The Only Harmless Great Thing

That. Was. Wonderful.

This is a well written and compelling re-imagining of two historical events: the radiation poisoning of workers in a warch factory, and the killing of a caprive elephant. The voices of the protagonists are believable and haunting.

Definitely a unique reading experience. I didn't love it, but it piqued my interest about some odd points of American history.

Could not get beyond page 10. Was so confused. Maybe my patience for this writing style is just abnormally low, as a lot of people seem to love this book. To be fair, I also tried to read it in several small moments when I had a chance to read. Seems like it needs a good 30 minutes of cleared reading time to crack into (and maybe finish — it's pretty short).

It's just too inventive to give it less than five stars. I could have rated it after just reading the concept. The writing wasn't bad either.

All the buzz I'd heard was well-deserved. It's wonderful and delightful and depressing and infuriating.

Quite a good novella, I really enjoyed it. I didn't follow the end of the 1900s timeline though; intended take-away was clear, but it's like there were a few important pages left on the cutting room floor.