A review by tjwallace04
Atomic Anna by Rachel Barenbaum
3.0
I was really anticipating great things from "Atomic Anna." It has such a great premise. I love time travel books, and I am fascinated by Chernobyl. (I read Adam Higginbotham's great nonfiction book "Midnight in Chernobyl" earlier this year and learned so much.) But I was underwhelmed.
"Atomic Anna" is much more a book about family and mother-daughter relationships than it is a book about time travel. And Chernobyl barely features other than as the impetus for the time travel research. (Additionally, some of the information shared about Chernobyl seemed wrong...it didn't immediately kill thousands of people or a bunch of children, etc.)
The book follows the lives of three main characters in three timelines (that are criscrossed by time travel, although not as much as you would expect): Anna, a nuclear physicist who helped create Chernobyl and feels responsible for the disaster; her daughter Manya/Molly, whom Anna sends to live with adoptive parents in America; and Molly's daughter, Raisa, a mathematical genius who might just be able to fix Anna's faulty time machine. Each woman struggles with their relationship with their mother and their romantic relationships. Throughout the book, they try to save each other from bad choices and outcomes (Anna tries to save Molly; Molly wants Anna to save Raisa), but life is too tangled for easy solutions. Nevertheless, the very end is presented on a platter with a flourish that seems too simple...and yet I wasn't even clear if they stopped the Chernobyl meltdown??
The writing was overall good, and I mostly liked the characters, but I think the ratio of family drama: exciting/thought-provoking time travel action was way off, and the book consequently felt too long.
"Atomic Anna" is much more a book about family and mother-daughter relationships than it is a book about time travel. And Chernobyl barely features other than as the impetus for the time travel research. (Additionally, some of the information shared about Chernobyl seemed wrong...it didn't immediately kill thousands of people or a bunch of children, etc.)
The book follows the lives of three main characters in three timelines (that are criscrossed by time travel, although not as much as you would expect): Anna, a nuclear physicist who helped create Chernobyl and feels responsible for the disaster; her daughter Manya/Molly, whom Anna sends to live with adoptive parents in America; and Molly's daughter, Raisa, a mathematical genius who might just be able to fix Anna's faulty time machine. Each woman struggles with their relationship with their mother and their romantic relationships. Throughout the book, they try to save each other from bad choices and outcomes (Anna tries to save Molly; Molly wants Anna to save Raisa), but life is too tangled for easy solutions. Nevertheless, the very end is presented on a platter with a flourish that seems too simple...and yet I wasn't even clear if they stopped the Chernobyl meltdown??
The writing was overall good, and I mostly liked the characters, but I think the ratio of family drama: exciting/thought-provoking time travel action was way off, and the book consequently felt too long.