This book was our book group read for March but, we never got to discuss it before the library closed due to the pandemic. At times it was a bit difficult to keep all of the characters straight, the stories were so interesting. The book focuses on 9 women and what they experienced during their time working on this top secret mission. Never was it acceptable to talk about their work or they would be removed from the the project and the property. Those hired were housed on site and given only basic information, just enough to enable them to perform their jobs. Most who were hired were women: chemists, mathematicians, secretaries and custodial staff alike. The US government's heavy recruitment efforts created, jobs, jobs and more jobs in this secret city. In 1943 Oakridge, TN was a town that no one had heard of, yet, seemingly overnight, the town grew out of the mountains and farmlands on some 80,000 acres. The Girls of Atomic City is a NF work about the young women who during WWII were hired for a secret mission, (unknowingly aiding to help build and fuel the atomic bomb.) If you decide to try this one I suggest print over audio. As someone who has worked in libraries for about 15 years, I really thought I'd love this book but that was not the case. I found it especially tedious to listen to the author speak call number after call number (Library Dewey Decimal Classification System) about the types of books destroyed in the fire.

Listening to the audio version was probably not the right decision for this book. I do appreciate all the research that went into this book, however, I thought a lot of it felt unfocused and hard to follow at times. Overall, I was a bit disappointed with this book. The writing about her personal experiences was wonderful and really resonated with me. The author shares her fond memories of frequent trips to the library as a child with her mother, a tradition she continued with her own child years later. The author highlights the critical role that libraries have played over the years and, she discusses libraries past and present. The fire destroyed the library and its collection and, the rebuilding took more than 8 years. One focus of this book was the devastating fire at the LA Public Library (Central Branch) in April of 1986. The Library Book was one of the books chosen for a book group read in 2020.

Susan orlean the library book review