Member Reviews
I love comics that are educative — little children learning about important scientific and historical milestones in a fun way is always fulfilling. In this rendition of Curie's life on comics, the prose is straightforward and factual.
This was a fascinating and fun read, especially as it was a biography as a graphic novel. It's a nice way to get younger people interested in history.
I no longer have the ebook I downloaded so I am not able to read and review this title. After switching to a new laptop some of my data was lost. I am sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.
Kris
I was disappointed that this wasn't a story so much as a brief outline of her life (which I could get off of Wikipedia) - and when I say brief, I mean that the graphic novelization portion of this volume is only 20 pages. The rest is devoted to a slightly more detailed text timeline. I guess I just didn't understand the format - if you're going to do a graphic novel, then commit and get all of the details into that format! And if you're going to do a graphic bio, make it personal, emotional, and at least get past the basics!
Also, I found the illustrations off-putting at times, because the same character would be shown the exact same way (like, I think they copy-pasted??) on the same page. And, they had absolutely no emotion in their faces - I got the impression that the illustrator based everything off of photographs which of course in those days took ages so no one smiled...but I'm sure she smiled in real life! It made her seem cold and aloof.
This graphic novel is about Marie Curie, as you might have guessed from the title. It is divided in two parts, the first is a graphic novel representation of Curie’s life, the second a timeline of her life with photos of her and her family.
The book was pretty informative, it mentioned everything of importance in Curie’s life. I preferred the first part of the book but it still had its problems. It jumped a lot and, sometimes, I didn’t know who was talking to who or what was happening. The second part was just a big chunk of text with some photos.
The book was interesting but they could have done more with the story.
An interesting look into Marie Curie. I'm not a fan of the art style, but I did enjoy the story. It's definitely something that could have been a bit better.
This book tells Marie Curie's life story.
Art wise, it's weird, I never got used to it.
Story wise, it's interesting, however, I feel that it didn't focus on her life's most important events, it felt as though the book was about her husband.
Honestly, I hoped that this book would be better, it disappointed me deeply.
Rating: 2,5 stars
Marie Curie was a rock star of science. She had to overcome the chauvinism and racism of the time to become the first woman professor in the Sarbonne. Because she worked with her husband studying radium, he was given the Nobel Prize and she had to deal with people not giving her credit for her discoveries all her life.
The story telling in this is very disjointed and fragmented. It's more an outline of Curie's life than the story. The graphic retelling is only the first 20 pages or so. The rest is a series of photographs and a year by year prose timeline of her life.
An amazing book, a fantastic way to tell people about someone fantastic as Marie Curie, a powerfull woman
Marie Curie: The Radium Fairy, takes an interesting approach to the subject. The first half of the book is a graphic narrative of Curie’s life told via a flashback as she is working on her Nobel acceptance speech. Actually, it’s a flashback nestled inside a flashback, as we see her meet her eventual husband Pierre, and then we see her earlier days as she tells him how she came to become a student in Paris. We then jump back to her growing relationship with Pierre, their marriage, and then of course on to the work that made them famous—discovering Polonium and Radium. Then the accidental death of Pierre and Marie’s further work on radiation leading eventually all the way to her death.
I confess that I wasn’t generally a fan of the artwork, though it was certainly serviceable. And it did have a few nice moments. For instance, I liked the visual juxtaposition of images showing baby toy and lab equipment, showing in the concise way that graphic stories can how she juggled both motherhood and being a brilliant scientist. Another panel shows Curie in the middle with two opposing groups, one to either side, either praising her or criticizing her, which is a nice use of spacing, but I’d say it goes a little far with the coloration and facial depiction, with the complainers an ugly green and some looking almost Frankenstein creature or Mr. Hyde-like.
The second half is a quite detailed timeline running from birth to death and filling in the gaps from the graphic story part. This section is text heavy but is interspersed with absolutely wonderful photographs of Marie and Pierre, as well as other artifacts from their life—newspaper articles, the first x-ray, etc.
I do that Marie Curie would have delved more into her work itself—its difficulty, its importance, her methods, and so forth. We’re told what it is, but don’t really feel it. Beyond that, and the admittedly highly subjective response to the artwork, it’s a very good introduction to her life and work.
