Oh Pure and Radiant Heart
by Lydia Millet
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 120)
Read in February, 2008
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
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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 ...more
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Read in July, 2005
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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Read in January, 2007
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....more
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Read in November, 2007
More like a 4.5. If there were a such thing as the Great Human Novel (as opposed to the Great American, of course), this would be a major contender for the title. Sprinkled with bits of history and fact, this affecting fantasy (in which WWII A-bomb scientists appear in 2003) had me dreaming of explosions and sitting my dad down to discuss the likelihood of the U.S. (again) engaging in nuclear war. We've probably already used weapons just as bad, he assured me, and in the end that was essentiall...more
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Read in December, 2007
At the moment of the first major atomic bomb test, three physicists - Oppenheimer, Fermi, and Szilard - are sent forward in time to 2003, where they are taken in by a Santa Fe librarian and her gardener husband. The physicists get caught up in an anti-nuclear proliferation movement that ends up attracting hippies, Christians, and more, as the couple that takes them in struggles with their marriage, their relationship with the physicists and their increasing followers, and more. I liked the cha...more
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Read in January, 2008
This book started out beautifully, and the premise-- scientists Oppenheimer, Fermi and Szilard appear from the dead and unite in Santa Fe--was enticing. But the story quickly grew too absurd for my taste, the comedy was too much of the slapstick variety, and a few of the characters, namely Ann, the librarian who dreams of Oppenheimer in the glorious opening scene, and later befriends him in New Mexico and follows him and the others on their crazy quest, were unlikeable. I also found Szilard as a...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
everyone
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 o...more
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Read in December, 2007
I felt bad moving this to the "abandoned" pile, but it was long overdue at the library and couldn't compete with blogging, reading blogs, family time and chores for my attention despite the fact that I liked it quite a bit.
I was most taken with the Marx-brothery nature of the scientists Oppenheimer, Fermi and Szilard, and least interested in the plot or the grander, more metaphysical questions raised by the story of the A-bomb scientists transported forward in time to 2006-ish Ne...more
I was most taken with the Marx-brothery nature of the scientists Oppenheimer, Fermi and Szilard, and least interested in the plot or the grander, more metaphysical questions raised by the story of the A-bomb scientists transported forward in time to 2006-ish Ne...more
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Read in March, 2008
this was a five-star book for me all the way until the last third, when it (for me, anyway) spun out of control. despite the fact that i was disappointed by the end, i'd still recommend this novel to most anyone. it's provocative, touching, and wickedly funny all at once. it is rare for a book to have me laughing out loud on the subway, but the image of leo szilard quoting ice-t did me in. millett skillfully weaves plot with historical "facts" and in the resurrected scientists crea...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
Vonnegut lovers, but everyone really
A gloriously bleak tragedy that blends satire and painful reality through the medium of science fiction. Millet touches on everything from the horrors of paparazzi to the pure madness of the extremist Christian right, while packing her tale also with gut-wrenching details about the tragic aftermath(s?) of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Laced through with brilliant, quoteable writing and excellently-drawn characters. The book does falter a little on its undue focus on the modern female character, and th...more
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A wonderful concept that never rises off the page with any strength. Millet resurrects three atom-bomb scientists -- Oppenheimer, Fermi, Szilard -- in post-9-11 America, and has them recognize the horrible legacy of their work and go on a peace crusade. The book wants to be something like Catch-22, and in its ambitions to interweave the personal with the large and political, it strives for something DeLillo might pull off. But instead of being painfully, truthfully absurd, it's often simply zany...more
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Read in September, 2007
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.
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Read in August, 2008
recommends it for:
ambitious readers with a knack for understanding lofty, meandering style
I was diggin'this book, until the final installment. UGH. Talk about a laborious read. I barely finished, having had enough of the meandering, lazy writing. I loved the poignant, punching and interesting writing at the start, and really was grabbed by the story about 100 pages in. Too bad I lost all interest when the story went from really great to really absurd and boring.
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recommends it for:
Sophia Diaz
Beautifully written! Finally, a modern novel that is readable and meaningful. Basic plot: What would happen if the creator's of the atomic bomb were somehow transplanted to modern day Santa Fe? Best surprise of the book: The author refuses to rely on her unique plot to hold up the book. The characters are very real, and fleshed out.
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Read in March, 2008
It bogged down a bit in the middle, and the ending wasn't very satisfying, but I really liked this story of three nuclear scientists come back to life (interspersed with bits of nuclear history). Beautiful writing and entertaining characters (though some of them, like the landscaping wife, relied too much on stereotyping).
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Read in September, 2007
by turns funny, whimsical, surreal and profound. while parts of it would have benefitted from stronger editing, there were many moments of real insight into the human condition. a really unique piece of work... existentialist historical science fiction.
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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.
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Read in November, 2007
i am still reading this book, despite not having picked it up for months. It was at my apartment, taunting me when I was home this weekend. I, and the paper-chewing cat, have royally effed-up the advance copy of this book. sorry, jen.
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Read in August, 2008
I've gotten two thirds in and I'm beginning to think I won't finish. Very creative, but it's a weird mix of silly and intellectual, and I can't seem to make myself pick it back up.
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