The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict

 I had high hopes for this one. I met a new friend at church, Shirla Snow, and she invited me to join her book club after we had talked books together and realized we liked the same classics and had lots more in common. I'm not sure if this was her pick for this month's meeting or not, but this was a disappointment. They blurbs and hype online are misleading and I think, false advertising! Maybe I don't know Hedy Lamarr's real story, and maybe there are some similarities to this one, but either way, the book isn't anything special AT ALL. Fluffy, even. I probably ought to do some research to see how much of this is fabricated...but honestly, an Austrian actress and a musician composer designing torpedo weaponry systems? With no background? Really? 

And I got tired of reading about Hedy's guilt about not telling others about Hitler's real plan to eradicate Jews. I mean, come on. It was pretty evident from the beginning, wasn't it? Ah, well, it was a somewhat interesting story that flowed, and the story and settings were mildly interesting. Vienna and Hollywood are both colorful and interesting backdrops for a story. But the characters were flat and one-sided; the usual all good or all evil, and that wasn't particularly engaging. Benedict's writing style flows easily and it read fast... I'm not sure why she included so many detailed names, etc., except to maybe lend veracity to the story? I wonder if there really was a Mandl, her weapons dealer husband. Benedict does call it a novel, so who knows what's what. The line between historical fiction and history gets thin...

I think Benedict is also trying to inspire women to fight against being marginalized just for being women. This trope is also a little overdone and over played... Or maybe Hedy Lamarr is just a very poor and weak example? I'm not sure. At any rate, I'm lending this book to Sister Terry who is apparently also in this book club, and it will be fascinating to see whether she and others like it or not...