Re: Wives of Los Alamos

Join Teachers.Net

Chatboards

Recent Groups

Booktalk

MEMBERS

1 Members

+ Join Group

Pinned Posts

ALLAll Teachers

Teachers.Net LIVE CHAT Support group - Tues eve!

Featured Jobs

Full-timeMontessori Teacher

Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada

TemporaryTeachers, rural schools

Peace River North School District

Full-timeHead Teacher: 2nd/3rd Grades – Mills College Children’s School

Mills College

Teaching Jobs on Teachers.Net

Featured Job special only $39!

https://teachers.net/jobs

Become a Teachers.Net sponsor!

Booktalk Chatboard

Wives of Los Alamos

by Elaine/ret/IN

Dec 27, 2014

I have kept a list of the books I've read since 2000, though I accidentally lost some of it in a "save" debacle.

Just recently I started reviewing them on Good***reads and then sharing with my Fac*********book friends. It's been fun.

Hope to see more activity here . . .

Elaine

Here's the review I posted on the "other" site?

A fiction book with no characters--impossible. But, by combining the voices of the wives into one narrator, "Wives of Los Alamos" does just that. The technique works, and it feels fresh. Sometimes the wives speak with one voice: "We felt the deflation that comes when one gets what one has wanted." Sometimes the variety of voices speak: "Some of us thought we saved half a million lives. Some of us thought we, or our husbands, were murderers, that we had helped light a fuse that would destroy the world." Living for three years in an isolated, insulated, secretive society i...See More

Dec 27, 2014

Kathleen On 12/27/14, Elaine/ret/IN wrote: > I have kept a list of the books I've read since 2000, > though I accidentally lost some of it in a "save" > debacle. > > Just recently I started reviewing them on Good***reads > and then sharing with my Fac*********book friends. It's > been fun. > > Hope to see more activity h...See MoreOn 12/27/14, Elaine/ret/IN wrote: > I have kept a list of the books I've read since 2000, > though I accidentally lost some of it in a "save" > debacle. > > Just recently I started reviewing them on Good***reads > and then sharing with my Fac*********book friends. It's > been fun. > > Hope to see more activity here . . . > > Elaine > > Here's the review I posted on the "other" site? > > A fiction book with no characters--impossible. But, by > combining the voices of the wives into one narrator, > "Wives of Los Alamos" does just that. The technique > works, and it feels fresh. Sometimes the wives speak with > one voice: "We felt the deflation that comes when one > gets what one has wanted." Sometimes the variety of > voices speak: "Some of us thought we saved half a million > lives. Some of us thought we, or our husbands, were > murderers, that we had helped light a fuse that would > destroy the world." Living for three years in an > isolated, insulated, secretive society is fraught with > emotion, and the story crackles with it. I loved its > tension and ambivalence. Rounding out the story are > occasional narrative drifts to Europe or Asia with > updates on the progress of the war. It was a quick read > and a compelling one, even without a central character to > love.

Well, I read the book and enjoyed it. I have to admit to skipping some of the central portion because the book was borrowed and the deadline came faster than I planned for...holidays, blizzards, etc. had my attention. I have 3 books going now and all 3 have due dates. grrr

The story about the wives of Los Alamos was fascinating; I had no idea there was a secret town where families of the scientists existed and endured isolation and personal and economic hardship.

The writing by author Tarashea Nesbit was excellent and satisfying creative. I intended to copy some of the descriptive phrases here for others to savor, but then the due date rolled around. So I have no evidence to back up my high rating for the author's writing ability.

The collective (first person plural) voice was an interesting and effective technique for telling this story. I felt as though I was viewing the characters from the perch of the ghost of Los Alamos-past. There was an ethereal feeling to the book, sort of a building suspense - though we knew what was going to happen, the reader couldn't know how it would impact the characters.

One scene that will stay with me: the women and families sitting on hay bales watching a slide show comprised of photos of the remains of people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

There was a chorus of character voices that we didn't get to know in depth, as individuals, but it worked. After all, a chorus is comprised of many voices (alto, sporamo, tenor, etc.) but when presented in unision there is the effect of one voice; we're not supposed to hear individual voice.

Interesting. Thank you, Elaine, for bringing my attention to this short but satisfying read.

K.

Jan 31, 2015

report post

Elaine/ret/IN Glad you enjoyed it, Kathleen.

Feb 7, 2015

report post