scenesfrommyshelves's review against another edition
4.0
Mid-century spy fiction is one of my favorite niches in historical fiction, and although 'A Woman of Intelligence' doesn't hit every single mark, it kept my interest and kept me curious throughout. A huge part of that is down to the heroine at the center of it all: Katharina, a UN translator feeling stifled by her gilded, circumscribed life as the wife of a fast-rising New York surgeon. At one of her lowest moments, she's approached with a lifeline that's also an enormous risk: the FBI wants her help in learning more about a former acquaintance who's involved with the KGB. Soon, she becomes a courier, handling sensitive documents and getting deeper into the world of Cold War era espionage.
Most of the characters who surround Rina are familiar tropes, though not un-entertaining: the cryptic senior agent handler, the forbidden love interest, the unpleasant husband. It's Rina's story that keeps things interesting, even when the plot follows a fairly expected series of events. Ambitious and messy and imperfect, Rina's the kind of heroine who can hold your interest no matter what, elevating this book.
Most of the characters who surround Rina are familiar tropes, though not un-entertaining: the cryptic senior agent handler, the forbidden love interest, the unpleasant husband. It's Rina's story that keeps things interesting, even when the plot follows a fairly expected series of events. Ambitious and messy and imperfect, Rina's the kind of heroine who can hold your interest no matter what, elevating this book.
sewkarenm's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
readingwithhippos's review against another edition
4.0
Rina is the wife of a wealthy surgeon, the mother of two boys, and from the outside seems to have it all, but on the inside she’s crumbling, desperately missing her job as an interpreter at the U.N. This desperation is what makes her the perfect get for the FBI--yes, it’s helpful that she speaks five languages, but what really makes her indispensable is her willingness to risk just about anything to feel like she’s alive again. That’s why she agrees to meet up with a former lover from her grad school days, a known Communist organizer. Rina is perfect for the job, but her lifestyle is not, and sneaking out to do her spy work gets more and more difficult as her husband insists that she be the perfect model 1950s housewife. This is a book that really captures the exhausting boredom of parenting young children, and the smothering feeling that can come from having to do it all on your own.
With regards to St. Martin’s Press for the advance copy. On sale July 20, 2021!
With regards to St. Martin’s Press for the advance copy. On sale July 20, 2021!
allieowilson's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
blimowery's review
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Not what I expected, and I mean that in the best possible way. I figured this would be another typical (to me) historical fiction piece where I might follow along with what's going on and learn a few things but really the Cold War/KGB spy was a secondary storyline to Katarina and her struggles with marriage and motherhood. Even though the story takes place in the 40s, I empathized with Rina and felt for her. I did listen to this on audiobook and the narrator, Jennifer Jill Araya, was fantastic!
heidirgorecki's review against another edition
4.0
A Woman of Intelligence dealt with so many insightful and complicated but brilliant concepts. The 1950s was very much an odd, and for many women, demoralizing or at least diminishing time period for women. With so many women having the opportunity to work outside of the home during WW2 and be involved in things they loved and were actually educated to do, only to have many of those opportunities yanked back after men returned from the war, for many there was a lost sense of purpose and control. Add in the often crude and male-dominant outlook then that a woman’s fulfillment should be solely as a housewife and mother and she should enjoy every second of it, it was not a healthy environment for many. The author did a great job at conveying all these things and the emotions of it.
While motherhood is a wonderful calling, it is not a simple one, and while for some woman they may desire to stay at home full time with their kids, many do not. But men expected that was required back then, as well as a wife should be obedient to her husband - not an equal, as we see often with Tom and Rina in the story. Certainly infuriating reading about it now. Being a mother is often ridiculously difficult and thankless, as Rina struggles with, let alone without the controlling and subservient way it was often done in the 50’s. Rina’s husband was able to find his fulfillment in his job, but unfortunately had a very simple and idealized view of what his wife should find fulfillment in with absolutely no empathy or involvement. And like happens so often in marriages, but so much more so with that type of lopsided environment, what was once love and care for each other became their own vacuum of experiences and needs, without communicating any of it to each other or finding common ground. Once Rina finds purpose and fulfillment working with the FBI during the communism-focused period of time, she begins to find herself and begins to be honest at the very end with her husband to potentially rebuild their relationship under new rules.
The author did a great job at highlighting much of the common but not always talked about struggle of mothering, how much marriages suffer when either spouse looks after their own ambitions rather than giving and empathizing with each other, and how women need each other and each others’ compassion instead of judgement, while not being afraid to be honest about our struggles.
Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
While motherhood is a wonderful calling, it is not a simple one, and while for some woman they may desire to stay at home full time with their kids, many do not. But men expected that was required back then, as well as a wife should be obedient to her husband - not an equal, as we see often with Tom and Rina in the story. Certainly infuriating reading about it now. Being a mother is often ridiculously difficult and thankless, as Rina struggles with, let alone without the controlling and subservient way it was often done in the 50’s. Rina’s husband was able to find his fulfillment in his job, but unfortunately had a very simple and idealized view of what his wife should find fulfillment in with absolutely no empathy or involvement. And like happens so often in marriages, but so much more so with that type of lopsided environment, what was once love and care for each other became their own vacuum of experiences and needs, without communicating any of it to each other or finding common ground. Once Rina finds purpose and fulfillment working with the FBI during the communism-focused period of time, she begins to find herself and begins to be honest at the very end with her husband to potentially rebuild their relationship under new rules.
The author did a great job at highlighting much of the common but not always talked about struggle of mothering, how much marriages suffer when either spouse looks after their own ambitions rather than giving and empathizing with each other, and how women need each other and each others’ compassion instead of judgement, while not being afraid to be honest about our struggles.
Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
mpolkadot_'s review against another edition
dark
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
jacieandbooks's review against another edition
3.0
This is a hard one for me to review, quite honestly. I flipped between 3 and 4 for a bit and even then it’s been hard for me to pinpoint exactly what I didn’t like about it. There was a lot going on, as in several themes/ stories kind of interwoven. The themes of struggles of (new) motherhood (like), the spying on the soviets (meh), and then 2 romances (dislike). Katharina losing her identity and purpose in life because of becoming a mother and her husbands “rules” that made her life even more restrictive was well told and a great story, full of affirmation and reminders for women and mothers. The spy part of the story was rather lame.. not terribly eventful and I wouldn’t call this a “spy book”. The outcome was really unsatisfactory as well. The bit I did like was her showing that people can be good humans on both sides of any political discussion. Now onto the romance. Here’s the thing.. 1) the affair didn’t actually serve much purpose to the storyline and 2) it was pretty terribly inaccurate. I have done A LOT of research on 1950 in the US (as research for my own novel, happening in June 1950), it just seems impossible to me that a black man and a white woman could be seen together in so many public places. He comes to her in laws rich-y rich part of town and they sit together, hold hands, talk... I’m not an expert but segregation was alive and well, even in New York. It makes me feel as though the author didn’t research that aspect of her story. Whether is did know that and tweaked it to serve her purposes, I found it unappealing.