Listen free for 30 days
-
The Half-Life of Marie Curie
- Narrated by: Kate Mulgrew, Francesca Faridany
- Length: 1 hr and 19 mins
- Performance
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Drama & Plays
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £7.29
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Tea at Five (Unabridged)
- By: Matthew Lombardo
- Narrated by: Kate Mulgrew
- Length: 1 hr and 11 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joins us for a cup of tea, won't you? Katharine Hepburn beckons us into her Connecticut home for a cozy chat and an intimate look at the legend, and the woman behind the legend. Based on the critically acclaimed New York production, the independent, intelligent, feisty Hepburn comes alive once again when Kate Mulgrew, of Star Trek: Voyager fame, slips deftly into the voice and being of the famous actress.
-
-
Beautiful
- By RJ on 18-02-22
-
How to Forget
- A Daughter's Memoir
- By: Kate Mulgrew
- Narrated by: Kate Mulgrew
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They say you can’t go home again. But when her father is diagnosed with aggressive lung cancer and her mother with atypical Alzheimer’s, New York-based actress Kate Mulgrew returns to her hometown in Iowa to spend time with her parents and care for them in the time they have left. The months Kate spends with her parents in Dubuque - by turns turbulent, tragic, and joyful - lead her to reflect on each of their lives and how they shaped her own.
-
-
kept my addicted to the end
- By Darren on 20-10-19
-
Born with Teeth
- A Memoir
- By: Kate Mulgrew
- Narrated by: Kate Mulgrew
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Audie Award, Narration by Author, 2016. Raised by unconventional Irish Catholics who knew "how to drink, how to dance, how to talk, and how to stir up the devil", Kate Mulgrew grew up with poetry and drama in her bones. But in her mother, a would-be artist burdened by the endless arrival of new babies, young Kate saw the consequences of a dream deferred.
-
-
Exceptional!
- By Weaving-Gomez on 04-05-15
-
Girls & Boys
- By: Dennis Kelly
- Narrated by: Carey Mulligan
- Length: 1 hr and 46 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When they met at an airport, it was love at first sight. But in time, everything collapsed. As an unnamed but unforgettable woman muses on her life—from meet cute to marriage and parenthood—her recollections inexorably build to a devastating truth. In this shattering performance, Carey Mulligan, star of the critically lauded drama An Education, captivates audiences with playwright Dennis Kelly’s harrowing ruminations on family, ambition, gender, and violence.
-
-
All the emotions
- By Lorna North on 23-05-19
-
The Foundling
- By: Stacey Halls
- Narrated by: Laura Aikman, Hattie Morahan
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
London, 1754. Six years after leaving her illegitimate daughter Clara at London's Foundling Hospital, Bess Bright returns to reclaim the child she has never known. Dreading the worst, that Clara has died in care, she is astonished when she is told she has already claimed her. Her life is turned upside down as she tries to find out who has taken her little girl - and why.
-
-
Just loved every word.....
- By Miss Sarah E Wilby on 16-02-20
-
Blood & Sugar
- By: Laura Shepherd-Robinson
- Narrated by: Ben Onwukwe
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
June, 1781. An unidentified body hangs upon a hook at Deptford Dock - horribly tortured and branded with a slaver’s mark. Some days later, Captain Harry Corsham - a war hero embarking upon a promising parliamentary career - is visited by the sister of an old friend. Her brother, passionate abolitionist Tad Archer, had been about to expose a secret that he believed could cause irreparable damage to the British slaving industry. He’d said people were trying to kill him, and now he is missing....
-
-
Blood, sweat, toil, ...
- By Lee on 19-12-19
-
Tea at Five (Unabridged)
- By: Matthew Lombardo
- Narrated by: Kate Mulgrew
- Length: 1 hr and 11 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joins us for a cup of tea, won't you? Katharine Hepburn beckons us into her Connecticut home for a cozy chat and an intimate look at the legend, and the woman behind the legend. Based on the critically acclaimed New York production, the independent, intelligent, feisty Hepburn comes alive once again when Kate Mulgrew, of Star Trek: Voyager fame, slips deftly into the voice and being of the famous actress.
-
-
Beautiful
- By RJ on 18-02-22
-
How to Forget
- A Daughter's Memoir
- By: Kate Mulgrew
- Narrated by: Kate Mulgrew
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They say you can’t go home again. But when her father is diagnosed with aggressive lung cancer and her mother with atypical Alzheimer’s, New York-based actress Kate Mulgrew returns to her hometown in Iowa to spend time with her parents and care for them in the time they have left. The months Kate spends with her parents in Dubuque - by turns turbulent, tragic, and joyful - lead her to reflect on each of their lives and how they shaped her own.
