Review: The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore

5 stars for The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore.

I read this book because of the word "Radium" in the title. I first read and learn about radium in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. For the reason that radium is mentioned only in passing for its application to treat cancer in Skloot's book, I find myself drawn to this book which is all about radium and the girls who pay with their lives, and their fight for recompense, for recognition and for justice.

So what is radium?

Radium is a chemical element with symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is a rare radioactive metal of the alkaline earth series and can be extremely dangerous.

Radium is formed when uranium and thorium break down in the environment. Uranium and thorium are found in small amounts in most rocks and soil.

Radium has a half-life of about 1600 years. As it undergoes radioactive decay, it divides into two parts - one part is called radiation and the other part is called a daughter. The daughter, like radium, is not stable, and it also divides into radiation and another daughter. The dividing of daughters continues until a stable, nonradioactive daughter is formed.

During the decay process, alpha, beta, and gamma radiation are released. Alpha ray can travel only a short distance and cannot travel through your skin. Beta ray can penetrate through your skin, but they cannot go all the way through your body. Gamma radiation can go all the way through your body; this gives radium its medicinal value, being able to travel through the body and be directed at a tumour.

Until the 1960s, radium was a component of the luminous paints used for clock dials, intrument panels in airplanes, military instruments and compasses, and even in many everyday products, including wristwatches, toothpaste and energy drinks. It was thought to have curative properties until its intense radioactivity was found to cause adverse health effects.

It is extremely sad and disturbing to know that the events in the book are real and did happen in the 1920s in Newark and Orange in New Jersey, Ottawa in Illinois and Waterbury in Connecticut, United States of America.

The girls work in a radium dial painting factory that make the first watches with illuminated dials. Following the instructions to keep their paintbrushes well pointed, the all-female dial-painters use the ‘lip, dip, paint routine’ where they put the brush to their lips, dip it in the radium, and painted the dials.

Eventually, the introduction of minute quantities of radioactive substance build up in the bodies of these girls and nearly all died of radium poisoning. The book describes in horrendous details the pains and sufferings these women have to endure as their bodies slowly disintegrate and make them the living dead. Due to industrial occupational hazards, none of them are able to lead normal lives.

There is also the riveting courtroom drama that keeps me at the edge of my seat as I read on how these young innocent women stand up for what is right, even as their world fall apart, how they fight on when all hope seems gone, how they inspire one another to defend against attack or criticism, and finally, how they lead other dial-painters to come forward through their friendship networks.

On top of the hopeless situation of radium poisoning due to no cure, there is also plenty of anger to go around as I read about the notoriously dishonest United States Radium Corporation (USRC). The USRC is a vivid example of the ways of an inconceivably selfish capitalist system which cares nothing about the lives of its workers, but seeks only to guard its profits and interests.

The story of The Radium Girls has now been told, their voices heard. If you have yet to read this book, it is never too late to pick one up and be transported to the Roaring Twenties to understand what it means to be a dial-painter, to be one of the glowing girls who leave behind an extraordinary legacy.

Review: D is for Deadbeat (Kinsey Millhone #4) by Sue Grafton

4 stars for D is for Deadbeat (Kinsey Millhone book 4) by Sue Grafton.

I decide to revisit this tried and tested Alphabet series after my miserable attempt at not one, nor two, but four books where the plots fail to hatch into something more that entice me to read beyond the initial 20%.

C is for Corpse. This is the last Kinsey Millhone book that I read way back in November 2016. At that time, I wonder what author Grafton will do when she runs out of alphabets to grace her book covers. Will the series then draw to a close? Sadly, my concerns are addressed in an article released after the author passed away in Dec 2017. With the publication of her latest book in August 2017, the alphabets series has reached “Y is for Yesterday" and will now end at Y, forever.

D is for Deadbeat is about private investigator Kinsey Millhone being caught up in the loop of a man with the desire to make restitution. The writing is good. The plot is not bad. And there is this unexpected twist towards the end.

It is good to know that, when all else fails, I can always fall back on a good, old, down-to-earth mystery story.

Review: Behind Closed Doors by B. A. Paris

Did Not Finish Behind Closed Doors by B. A. Paris.

I have finally read the book that everyone seems to be raving about since its 2016 debut. A story about the wife of a brilliant lawyer, a perfect example of a woman who has it all — the perfect house, the perfect husband, the perfect life. Or so she says...

