The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady
By Elizabeth Stuckey-French (334 pages)
Published by Anchor Books
Bookish rating: 4
For starters, can we all agree that this novel has a spectacular title? And, for that matter, cover?
Marylou, who was given a radioactive cocktail (while pregnant) in the 1950s without her knowledge, has spent 50 odd years plotting her revenge on the doctor who gave it to her. She moves onto the same block where he now lives with his daughter and her messed up family.
The novel is heartbreaking--radiation! childhood cancer! Asperger's! Alzheimer's! marital discord! statutory rape! sexual exploitation! cheating! abandonment by your mother! --and downright FUNNY. This is where Stuckey-French shines. She oh so subtly turns that Very Serious string of events into satire that doesn't feel like . . . satire. It's quite interesting.
Various characters tell the story (via third-person), and all of them are complex and sympathetic and . . . twistedly endearing.
This was my first Stuckey-French novel, and I'm game for another. Recommended.
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