-
-
kept my addicted to the end
- By Darren on 20-10-19
-
Born with Teeth
- A Memoir
- By: Kate Mulgrew
- Narrated by: Kate Mulgrew
- Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Audie Award, Narration by Author, 2016. Raised by unconventional Irish Catholics who knew "how to drink, how to dance, how to talk, and how to stir up the devil", Kate Mulgrew grew up with poetry and drama in her bones. But in her mother, a would-be artist burdened by the endless arrival of new babies, young Kate saw the consequences of a dream deferred.
-
-
Exceptional!
- By Weaving-Gomez on 04-05-15
-
Girls & Boys
- By: Dennis Kelly
- Narrated by: Carey Mulligan
- Length: 1 hr and 46 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When they met at an airport, it was love at first sight. But in time, everything collapsed. As an unnamed but unforgettable woman muses on her life—from meet cute to marriage and parenthood—her recollections inexorably build to a devastating truth. In this shattering performance, Carey Mulligan, star of the critically lauded drama An Education, captivates audiences with playwright Dennis Kelly’s harrowing ruminations on family, ambition, gender, and violence.
-
-
All the emotions
- By Lorna North on 23-05-19
-
The Foundling
- By: Stacey Halls
- Narrated by: Laura Aikman, Hattie Morahan
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
London, 1754. Six years after leaving her illegitimate daughter Clara at London's Foundling Hospital, Bess Bright returns to reclaim the child she has never known. Dreading the worst, that Clara has died in care, she is astonished when she is told she has already claimed her. Her life is turned upside down as she tries to find out who has taken her little girl - and why.
-
-
Just loved every word.....
- By Miss Sarah E Wilby on 16-02-20
-
Blood & Sugar
- By: Laura Shepherd-Robinson
- Narrated by: Ben Onwukwe
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
June, 1781. An unidentified body hangs upon a hook at Deptford Dock - horribly tortured and branded with a slaver’s mark. Some days later, Captain Harry Corsham - a war hero embarking upon a promising parliamentary career - is visited by the sister of an old friend. Her brother, passionate abolitionist Tad Archer, had been about to expose a secret that he believed could cause irreparable damage to the British slaving industry. He’d said people were trying to kill him, and now he is missing....
-
-
Blood, sweat, toil, ...
- By Lee on 19-12-19
-
The Good Life: The Complete Collection
- By: John Esmonde, Bob Larbey
- Narrated by: Felicity Kendal, full cast, Paul Eddington, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meet Surbiton’s most famous residents: Tom, Barbara, Margo and Jerry. It is Tom Good's 40th birthday, and he feels thoroughly unfulfilled. If only he can discover what 'It' is, and if he can, will his wife Barbara agree to do 'It' with him? The subsequent and sudden transformation of the Goods’ home into a smallholding causes consternation for Margo and Jerry next door, and they decide it’s their duty to interfere. So begins The Good Life, the much loved classic sitcom starring Richard Briers, Felicity Kendal, Paul Eddington and Penelope Keith.
-
-
A walk down memory lane
- By Mike Smith on 18-09-19
-
Have a Nice Day
- By: Billy Crystal, Quinton Peeples
- Narrated by: Justin Bartha, Annette Bening, Dick Cavett, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 46 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tony and Emmy Award-winner Billy Crystal leads an all-star cast including Oscar winner Kevin Kline (President David Murray) and four-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening (First Lady Katherine Murray) in a performance of this hilarious and poignant story about a man desperately scrambling to put his affairs in order: to save his presidency, his marriage, his relationship with his daughter – and possibly his life.
-
-
Really enjoyed this!
- By Kindle Customer on 27-11-20
-
Alex's Adventures in Numberland
- Dispatches from the Wonderful World of Mathematics
- By: Alex Bellos
- Narrated by: Alex Bellos
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The world of maths can seem mind-boggling, irrelevant and, let's face it, boring. This groundbreaking book reclaims maths from the geeks. Mathematical ideas underpin just about everything in our lives: from the surprising geometry of the 50p piece to how probability can help you win in any casino. In search of weird and wonderful mathematical phenomena, Alex Bellos travels across the globe and meets the world's fastest mental calculators in Germany and a startlingly numerate chimpanzee in Japan.
-
-
Maths as an audiobook - does it work ?
