1. Where is the book on the narrative continuum?
_ Highly narrative (reads like fiction)
X A mix (combines highly narrative moments with periods of
fact-based prose)
2. What is the subject of the book?
3. What type of book is it?
4. Articulate appeal
What is the pacing of the book?
The book travels through events quickly. At times it reads
slowly because of all the information packed in each paragraph, but because of
how quickly it skims over information, for the most part it is a quick read.
Describe the characters of the book.
It is character focused and tells the stories of many women.
New characters are added in throughout the book and because so many of the
wives are talked about, the reader gets to know some of them more than others
and can easily begin to mix up who is married to whom and who belongs to which
mission.
How does the story feel?
Quick, surface-level
What is the intent of the author?
To share the experiences of the wives.
What is the focus of the story?
It focuses on the lives of the wives and they ways their
husbands’ jobs impacted their lives.
Does the language matter?
Yes.
Is the setting important and described well?
The setting is important and described well because the
author has to convey the ways that time period was different and affected the
what happened. The geographical setting is important because where the wives
lived was based on their husbands’ jobs.
Are there details and, if so, of what?
There are a lot of details about the women – from their
families to how they dressed to what they did with their time.
Are there sufficient charts and other graphic materials?
Are they useful and clear?
The end of the book contains pictures of the women. They are
useful for picturing some of the events talked about in the book.
Does the book stress moments of learning, understanding,
and experience?
The book focused on the experience of the women. There was some learning as they lived in the public eye and understanding the world they were living in. There were some efforts to talk about the women’s movement in relation to the wives, but these were disjointed and few and far in-between.
5. Why would a reader enjoy this book (rank appeal)?
1. Characterization 2. Storyline 3. Detail
This is a book I've considered reading, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Would you recommend it? It sounds like there is a lot of information in it and it might be kind of dense.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if astronauts and their wives interest you, have you watched For All Mankind? It's a TV series about what happens if the Soviets got to the moon first. It has some real astronauts that are mentioned, but mostly fictional ones, and it shows how the missions affect the astronauts and their families. It's really interesting!
I was interested in learning about the astronauts' wives and although hearing stories about them was interesting, it was sometimes difficult to keep track of everyone and the story was disjointed. It bounced back and forth in time and in between families in a strange way.
ReplyDeleteI haven't watched For All Mankind. It sounds really interesting. I'll have to check that out! Thanks!
Christina,
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of this book before, but I'm putting it on my TBR list. I think it sounds fascinating. I went through a stage when I was a kid when I wanted to be an astronaut (I even went to Space Camp), so I'm always interested in space-related things. You mentioned it was hard to keep track of all of the characters. Does the book have any kind of family tree or list of which wife is married to which astronaut? When I'm reading a book with a lot of characters, I always appreciate when the author has some kind of list, table, etc... at the front of the book to refer back to if I get confused.
Amber: thanks for the recommendation of For All Mankind. I haven't watched that either, but it sounds good!
Hi Christina!
ReplyDeleteYou make this novel sound very interesting! It makes me think of the book, “Hidden Figures” by Margot Lee Shetterly. I haven’t actually read the book yet, but I did really enjoy the movie. I love when books contain additional information to the novel, like pictures of the characters, footnotes, index, bibliography, further reading, etc.
Christina,
ReplyDeleteI think the subject matter of the title would be interesting for people who enjoy reading books about astronauts, even the wives of the astronauts. I am sure there are moments went it reads slow due to providing as much information about each wife’s life with her husband. From the information in your annotation, it would provide an insight into how their husbands careers as astronauts affected their own lives. We know how they affected the NASA program and made history, but you do not know how it affects them in their personal lives either positively or negatively.
Great job filling out this matrix - full points!
ReplyDelete