The Only Woman in the Room

I found the story of Hedy Lamarr, which I didn't really know prior to this novel, completely fascinating. Not just a film starlet, Hedy was an Austrian Jew, married to a fascist warlord prior to escaping to the US where she invited frequency hopping. It's a story of transformation from resignation and despair to claiming agency. But I think I would have rather read an actual biography than a fictionalized pseudo-biography. I don't really enjoy real-person fictionalizations and I found Benedict's dialogue quite twee.

I'm not all too familiar with Hedy Lamarr's work, but after reading The Only Woman In The Room, I need to go binge-watch her films. Her story being told in a fictionalized style made it feel more personal. A brilliant and determined mind, not only for her invention but for having the guts to step past her glamour for the sake of humanity.

If you choose to read only one historical fiction work this year, choose The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict. Prior to reading this book, I had no idea who Hedy Lamarr was and I'm ashamed of that fact after having finished it. She was a strong, powerful woman that does not nearly get the credit that she deserves. We hear of Marie Curie, Margaret Sanger, Susan B. Anthony, but quite rarely, if ever, do we hear of Hedy Lamarr and the amazing contribution she made that has led us to such luxuries as Bluetooth, GPS, and of course, Wi-Fi.

Edited 2/6/19 after revisiting the book: 3.5 out of 5 stars

I liked The Only Woman in the Room at first but the longer I sat with it... the more the ending bothered me. I really liked the beginning and thought that it was moving well and I was interested, but then... the latter half of the book seemed very rushed and Hedy's intelligence and her scientific knowledge seemed to come out of nowhere. She went from being a token in the room to suddenly knowing how to create a frequency jumping device for missiles. Honestly I would rather have had 50, even 75 more pages added to the book so that way more of that could be fleshed out. I also didn't like how Hedy seemed to just... give up at the end. She was such a spitfire woman with such fortitude and moxy and then the ending just seemed so.. uncharacteristic for her. To quote one of the ladies I discussed this book with, it seemed as if “the author did just what everyone else did to Hedy throughout her life: she dismissed her.”