I was sent this short graphic novel/comic book via Netgalley. It illustrates the life and work of Marie Curie, one of the most famous female scientists, including her early life, her relationships (particularly with her accomplished husband), her accomplishments and her impact. I liked the illustration style, it's a quick and easy but enjoyable graphic novel about such an incredible woman! As well as being a great mini graphic novel, it also contained lots of photographs of Marie, her family and colleagues which I hadn't seen before. It did contain so much information that I already knew from college and documentaries but I'd still recommend it.
Bringing Marie Curie to the graphic novel realm was interesting, enlighting and hopefully will provide others with an interest in science! She is the only woman to win two Nobel prizes and an outstanding scientist at that! I always had an interest in her story, and opening up her life in this medium offers a whole different group to reading about her. I especially enjoyed that it included her meeting Pierre as it was important for her personal life as well as her life work!
Did not finish. The text was disjointed and the artwork recycled the same expressions and poses, often within the same page. I couldn't recommend this.
'Marie Curie: The Radium Fairy' is a combination graphic novel by Chantal Montellier followed by a timeline by Renaud Huynh.
I really liked the graphic novel half of this book. The facts of her life are there, and the illustrations by Chantal Montellier look a bit like colorized photos, and I really liked that look for this.
The second half is a timeline of Marie Curie's life, and it's a lot of the same facts used in the graphic novel, but with more depth and some photos. It's also pretty good for a somewhat brief biography.
I'm not sure I needed both. Either would have been fine. Both feels redundant to me. Still I liked each part on it's own.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.
I love the idea of a comic book showcasing women scientists of history. Marie Curie brought the world so much! The comic shows a few different points in her life. Marie and Pierre's meeting is shown. The origins of x-rays. The tragic passing of Pierre Curie. She was such a trailblazer. Chauvinism vs Feminism is a big part of this story. The second half is an in depth timeline.
I give this comic book a 4/5. It's a great look into a wonderful person that changed the way we see the world.
I wish more of Curie's story had been adapted here, rather than just in the first few pages. I found the extra information about her incredibly intriguing, but was sad to find that only a passing view of her life story had actually been adapted into graphic novel format, especially as the art is so nice!
*read on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
I knew very very little about Marie Curie before reading this graphic novel. I loved it and the illustrations. It was definitely for teenagers up and incredibly informative without being boring or feeling like you were stuck in a classroom.
It contained photographs from Marie's life and a biography that i personally found extremely interesting.
I feel like it made history more accessible and I am personally trying to read about more exceptional women in history and am very glad I stumbled upon this.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2327779401
The graphic novel follows the life of Marie Curie and her studies in the field of chemistry and physics that got her two Nobel prizes.
From the graphical side I appreciated the use of real pictures, so to have the character resembling their true appearance.
Plot and dialogues were sometime not very detailed, and some historical episodes seems only hinted, I would have liked some more details.
Overall it is an interesting book, a good choice for the ones who does not know about this great scientist.
Thanks to the publisher for providing me the copy necessary to write this review.
This is a very informative graphic novel about the only woman two win two Nobel prizes. This covers her life from when she met Pierre Curie, to when she won her second Nobel prize. There is a lot of information I didn't know, such as that Pierre was killed by being run over by a horse drawn cart, or that Mdm Curie taught at the Sourbone.
The graphic novel part, is only half the book though, and the drawings are rather odd, to top it off.
Rotoscoping is where you film something, then draw animation on top of the movie. This graphic novel feels as though they did the equivalent in cartooning. It makes for some odd, and very stiff looks, since 100 years or so ago, people stood very still and didn't smile much for photos.
You can see an example here:
<img src="http://www.reyes-sinclair.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Screen-Shot-2018-03-09-at-9.38.46-PM.png" alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-306" />
The second half is a very detailed timeline with photos and drawings from the time, and information that we just covered in the graphic novel, but with more detail. I skimmed it. I'm not quite sure why the author felt that the graphic novel couldn't stand on its own, or that we had to use half the book to give us more information on Marie Curie.
And really? Radium Fairy? Really? I thought perhaps something was lost in the translation, but that is the name, in French as well. Strange.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
Very interesting and educational piece on Marie Curie. I liked the artwork and style of the first half, but unless they took some stuff from her personal notebooks then I don't know how they can infer they knew how she was feeling. It adds to the overall narrative though.