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vk124's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.75
This book took me a long time to complete, following the lives of the women and girls who were dial-painters. It had the heaviness of unavoidability, knowing from history that these ladies would not be spared the effects of radium poisoning. l felt an echo of their impotence to make the companies responsible for their illnesses accept accountability or do the right thing by them. I also felt impressed by their stamina, strength and desire to help their colleagues and future generations. I am glad Moore put forth the effort to research them and tell their story.
bsafely's review against another edition
Too many books from the library came in, still interested but will read another time
katie0528's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
4.75
This story follows the lives, careers, court battles, and deaths of "the Radium Girls," women who used radium to paint watches, clocks, and equipment starting just before World War I, and moving into World War II. Constantly lied to about the dangers of radium by the companies they worked for, countless women were poisoned by the radioactive material. A tragic tale of young women fighting for answers and justice, this book focuses on the women themselves, not just their battles in court, but the personal hardships so many of them had to endure.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Sexism, Terminal illness, Death, and Misogyny
Moderate: Gaslighting
Minor: Pregnancy, Infertility, War, and Miscarriage
ht2012's review
emotional
informative
medium-paced
4.5
Slightly religious undertones and "savior ificatuon" of men just doing their jobs but it's minor compared to the time the women's stories get
kassidyscatalogue's review against another edition
I simply got bored. I wanted to like it, but it got too technical when they started talking about the lawsuits. I also had a hard time keeping up and caring about any of the people or names since there were so many. I feel so bad for the women who had to suffer and fight through all that BS and hope they got justice in the end.
raevie's review
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Depicts the real lives of the radium girls and expanded my knowledge past the basics. Includes graphic and sad details about the tragedy.
futurama1979's review
4.0
⟶ 4.5/5 stars
I cried my eyes out through the last five chapters of this book. In her author's note, Moore says she wrote Radium Girls to tell the story of the radium industry and the suffering it cause focused on the women who hurt and died, instead of focused - like previous books on the subject - on the legal or medical proceedings. I think she did this with marked success. Not only does she tell the women's stories, but she does so with dedication and undeniable pathos.
It was a painful read, and rightly so. It wasn't easy to go through descriptions of the pain the women endured, or documents showing how callous and cruel the companies were in their refusal to help, but that's the point. It has to be a hard story; a book like this cannot be light. The impact of this story, told how Moore told it, is colossal.
The only thing preventing it from being a 5/5 is that sometimes Moore's language borders on a touch too melodramatic for me. Very powerful, but sometimes a bit too much. Moore was originally inspired to write the book because she directed a play on the same subject; that theater, that drama, comes through in her work, and it can feel a little overdone at moments. But overall, genuinely beautiful book.
I cried my eyes out through the last five chapters of this book. In her author's note, Moore says she wrote Radium Girls to tell the story of the radium industry and the suffering it cause focused on the women who hurt and died, instead of focused - like previous books on the subject - on the legal or medical proceedings. I think she did this with marked success. Not only does she tell the women's stories, but she does so with dedication and undeniable pathos.
It was a painful read, and rightly so. It wasn't easy to go through descriptions of the pain the women endured, or documents showing how callous and cruel the companies were in their refusal to help, but that's the point. It has to be a hard story; a book like this cannot be light. The impact of this story, told how Moore told it, is colossal.
The only thing preventing it from being a 5/5 is that sometimes Moore's language borders on a touch too melodramatic for me. Very powerful, but sometimes a bit too much. Moore was originally inspired to write the book because she directed a play on the same subject; that theater, that drama, comes through in her work, and it can feel a little overdone at moments. But overall, genuinely beautiful book.