Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

Here we can discuss our group read for the month:
Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race

Please use spoiler tags if you are sharing any plot related surprises.

Posts should be exclusively about this book.

When you've finished, be sure to post in the March challenge: I finished! thread.

I'm about 1/4 into this book. I'm having trouble really getting into the story, there are so many names and places that I think following the thread is taking precedence in my mind over enjoying the story. Hoping it picks up soon because I really loved the movie.

I read this book last month for another group I am in. I am looking forward to seeing the movie. All I will say is that parts of it are very dry and there are a lot of facts, scientific as well as a lot of names, but stick with it. I learned a lot from this book. It is so sad that I had never heard about these women before. The tie in with the Civil Rights issue is fascinating. Look for the little bits if humour when it comes to their minor acts of defiance.

Tara wrote: "I'm about 1/4 into this book. I'm having trouble really getting into the story, there are so many names and places that I think following the thread is taking precedence in my mind over enjoying th..."

100% agree. There are so many names that are mentioned that are not the women being profiled, but put in for historical context, that I can't keep anyone straight.

Exactly, Paula. It also throws me because I did see the movie but it (book) starts in the mid 40s whereas the movie focuses on the early 60s so only one of the characters in the book thus far is even in the movie. Not that it's a problem with the book, it's just a problem for me trying to wrap my head around it when I can't keep them straight and also can't use the actors to kind of help me visualize it if that makes sense.

I read this in January before seeing the movie, and loved it. But it is non-fiction historical narrative, not a story, so reads like a dissertation. I cannot imagine listening to it in audio book as it would be like listening to a lecture. Reading it allows you to surface read the more technical math and science while still following the narrative, enjoying 'the story'.

I liked it so much because not only did I learn about these amazing women and the birth of our aerospace program from a unique POV, but I also ended with a much deeper understanding of what the segregated middle class black communities were like in Virginia. I doubt many of us realized that such strict segregation existed into the 1970s, part of my lifetime (I attended college in mid 1970s and this shed some light on events I witnessed).

The movie is great but it is a dramatization that successfully mashes into one critical time period certain seminal moments in each of the 3 most featured women's lives. These events happen more slowly in the book.

Stick with it as it us an amazing story.

Oh and the book is short - only about 250 pages-the rest (150 pages or so) is annotations, bibliography and index.

Love how they refer to WW2 as "the four year conflict." Ahhh Americans... to the rest of the world it was officially 6 years but to many it was far longer!

So close to getting this from my library. Although, I'm a little scared with all the talk that this reads like a text book.

Theresa wrote: "I read this in January before seeing the movie, and loved it. But it is non-fiction historical narrative, not a story, so reads like a dissertation. I cannot imagine listening to it in audio book a..."

I just finished listening to this as an audiobook and the reader was wonderful and did not at all make it seem like a dry historical dissertation. I found the book and the narrator engaging and I could not stop listening to it.

Kristina wrote: "Theresa wrote: "I read this in January before seeing the movie, and loved it. But it is non-fiction historical narrative, not a story, so reads like a dissertation. I cannot imagine listening to it..."

I'm so glad there are different version of all these books for those of us who experience things differently. I felt the opposite way about the audiobook. I did think the narrator did a good job, but the narrative just did not hold my attention when I was listening to it. As Theresa alluded to, it sounded like someone just reading out of a history textbook more than reading a story, which was not at all the narrator's fault, but it's how the book was written & how it sounded when I was listening to it. I tried and tried, but half the time I would come back in & realize I didn't even know which character she was talking about. I finally had to acknowledge that I wasn't getting anything out of the audiobook and put it away about 1/3 of the way through. I started reading the actual paper book last night, and just in the first twenty or thirty pages, I already found a spot where I realized I had confused characters while listening but was able to sort it out by reading. I think it will still be a little slow-going at times, but so far for me, the book is much more interesting to read than to listen to.

Kristina wrote: "Theresa wrote: "I read this in January before seeing the movie, and loved it. But it is non-fiction historical narrative, not a story, so reads like a dissertation. I cannot imagine listening to it..."

I would not have expected that. Maybe I should have listened to it instead. I did read it and I am glad I did, but there were a lot of dry sections.

This book gives me hope. I'm working in a field right now that is mainly and dominated by men and the stories of these women inspire me. I am grateful to not be the first in my field. I know that I am not a trailblazer or a revolutionary like so many of the women mentioned and profiled in Hidden Figures ; nevertheless, the small every day acts of sexism wear me down. Despite the fact that I am not African American (I'm half Filipino) I have a vague sense of understanding about the "double consciousness," the author speaks about in the text. Every day I struggle with questions such as: What does it mean to be slightly brown and to be a woman in my field? Am I defined by my race? By my gender? By my disability? What do people see when they look at me?

