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101st out of 117 books
—
93 voters
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart
by
Lydia Millet
Oppenheimer's first full day at the motel was devoted to television. He located the remote on the bedside table, where it sat beside the enigmatic telephone with its sheet of intricate numeric instructions, and eventually by pressing the button marked power discovered its function. -from OH PURE AND RADIANT HEART
In Oh Pure and Radiant Heart, the three dead geniuses who inv...more
In Oh Pure and Radiant Heart, the three dead geniuses who inv...more
Paperback, 544 pages
Published
July 3rd 2006
by Mariner Books
(first published June 1st 2005)
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There is a really, truly fantastic book here. There's also a mediocre book here. There are also a few other books here, and hence the issue: too much. A fourth of this book or more could have been scrapped and not missed at all, which is a shame because what would have been saved would have made for an astounding piece of fiction. What could have easily been an overly gimmicky book centered around three of the scientists largely responsible for the atomic bomb being magically transported into mo...more
This book is so curious; it feels a little bit like a Kurt Vonnegut or Tom Robbins novel, but the diction is higher and the philosophizing more rampant. I can only conclude that Lydia Millet is so smart it hurts, because she can create scenes of intense intimacy and introspection (see the interiority of Ann and her thinking about her relationship with her husband Ben) and also of near-epic sideshowness (see the novel's climax, which involves miraculously resurrected A-bomb scientists, an army of...more
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Mar 28, 2009
Huw
added it
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Nov 17, 2012
Raventongue
rated it
1 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Almost nobody.
Shelves:
complete-and-utter-crap
Mother. Fucking. What. The first part of this novel was a solid 3.5 or 4 stars. It completely changes tone at what feels like exactly halfway through and becomes essentially a different book with vaguely related characters. Oh Pure and Radiant Heart segues over to bad fanfiction of itself. I resent myself for having continued to read it.(spoilers past this point)
What rocked about the first part:
Enrico frickin' Fermi. The bit where he goes, "There were secret police in Italy too. You don't scare...more
What rocked about the first part:
Enrico frickin' Fermi. The bit where he goes, "There were secret police in Italy too. You don't scare...more
I wouldn't say I actively disliked this book as a book, but halfway through I realized that whenever I got on the train to rain my spirits would sink knowing that I had only this book to read. The character I identified with most was the main character's husband, Ben, who spent a lot of time vaguely irritated at having to follow people around for vague reasons. The premise of three mid-20th century nuclear scientists appearing in 2003 sounded a bit troubling to me from the start (it just sounded...more
Lydia Millet's Oh Pure and Radiant Heart is certainly something worth paying attention to. This is not to say, however, that this book will be one of my new favorites. The subject matter is interesting and the characters she creates are very strong.
However, there are parts of the piece that definitely feel heavy handed and other parts definitely drag. Ann, the female protagonist of the piece, often got caught up in philosophical musings that seem unrealistic and interrupt the significantly more...more
However, there are parts of the piece that definitely feel heavy handed and other parts definitely drag. Ann, the female protagonist of the piece, often got caught up in philosophical musings that seem unrealistic and interrupt the significantly more...more
Oct 03, 2011
Meshia
added it
I picked this up at a used book store on a visit to San Diego last year and just finished it yesterday. I REALLY wanted to like this book, but there was just too much introspective dialog. I could relate to Anne a bit with her insasate need to want to follow these scientist bc of the banal life she was leading in New Mexico. It was ultimately about her searching for purpose and perhaps adventure. She wanted to feel needed and part of something bigger than herself and her nucluer exsistance. I un...more
A book represents an investment in time. A 530-page novel is a lot of time for a slower reader like me, so I don't like finishing a long story with a sigh and a feeling of confused dissatisfaction. I've wanted to read this book for years and it started off captivatingly -- a librarian experiences a traumatic event, and suddenly starts seeing long-dead nuclear scientists roaming her hometown. Great premise. But then, the characters travel to Japan (using fake IDs) and the story sputters out. Pens...more
Someone from Booklist has read Lydia Millet's Oh Pure And Radiant Heart and encourages would-be readers to “think Twain, Vonnegut, Murakami, and DeLillo.” Since I enjoyed the novel enough to finish it, I think I'm qualified to amend that list.
Twain: do not think Twain. Not even for a second. You're thinking “Twain” right now, and I'm telling you: no. Stop. Twain loved nothing more than, as the British punks say, “taking the piss.” Millet probably began her novel with the intention of taking the...more
Twain: do not think Twain. Not even for a second. You're thinking “Twain” right now, and I'm telling you: no. Stop. Twain loved nothing more than, as the British punks say, “taking the piss.” Millet probably began her novel with the intention of taking the...more
Oppenheimer, Szilard, and Fermi can deal with life in the 2000s, but their consciences don't fare as well; the scientists seek redemption both for themselves and the modern world. Despite the outlandish premise of her new novel__a combination of black comedy, history, science, time travel, and spiritual inquiry__Millet's "what-if" scenario resounds as loudly today as it did 60 years ago. She draws amazing portraits of the physicists (the elegant Oppenheimer in particular) and finds humor in trag
...more
I found this book by serendipity and what a wonderful find it was! My attention was grabbed by the striking cover and the blurb alluding to time travel, but inside I found an engrossing, beautifully written, funny, alarming and thought provoking read.
