A review by kyvenn
Atomic Anna by Rachel Barenbaum

5.0

hands down, EASILY a five star read for me! this book didn’t have anything i didn’t like, and it ended phenomenally! Anyone who knows me, knows I’m terrible about explaining what books are about, but y’all are just going to have to trust me and check out the blurb below and me the judge yourself!

“Three brilliant women.
Two life-changing mistakes.
One chance to reset the future.

In 1986, renowned nuclear scientist, Anna Berkova, is sleeping in her bed in the Soviet Union when Chernobyl’s reactor melts down. It’s the exact moment she tears through time—and it’s an accident. When she opens her eyes, she’s landed in 1992 only to discover Molly, her estranged daughter, shot in the chest. Molly, with her dying breath, begs Anna to go back in time and stop the disaster, to save Molly’s daughter Raisa, and put their family’s future on a better path.

In ‘60s Philadelphia, Molly is coming of age as an adopted refusenik. Her family is full of secrets and a past they won’t share. She finds solace in comic books, drawing her own series, Atomic Anna, and she’s determined to make it as an artist. When she meets the volatile, charismatic Viktor, their romance sets her life on a very different course.

In the ‘80s, Raisa, is a lonely teen and math prodigy, until a quiet, handsome boy moves in across the street and an odd old woman shows up claiming to be her biological grandmother. As Raisa finds new issues of Atomic Anna in unexpected places, she notices each comic challenges her to solve equations leading to one impossible conclusion: time travel. And she finally understands what she has to do.

As these remarkable women work together to prevent the greatest nuclear disaster of the 20th century, they grapple with the power their discoveries hold. Just because you can change the past, does it mean you should?”

“just because you can change the past, does it mean you should?” is a major theme through out the story, passed down to each woman as a piece of advice. If you aren’t reading this book, what are you doing??

thank you @grandcentralpub for this amazing book! i am so happy i chose it!

thank you @barenbaumrachel for writing this masterpiece!

#bookreview #atomicanna