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A review by the_grimdragon
The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
"They killed their own just to see time pass."
This is a wee little thing, clocking in just under 100 pages, but the story inside is massive!
The Only Harmless Great Thing is an alternate history of the Radium Girls. Do you know about this tragic past? During World War I, young women who worked in clock factories painting tiny numbers on watch faces contracted radiation poisoning. Many of them suffered horrifically, with the radium eating their bones from the inside (radium jaw was especially terrifying!) Over 50 died as a result.
That I knew, but the tale of Topsy was unknown to me. She was an elephant that was strangled, poisoned & electrocuted to death in front of a crowd, including a crew from a movie company who filmed it. For real. What in actual fuck? Humans are the worst.
The Only Harmless Great Thing interweaves these two stories in such an unexpected way. It's about radioactive elephants that glow-in-the-dark, war, memories, mythologies, traditions & oppression. Told in a beautifully poetic, intelligently written, hauntingly gut-wrenching way.
This is a wee little thing, clocking in just under 100 pages, but the story inside is massive!
The Only Harmless Great Thing is an alternate history of the Radium Girls. Do you know about this tragic past? During World War I, young women who worked in clock factories painting tiny numbers on watch faces contracted radiation poisoning. Many of them suffered horrifically, with the radium eating their bones from the inside (radium jaw was especially terrifying!) Over 50 died as a result.
That I knew, but the tale of Topsy was unknown to me. She was an elephant that was strangled, poisoned & electrocuted to death in front of a crowd, including a crew from a movie company who filmed it. For real. What in actual fuck? Humans are the worst.
The Only Harmless Great Thing interweaves these two stories in such an unexpected way. It's about radioactive elephants that glow-in-the-dark, war, memories, mythologies, traditions & oppression. Told in a beautifully poetic, intelligently written, hauntingly gut-wrenching way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death