At meetings I often second guess myself. I can't help but wonder, "Would my thoughts and ideas be received differently if I were a man?" I admire my male colleagues and confess that I envy the privilege they have of being able to speak candidly without being received as "aggressive," "bossy," or "pushy."

I am so grateful for the generation of women who went before me. I'm about 1/4 of the way through the audio version of this book from Audible.com (I have low vision and have a difficult time reading print).I am greatly enjoying Hidden Figures , despite the fact that I sometimes get confused by the author's tendency to wander off on tangents. This book reminds me that I am not the first, nor will I be the last, woman to fight for an equal seat at the table.

It gives me hope.

I'm almost done with it. I found it to be fairly confusing/jumpy. Early on I decided to skim some of the sections. I may not be getting all the details, but I'm enjoying it a lot more than I did at first! It's really impressive what these women were able to accomplish.

I really loved the movie. I thought it was so well done and interesting. I can't wait to watch it again after finishing the book!

I liked it but I didn't love it. I too found it to be a bit jumpy in terms of people profiled and timelines. I did love the movie and I think everyone needs to see it.

I did love some of the little things in the book that weren't big plot points - Miriam Mann who stole the "colored" signs from the tables in the cafeteria every time they put on out.

And that Virginia actually paid black students tuition and travel to study in other states to avoid integrating their institutions of higher education. I had never heard that before.

I do think it's sad that we never hear the stories of all the people who put up with more than I could ever imagine to begin to break barriers for the people who followed them.

So I've managed to get through 30% of this book and I shall say that it's been like pulling teeth. I fall asleep, I can't seem to get passed all the mathematical calculations or whatever it is that they're referring to. I kept reading thinking they'd get passed that and get into the nitty gritty about the lives of the main characters a bit more than so far. I'm sorry but I can't. I feel like I'm holding this ebook instead of returning it and allowing someone waitlisted to read it. I hate doing this but I will go see the movie instead. Usually I prefer reading the book first then seeing the movie which is why I forced myself to get this far into this book.
Moving on to April's book....

Just finished this today...I wanted to like it; I really did. I think that subject matter could've been fascinating. I haven't seen the movie, but I think it looks fantastic. I just couldn't get into this book. I tend to prefer fiction anyway, but this was one of the more tedious nonfiction books I've read in the past couple years. It also kind of bothered me that the Space Race wasn't even mentioned until more than halfway through. I'm glad that some people in this discussion group agree. I was starting to think something is wrong with me since this book has so many great reviews! Time to see the movie...

I finished last night and agree with a lot of other commenters. Too jumpy in terms of who they're talking about, not enough "story" too many facts and figures. I loved the movie but this book felt like a history text book. I was/am very interested in the major themes (the women, poc and women of colour in NASA, the space race, the civil rights movement etc) but I just found this boring.

I'm almost finished with the book; and although I am very much enjoying it, I can agree with some of the comments. There are certainly a lot of names and people to try to remember, and I had a hard time with that, too. And there are a lot of historical facts, but I reminded myself that this is after all, non-fiction. In a way, I appreciated the fact that it started in the 40's and continued through into the 70's, since it brought home just how LONG these women were doing this job that most of us never even knew about. I can't imagine sitting at a desk working numbers day in and day out for a week, not to mention 25+ years!! And it came as a bittersweet revelation to one who grew up rather insulated from the civil rights issues. I am looking froward to seeing the movie, now that I've read it- you know how the book is always better... ;)

At the bookstore I was torn between buying the book version of THIS or the book of LION. (It was a few days after the Oscars) - I went with LION, and from the comments I think I am glad that I did! However, the MOVIE of 'Hidden Figures' is AWESOME, so if you have not seem it yet, you do have that to look forward to! --Jen from Quebec :0)

Someone else may have posted this but I just found out that Margot Lee Shetterly will be on Facebook through Ohio State University in a little less than an hour:

"WATCH: Facebook Live on Tuesday, March 21, 7:30 p.m. ET at https://www.facebook.com/osu/
Not on Facebook? Watch at osu.edu/hiddenfigures"

Deb wrote: "Someone else may have posted this but I just found out that Margot Lee Shetterly will be on Facebook through Ohio State University in a little less than an hour:

"WATCH: Facebook Live on Tuesday, ..."

Awesome! Thank you so much for sharing!

Watched it, thanks for the link! It was great

I wish I had known! We live right down the street from OSU!

I agree with everyone else's comments that the story was hard to get into and quite jumpy. I felt there was too much background for the numerous characters that were introduced. I listened to this book through audiobooks and the narrator wasn't terrible but she also seemed bored with reading it aloud, about a third of the way through. I feel like I couldn't really connect with the characters as their narrative wasn't given a succinct voice. Perhaps reading the paper copy would have given the story the cohesion that it was lacking. I felt as though I was listening to a friend tell a story but was constantly adding tidbits of information in places when they remembered them. I haven't seen the movie yet but from what I have read it is far more interesting than the book.

