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Radium Girl: Stories
Radium Girl is a collection full of dark wonder where Sofi Papamarko explores the boundaries of love, death, loneliness and justice. In these twelve deft stories, we are introduced to a cast of unforgettable characters: Margie and Lu, teenaged conjoined twins; Rosie who cruises funerals; Pete the predatory magician; the subconscious mind of Marie Curie; Elda the Radium Girl and many more. These are magical stories; they twist and turn in unexpected ways, leaving the reader sometimes shocked, sometimes delighted and often breathless. With pitch-perfect writing, Papamarko shows us how human beings cope, break and triumph in the face of often unbearable circumstances.
182 pages, Paperback
Published May 11, 2021
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204 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
May 24, 2021
Like the titular Radium Girl, Papamarko’s prose glows in each of her exquisitely crafted stories. And yet, what’s most memorable are the characters.
A teenager enamoured with a sleazy goateed magician. An MFA student mourning the loss of her parents. A relentlessly cheerful amateur baker at a pharmaceutical company.
Each of them are meticulously drawn, anchoring a collection that’s funny, heartfelt, and profound.
A teenager enamoured with a sleazy goateed magician. An MFA student mourning the loss of her parents. A relentlessly cheerful amateur baker at a pharmaceutical company.
Each of them are meticulously drawn, anchoring a collection that’s funny, heartfelt, and profound.
April 3, 2021
An interesting collection of short stories with a dark twist that keeps you guessing until each end.
July 4, 2021
I was hooked from the first page. I loved this book.
April 20, 2021
Radium Girl was full of nice little stories that were a tad off the wall. I was hooked for the first story about conjoined twins and stayed till the end. The stories may seem all normal and such, but each one of them has a little dark spin that added interest.
Thanks to Edelweiss+ for the ARC.
Thanks to Edelweiss+ for the ARC.
June 18, 2021
Sofi Papamarko introduces us to a bundle of reality mixed into the fictional world of a dozen individual stories in Radium Girl.
It begins with “Margie & Lu,” the Bathurst Twins, who are very distinct young ladies. Margie is wild, willful, and loud. Luna is shy, quiet, and introspective. These two completely different people are trapped together in one body.
Other stories feature equally interesting characters dealing with their own oppressive circumstances: Min, a woman obsessed with providing for doomsday who discovers that for her, not being able to have children is as bad as experiencing the end of the world; Mavis, who seeks happiness at funerals; Lizzy, whose love may cost more than she’s willing to lose; and a fictionalized Marie Curie, among others.
These characters deal with dark circumstances, including loneliness, injustice, grief, and death. It’s alarming to know what women must sometimes endure, and chilling to realize the lengths they will go to in order to survive, or to be loved or accepted.
Fighting for survival with empathy and kindness is a lesson well learned in different stories. As one woman says in the titular story, “And thank you for teaching me to be kind like you. Empathy is the best possible trait you could have instilled in me.” She learns that dreams invite hope to stay and help us build great memories.
The lessons are not all happy. In “Serpentilia,” young Marie Curie learns not to cradle the snake in her bed: No matter how tamed, it will stay true to its nature, often when least expected.
The stories are well written. They are unique and intriguing, and effectively blend reality with fiction in portraying the trying life many women do experience. But reality is arduous, and I found reading this book full of difficulty exhausting.
Story Circle Book Reviews thanks Jana van Niekerk for this review.
It begins with “Margie & Lu,” the Bathurst Twins, who are very distinct young ladies. Margie is wild, willful, and loud. Luna is shy, quiet, and introspective. These two completely different people are trapped together in one body.
Other stories feature equally interesting characters dealing with their own oppressive circumstances: Min, a woman obsessed with providing for doomsday who discovers that for her, not being able to have children is as bad as experiencing the end of the world; Mavis, who seeks happiness at funerals; Lizzy, whose love may cost more than she’s willing to lose; and a fictionalized Marie Curie, among others.
These characters deal with dark circumstances, including loneliness, injustice, grief, and death. It’s alarming to know what women must sometimes endure, and chilling to realize the lengths they will go to in order to survive, or to be loved or accepted.
Fighting for survival with empathy and kindness is a lesson well learned in different stories. As one woman says in the titular story, “And thank you for teaching me to be kind like you. Empathy is the best possible trait you could have instilled in me.” She learns that dreams invite hope to stay and help us build great memories.
The lessons are not all happy. In “Serpentilia,” young Marie Curie learns not to cradle the snake in her bed: No matter how tamed, it will stay true to its nature, often when least expected.
The stories are well written. They are unique and intriguing, and effectively blend reality with fiction in portraying the trying life many women do experience. But reality is arduous, and I found reading this book full of difficulty exhausting.
Story Circle Book Reviews thanks Jana van Niekerk for this review.