- By Trevor on 16-04-12
-
Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Collection
- By: Stephen Fry - introductions, Arthur Conan Doyle
- Narrated by: Stephen Fry
- Length: 71 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ever since he made his first appearance in A Study In Scarlet, Sherlock Holmes has enthralled and delighted millions of fans throughout the world. Now Audible is proud to present Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Collection, read by Stephen Fry. A lifelong fan of Doyle's detective fiction, Fry has narrated the complete works of Sherlock Holmes - four novels and five collections of short stories.
-
-
******* SORT OUT THE NAVIGATION ***********
- By William on 31-03-20
-
True West
- By: Sam Shepard
- Narrated by: Kit Harington, Johnny Flynn
- Length: 1 hr and 27 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kit Harington (Games of Thrones) and Johnny Flynn (Beast) smolder and burn as sparring brothers in Sam Shepard’s darkly comic 1980 drama. The live theatre production of True West was performed at the Vaudeville Theatre in London, United Kingdom, in 2019. It was produced by Joseph Smith and John Brant for Smith & Brant Theatricals and James Bierman for Empire Street Productions.
-
-
Family feud with grit and wit.
- By Lauren Fletcher on 16-04-19
-
Iphigenia in Splott
- By: Gary Owen
- Narrated by: Sophie Melville
- Length: 1 hr and 50 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drunk, dazed, disoriented, and stumbling down Clifton Street at 11:30 a.m., Effie is the kind of girl you’d likely avoid eye contact with while silently labeling a drifter or a delinquent. You’d probably pass judgment, assuming you know her - but you don’t know the half of it. As Effie’s life spirals through a mess of excess, drama, and addiction plaguing her at every turn, she has nothing to look forward to but a hangover worse than death itself each morning. Until one night gives her the chance to become something more.
-
-
Short, but Hard Hitting!
- By Simon on 20-03-19
-
Travels with My Aunt
- By: Graham Greene
- Narrated by: Tim Pigott-Smith
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Henry Pulling, a retired bank manager, meets his septuagenarian Aunt Augusta for the first time in over 50 years at his mother’s funeral. Soon after, she persuades Henry to abandon South wood, his dahlias and the Major next door to travel through Brighton, Paris, Istanbul, Paraguay...
-
-
Sublime
- By DartmoorDiva on 17-11-15
-
Avalanche
- A Love Story
- By: Julia Leigh
- Narrated by: Maxine Peake
- Length: 1 hr and 6 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a woman rekindles an early love in her late 30s her whole life changes. Deeply in love, she and her new husband want to have a child together, and they make an appointment at an IVF clinic. So begins this story, inspired by the writer Julia Leigh’s own personal memoir. This international co-production with the Barbican Theatre was praised as 'a must-hear story for our times' (Go London) on its UK premiere.
-
-
Wonderful
- By Jane Hather on 02-11-21
-
Thank You, Jeeves
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cecil
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bertie Wooster has taken up the banjolele, but the manager of the building in central London has issued an ultimatum to either give up the music or clear out. Even the faithful Jeeves threatens to leave, so Bertie seeks refuge in the country.
-
-
Excellent
- By Nat on 02-04-11
-
Murder at the Fitzwilliam
- By: Jim Eldridge
- Narrated by: Peter Wickham
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After rising to prominence for his role investigating the case of Jack the Ripper, former Detective Inspector Daniel Wilson is now retired. Known for his intelligence, investigative skills, and most of all his discretion, he's often consulted when a case must be solved quickly and quietly. So when a body is found in the Egyptian collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, Wilson is called in.
-
-
Extremely pedestrian
- By DartmoorDiva on 18-11-19
-
A Mind of Her Own
- By: Paula McLain
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 1 hr and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marie Sklodowska, 25, is studying science at the Sorbonne—one of the only universities in the world that has begun to admit women. A thousand miles from her native Poland, with no money and the odds stacked against any woman daring to pursue a career in such a rigorous field, Marie throws herself into her studies. She’s certain that to succeed in a man’s world, she will have to go it alone.
-
Jane Eyre
- By: Charlotte Brontë
- Narrated by: Thandiwe Newton
- Length: 19 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following Jane from her childhood as an orphan in Northern England through her experience as a governess at Thornfield Hall, Charlotte Brontë's Gothic classic is an early exploration of women's independence in the mid-19th century and the pervasive societal challenges women had to endure. At Thornfield, Jane meets the complex and mysterious Mr. Rochester, with whom she shares a complicated relationship that ultimately forces her to reconcile the conflicting passions of romantic love and religious piety.
-
-
A beautiful audiobook!!
