Reviews with content warning for Antisemitism - The Calculating Stars

Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

32 reviews

egwilk28's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-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

The civil rights movement b plot was far more interesting to me than the main plot but tbh I was obsessed with the whole set up of the alternate history setting. I thought the dialogues about mc’s whiteness and emerging consciousness about racial inequities and not wanting to be a white savior to the black women also fighting for her cause were well written. I was very disappointed when antisemitism was used at like the peak conflict moment after the mc being jewish was written well for the entire rest of the book and then the antisemitism was totally dismissed afterwards like girl no you should not be friends with her nasty ass wtf!!!! This book DID make me feel like I should be medicated for anxiety. Also so straight it was cringe LOL

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cascadienne's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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minervacerridwen's review

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.25

The Calculating Stars is a really well-written slice-of-life report of the life of a brilliant mathematician in an alternate history defined by a meteorite impact. Even the technical parts kept me engaged, and the bits where the book seemed to slow down never lasted too long. While not the main plot, the story deals with sexism and racism, and I feel like I actually learned some things at the end.
I'm glad I finally got around to reading this book thanks to T & Fie!
(Note to my future self: for emetophobia reasons I will probably not want to reread this.)

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oxfordcommas91's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Enjoyable and easy to read story about a human "computer," married to the lead engineer of a space agency who both live through a meteorite hit that devastated much of the eastern seaboard of the United States. Elma, the main character, has experience flying after serving as a WASP in WWII and wants to be taken seriously as a potential astronaut when she helps discover that earthlings are going to have to start colonizing space sooner rather than later due to the catastrophic environmental effects from the meteorite.

This book had enough interest to hold my attention, though I enjoyed the pace at the beginning of the book (directly before & after the meteorite hit) more than the latter half which sometimes feels like it's not sure where it's going or headed. The pacing isn't always spot on, either - some plot points seem to linger for a long time without strong reason and then other thing things I assumed would take much longer to happen seem to pass in the blink of an eye. The ending of the book was a bit weird to me - it feels like its hurtling towards the conclusion in a rush when I would have liked for the author to spend more time getting there, but it wasn't a huge deal.

This book attempts to broach a lot of difficult topics - feminism and sexism in the 1950's, grief and loss after a catastrophic event, mental health/depression/anxiety, anti-semitism, and homophobia. I am glad that the author includes and grapples with all these issues as it feels very authentic to the timeframe that this story is taking place. I especially am grateful for the author's recognition of mental health and the part that mental health plays in our personal and professional lives (especially for women - who are seen as "overly emotional" or "hysterical" to start with). I thought the way that this topic was raised and examined was fairly true to historical context and added a good layer of depth to the story. I do think that the plot points and scenes that had to do with the character grappling with her experience as a white woman were sometimes glossed over or not done with the sort of cultural sensitivity that I would have expected for a book published this recently. Again, I'm glad the topic is raised but I think I expected a bit more depth.

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