Audiobook Short Story Review – A Mind of Her Own by Paula McLain, Narrated by Hillary Huber (3.5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction
Length: 1 hour and 15 minutes
Publisher: Audible Studios
Release Date: February 28, 2019
ASIN: B07NP45DPP
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Paris, 1893. Twenty-five-year-old Marie Sklodowska 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.
Her meticulous plans get thrown slightly off-course when Marie attracts the attention of an accomplished young physicist, himself on the precipice of greatness. Thirty-five-year-old Pierre Curie, famous for his work on symmetry, believes he has found in Marie an equal who shares his devotion to scientific discovery. He offers to help with her work, and soon begins to court her. But to Marie, men have always been an obstacle, love a distraction from her goals. She hasn’t come this far to let either stand in the way of her dreams – dreams Pierre insists they can share.”
I got this for free through Audible Originals (since I have an Audible membership). This was really short but it was an interesting look into a very brief time in the life of Marie Curie. You get a very brief background and a paragraph summary of her accomplishments. This short story mainly focuses on her time at University and the time period where she meets her husband to be.
I listened to this and the narrator was okay. Huber did a decent job narrating but at times sounded a bit robotic to me.
In general I enjoyed this. Although, I do have some mixed feelings about how this highlights her meeting her husband as one of the most important events in her life. The message gets a bit confused because the story is touting the importance of Marie’s independence and then highlighting her relationship with her husband.
This story is very striped down and turns Marie’s life into a bit of a reluctant heroine finding romance kind of story. There is very little mention of her accomplishments.
Overall, it’s decent if you want an incredibly brief look at Marie Curie’s life and don’t mind the focus on the importance of Marie getting married. I would have preferred a longer novella that did a better job of highlighting Marie’s life in a more even way. Mainly it made me want to learn more about Marie Curie.
