The Wives of Los Alamos: A Novel
by Tarashea Nesbit
by Tarashea Nesbit
Synopsis
They arrived in New Mexico ready for adventure, or at least resigned to it. But hope quickly turned to hardship as they were forced to adapt to a rugged military town where everything was a secret—including what their husbands were doing at the lab.
Though they were strangers, they joined together—adapting to a landscape as fierce as it was absorbing, full of the banalities of everyday life and the drama of scientific discovery.
While the bomb was being invented, babies were born, friendships were forged, children grew up, and Los Alamos gradually transformed into a real community: one that was strained by the words they couldn’t say out loud or in letters, and by the freedom they didn’t have. But the end of the war would bring even bigger challenges, as the scientists and their families struggled with the burden of their contribution to the most destructive force in the history of mankind.
The Wives of Los Alamos is a testament to a remarkable group of real-life women and an exploration of a crucial, largely unconsidered aspect of one of the most monumental research projects in modern history.
Review
I first heard about this book from the Books on the Nightstand podcast (have you ever listened? I'm a huge fan!) and I was excited to check it out, so when I randomly found it at the library recently I was thrilled. The book is written in the first person plural (as in "we" or "us") and I was hoping that I would get used to it as I read it, but I just couldn't relate to it. The way it was written it seemed to tell all the story and none of the story at the first time. And while I am sure that a lot of work went into this book, the tense of first person plural made it seem really shallow. HOWEVER (and this is a big however) the book was quite intriguing. I think this is a book that will really stick with me as the imagery was fantastic and the history of the Manhattan Project and the women that picked up their lives to follow their husbands who were working on it is a riveting subject. In addition this book was a super quick and easy read. It would be a great palette cleanser after perhaps a tough or lengthy book.
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