Beginning the World Again

by Robert Silman and Roberta Silman

Book Overview

An unhappy wife struggles at Los Alamos: "Deftly interweaves details of family life with the larger issues spurred by the scientists' deadly work."--BooklistWinner of the Washington Irving Award After... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670830623
• ISBN13: 9780670830626
• Release Date: October 1990
• Publisher: Viking Books
• Length: 414 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.

Customer Reviews

I went in w/the initial intention of physically gutting this well bound hard back book to harvest for craft project parts but ended up actually reading instead of indulging in my newly found obsession w/the Pinterest inspired sacrilegious slaughtering of physical books of all kinds from common, abundant reprints to endangered, rare &/or potentially genuine first prints/limited editions. Darn you, Pinterest, for your purty, purty photo-shopped, thief of time, staged pictures that are the source of my crazy cluttered hoard of otherwise useless garbage craft paraphernalia. WARNING: SPOILER ALERTS. Ain't nobody got time to read this book or its obligatory endorsing synopsis. It's a romance novel set against the backdrop of the "oft-told tale" of the dramatic creation of nuclear weapons during WWII, in particular, the atomic bomb, or the atom bomb, a.k.a., the "A-bomb," in what is known as "The Manhattan Project." What, was that an attempt to get boys to read it? The story revolves around the not so nerdy love lives of some of the scientists gathered in Los Alamos, N.M. in 1943-1945, from the point of view of their wives, lovers and/or baby mamas. It should be called "The Predictable Women of Los Alamos." This is before the dawn of "Sex in the City," any kind of Housewives or the paradox of reality television. It's a V.C. Andrews' wannabe book but w/the reality of a really REAL & sobering "A-bomb" looming in the background. Honestly, WHO can compare with the late and great, beloved, epic V.C. Andrews other than her best posthumous ghost writer? The author has some sweet scene setting words & sentiment stealing descriptions despite how it almost reads like a pedantic history book with a few soft core porn tease scenes in between that make you ALMOST wanna touch yourself if you weren't too busy skimming to the "good parts" that never come. I DID, however, get a better understanding of physics, atom splitting, uranium-235, isotopes, fission, how the atomic bomb works & how it is so devastatingly lethal. Also, super famous physicist, Robert J. Oppenheimer's name is thrown around here and there for added realism. He is referred to as "Oppie," which at first, I thought was funny 'cause it made me think of the Korean word for "big brother," but w/a subtle sexual, non-incestuous but sorta incestuous connotation, "Oppa." Then my mind wandered off to K-Pop and all of its superficial, artificial yet natural, universal desire to be desired for its ephemeral, dewy, wide eyed doe-y eternal youth and innocence with a tinge of attractive, grungy, edgy "bad" sexy character flaw that sank Eden down to grief. I will still dissect this dudley bomb of a soft core porn book. It ain't no V.C. Andrews, but it did have its moments where I can clearly relate to the main heroine, Lily Fialka. Also, there's a female character named "History" & the author double duties this name to incorporate Pinterest-y cliché sayings about history when she refers to the chick named "History." Oh, how clever. WHY did that name not blow up, I dunno. I was gonna name my future potential daughter after the "Hunter X" character, Biscuit Kruegar, nick named "Bisky," but now, I'm leaning more towards History. It can be short for Hysterectomy. This is based on skimming through the book while scavenging for good crafting parts. I did not receive any compensation or free books for my candid opinions. I DID actually read about the first 31 FULL pages. There is a dead baby somewhere in this book, a subject that undeniably touched my heart & made me stop dead in my tracks as a bereaved mother myself. I almost didn't want to tear the book up then.