Lydia Millet writes a scenario involving three of the physicists most closely associated with the development of the atomic bomb. At the moment of the very first test explosion of the Trinity bomb in the New Mexico desert, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Le...more
Lydia Millet writes a scenario involving three of the physicists most closely associated with the development of the atomic bomb. At the moment of the very first test explosion of the Trinity bomb in the New Mexico desert, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Le...more
so, is it ok to review a book I didn't finish? well, I'm going to do it anyway. this book has such great potential. the premise is brilliant and the narrative is simply poetic at most points. it's just too long, and filled with too many sanctimonious segues about nuclear war. maybe someday I'll finish it, or perhaps read an abridged version.
I loved the premise. The three men responsible for the atom bomb are transported from the trinity site to modern day New Mexico. Learning about them and exploring their reactions to how their lives played out made for good reading. I found myself really caring about the characters. The only exception was Leo Szilard, who came across as a caricature.
I really liked it at the beginning, but it overstayed its welcome. As others have said, it could have been a really good 200 page novel. Instead, it...more
I really liked it at the beginning, but it overstayed its welcome. As others have said, it could have been a really good 200 page novel. Instead, it...more
To plagiarise a review from Amazon...'This is a 200 page book packed into 496 pages'. This book is in desperate need of an editor. I won't say it was awful because there were parts that I liked but they were few and far between. The writing style is arrogant and obnoxious and the whole thing reminds me of teenage pothead philosophy.
The cover reviews contain comparisons to Vonnegut and Twain which just astound me. This book is pretty philosophically shallow, poorly written and seems to me to be...more
The cover reviews contain comparisons to Vonnegut and Twain which just astound me. This book is pretty philosophically shallow, poorly written and seems to me to be...more
I really really wanted to like this book. I thought it was extremely sluggish in the beginning, but I grew to love the characters of the scientists (not so much the protagonists) and was sincerely curious to find out why they were brought back to life. I thought this story could go in a hundred directions; of which it took none. I struggled with the writing style (Millet uses a truly unorthodox approach to dialogue). Honestly, even though I have always been interested in the events of WWII and t...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This book doesn't know whether it wants to be highbrow or, I quote, 'compulsively readable'. I'm not a big fan of plot, so all the bloody plot was a bit of an obstacle for me. Sometimes I think a 'good story' is an excuse for not very good writing. Fuck a yarn.
There are some nice moments in amongst a lot of dreck... But it's not as funny as it thinks it is, or as profound. It felt a bit like a holiday read or whatever those books are called that people that I don't know read. Except it had some...more
There are some nice moments in amongst a lot of dreck... But it's not as funny as it thinks it is, or as profound. It felt a bit like a holiday read or whatever those books are called that people that I don't know read. Except it had some...more
this book is so lovely, the writing is delicious. it also includes lots of facts about US nuclear testing past and present - truly horrifying stuff.
1 like · like · see review
couldn't finish it, alas. Just so much internal dialogue of the poetic big-deep-thoughts-about-life sort so frequently, I tired of it quickly.
Nukes are bad and they have to be abandoned as weapons. So says three resurrected Manhattan Project scientists; J. Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard. They lead a peace movement to end thje proliferation of nukes. The story is interrupted, at times, for past facts about the US nuclear weapons program. All quite scary. Needless to say, in D.C. Szilard is shot and the peaceful demonstration fired on and dispersed. Governments don't back down easily. Oppenheimer and Fermi are lifted a...more
Aug 03, 2012
Stephanie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
writers, lovers of powerful fiction
Recommended to Stephanie by:
the wonderful Telaina
Lydia Millet's book is one of the best I've read in the past year. It's beautifully written, smart, filled with the sense of the impermanence of existence, the frailty of our species, the beautiful foolishness of our attempts to tamper with Nature. It will make you think differently; it might make you weep. It has some amazingly beautiful lines and observations. The plot becomes fantastical at the end; you have to be willing to go on the journey with Millet, but it's a hell of a ride. Thanks, Te...more
I loved the premise. The three men responsible for the atom bomb are transported from the trinity site to modern day New Mexico. Learning about them and exploring their reactions to how their lives played out made for good reading. I found myself really caring about the characters. The only exception was Leo Szilard, who came across as a caricature.
