This book is actually relatively unbiased, too, it paints the women for who they are for better and for worse. While I love most historical graphic novels, this one caught my eye even more because I actually thought it was related to Moore's book, and I was delighted to find out it wasn't. I hesitate to use the phrase mainstream, but the book The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women definitely shot it into the sphere of more common knowledge, there's things here that I wasn't fully aware of and wanted to take another peek at. I actually had to do two readthroughs of this one to fully form my thoughts about it, because although it's a story I know and one that has become more.
Radium girls book characters full#
For a graphic book of only about a 100 pages, to be able to show you a glimpse of happy women who are full of life turning into shells of themselves, breaking your heart is no small feat. This story is not only empowering but brings to light matters of occupational hazards. It made me think of how far we've come and how far we still need to go. All of these things were mentioned briefly in this graphic novel. The simple pleasures of life weren't for women since that meant she wasn't of sound character. The societal conceptions of how a woman should behave and carry herself inorder to be called a pious woman with morals. The book lightly brushes several important aspects of that time, like the right to vote and the patriarchal regulations set to keep women in check and honestly under men. It gave me enough information to not feel lost and left some for further research on my own. I have tried reading graphic books before only to toss them aside for its a genre I just can't get into, but I have a feeling this book has changed my distaste for this genre. The cartoon illustrations of such an important historical event was done refreshingly well. The illustrations were really well done, with muted colours that weren't too hard on the eyes. It was a precise profound graphic book that left me gasping for breath, wiping tears from my eyes. I didn't know anything about The Radium Girls, I knew about radiation poisoning but I didn't exactly know about this historical event. It was an extremely interesting and pleasant read that I really loved. This historical graphic novel does a very great job depicting that important part of labor history in the US. The focus is really the story of these women, and how the lies told by their employer totally changed their lives.įrom the beginning to the very end, we see how these women evolve, deeply affected by the effects of radium. The simple use of color pencils in the illustrations accentuate the shocking atmosphere of the story. Cy has done an amazing job, both of the story and the art. Radium is a powerful testimony about women fighting to get their rights recognized. Presented as harmless by the watch manufacturer, the girls didn’t worry about these secondary effects… until their bodies started showing other signs of side effects. These working-class young women gained their nickname from the fine dusting of glowing, radioactive powder that clings to their clothes after every shift and the strange glow that emanated from their teeth and lips in the dark.
Everyday, they paint watch dials, using a radium based solution. These women hold well-paying jobs at the local watch factory. In Orange, everyone knows the « Ghost Girls ». Desperate for compensation and acknowledgement from the company that has doomed them, the Ghost Girls must fight, not just for their own lives but the future of every woman to follow them.Ī stunning graphic novel retelling of the shocking and inspiring true story.īased on a true story, Radium Girls is set in 1910s New Jersey. When teeth start falling out, followed by jawbones, the dial painters become the unprepared vanguard on the frontlines of the burgeoning workers’ rights movement. The soft, greenish glow even stains their lips and tongues, which they use to point the fine brushes used in their work.
The proud holders of well-paying jobs at the local watch factory, these working-class young women gain their nickname from the fine dusting of glowing, radioactive powder that clings to their clothes after every shift painting watch dials. It’s 1918 in Orange, New Jersey, and everyone knows the “Ghost Girls.” "Another example of how great graphic novels are at teaching history." - BOOK RIOT "Excels in showing the camaraderie of the 'Ghost Girls.'" - PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Compelling, inspiring, and radiant." - FOREWORD
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