I read and read and read. At 30% into the story, there is still nothing about the plot or the characters that fascinates me. I am bored to tears and I wonder if I should struggle on or give up reading. So, I start a thread asking for opinions from readers alike, and I am shocked at the overwhelming response of so many who not only share the exact same sentiments as myself, but go a step further to dislike this story to the core.

Yes, the plot turns from moderately interesting to a bit far-fetched to the point of absurd. How is it even possible that the protagonist, a woman who is independent, resourceful and capable of earning her keep for the past thirteen years, suddenly turns into a doormat at the drop of a hat? Sorry to say, it is just so ridiculously unbelievable.

To the peeps from FB book group "What Should I Read Next", thank you for the vote of confidence in helping me with the decision to stop reading before my dislike for this story turns into something worse for the time invested.

Hmm.. so what's next? What should I read next?

Review: The Polygamist's Daughter by Anna LeBaron

4 stars for The Polygamist's Daughter by Anna LeBaron.

AT AGE NINE, I had forty-nine siblings.

This first sentence is what propels me to read the heart-wrenching life story of Anna LeBaron, one where normalcy as we know it, meets her only somewhere in the middle of her narrative.

Grown up in polygamy with no idea of the truth, Anna lives a life characterized by fear, chaos, and insecurity. Though trained to simply do as she is told without voicing her opinions or speak of her desires, needs and longings, Anna somehow finds the courage to take matters into her own hands and make a life changing decision at a tender age of thirteen.

Does the above pique your interest and entice you to find out more about the culture and practice of polygamy or how the author finally breaks free from her childhood chains of polygamy? I hope it does. Because this book will make us appreciate our lives and be thankful for life's simple pleasures.

Review: The One by John Marrs

2 stars for The One by John Marrs.

This is one book which I feel torn between giving my 2 stars worth of rating or stamping it Did Not Finish without so much as a backward glance.

Strictly speaking, I did finish reading the book upon flipping to the last page, but only because I skip so many chapters to jump right to the last one and read it backwards for that ten percent or so.

The One starts out fine with an air of mystery on finding one's significant other via a DNA match. However, I soon get bored of the story with its mediocre plot before I even reach the halfway mark.

And before I know it, Skip has become my middle name. Yes, I am glad to be done with this book.

Review: This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

5 stars for This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper.

This is Where I Leave You is an entertaining family saga that amuses me to no end. I laugh and I cry and I stare and I moon over the first person narratives as well as any mocking good humor that ensues.

Meet the Foxmans as they sit Shiva. There is Mr Morton Foxman (recently deceased), Mrs Hillary Foxman and their four grown-up children, Wendy, Paul, Judd (narrator) and Phillip. Forced to reconvene at Knob’s End, the cul-de-sac where their parents’ house stands over the course of seven days, the emotionally inarticulate Foxmans go through an unexpected emotional growth as they grapple with whatever life throws at them - kids or the lack thereof, finances and fiancées and soon-to-be ex-wives, loneliness and self-esteem, love and loss, death and grief.

Life issues are common problems, issues and crises that happen to normal people living normal lives just like you and me. The thing is, the author manages to capture the gist of it and proceeds to fabricate a story in the context of the Foxmans all so well that I simply cannot resist but read the book and laugh out loud.

If you ever find yourself bombarded by life issues and are at your wits' end, take a step back, pick up this book, relax and read it for a good laugh.

Review: The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

4 stars for The Hating Game by Sally Thorne.

The Hating Game is a great exploration of workplace dynamics between two employees, Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman, who also happen to be mortal enemies. There is actually nothing hateful in The Hating Game, in fact, I more than welcome the change from my previous read, a dystopian crime fiction to this light-hearted, humor-packed romance novel.

Truth be told, this is my second try at reading. I am not sure why I did not manage to sneak past chapter one the first time round which is rather strange because the humor starts right away after the first couple of pages. I am just so glad not to have cast this book aside eternally but revisit it at some point in time when the stars are aligned.

Well, if you can agree to it that both love and hate are mirror versions of the same game, then you may be up for the challenge to play the Mirror Game, or the Staring Game, or the HR Game, or the Spying Game, or the Racing Game or even the Act Natural Game. The question is, are you game for The Hating Game?