I really liked it at the beginning, but it overstayed its welcome. As others have said, it could have been a really good 200 page novel. Instead, it...more
I really liked it at the beginning, but it overstayed its welcome. As others have said, it could have been a really good 200 page novel. Instead, it...more
'Oh Pure and Radiant Heart' is a meditation on the irreversible changes to our world after the invention of the first atomic bomb. It's told in the form of a wacky road-trip story about Oppenheimer, Fermi, and Szilard spontaneously finding themselves transported from the spring of 1945 to the 21st century, having 'split off' from their other selves that lived through history and died. It's a credit to Lydia Millet's style that she can tell such a bizarre tale in a stately, dreamlike fashion, rat...more
It has been a long time (Proust?) since I have savored the language of a novel to this degree. Not that it is on that level, but parts of it are gorgeous. Kind of more like a Marilynne Robinson novel. A quiet, meditative novel about nuclear physicists traveling through time from the 1950s to the 2000s and inspiring a cult and possibly the apocalypse.
Yes – that’s quite a tall order. And Millet pulls it off. And I am no science fiction fan. This is NOT your typical science fiction. In fact, it doe...more
Yes – that’s quite a tall order. And Millet pulls it off. And I am no science fiction fan. This is NOT your typical science fiction. In fact, it doe...more
I know nothing about nuclear weapons or 1940s scientists, so I approached this book seeking an education. I was going to write “and boy, did I get one” here, but that would be so cringeworthy, I might as well sign up for the fucking Terry Wogan Appreciation Society.
So, Lydia Millet. Her novel opens with our homey protagonists, Ann and Ben. Ann is a librarian who thinks deep things about her boring life and is far too clever to work as a sheepish librarian. Ben is a put-upon gardener working for...more
So, Lydia Millet. Her novel opens with our homey protagonists, Ann and Ben. Ann is a librarian who thinks deep things about her boring life and is far too clever to work as a sheepish librarian. Ben is a put-upon gardener working for...more
Jan 15, 2010
Sessily
added it
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart is a difficult book to review. I was not drawn in at the beginning--it felt like it took her a little too long to get to the beginning of the story, like Millet was trying to set up the characters rather than let the reader develop an understanding of them through the plot. Once the plot kicked in, though, I was enthralled by the physicists (reincarnated? time-traveling? who knows...) and the people who flock to them in search of hope or, in the case of one group, somet...more
Ok. So this book gets three stars from me because of two reasons. At times I completely hated it, but at others I loved it. So three stars seems fair. I honestly didn't think I was going to be able to finish this book, it was like A Clockwork Orange for me, the only book I ever put down without finishing. But I was bored and I read-on and finally I was able to find ways to like it. I picked up this book with a totally different idea of what it was about, I'm not sure where I got that idea about...more
An odd novel that would’ve been better at half the length. The woman at the heart of the story is a librarian in New Mexico. Anne has a landscaper boyfriend who loves her deeply. She is at a loss, in confusion, and despondent. When the novel resides in her interiority, it drags to a halt. Luckily, the day after Anne dreams of Robert Oppenheimer and a mushroom cloud, Oppenheimer appears in modern day Los Alamos. Soon he is joined by Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard, creators all of the atomic bomb. A...more
What would happen if Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard, the primary physicists from the Manhattan Project returned to contemporary America to discover the repercussions of their creation--the atomic bomb? The author doesn’t delve into the logistics of their resurrections, as inevitably it doesn’t really matter. What’s interesting is the idea of them having to face what they’ve done, the emotions they go through, the effects of nuclear testing on innocent civilians and how nuclear...more
Jun 25, 2007
Richard
added it
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart plucks the three scientists who were integral to the invention of the atom bomb: Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, and Enrico Fermi as they watch history's first mushroom cloud rise over the desert on July 16th, 1945...and places them down in modern-day Santa Fe. One by one, the scientists are spotted by a shy librarian who becomes convinced of their authenticity. Entranced, bewildered, and overwhelmed by their significance as historical markers on the one hand, and thei...more
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Born in Boston in 1968, Lydia Millet moved to Toronto, Canada with her Egyptologist father and teacher/librarian mother two years later. She received a Master's in Environmental Policy at Duke University and moved to New York in 1996, where she worked as a fundraiser for the Natural Resources Defense Council. In 1999 she went freelance and moved to Tucson, where she now lives and writes full-time...more
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“It is not learning we need at all. Individuals need learning but the culture needs something else, the pulse of light on the sea, the warm urge of huddling together to keep out the cold. We need empathy, we need the eyes that still can weep.”
—
15 people liked it
“Beneath the violet pillar, in the vacuum before the roar of the cloud, there came a soft sound that might have been heard by those who listened closely: the gentle sigh of an idea unbound.”
—
6 people liked it
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