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wordnerdy's review
3.0
https://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2019/01/2019-book-5.html
Shields' latest novel centers on a young woman in the 1940s, a young woman who sees visions of the future, who goes to work as a typist at the Hanford Site. While at first she doesn't know what their Project is, she is soon seeing terrifying visions of the terrible devastation it will bring--but of course, she is a Cassandra, and no one listens to her. I found this to be fairly bleak, though not exactly how I expected, but also I found it very interesting. It was engrossing, but am not sure I’d say I enjoyed it, per se. Content warning for rape and violence. B/B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in February.
Shields' latest novel centers on a young woman in the 1940s, a young woman who sees visions of the future, who goes to work as a typist at the Hanford Site. While at first she doesn't know what their Project is, she is soon seeing terrifying visions of the terrible devastation it will bring--but of course, she is a Cassandra, and no one listens to her. I found this to be fairly bleak, though not exactly how I expected, but also I found it very interesting. It was engrossing, but am not sure I’d say I enjoyed it, per se. Content warning for rape and violence. B/B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in February.
wreathedinviolets's review
3.0
I don't know much about the original Cassandra myth other than the basics, so I'm not sure how much of the plot exactly follows it. In many ways, this is a horror story that creeps up on you, reaching a truly dark point by the end. I did enjoy the pace and lyricism, but by the time I reached the end, I mostly felt unsatisfied.
asiajane's review
3.0
Not my usual fare, but I was drawn to this book by the cover. It is dark and filled with nightmarish visions... so fractured, though, that I was left without a real sense of who the main character truly was and what was real and what was imagined.
littlesophie's review
3.0
After an interesting premise and first half, the novel sadly loses direction and drive in the second half.
Snappily told, interesting setting, but slightly confused execution.
Despite the marketing, this really only takes the Cassandra myth as a point of departure. Apart from the fact that both women predict the future and are not believed, I didn't discover many similarities.
I'm willing to be proven wrong, however.
Snappily told, interesting setting, but slightly confused execution.
Despite the marketing, this really only takes the Cassandra myth as a point of departure. Apart from the fact that both women predict the future and are not believed, I didn't discover many similarities.
I'm willing to be proven wrong, however.
stephanie_e's review
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
micadawn's review
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-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
capitalfunishment's review
2.0
I desperately wanted this book to be good. We have atom bombs, strange visions and a great setting.
Spoiler: it was not good.
This book simply tried too hard to tick every box. It ended up being a jumbled mess.
Spoiler: it was not good.
This book simply tried too hard to tick every box. It ended up being a jumbled mess.
mark_cc's review
5.0
This book started out a little one-note, and the first thought I had was "this is like the obvious, central-to-the-plot sexism of season one of Mad Men with a sprinkling of the dreamy nonlinearity (and also sexism) of that Twilight Sleep episode of Mad Men!"
But unsurprisingly things just got darker and darker to the point where even when I was 90% done with the book I was dreading finishing it. The main accomplishment of this novel is being able to tell a story about the birth of the nuclear age as not one of triumph over the evil Nazis but one of incredible hopelessness in the fate of the world.
Content warning for sexual violence below the spoiler tags:
In this way, the Cassandra curse (no one believing her prophecies that are destined to come true) is overlaid on the experience of living in the sexist culture of 1040s America, where Mildred has to go through life knowing no one will believe her about the rape and assault.
I also have a personal soft spot for casting the Columbia River as the Temple of Athena.
But unsurprisingly things just got darker and darker to the point where even when I was 90% done with the book I was dreading finishing it. The main accomplishment of this novel is being able to tell a story about the birth of the nuclear age as not one of triumph over the evil Nazis but one of incredible hopelessness in the fate of the world.
Content warning for sexual violence below the spoiler tags:
Spoiler
In this way, the Cassandra curse (no one believing her prophecies that are destined to come true) is overlaid on the experience of living in the sexist culture of 1040s America, where Mildred has to go through life knowing no one will believe her about the rape and assault.
I also have a personal soft spot for casting the Columbia River as the Temple of Athena.