I am so glad I read this book. While the writing left something to be desired especially in the sequencing of the stories, I felt I came to know a little of their pain, their successes, their camaraderie. As a window into their experience this was intriguing. The idea - and the reality - of being stifled in your work, your education, your aspirations because your gender, your race, or religion remains hard to swallow. That it happens less today is wonderful but reading this begs the question about where/when it is still happening and what can be done to change that.

I really enjoyed this book, and I loved listening to it on audiobook! I actually liked how consciously the author didn't focus in on one or two stories; I liked how she constantly reinforced that this was a BIG group of women and pulled from multiple women's experiences to speak to a particular event or pattern of behavior. But then, I like nonfiction in general - and actually, I'm often mad when I think nonfiction tries too hard to create a "narrative."

My library hold on this book finally came through, I'm excited to dive in! I haven't seen the movie yet, so I'm going in totally new to the story. I'm interested to see where I end up falling on the spectrum of opinion on the writing style.

I loved reading this book although it was difficult to read for several reasons: it read like a thesis although decent effort was made to make it a narrative and not a recitation of facts, too many of the women had the same or similar first names (a generational issue of course), and all that technical information - the math and science - was tough going. Yet the heart of the book was compelling, a story I wanted to read, and ended up staying up late reading. Reminded me of reading The Hunt for Red October way back when it was first published -- all that technical submarine stuff yet it was a total page turner.

I particularly loved the richness of the world the author created -- the everyday life, the family life, the community life. I'd also not realized just how 'in your face' the State of Virginia was regarding segregation - refusing to accede to federal laws on desegregation for example.

Did anyone else walk away at the end with the sense that this generation of African-American families was very similar to the families of immigrants? That emphasis on the importance of the best education available for your children, working hard at whatever jobs you need to do to improve your family's day to day lives and the future of your children, no sense of 'entitlement' but instead a strong work ethic -- all is so similar to that of the many immigrants I have known. The book starts in the mid-1940's - not that long after the Civil War and Emancipation, and the first full generation after the end of slavery.

I finally finished it - and I did not like it as much as I had hoped. I did not have a problem with the number of characters (I've read all 5 books of A Song of Ice and Fire series, and kept the characters straight; so this was easy) - but it was far too heavy on mathematics. While I got the math, it was very distracting - and added nothing to the narrative.

The segregation and the prejudice was shocking, especially given America's 'leader of free world' narrative and I loved the grit and determination of these women.

Whew. Finally done. I skim-read 90% of the book so I think that sums up how I felt about it. I think this will be one of the few instances where the movie is better than the book. And I can honestly see how this would make a fantastic movie...I imagine the movie would focus more on the action and would pull more emotion from the viewer. The book did neither of these things.

All in all...Whew....

I didn't read the book, but I saw the movie...so I've been hesitant to comment here. The main reason I chose not to read the book is because of what a lot of people mentioned above -- how it is a lot of math, and less about the characters. I'm not a fan of non-fiction in general, so I didn't think it would be something I would enjoy. However, I have to say that I really liked the movie and thought it did a great job of highlighting some of the main accomplishments of the women.

The cool thing about this book is that the author was able to not only relay historical facts to the audience, but was able to get inside the heads of each of these remarkable women to depict their daily struggles and hopes and dreams. I am thankful that Margot Lee Shetterly researched this so thoroughly and was able to write about it in a way that will reach so many people. It is an important story that NEEDED to be told.

That being said, nonfiction is not my favorite genre, so I found myself having difficulty paying attention at times, and I frequently had to reread passages. That is not the fault of the author, but rather my own failings, so I have not docked any points on the rating for that. Amazing book, telling an amazing story.

I just finished this (only one month late! Haha). As it worked out, I ended up seeing the movie first (fantastic movie!!) and this is the unprecedented case of: the movie was better AND its better to see the movie first and then read the book. The movie was focused, dramatic, powerful, and moving. The book is FULL of amazing and important information, bursting at the seams! but it's all over the place, rambling, tangents, too much information about too many things. It enhances the movie experience in a huge way, though, and I'm really glad I read it (and I'm glad I read it after seeing the movie rather than before).

The author came to my company to speak, and she said the book was optioned for a movie based on just her book proposal. She didn't have the book written yet! The book was released in September and the movie in December. She said writing the book and trying to stay ahead was like racing a train while on horseback in those Old West movies. I think if she had more time, she would have been able to pare this down and straighten out some of the jumble.

Nadine, that is very interesting. I'm glad you told us that because it really does seem like with more time maybe the book could have been more neat. I felt the same as you in all respects (including having been glad I saw the movie first)