June 1, 2021
I watched a mommies and toddlers class starting in the shallow end and became aware of the tiny swimming pool inside me. Somewhere in there, a veined jelly bean loaded and throbbed. What do embryos even dream about? They only know the womb, so they must only dream about heartbeats. And liquids. And floating. I positioned my body into another back float. "We are all a large percentage of water", I said. The fuid amplified the sound of my own voice, words humming within a skull that felt as fast and as white as limbo.~pg.139
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Thoughts ~
I loved this clever, funny, twisted #canlit story collection! Papamarko prose radiate with crafted precision as do her characters. The characters are why I really fell for this collection. It opens with two very different conjoined twin sisters to a girl that cruises funeral homes, to an overly peppy amateur Baker working in pharmaceuticals, a pregnant teen who prays for cramps, an MFA student mourning the deaths of her parents, and more! Papamarko captures these characters so perfectly, some darkly disturbed, others disturbed by the circumstances they find themselves in, all with such depth and desire. Thank you to @wolsakandwynn
for sending me this book opinions are my own.
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For more of my book content check out instagram.com/bookalong
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🌿
Thoughts ~
I loved this clever, funny, twisted #canlit story collection! Papamarko prose radiate with crafted precision as do her characters. The characters are why I really fell for this collection. It opens with two very different conjoined twin sisters to a girl that cruises funeral homes, to an overly peppy amateur Baker working in pharmaceuticals, a pregnant teen who prays for cramps, an MFA student mourning the deaths of her parents, and more! Papamarko captures these characters so perfectly, some darkly disturbed, others disturbed by the circumstances they find themselves in, all with such depth and desire. Thank you to @wolsakandwynn
for sending me this book opinions are my own.
•
For more of my book content check out instagram.com/bookalong
June 17, 2021
It's been a while since I've read a collection of stories that struck me so forcefully with their originality. Sometimes dark, sometimes funny, Papamarko's characters are all so precisely drawn, their qualities and flaws so human, even in their weirdness. Love it. Looking forward to her next one.
June 7, 2021
4.5 Really enjoyed these stories. The collection built up a nice momentum to a most excellent and satisfying ending (the nerd girl in me loved it, at any rate). Well done.
August 11, 2021
I loved this often quirky, dark and twisty collection of short stories! Each one packed a punch and Canadian to boot!
July 10, 2023
Weirdly, whimsically, wicked!
August 12, 2021
Wow, I wish I were as eloquent as the author to properly express how great this book is! I am not usually someone who seeks out short stories, but my goodness, I was hooked from the very first one about Margie & Lu, and continued to be amazed by White Cake, Controlled Burn, and Something to Cry about being my absolute favourite. Absolutely stunning characters showcasing what it means to be human. Kudos to Sofi on such a stunning debut!
May 22, 2021
A delightful collection of short stories, many set in or around Toronto, each story instantly draws you in with a memorable cast of characters.
September 21, 2021
Sort of like Chuck Palaniuk but funnier. Most of the time. Some stories are definitely: Oh. My. Gawd. Highly recommend.
October 13, 2021
I saw Sofi Papamarko host a online book launch recently and was impressed by her lovely demeanor and thoughtful, intelligent questions, so I got her book. As several readers have said here, Radium Girl hooks you on the first page. I love her voice, sometimes deceptively light, sometimes jarringly dark and always full of twisty surprises. It's a great read.
March 3, 2022
Just a wonderful collection of well written short stories. Haven’t enjoyed a collection like this since early Atwood.
March 23, 2022
A collection of short stories, each with a unique character and twist. Some are humorous (I particularly enjoyed "white cake"), others are dark.
February 18, 2024
weird, gorgeous, extremely unsettling & often caustically hilarious stories in here! so good!!
September 17, 2024
This is the first book i’ve finished since June! I bought it on my last day off, and I’m really happy I did! This was just a really well written collection of unique short stories. My favorites were White Cake, Everyone you Love is Dead, Ark, and Radium Girl. Super quick and easy read, I read most of it on the train home from camp!
June 26, 2022
Interesting collection of short stories. I found them quirky, and well-done. A very enjoyable collection.
June 8, 2022
I enjoyed most of the short stories in this collection and the themes that pulled them all together.
December 13, 2025
Very solid stories that just weren't my particular jam. Nothing wrong with them per se, all well written and I can imagine other people would like them better, but to me they were just "fine".
My fave was probably the opening story, Margie & Lu, about teenage conjoined twins with very different personalities.
My fave was probably the opening story, Margie & Lu, about teenage conjoined twins with very different personalities.
September 30, 2023
Stories about female empowerment and lack of power and coming of age and friendship and sisterhood and parents. A couple of the stories just end, which is a personal peeve of mine, but the rest are super strong tales of pain and humour and fighting back. Recommended.
July 12, 2023
Found this randomly at the library and I loved it! Each short story has a crazy ending with equally crazy characters and extremely smart writing.
November 10, 2023
3.25 - A collection of unique, quirky, and sometimes dark short stories. While I really enjoyed some (Margie & Lu, Controlled Burn, and Something to Cry About), others didn’t feel resolved enough and I would have liked them more if they were a bit longer.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews