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The Cassandra
The Cassandra | Sharma Shields
11 posts | 13 read | 26 to read
The Cassandra follows a woman who goes to work in a top secret research facility during WWII, only to be tormented by visions of what the mission will mean for humankind. Mildred Groves is an unusual young woman. Gifted and cursed with the ability to see the future, Mildred runs away from home to take a secretary position at the Hanford Research Center in the early 1940s. Hanford, a massive construction camp on the banks of the Columbia River in remote South Central Washington, exists to test and manufacture a mysterious product that will aid the war effort. Only the top generals and scientists know that this product is processed plutonium, for use in the first atomic bombs. Mildred is delighted, at first, to be part of something larger than herself after a lifetime spent as an outsider. But her new life takes a dark turn when she starts to have prophetic dreams about what will become of humankind if the project is successful. As the men she works for come closer to achieving their goals, her visions intensify to a nightmarish pitch, and she eventually risks everything to question those in power, putting her own physical and mental health in jeopardy. Inspired by the classic Greek myth, this 20th century reimagining of Cassandra's story is based on a real WWII compound that the author researched meticulously. A timely novel about patriarchy and militancy, The Cassandra uses both legend and history to look deep into man's capacity for destruction, and the resolve and compassion it takes to challenge the powerful.
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ralexist
The Cassandra | Sharma Shields
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Pickpick

This takes the Greek myth of Cassandra, a woman cursed to utter true prophesies but never be believed & retells it during the 1940s atomic arms race. Mildred experiences visions of horrific death & destruction, & as they grow, her friends & colleagues increasingly believe that she's going crazy. This was a darker psychological read & there are scenes that made me both cringe & be furious. While I didn't necessarily love this, it is haunting.

BookmarkTavern Wow! That sounds fascinating! (edited) 5y
29 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Hooked_on_books
The Cassandra | Sharma Shields
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Panpan

Mildred decides to escape from her domineering family by becoming a secretary at Hanford, a secretive military facility. But she has visions, resulting in bizarre behavior and eventually descent into darkness. I liked the setting and some of it was very well written, but the visions didn‘t work for me and it was just too weird, especially at the end.

ShyBookOwl Hmmm... I'm intrigued. I do love myth retellings but I've heard many ppl say it leans too hard into the tragedy aspect. 5y
Hooked_on_books @ShyBookOwl You may want to give it a try. It does get quite dark and tragic, but it‘s written well. I was so bothered by what to me was the silliness of the visions that I put it aside and read something else, but I found myself wanting to go back to this one. It wasn‘t all bad for me, despite my pan. 5y
43 likes2 comments
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AlizaApp
The Cassandra | Sharma Shields
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Pickpick

The Cassandra myth of Greek legend but set at the nuclear plant in Hanford that developed the atomic bomb. I knew to expect a tragedy but still was taken aback several times. I liked unsentimental Mildred as a main character.

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Nitpickyabouttrains
The Cassandra | Sharma Shields
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Mehso-so

I started out really loving this book about a girl who gets visions, leaves home, and goes to work for the US War effort during wwii. But it took a turn toward the end which I didn‘t think worked?

mcipher I saw this at the library and decided against picking it up - feeling good about that choice right now (especially because I am trying so hard to whittle down my TBR!) 5y
16 likes1 comment
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mreads
The Cassandra | Sharma Shields
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Pickpick

Retelling of the Cassandra myth, a prophetess whom no one believes. Set in 1940s Hanford WA, Mildred, as Cassandra, is a secratary to a physicist working on the atomic bomb. She is tormented by visions of the bomb on the Japanese.

This is a Dark, Dark story and there is no happy ending, so read at your own risk. Also I know nothing about the mythology so can't comment on the accuracy or interpretation.

#readingwomenchallenge2019 myth retelling

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ablachly
The Cassandra | Sharma Shields
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Pickpick

Magnificent and dark and gutting in its horrificness. Incredibly well written, but very hard to read.

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Bookalong
The Cassandra | Sharma Shields
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Pickpick

An entertaining retelling of the classic myth!
🌟🌟🌟🌟/5
I enjoyed this retelling quite a bit. I loved the ways the author modernized the story, part historical fiction part fantasy. It was pretty powerful and a lot of great symbolism is used. I really liked the time period this is set in too. How the author showed the way women were treated at this time.
The writing is quite good and you can tell this was well researched.
#bookreview

SamAnne I love Sharma Shields and can‘t wait to read this. She is a hometown author. 6y
Bookalong Yay!🙌 Hope you enjoy! This was my first of hers. 6y
21 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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ReadingEnvy
The Cassandra | Sharma Shields
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Mehso-so

The Cassandra by Sharma Shields is a retelling of the classic Cassandra myth, set at the Hanford nuclear facility during World War II. Full disclosure, I once again missed that it was a myth retelling until after I read it.

Mildred gets a job at Hanford as a secretary, and happily leaves home in Omak, Washington, where she had been her mother's caregiver. There is also a sense she tried killing her mother, but this isn't explained at first. ⬇️

ReadingEnvy Once at Hanford, the other women discover that Mildred has a penchant for sleepwalking, but with visions. She often wakes in the middle of the night in a river or a lake! She has visions of great violence at work as well. 6y
ReadingEnvy Except. There is this feeling of Patricia Highsmith level of sociopath in Mildred that makes her completely unsympathetic as a character ... And it gets darker and darker up to the end of the novel. I don't know if this is a match to the myth, or if it the author's brilliant way of turning the reader into one more person who refuses to listen.... 6y
Reggie Hmmm there‘s a few of you on Litsy who right so-so reviews that just hook me on a book. Lol, this sounds really good. On a different note, I love Mighty Aphrodite by Woody Allen where they keep telling pessimistic people to stop being such a Cassandra. 6y
ReadingEnvy @Reggie ha! Well this is why I try to be specific in what doesn‘t work for me because everyone is different! 6y
54 likes1 stack add4 comments
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LeafingThroughLife
The Cassandra | Sharma Shields
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Another interesting addition to Mt. TBR. My early year TBR is full of World War II historical fiction of all kinds.

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Well-ReadNeck
The Cassandra | Sharma Shields
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Panpan

This novel is a retelling of the Greek myth of Cassandra. In this novel, the Cassandra is Milly, a secretary on the Manhattan Project during WWII. Milly's backstory, violent seizure/sightings and work on the secretive campus developing atomic weapons all cast a very dark pallor over the retelling. the story never really got off the ground and I didn't find Milly a likable, sympathetic or compelling character.
#LibraryThing #EarlyReviewers

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Well-ReadNeck
The Cassandra | Sharma Shields
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#BookMail #LibraryThing #EarlyReviewer

Just got this one in from LibraryThing‘s Early Reviewer program!!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

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