Reviews

This was an amazing book! Its a book about love at first sight. A book about science. About nature. About the complexity that is humanity and what war can do to a people. Its also a book about the bomb.

Fos is enchanted with a glassblower, then sees his daughter in one of the balls of glass. He falls in love with Opal the moment he sets eyes on her. She is as pale as the moon. He woos her with pictures of her bones. And from there the journey begins.

This is one of the most unique stories I have read in a long time. Made even better by an amazing writer whose words etch themselves into your soul. You follow Fos and Opal through their life and they navigate a word that is changing at an alarming rate. Fos is a photographer with an x-ray machine in the back of his truck. Opal seems at first to be simple, but is soon shown to be a very intelligent and complex woman. Their lives take them through a traveling x-ray show, to a mobile library to the creation of the atom bomb and beyond.

Marianne's characters are complex, compelling and become a part of you. Even in the worst of their actions, she leaves the human that you cannot turn from. At their best, they are like all of us, doing out best to navigate an insanely changing landscape of life.

I can understand why this book made the finalists for the Pulitzer. Personally, I think it should have won it. I would put it as high on my list of read books of the year as Where the Crawdads Sing.

spidergirl502's review against another edition

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5.0

A beautiful story and exquisitely written. I truly enjoyed this book.

veronicalovesjeff's review against another edition

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emotional informative sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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