DNF ( )

Charlie Fish began his contributions during WWII by calculating arcs for aerial trajectories at the Metallurgic Lab at the University of Chicago. His brilliant mathematical mind led him to New Mexico to work on the Manhattan Project. Charlie knew project assignments came through the military but in silos or compartmentalized for the project's safety from spies. When Charlie realizes the purpose of his top-secret work, his conscience is in crisis. Meeting Brenda in Chicago was the best thing that ever happened to him, but would she still love him when she realizes what he's done?

Brenda worked at Dubie's Music, the family music store. With her father and brother serving in the war, Brenda and her mother kept the store open, selling pianos, organs, and accordions. Her attendance at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, a premiere organ school in Ohio, would have to wait. Charlie wasn't the type of man Brenda thought she'd fall in love with, but he was in New Mexico when she figured it out.

Based on the life of Charles B. Fisk, a gifted mathematician that built the detonator for the atomic bomb used in WWII, this is riveting historical fiction. With emotive writing, the characters are no longer simply names but bring history to life on the written page. Every love story is unique, but everything is felt more intensely in times of war. Blending history and romance, it's also a coming-of-age story for Brenda as a self-absorbed young woman until she realizes that not all of her mother's reactions and responses were about her, and not all of Charlie's reactions and responses were about her.

This book was gifted to me by a reader friend, and I am deeply grateful for it is another part of the history of WWII that I never knew; however, in reading this story, I will never forget. ( )

Something about this book bugged me and largely concerned how the characters were portrayed. Brenda, whose portions of the book are told from the first person, annoyed me, but more problematic, her motivations were never fully explored. Charlie, whose story is told in the third person, always seems a bit distant, but he annoyed me too, especially as he experiences his crisis of conscience, but fails to really put it into words. The book overall was interesting, especially in its descriptions of the Manhattan Project and the debates the scientists held about the morality of what they were doing. Still, throughout, I felt something the could be described as the glaze of contemporary eyes on this piece of past, which fails to capture the spirit and uncertainty of the times. ( )

Thought provoking. 4 stars.

The book begins with a pleasant romance between Brenda who works in her father's music store and Charlie who starts to hang out there. It's very charming to imagine the two together. Charlie is a mathematician working for the government in Chicago during WWII. His determination and intelligence gets him promoted to the Las Alamos lab where it begins to make your head spin.

While I learned about the Atomic Bomb years ago, to read about fictional characters working there was another experience. In the US News, it says, "We cannot be proud of what we have done." Charlie thinks about this after the bomb has hit. This about sums it up: "Consider mankind as a species. Is it a collection of angels who make music and art and automobiles? Or is it a mob of monsters?" Something to think about.

I would rate this historical fiction high and hope that many more people read it. ( )