Play Book Tag discussion

Hidden Figures – Margot Lee Shetterly
Book on CD read by Robin Miles
3.5***

The subtitle is all the synopsis anyone needs: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race.

Shetterly grew up in Hampton, Virginia, and her father worked at NASA’s Langley Research Center. She met many women and men he worked with, knew them from their neighborhood, and from church. But as she grew older she came to realize how extraordinary their story was, and also how unknown their story was. She wrote this book to ensure that future generations would not forget these women.

I had seen the movie, and it was very well done. But the movie covers just a few years, and compresses the story of many women into three characters. Yes, much of what was depicted in the film was accurate, but not everything happened to just these three women. Shetterly’s book covers the time from the early years of WW2, when men were scarce, and women stepped up to fill jobs as part of their patriotic duty to help win the war, to the Moon Landing in August 1969.

I found it very interesting to read about the way in which these women, highly intelligent and well educated, finally found some measure of recognition for their contributions. I applaud Shetterly’s efforts to bring their story to the forefront of America’s consciousness, and I’m glad I read it. However, this is not a gripping tale; there is some repetition, because the stories of these women (and their families) were so similar. I’m glad she included an epilogue to give some information about how they fared through the rest of their lives.

Robin Miles does a fine job narrating the audio book. It was a little difficult to keep the characters straight at first (so many similar names), but full names are frequently used, which did help somewhat.

I had a copy of the text as well, and was surprised that there were no photos of the women included. I would have liked to put a face to the names.


LINK to my review