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Jun 19, 2011

Christine rated it:

Ann and Michael from the Books on the Nighstand podcast told me to read this book. I'm glad I do what they say because I loved it.

Who would've guessed that a novel about an elderly victim of unethical medical experiments who sets out to kill the now doddering doctor who administered the radioactive cocktails fifty years ago would be funny. But it is!

Stuckey-French's characters are sympathetically drawn. They're quirky, but never so quirky that they feel unreal. The writi More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 03, 2011

Christine marked it as to-read

Seventy-seven-year-old Marylou Ahearn is going to kill Dr. Wilson Spriggs come hell or high water. In 1953, he gave her a radioactive cocktail without her consent as part of a secret government study that had horrible consequences.

Marylou has been plotting her revenge for fifty years. When she accidentally discovers his whereabouts in Florida, her plans finally snap into action. She high tails it to hot and humid Tallahassee, moves in down the block from where a now senile Spriggs liv More...

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Oct 14, 2011

Farfished9 rated it:

Ooooook--what to say, what to say..? I never tell what the book is about much because it takes up too much rambling space along with the opinion bit and has already been done a dozen times...sooo how I felt about this book is what you get, if ya want it...

This was a very easy read. I was entertained enough to read right through it...no problemo. The idea of an old lady out for revenge in the way of murdering an even older man who had done her wrong so long ago was great....just love More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 22, 2011

Dani rated it:

Though I always love quirky books, I tend to shy away from them. That is what happened to me with this book at first. I kept seeing it on bookshelves and library carts and while I was attracted to the cover I never picked it up. By the seventh time I saw it, I felt that the book was following me and that I had to read it. I am so glad that I did because it is the perfect combination of quirky characters, compassionate story, and deep drama. I found myself laughing out loud on one page only to tu More...

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May 10, 2011

Jessica at Book Sake rated it:

Marylou Ahearn is bent on revenge after locating the doctor who, in 1953, headed a radiation experiment that eventually took her eight-year-old daughter’s life. With plans to murder Dr. Wilson Spriggs, Marylou moves to Florida only to find out that Wilson now has Alzheimer’s disease and no recollection of her. Marylou’s plans of murder are foiled, for she cannot kill a man who has no idea what pain he’s caused her. Instead, she resolves to reap her revenge in the form of misery and tear Spriggs’ More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 27, 2011

Gaby rated it:

Humorous, quirky, offbeat all describe the unusual characters that inhabit The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady by Elizabeth Stuckey-French.

There is seventy-seven-year-old Marylou Ahearn is determined to kill Dr. Wilson Spriggs to avenge his involvement in the medical experiment that cost her her only child Helen. Spriggs had fed pregnant women - Marylou included - radioactive cocktails in a scientific experiment that bore horrific results. When Marylou finally tracks Dr Spriggs down More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 21, 2011

Felice rated it:

In another of those marvelous anecdotes that becomes unburied and astounds us all it turns out that between 1945 and 1949, 800+ pregnant women were told by doctors at Vanderbilt University Hospital that the radioactive iron they were given was a vitamin that would enhance their health and that of their unborn children. The experiment was to see if the children would be protected from the radioactivity by the placenta. Of course they were not protected. In The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady auth More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Feb 17, 2011

David rated it:

In 1958, a 50-foot woman attacked movie theaters in a rampage of "revenge and desire." The science-fiction camp classic has been revered and reviled in equal doses over the years--audiences either love the tale of Nancy Archer, hard-drinking socialite who turns into a giantess and goes after her husband and his mistress, or they put Attack of the 50 Foot Woman on par with Plan 9 From Outer Space. Either way, Nancy Archer has served as a prototype for cautionary feminist tales for the More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 14, 2010

faeriemyst rated it:

I took a chance on The Revenge of Radioactive Lady, it's not my usual read, but the cover and synopsis caught my eye and decided to give it a try. I was rewarded by a quirky story with neurotic, yet realistic, characters that was compulsively readable. Each chapter is told by a different person, Marylou/Nance and everyone in the Witherspoon family.

Though not as humorous as led to believe by the various quotes on the cover, the most amusing of it happened in the first chapter and nearer More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 16, 2011

Patty rated it:

Marylou Ahearn wants revenge.
Badly.
When she finds the target of her hate living peacefully in Florida she sets up housekeeping under a different name and starts to integrate herself into the family. Only there is one problem - her tormentor has Alzheimer's and doesn't remember a thing.

Or does he?

This book was a total hoot! Despite the dark topics involved in the plot it is written with a wry sense of humor that makes all of the murder/kidnapping/secret go More...

