"The Other Einstein" by Marie Benedict

I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley and was immediately intrigued by the description. This book is historical fiction focused on Mileva Maric - Albert Einstein's first wife. Mileva was very well educated. In fact, she and Albert met in Zurich where both of them were studying physics at the Polytechnic. Mileva dreamed of dedicating her life to science and her contribution to Einstein's theory of relativity is still debated. Was she simply a sounding board for his brilliant ideas, or did she in fact author some of them?

Whatever the case may be, she was his supporter, his helpmeet, she gave birth to his children and took care of the housework. On the other hand, it is unquestionable that her relationship with Albert derailed her own scientific aspirations. She became pregnant out of wedlock during the last year of her studies; and even though she had been a promising student, she failed her final exams and never finished her dissertation. She had to flee in shame to her parents' house in her native Serbia, while Albert desperately tried to secure a job which would allow them to marry.

Her marriage to Albert was an unhappy one. Their first daughter died of scarlet fever, and according to the book, Albert never saw her. Mileva and Albert had two more children, on of whom later succumbed to a mental illness. The marriage that started as a love story and a scientific partnership of two brilliant minds, degenerated into a union where two people bitterly resented and barely tolerated each other. Mileva was also deeply disappointed to be shut out of Albert's later scientific work.

As Marie Benedict aptly noted, Mileva's story is not unlike that of many brilliant women who forego their own professional aspirations and end up living in the shadow of their husbands. I also could not help but wonder, would we know the name of Marie Curie if her husband had not been such an adamant supporter of her work but claimed all of their shared ideas to himself? I highly recommend this book. It does show Albert in less than favorable light, but the story itself feels very real and I could truly relate to Mileva's sad story. 5 out of 5 stars.

"The Last Star" by Rick Yancey

The Last Star is the conclusion of Rick Yancey's The 5th Wave trilogy. As I wrote in my reviews of the first two books, I have really been enjoying following the story, and the first two books were excellent. When I started reading the third book, I quickly realized that I needed to go back and reread the first two. Some details and secondary characters were fuzzy for me and I felt like I was not getting all the references. So I reread the first two books (still excellent, no complaints there), and finally dove into the third one. I read it in three days and must say that Yancey wrote a very satisfying and realistic conclusion to the trilogy. I cannot recommend it enough. I know the first book was really popular and then lots of readers were disappointed in the second one. Personally, I liked all three. Having just read all of them back to back, I must say that the story flows flawlessly from book to book. There is outstanding character development, and as I already said, a very satisfying conclusion. So if you like end-of-the-world, alien invasion type stories, you should give this trilogy a go. I also think the first book might give an erroneous impression that it is a YA romance story. It is not. There is very little romance especially in books 2 and 3. Five out of five stars.

"My Brilliant Friend" by Elena Ferrante

Ferrante's Neapolitan Quartet is very popular and I was curious to check it out. I decided to at least read book 1 and see how it goes. All I knew about the book going in was that it was about friendship between two girls. The book is written from the point of view of one of the girls - Elena. She and her friend Lila are growing up in post-war Italy and live in a poor neighborhood of Naples. Elena's father is a porter and Lila's is a shoemaker. In elementary school, it becomes obvious that Lila is far better at reading, math and other subjects than the rest of the students. While Elena has to work hard just to stay second best, learning comes easily to Lila and she seems to make no effort at all. Unfortunately, Lila's parents forbid her to continue studying after she graduates from elementary school. Elena continues on to middle school and high school.

The girls' friendship is complicated and at times painful. Elena constantly feels inferior first in intelligence and later in looks and love life. She truly feels Lila is the smarter and more beautiful of the two of them. However, this competition with her best friend is what pushes her to study harder, to always aim higher and to continue dreaming of a better life. We never get to glimpse what goes on in Lila's head, but at one point in the book, she turns to Elena and calls her "my brilliant friend" - the words Elena would just as readily apply to Lila. Ultimately, both girls do everything they can in their own, albeit different, ways to escape poverty and the confines of the neighborhood plagued by violence, jealousy and settling of scores. The book ends with Lila's wedding. At 16, she marries the neighborhood grocer - a seemingly successful match that will take her out of poverty. However, Elena realizes that getting out of their circumstances is not that easy. She also feels more acutely than ever before that she does not belong in the neighborhood. She has no one to talk to about the things she learned at school, and even Lila is no longer interested in intellectual pursuits.

I must say it took me longer than I thought it would to get through the book. It is a slow read, and some sections in the middle of the book felt too drawn out. However, the narrative picked up and got more interesting towards the end, and I am curious about the rest of Elena's and Lila's story. 4 out of 5 stars. Definitely worth reading.