I'm a sucker for little chunks of history that mean something in a bigger context; it's probably why I'm addicted to all retellings of the Bletchley Park story. And that's how I feel about the Radium Girls -- it's a story I already know from [b:The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York|7054123|The Poisoner's Handbook Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York|Deborah Blum|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442933592s/7054123.jpg|7305202], and found fascinating there, but I find it to have endless depths and nuances, and so I jumped for a more in-depth exploration (and I would again.)

With a backdrop of WWI, luminosity of watchfaces is a matter of life and death for soldiers. Fortunately, radioactive elements have recently been discovered, so women are paid to use radium to paint watch dials. Unfortunately, working with radium is a matter of life and death for the dialpainters...but no one seems to notice or care. It's a story about chemistry and the dual roles of chemical utility and chemical toxicity make in our lives. It's a story about feminism, and how women joined the workforce and were let in only around the edges. It's a story about our workplace rights that is still relevant in modern times -- after all, it directly led to the development of OSHA. It's a story about medical mysteries and how doctors work through tracing disparate symptoms to a single underlying disease. It's a stunningly apropos tale of a society that does not care for the weak in its ranks and bankrupts them through their efforts to obtain medical care for societal-inflicted wounds.

Kate Moore wanted more than that: she wanted a story that was really about the individual dialpainters, and to that end (according to the introduction, at least), she painstakingly interviews the families and friends of dozens of them. She wants them to be real people, rather than symbols. It's a deeply admirable goal. And it completely fell flat for me. By including what feels like at least 100 named dialpainters, I felt the impact was actually lessened, because I never got attached to any of them. Each has a tragic story, but it's really the same tragic story. So reading pages of "Jane Doe was a dialpainter. She loved her beautiful dress and her winning smile. She was dating John Doe. She was friends with other dialpainters, Sarah and Sally. They all lip-pointed, just like they were taught. Then her teeth starting falling out. They thought she had phosphorus jaw, but she didn't. Then she died. Mary Smith was a dialpainter..." got very (very, very) tedious. And then, honestly, I just got inured -- once I knew every character introduced would die within 10 pages, I stopped caring who their friends were, or who they were dating.

The latter parts of the book were better, especially the last part, where the book really focuses on a core group of painters from the Ottawa factor and the reader gets to know them and their personalities decently well. Even then, though, Moore tells us little about them except that they were "strong." The women never came alive for me.

Overall, I loved the topic. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I learned, and talking to people about radium and how we can reflect on that era. I respect what Moore was trying to do. On the other hand, I didn't actually enjoy reading this book. I spent 8 weeks reading this book. I usually read a book every 10 days, so that says a lot. I dreaded picking it up and treated it like a chore, especially the first half; the back half was better. This may be better as a physical book, where one can skim, but as an un-table-of-contented-eBook, it was pretty painful.

Overall, 3.5 stars. ( )

This story is heartbreaking yet so intriguing to read. History is dark and scary and this only proves it. Women doing their jobs to the best of their ability lost their jaws, their health and their life. It's brutal and scary!

This story is important to tell. I can't express it enough how insanely important it is to learn about these stories and learn from their mistakes. These women died but they don't need to die in vain. We need to learn to take care of each other and be as ethical as we can. Because, man... this book hurt. These excited young women just doing their best...

The scientific discoveries, the law suits, the fight to make sure radium poisoning was understood.... This book is one for the ages.

I haven't read the original YA Radium Girls, but this take was high on my radar because of the original. I can't tell if it holds up or if it's any better, but this book as a singular work is great! It's a long book for young readers though, just be aware.

Five out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and SourceBooks for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review. ( )

Puoi trovare questa recensione anche sul mio blog, La siepe di more

The Radium Girls racconta la storia delle cosiddette ragazze del radio, le operaie che subirono un avvelenamento da radiazioni di radio, elemento radioattivo scoperto da Marie Curie e da suo marito nel 1898. Il radio era il componente fondamentale della vernice radioluminescente utilizzata per verniciare i quadranti degli orologi per renderli luminosi: considerate che il grosso delle richieste veniva dall’esercito e che stiamo parlando degli USA e di un’azienda aperta nel 1914 e avrete anche solo una vaga idea del quantitativo di radio maneggiato senza alcuna precauzione da queste ragazze (a volte poco più che bambine).

Senza precauzioni perché, sebbene ci fossero indizi che il radio non fosse poi un elemento così innocuo, questi rimasero circoscritti alla comunità scientifica, mentre il marketing vendeva il radio come una specie di panacea per tutti i mali. D’altronde brillava al buio. Veniva usato per trattare alcuni tumori con successo (o almeno così pareva). Era fantastico.

Nessuna delle operaie venne avvertita di fare perlomeno attenzione.

Lip. Dip. Paint.

