Book Review: Atomic Anna by Rachel Barenbaum

 

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Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for allowing me to read this ARC!

Content Warning: death (including that of children), murder, violence, alcoholism, drug addiction, anti-Semitism, misogyny, sexual harassment, war, homophobia (mentioned).

Anna Berkova is a famous nuclear scientist, the brilliant mind who created Chernobyl and its reactors, and in 1986, she is sleeping peacefully in her bed. When the reactor melts down, causing one of humanity's greatest catastrophes, Anna also accidentally jumps through time. She finds herself on Mount Aragats in 1992, and her daughter, Molly -- dying from a gunshot wound. Molly begs her to go back in time and save Anna's granddaughter, Raisa, from whatever unfortunate future is coming for her. Exploring Anna's life as she goes from wartime Berlin to making nuclear weapons back in the USSR, Molly's as she grows up in 1960s' Philadelphia drawing comics and falling for a gangster who will make her life hell, and Raisa's as she tries to come to terms with her family's past, present and future, all three women will be forced together in the hopes of preventing total disaster -- Chernobyl's, and their family's. 

What a powerful, moving novel! I've had some rough reading patches this year, especially with ones I've been eagerly waiting for, so I was so happy to find that Atomic Anna struck all the right notes for me. At its heart, this story tells the history of a family in all its bloody secrets, love and drama, but it also takes a look at life for Soviet women -- both those who remained in the USSR, and those who left. From the very first page, I was spellbound, intrigued by the time travel questions that have captivated human minds for centuries: if you can change something, does that mean you should?

The three main women are all fully-fleshed out, with an authenticity that makes their chapters all equally enchanting. I liked the mixture of historical detail with science, and I felt that Barenbaum seamlessly joined those two different elements together. Out of all three, Raisa is probably my favorite, although I have a soft spot for them all; there were elements of their personalities that were similar, a sort of passing down of strength and intelligence, but also things that set them apart from one another. Raisa has such a powerful voice, and I loved that in spite of her family's complicated past, she fights to both understand it and also to not let it change the person that she is.

As someone who has only a rudimentary grasp of math (and who it does not come easily for), I really enjoyed living through the minds of these scientific women who rose above in their determination to understand the world and ask difficult questions. The writing is simple, distinct, and makes it easy to fly through page after page. This is not Barenbaum's first novel, and I certainly will now be going back to pick up her debut. I think all of us are fascinated by time travel -- how could we not be? Regret is one of the most fundamental human emotions, and aren't there so many moments where we wish we could turn back the clock? The ideas Barenbaum expands on are beautifully done, questioning the morality of nuclear science and the ethics of changing even the smallest events of the past. 

The inclusion of their family's Jewish religion and culture was wonderful. They struggle with it and what it means for them, in times and places where being Jewish is enough to end their lives completely and totally, loving, hating and questioning it in equal measure. The Jewishness of this book is a core element, unable to be extracted from its Russianness or Americanness or female-focus. There are Shabbat dinners, discussion of what it means to be Jewish, bar mitzvahs, the lurking horror of memories of pogroms and destruction. Perhaps it sounds simple, clichéd, but it's beautiful. I applaud Barenbaum for the love and hope in this book, even as it remembers and discusses darkness and fear.

It is, perhaps, timely that this novel is coming out now, when we are recalling Russia's past and also fearful for its present and the future Putin is creating. While we fight for the Ukraine and the voices of Ukrainians, it's important to remember that there are Russians also fighting against this act of cruelty and inhumanity -- just as people rose up against the Soviet regime not so very long ago.

Highly recommended, and in particular, recommended for mothers and daughters.