Reviewed by Mercy on
This was such a powerful read and I encourage you all to read it. If you have seen Hidden Figures and liked it, you'll like this too. It'll also make you angry for the injustices and sexism but it also made me happy because not everyone (the men) were assholes xD and specially because Elma is a brilliant character. I loved her so much and don't let me start about her relationship with her husband, Nathaniel. Those two are the most beautiful couple I've read about. I cried so many times with their interactions. I also loved Elma's friendship with other women and how they weren't competing but supporting each other. This is the kind of female friendship I want to read about.
If I have to say something negative, it's that Kowal's writing failed to make me feel at the edge in certain points of the story, when characters faced a problem and just when the situation reached a moment at which I started to get worried, the problem was solved. This isn't something that hindered my enjoyment though and it just happened a couple of times. The rest of the story? It was beautiful done, I'm not a science person but I could tell the effort the author put in the novel with all things related to rockets, equations and stuff. It's definitely hard sci-fi but it didn't went over my head despite me not understanding a bit of orbital dynamics.
If you want to read about smart women who fight for their rights and don't take a no for an answer, you need to read The Calculating Stars.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 6 January, 2019: Finished reading
- 6 January, 2019: Reviewed