- By Philip on 13-02-17
Summary
In 1912, scientist Marie Curie spent two months on the British seaside at the home of Hertha Ayrton, an accomplished mathematician, inventor, and suffragette. At the time, Curie was in the throes of a scandal in France over her affair with Paul Langevin, which threatened to overshadow the accomplishment of her second Nobel Prize.
Performed by Kate Mulgrew and Francesca Faridany at the Minetta Lane Theatre, this play by Lauren Gunderson is an ode to two remarkable women who, despite tremendous personal and professional obstacles, continued to devote their lives to scientific innovation and social change.
Playwright Lauren Gunderson was awarded a commission through the Audible Emerging Playwrights Fund, an initiative dedicated to developing innovative original plays driven by language and voice. As an Audible commissioned playwright, she received funding and creative support to develop The Half Life of Marie Curie.
Directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch
Sound design by Darron L. West
More from the same
What listeners say about The Half-Life of Marie Curie
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Shirley B.
- 05-12-19
The Half Life Of Marie Curie
Performances that take you to another place. Seeing as a play, watching the actors is one thing. This, as audio, is another journey, more powerful. Close your eyes and just listen. Become a part of their journey and 'live' it with them. Both actresses draw you in and spiritually you are there with them. Beautifully acted and written. You feel honoured to feel you are sharing their journey and their amazing friendship, their love for each other, these two amazing women. When I 'returned', face tear stained, my home was in darkness, because I had been truly 'away'. Thank you to all for my amazing journey with you, for allowing me the honour of sharing something which enriches me.
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- H
- 17-04-20
Still saving lives
This performance was brilliant, sounded like what a true long term friendship sounds like. The back and forth, giving up because your friend is overbearing but still going back into the fray.
The story gives an insight to a woman who is still saving lives with her discovery and brilliant mind to this day, who knows how farther behind we would be medically if this wasn't discovered when it was and how to use it.
I always enjoy a story that sparks an interest to find out more, about a person or a subject and this ticks the boxes.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Funkgroover
- 13-05-20
Brilliant! Engaging and informative.
Thoroughly enjoyable play. Really well performed. Highly recommend.
Audible insists on more words blah blah blah.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- IM1
- 28-04-20
Bellissimo
Simple stunning, surprisingly small yet supremely signidicant.
will leave you in awe and wonder.
Bellissimo!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dan Sands
- 29-05-20
Review
A brilliant listen with wonderful sound effects and production, Kate Mulgrew is terrific as always.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anna
- 25-05-20
So beautiful story and performance. I recommend.
Very addictive story or two smart women told in the great way which makes you feel like you are part of the story of your life. I recommend to everyone.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kindle Customer
- 24-05-20
A good insight into her life
What a great story about a marvellous inspirational lady and her last years, when women scientists were looked down on by their male counterparts. Narrator was perfect for the roles. I really enjoyed listening to this piece of history
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Miss.E.B
- 22-05-20
A Joy
I devoured this in one go. Simply wonderful. A story from the perspectives of two incredible women that had me laughing out loud one moment and feeling heartbreak the next. The performances were stellar. Kate is always a joy to listen to but Francesca really bought Marie to life. Highly recommended.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Beth
- 21-05-20
Adored
Most beautiful, wonderful story I have ever heard, wonderfully told and tearfully received. I have no more words.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ewa K Rozyczko
- 17-02-21
Awful lector!
I had to stop after 10-15 minutes. You can’t listen to it! Why the lector is speaking with fake French accent?? She sounds like actress from the “Allo, Allo!” comedy! Just horrible and unnecessary.
Marie Skłodowska - Curie was not French!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- LadyTanis1
- 16-12-19
A missed opportunity and a terrible depiction
While Hertha Ayrton's character came across as strong minded, empowered, intelligent, and intriguing, the portayal of Marie Curie as a whiny and overly emotional French floozy is downright irritating and a terrible depiction of an inspiring woman. This was an awesome (and missed) opportunity to tell the magnificent story of a heroine to science. What a dreadful and shameful representation of Marie Curie.
22 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Carolyn M. Kell
- 30-12-19
Powerful, Real & Moving
This emotionally-charged and thoughtful production piece not only opened my eyes to the social, societal, and scientific pressures,and political developments affecting the college-educated minority. To even begin to unravel how the few women, who entered into this elite class of working intellectuals, had to live and fight to carry out their chosen life work, careers and then again stay true to their families, loved ones clearly is an area of growing interest and importance. These pioneers set the stage for later female scientists and for the great revolutions in woman's work in the 20th century and today. This theatrical production hints at how much life has changed for women, but also how much so much is vague in terms of the power struggles still experienced by women --,especially in the physical sciences and t the upper/ top sectors. This theater gives the audience a thoughtful and arguably rather sweet and beautiful regard for the passions that keep one strong and vital even in the face of social inequality.