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Dec 19, 2011

Karen rated it:

The book sleeve says this is a "dark comedy wrapped inside a wacky family drama" and I have to say that about sums it up. The main character Marylou is 77 years old and seeking revenge on the doctor who gave her a radioactive cocktail when she was pregnant in 1953, without her consent, as part of a secret government study. Her daughter died of cancer when she was five years old as a result. She decides to find the doctor and kill him. The book then veers into the lives of the docto More...

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May 25, 2011

Mary rated it:

This is a fun book with serious undertones. Marylou Ahern is in her 70s and still bitter about the loss of her 8 year old daughter fifty years ago. She had unwittingly been part of a cold-war era medical experiment where pregnant women were given a radioactive solution to drink (but not told what it was). Her daughter died of bone cancer, her marriage failed, and she spent the next half century seething. In an internet search she finds that the doctor that gave her the solution is living with hi More...

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May 16, 2011

Susanhayeshotmail.com rated it:

Utterly irresistible title, not to mention the cover art or the story synopsis. I generally enjoy a good romp with any oddball, dysfunctional family so I expected to enjoy this thoroughly. I did gobble it right up but I am still deciding how much I actually liked it. To be sure, there are some great characters. You gotta love a 77 year old women bent on revenge against the doctor who headed up the research project that fed her a radioactive cocktail during pregnancy ... except that when he tu More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 30, 2011

Paul rated it:

It’s 1953 and Marylou Ahearn is pregnant with her first child. She is unknowingly given a radioactive cocktail by her doctor as an experiment. Eight years later, Helen, her first born, dies of cancer. Marylou, who has discovered her doctor’s deception, blames the cocktail and decides to take revenge by killing him. She is now 77 years old. She discovers where he currently resides, pulls up stakes from Memphis and moves to the Tallahassee area to be near him and his family – the easiest way More...

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Jun 20, 2011

Dia rated it:

The premise of "The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady" is an 80 year old woman obsessed with exacting revenge on the doctor who gave her radioactive cocktails at a free clinic she attended while pregnant in the 1950's. She had a daughter who died at age 8. She finds the doctor living in Tallahassee with his daughter and her family, who each have their own issues to deal with. Wilson, the doctor, is in the early stages of dementia and doesn't seems to remember Marylou or the situation. More...

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Mar 30, 2011

Siobhan rated it:

I am not sure how Elizabeth Stuckey-French manages to craft a funny novel out of the systematic radioactive poisoning of pregnant women by the US government in the 1950s, autistic teenagers, a marriage falling apart, an old man with border-line dementia, and a preacher with a prediliction for adolescents, but, remarkably, she does. And I am usually someone who likes my fiction heart-breaking rather than side-splitting, but I really enjoyed this book, racing through chapters to see what would hap More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Apr 15, 2011

Gretchen rated it:

This novel was very entertaining. The story is told from various characters view point - different family members and from the view point of the main character - the radioactive lady. She wants to kill the grandfather of this family because he was the lead doctor of a study that she was involved in was a young woman in which she unknowingly ingested radioactive substance while pregnant. Her daughter then died at the age of 8 from cancer. However, Marylou discovers that killing an old man who als More...

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Apr 06, 2011

Bookmarks Magazine rated it:

The story of Marylou is not all fiction. Between 1944 and 1974, more than 20 medical experiments charted the effects of radiation on pregnant women, including one at Vanderbilt University, where poor, white pregnant women were given cocktails of radioactive iron. One would suppose that a novel inspired by such dark subject matter would be solemn or angst-ridden; instead, The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady turns out to be “the best kind of page-turner—one with heart” (Boston Globe). A few review More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 25, 2011

Susan rated it:

Nancy Archer is the giant woman, made huge by contact with a space alien, in the campy old movie, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. So when Marylou Ahearn moves to Tallahassee for the sole purpose of killing Dr. Wilson Spriggs, she adopts that character's name. And she is a Radioactive Lady, thanks to a radioactive cocktail given to her without her knowledge as part of Dr. Spriggs's study. She, like the other women in this 1950s study, was pregnant. And her child died of cancer. Revenge, in 2006 More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 25, 2011

zxvasdf rated it:

The Corrections on a bong hit, The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady is a heartfelt story in which unexpected consequences rise from hastily pondered actions.

Marylou Aherns lost her child to a cancer due to her unwitting participation in a medical project helmed by one Dr Wilson Spriggs. Many years later she discovers where he is currently residing and hatches a plan to murder him in a coldblooded act of revenge. She also decides to wreak havoc in his family, to inflict some modicum of More...

