of the books felt like fluff and could have been left out. At a couple points I felt like just stopping and not picking up the book again but I wanted to respect these women who did significant things in our history and listen to as much of their story as the author put in this book.
I would have liked to see more of what these women did specifically and what literature and missions they contributed to (Katherine’s story was the closest to this). It felt more of like a surface level generalization of their stories and at times felt more like the history of Langley/NACA/NASA than about the women involved. Also, in the epilogue, the author chose to introduce two additional stories of women (one briefly mentioned earlier in the book) and I felt like that was a flop. I would’ve liked to see them included in the chapters of the book and not felt like a last minute addition.
It mostly came down to the writing style. I want to give it a three because it’s an amazing story, but the way it was displayed in this book made it difficult for me to immerse myself in and enjoy. I have yet to watch the movie though, so I may see how the story is portrayed in a cinematic manner.
I wanted to really like this book and I believe it touches upon a very intriguing and important topic. However the book was hard to follow and writing was dry IMO. Some parts of the books felt like fluff and could have been left out. At a couple points I felt like just stopping and not picking up the book again but I wanted to respect these women who did significant things in our history and listen to as much of their story as the author put in this book.
I would have liked to see more of what these women did specifically and what literature and missions they contributed to (Katherine’s story was the closest to this). It felt more of like a surface level generalization of their stories and at times felt more like the history of Langley/NACA/NASA than about the women involved. Also, in the epilogue, the author chose to introduce two additional stories of women (one briefly mentioned earlier in the book) and I felt like that was a flop. I would’ve liked to see them included in the chapters of the book and not felt like a last minute addition.
It mostly came down to the writing style. I want to give it a three because it’s an amazing story, but the way it was displayed in this book made it difficult for me to immerse myself in and enjoy. I have yet to watch the movie though, so I may see how the story is portrayed in a cinematic manner.