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rachel_abby_reads 's review for:
The Engineer's Wife
by Tracey Enerson Wood
I'm not a fan of historical fiction in which real people are given thoughts and placed in situations that may never have happened, for the purpose of building interest in an historical event or person.
This book struck out for me on several levels:
1) Don't make things up about real people that you can't document and support. Gossip and speculation at the time don't count as historical sources. To say, "hey, PT Barnum and Emily Warren Roebling were in the same area at the same time, and may have interacted, sure," and then to create a romantic history between them to add tension to the history feels shabby. It's hard enough to protect living people from living gossip, without impugning motives and emotions to the dead. Ick.
2) The author did the same thing with bridge building that some science fiction and (forgive me) JRR Tolkien does: in an attempt to be authentic, she doubled down on construction detail that truly did not interest me. I spent a lot of this book skimming the construction and design details.
3) Comparatively light on sexual description as it was, I'm still not into it. This is an automatic strike for me, any author, any book, any time. Not into it.
The moments I appreciated the most were:
1) the author's honesty about the reality of "can't have your cake and eat it, too." In life, we make choices, which limit our options. Being a stay at home mom limits career opportunities; devoting oneself to career limits home opportunities. Either path has its costs and rewards. We make our choices, we have the consequences. Hopefully, the blessings and joys outweigh the regrets.
2) Emily's realization that she commits a human error: "So entrenched in my own world, I had failed to recognize the achievements of the women marching shoulder to shoulder with me. . . 'I thought I was exceptional. That I was bright and talented and deserved a place working next to the men. . . I am guilty of underestimating my own gender, not considering how much more they were capable of. . ."
3) Eleanor's comments on marriage: "You can't expect a marriage to remain as it is in the beginning. If your souls continued to burn for each other in that way, you would be cinders. . . true love doesn't fade away. It changes, deepens. It seems to disappear at times, only to come back in a different way."
I always hate relationship issues based on lack of communication, but I concede that it is at least realistic. It's a lot easier to react to the assumptions in our minds than to set aside pride, fear and/or anger, be still and listen to someone else. It can also be scary to unload fears and insecurities, even to the people whose love and good opinion we want/need the most.
This book struck out for me on several levels:
1) Don't make things up about real people that you can't document and support. Gossip and speculation at the time don't count as historical sources. To say, "hey, PT Barnum and Emily Warren Roebling were in the same area at the same time, and may have interacted, sure," and then to create a romantic history between them to add tension to the history feels shabby. It's hard enough to protect living people from living gossip, without impugning motives and emotions to the dead. Ick.
2) The author did the same thing with bridge building that some science fiction and (forgive me) JRR Tolkien does: in an attempt to be authentic, she doubled down on construction detail that truly did not interest me. I spent a lot of this book skimming the construction and design details.
3) Comparatively light on sexual description as it was, I'm still not into it. This is an automatic strike for me, any author, any book, any time. Not into it.
The moments I appreciated the most were:
1) the author's honesty about the reality of "can't have your cake and eat it, too." In life, we make choices, which limit our options. Being a stay at home mom limits career opportunities; devoting oneself to career limits home opportunities. Either path has its costs and rewards. We make our choices, we have the consequences. Hopefully, the blessings and joys outweigh the regrets.
2) Emily's realization that she commits a human error: "So entrenched in my own world, I had failed to recognize the achievements of the women marching shoulder to shoulder with me. . . 'I thought I was exceptional. That I was bright and talented and deserved a place working next to the men. . . I am guilty of underestimating my own gender, not considering how much more they were capable of. . ."
3) Eleanor's comments on marriage: "You can't expect a marriage to remain as it is in the beginning. If your souls continued to burn for each other in that way, you would be cinders. . . true love doesn't fade away. It changes, deepens. It seems to disappear at times, only to come back in a different way."
I always hate relationship issues based on lack of communication, but I concede that it is at least realistic. It's a lot easier to react to the assumptions in our minds than to set aside pride, fear and/or anger, be still and listen to someone else. It can also be scary to unload fears and insecurities, even to the people whose love and good opinion we want/need the most.