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May 27, 2011

Leigh rated it:

Reading the book jacket quotes, I expected to be thoroughly entertained by this book. Unfortunately, I was never that excited while reading the book. I only read the whole thing to see if it ever lived up to the reviews. For me, it didn't. It had a lot of promise, but just didn't deliver. I regret finishing this book.

--------------POSSIBLE SPOILER BELOW------------------

If you're in the middle of it, know that it doesn't get any better and there are definitely better ways to More...

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Mar 14, 2011

Leslie rated it:

Marylou Ahern wants to kill Dr. Wilson Spriggs. Fifty years ago he was in charge of a secret government study that exposed pregnant women to radiation without their knowledge or consent. Marylou thought she was taking vitamins when in fact she was getting much more. The consequences were devastating. Her daughter died of cancer and she and her husband divorced.

Now Marylou has found Dr. Wilson and he is living with his family in Florida. She changed her name to Nance and moveed to Flori More...

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Mar 09, 2011

Amy rated it:

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher.

I loved both the premise and the cover of this book. Marylou Ahearn is ready to finally get her revenge on Dr. Wilson Spriggs after 50 years. She assumes an identity (straight out of a Hollywood B movie) and moves into Dr. Spriggs' Florida neighborhood to put her plan into action. In the 1950's, when Marylou was a young woman pregnant with her first child, she was given a radioactive cocktail as part of a government More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 05, 2011

LynnB rated it:

This novel is based on the factual information that during the Cold War secret medical experiments were done to show the effects of radiation on pregnant women. Writing even fiction about the results of this experimentation should be rather sad, but Stuckey-French has added in a few very dysfunctional neighborhood families and made this into a nice little bit of dark humor. Seventy-seven year old Marylou begins the story with planning a murder, worms her way into the family of the doctor who had More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 04, 2011

Lisa rated it:

There is something about novels that explore the modern day family that draw me in each time. The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady is an amazing example of a seemingly normal suburban family in Florida that isn't as ordinary as they appear.

A mix of comedy and tragedy, Stuckey-French follows the path of What if? as her main character plots revenge on the doctor who knowingly fed her radioactive juice during her pregnancy.

Toss into this mix a family with two children with More...

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Apr 08, 2011

Mary (BookHounds) rated it:

This is a truly dark tragedy - comedy that explores the goal of one woman who has had her life ruined by a secret government experiment with radioactive material and is bent on destroying the doctor that ruined her life. Well, that is the plan for Marylou Ahern, now using the name Nancy Archer after the movie "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman". Instead of infiltrating Dr Brigg's family, she somehow becomes part of it.

The story is told through each family member's point of view More...

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Mar 22, 2011

Chris rated it:

From the back of the book: "It's impossible not to love a novel that starts out with a seventy-seven-year-old woman planning cold blooded murder, especially when the old lady in question is as charming and funny..."

OH I DON'T KNOW! MAYBE IF YOU CAN LOOK PAST THE CHILD PORN RING, RAPE OF A 13 YEAR OLD, NUCLEAR CATASTROPHE, A FAMILY OF AUTISTICS, ADULTRY, AN 8 YEAR OLD WHO DIES OF CANCER AND ELDER ABUSE.

The nuts and bolts seem fairly well written, the characters well More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 26, 2011

Kate rated it:

I picked this book up on a whim when I saw it at the library the day before I began radiation therapy for my breast cancer. I thought the title appropriate, and while the radioactive lady of the title was not in radiation for anything, I found myself pleasantly surprised.

It wasn't necessarily the best written book, there were some gap, some story lines weren't finished tightly, and the end was just a bit too tidy, but it was mildly amusing. Well, amusing enough to get me to finish More...

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Jun 14, 2011

Sharon rated it:

A 77 year old lady (Marylou) plots revenge against the doctor (Dr. Wilson Spriggs) who ruined her life fifty years earlier. Sounded like a crazy story and it is. I think most families are "dysfunctional" in one way or another but I do not find a lot of humor in situations families with children with Asperger's Syndrome are dealing with. That being said, any time Marylou/Nancy and Dr. Spriggs spent time together was crazy good fun. Here is a woman seeking revenge and a man with Alzhei More...

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Apr 28, 2011

Donna rated it:

A radioactive geriatric with murder on her mind sounds like she should be exactly my kind of main character. The title, cover, and jacket blurb make the book seem like a dark comedy, so it was an unpleasant surprise to realize that, a third of the way through the novel, I was actually stuck in a slow-burn suburban drama with occasional touches of "isn't that just so wacky?" humor.

I liked Marylou quite a bit, but the scientist's family seemed like more of a focus, and they a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)