Questa è la formula, ripetuta più volte nel libro, che descrive la procedura per dipingere i quadranti. Le operaie mettevano i pennelli in bocca per appuntire i peli dei pennelli, immergevano i pennelli nella vernice e dipingevano i numeri e le lancette. Dite che mettersi in bocca della vernice non era comunque una buona idea? Eh, a farglielo capire a quelli della US Radium Corporation… appuntire il pennello con le labbra era il modo più efficiente per produrre più orologi e per dipingerli con più precisione.

Ricorderò questo libro per il dolore estremo e per la lotta incessante. Lo ricorderò per il dolore perché il radio viene scambiato dal nostro corpo per calcio, al quale chimicamente assomiglia: così il radio si deposita nel tessuto osseo, degradandone il midollo e aumentando la possibilità di indurre mutazioni e quindi cancro alle ossa.

L’ho scritto molte volte, non sono una persona particolarmente empatica, però questo libro mi ha devastato. Non tanto per le descrizioni grafiche di cosa accadeva ai corpi di queste ragazze – Moore è molto esplicita, tenetene conto se questo genere di cose vi impressionano – ma per il racconto del loro dolore, un dolore così estremo e disumano da annichilire.

Ma ricorderò questa storia anche per la lotta delle donne che non si sono arrese davanti alla mancanza di una diagnosi corretta, all’impossibilità di una cura, ai rifiuti degli avvocati che non volevano occuparsi di un caso contro un’industria così popolare e strategica, alle menzogne e ai leccapiedi che le portavano avanti. È grazie alla loro tenacia che il diritto del lavoro ha fatto importanti passi avanti negli USA per la tutela dellз lavoratorз, perché la loro salute venisse prima della capacità produttiva.

That was the tragedy. Radium had been known to be harmful since 1901. Every death since was unnecessary.

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Women's History Month read. Moral of the story: Capitalism sucks, man. Kind of a depressing read, the first half entirely consisted of the radium dial painters getting sick and dying, and the company encouraging it, lying, and evading responsibilities. It got a bit repetitive at times, but I understand it was to drive the point home. The second half was more interesting, as that is when the legal battle starts. Incredibly well researched, the level of detail is almost hard to believe at times. Pretty inspiring (albeit pretty sad at times) story. ( )

This review originally appeared on my blog at www.gimmethatbook.com.

Many thanks to NetGalley for this advanced reading copy!

From the moment I started reading THE RADIUM GIRLS I was enthralled. The author’s goal for the reader to learn about each individual girl is thoughtful and ambitious. This is truly a book where the characters are at the forefront of the story. We see how each one, eager to earn a living, found Radium Dial and sealed their fate. The author handles the tragedy with diplomacy and underscored, yet effective use of detail, both medical and non (such as when one of the ill-fated girls catches a glimpse of herself in a mirror and sees her bones glowing through her skin. She realizes she has radiation poisoning and promptly faints.).

As I read, I became infuriated and frustrated with the way that the girls were lied to and manipulated by the company. Banking upon their innocence, the “doctors” that examined them kept the true results hidden, while telling them that they were the picture of health. Over and over, they would experience a toothache or jaw pain; the harbinger of things to come. Insidiously things progressed to such a degree that walking or eating without pain was impossible. Thankfully, finally, the stars aligned and the case was brought to court. I am still amazed that there wasn’t more public outcry at their plight; this would never happen today. (Or would it? See the author’s epilogue.)

The author’s style is clean and easy to read; letting the story shine through without calling attention to how it’s being said. Once the “how” overshadows the “what”, I lose patience with a book. The writing flowed naturally here, letting emotions build and always keeping the girls front and center.

Each life is carefully, lovingly recreated – all the hopes, dreams and horror each Radium Girl experienced. By making each “girl” have a background, this brings them to life and makes this tragedy more real. There are so many moments in this book that made me stop to think about these poor victims – if they were men, would things have progressed as far as they did? These lives were truly taken for granted to further Radium Dial’s needs. I’m not sure which is more terrifying; the fact that radium has a half life of 1600 years (meaning their bodies are still emitting radiation from the grave) or that no one thought to care more about these women who were clearly suffering. Even the dimunitive “girls” is simultaneously endearing and dismissive, if you think about it.

THE RADIUM GIRLS was one of the best books I’ve read in a while, partly because the subject is fascinating, and because it allowed me to feel a gamut of emotions; to have me truly invested in the story and its outcome. The strength these women possessed is evident on every page, keeping the tension high and making them heroines regardless of how they were treated.

Kudos to the author for illuminating their lives as she did! She took these “statistics” and made them human…forcing us all to think about how the girls were treated as disposable. The description of the court battles is very detailed, further underscoring the evil corporation’s plans to try to drag out the proceedings, hoping the women would die before they would have to appear in court.

I have nothing bad to say about this book; there is history, pathos, hope, and humanity on every page. This should be required reading in high school, both to keep these girl’s memories alive, and to prevent suffering like this from ever happening again.
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