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Nismoblack
- 11-12-19
Not For Me
I was interested to learn more about Marie Curie after learning a bit about her in the Cosmos tv series. This wasn’t what I expected. There is a lot of language in this and the language itself doesn’t bother me. I can’t comment on how women of the 19th century spoke in private, but I have a hard time imagining it was like this. The bad language just feels like it’s very forced into this for no real purpose. The accents also came across as forced to me. There was very little about Marie’s accomplishments. It is primarily just drama surrounding her personal life, which was interesting to a degree, but I would have preferred hearing about all that in a documentary not a drama.
54 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- ceb111481
- 30-12-19
Great show and audio book!
I saw the last showing of this in NY at Minetta Lane Theatre on Dec 22 and I loved it so when I returned home I downloaded it on Audible. Greatly enjoy being able to listen to it again anytime I want.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Matthew Boswell
- 08-12-19
Came for the science left with the guilt
Ok, I want to start off by saying that it’s going to sound like I hated the story, and I didn’t, it’s just not what I had hoped for. Also, the performers were great, they transported me there, and had good conveyance of emotion. Here we have a great opportunity to peek inside the personal life one of the greatest scientific historical figures, and all we get is gossip and a second hand failed love story? There was a missed opportunity to show an EXAMPLE of a courageous woman showing how she demanded respect by being a truly amazing scientist., doing science stuff. But this story reduces her to gossip, complaining, bitterness, and misogyny. Why not throw a little science in there too? Why not touch on history, why just say “I’m so great, I’m so smart” when you could have shown us how? It’s ok to include this whole aspect of the story, but add to it, focus more on the ‘how’ and the ‘why’. I would have loved to hear more on the war aspect, in addition to the science aspect. I believe this story achieves the opposite effect of what they were going for when the reduced someone so amazing to a gossipy complainer, who ragged on how unfair those men are, disappointing.
113 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Fred Pike
- 12-12-19
Definitely not a fan
I may be one of the few people who didn’t like this book. While I admit it was interesting historically (I certainly learned things about Marie Curie and Hertha Ayrton), it never engaged me. Neither character felt particularly believable - particularly Hertha’s character. It felt very much like a workshop piece, a play-in-development, that needed more time and effort to spring to life. It was actually hard for me to make it through 79 minutes.
39 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Reuben
- 07-12-19
French accent?
Do not understand Marie Curie's French accent considering that, while she lived as an adult in France, she was actually from Poland.
46 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- prime buyer
- 10-12-19
blah blah blah boring and pretentious
Take a good story and make it boring. Over acted and not interesting. Did not find this entertaining at all.
14 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Joe
- 07-12-19
The accent...
So, first I think I’m just not a fan of audible dramas and maybe would have preferred a different genre for this (maybe something less casual)- thus, my four stars for story. However what got me most was the accent used for Marie Curie’s lines. It was a thick French accent even though she lived in Poland until her mid-twenties and was known to maintain a strong Polish identity even while in France. It’s unreasonable to expect her to have a strong French accent like that. Now maybe the point is she’s “speaking French” but doing it in English for us listeners, but it still took me out of the story too much.
Might not bother many people- I just happen to be an academic in linguistics and can’t help listening to accents.
78 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- J. Clark
- 25-01-20
I don't understand the negative reviews
I honestly don't understand most of the complaints. OK, sure, Marie's accent could have been better, but that's about it. The performances were great, the writing was punchy, and the characters compelling.
I suppose it's telling that a majority of the negative reviews seem to be from men calling it "gossipy." It is in no way gossipy, these were real people who dealt with this. Anyone who thinks that they're focusing too much on their personal lives and not enough on the science clearly doesn't have an appreciation for the struggle these women had just to be recognized for their accomplishments. Their accomplishments are not ignored, they're right at the heart of this story. The whole point is that her accomplishments were nearly overshadowed by an affair that would have been politely ignored were she a man (as evidence, look into Einstein's personal life... none of that mattered a bit).
Oh, and for the one reviewer who claimed it was "women good, men bad," that's absurd. Shining a light on systemic sexism in no way indicates that all men are bad, and that's not to mention the times that specific men are lauded in the text. And for the complaints about the language, oh please. Even a century ago people swore. Even women, especially ones who'd had enough of the nonsense around them.
6 people found this helpful