The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict

This was a fascinating book. I will never think about Albert Einstein the same way again. Brilliant people are always unique. I loved reading about him as a young man. He was charming and smart and persistent. He didn't care what other people thought of him. I love how he pursued Mileva tirelessly and collaborated with her for so many years. It's makes sense that he would fall in love with a brilliant mathematician. Being unconventional, it would have been difficult for him to find a job to support a wife and children. In the end, he did defy his parent's wishes by marrying Mileva, but he certainly did not do her justice. His reluctance - and unwillingness - to meet his daughter is inexcusable in my opinion. That's where he lost my understanding and support. Just because you are a genius, it doesn't give you the right to treat people like crap - especially the woman you profess to love.

It makes sense to me that he would make his collaboration with Mitza his own ideas. It mattered back then that Mitza didn't have a degree. I didn't see him as a insecure man in general, but his difficulty in finding a job must have knocked him down a few pegs. I think he was jealous of Mitza's intelligence, even though that is what drew him to her in the first place. Men back then did not publicly work together with their wife to come up with things like the Theory of Relativity. (Unless you are the husband of Madame Curie!)

I did not know that Albert Einstein had two wives. I also didn't know that he married his cousin. It's incredibly sad to me that Albert stopped treasuring what he loved about Mitza in the first place. It seems like he felt threatened by her intelligence. He valued her mind, yet he couldn't support it publicly, which made him a smaller man in my eyes.

So, did this book change my perception of Einstein? Certainly. How could it not? He made significant contributions to physics - and our understanding of it. But now I know/suspect that he had help from "the other Einstein". Let's give credit where credit is due.

I am happy that he followed through with their divorce settlement and gave her the Nobel Prize money. It was also interesting that he paid for her care until she died. It's sad that their younger son was mentally ill. There is such a fine line between genius and mental illness. How tragic that Tete fell on the side of mental illness.

Wendy's Rating: *****

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

I think it's interesting that people want to escape their lives by moving to Alaska - the last frontier. I would guess that most of them don't know what they are getting into! Certain people choose to live off the grid.There are always people that believe that America is going to hell in a hand basket. There are people who build their bomb shelters or live off the land, rejecting the creature comforts of America. There are people who live with provisions for the end of the world; who have gas masks in store for their family members; who are preparing for, or are prepared for, doomsday. Ernt's life was a tragedy. By Cora's account, he was a family man who adored his wife and daughter when he went off to Vietnam. The veterans from that war were thrown back into a world that despised them for going to Vietnam. America's participation in this war was considered a blight on our country. Not only did Ernt have PTSD, he had zero support from his country, despite being a veteran. Then, on top of that, battered women had no defense. People had the attitude that domestic abuse was a "private family matter". That nothing could be done. Heck, even now domestic abuse and child abuse occurs constantly - despite America's vast understanding of abuse! I read about a 6 year old being beaten to death by his caregivers in this morning's paper!

There is an extremely fine line between supporting someone with a mental illness and protecting yourself from someone you love that has a mental illness. I actually understood Cora when she said she couldn't leave Ernt because he would never give up looking for her. And when he found her, there would be hell to pay. What an impossible situation. Cora loved the man Ernt was before Vietnam. She refused to abandon him. She needed help to run away from him, but by doing that, she would jeopardize the safety of anyone who helped her. I had to keep putting down the book because I was so afraid that he would kill one of the Walkers. The relief I felt when Cora killed him to protect Leni was almost a physical sensation for me!  All I could think of was "it's about frickin time"!

The Walkers were amazing. I really loved all of them. How traumatic for Matthew to lose his mother that way. It's interesting that Leni had the same sense of responsibility and love of Matthew that her mother had for Ernt. You can't deny that their love for people ran very deep. They both had a difficult time knowing when to protect themselves, since it meant leaving the man they loved. The Walkers had a lot of bad things happen to them, yet they remained loving, caring, generous people. Of course I need to mention Large Marge too! She was awesome. Where would they have been without her?? She taught them so much about living in Alaska - and aided in their survival. Then, when TSHTF, she certainly came through for Cora and Leni. What an interesting thing - the use of TSHTF in the book! I have never seen an expression like that used repeatedly in a book. Ernt must have said it a lot!

Kristin Hannah writes such different type of books. Her themes are so different. She doesn't choose one part of the USA or another country as her settings either. They are different settings, different eras, different stories. This was an emotional read for me - especially after Cora killed Ernt. I did not put the book down again. I was extremely happy that Matthew survived, despite his scars and chronic pain. He deserved a happy ending - and I know he made the best life he could for himself, Leni and their children.

Wendy' Rating: *****