The Cassandra

by Sharma Shields

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.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, Retellings, Audiobook, Book Club

289 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 12, 2019

About the author

Sharma Shields is the author of a short story collection, Favorite Monster, and two novels, The Sasquatch Hunter’s Almanac and The Cassandra. Sharma’s short stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, Electric Lit, Catapult, Slice, Slate, Fairy Tale Review, Kenyon Review, Iowa Review, Fugue, and elsewhere and have garnered such prizes as the 2020 PNBA Award, 2016 Washington State Book Award, the Autumn House Fiction Prize, the Tim McGinnis Award for Humor, a Grant for Artist Projects from Artist Trust, and the A.B. Guthrie Award for Outstanding Prose. She received her B.A. in English Literature from the University of Washington (2000) and her MFA from the University of Montana (2004). Sharma runs a small press, Scablands Books, and is a contributing editor for Moss. A current employee of Wishing Tree Books in Spokane, Sharma has worked in independent bookstores and public libraries throughout Washington State. She lives with her husband (writer and graphic novelist Simeon Mills) and their two children.

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Writing this review hurts me a little because this was easily one of my most anticipated books of 2019, but I'm sorry, this was pretty terrible. The premise was genius: it's the story of the Greek mythological figure Cassandra retold and set at Hanford, the research facility in the U.S. that developed the atomic bomb during WWII. But I had four main problems with The Cassandra that I just couldn't get over: characters, plot, themes, and its success (or failure rather) as an adaptation, so let's get straight into it.

Every single character in this book was one-dimensional. Within seconds of meeting Mildred (the Cassandra figure), her inexplicably awful mother and sister, her wise and worldly best friend Beth, the charming but cruel Gordon, and the pathetic but well-intentioned Tom Cat, you know what each one of their roles in this story is going to be (which has nothing to do with the myth at the heart of the narrative - more on that in a minute). Every single one of these characters is just pitifully one-note. None of their painfully obvious characterization is developed or explored or subverted, they all just exist comfortably as conduits for the story to advance where it needs to go.

Which brings us to the next problem, how the plot drives the characters and not the other way around. The book starts with Mildred relaying to the reader that she's had a vision which tells her that she needs to go to Hanford, so that's exactly what she does. She gets on the bus to head to the facility and she meets Beth, who shakes her hand and promptly declares that the two of them are going to be best friends, and that's exactly what happens. We're informed that Tom Cat falls in love with Mildred, because he just does, apparently; we don't get to see anything develop in a natural or organic way. There's no rhyme or reason to be found, the story just kind of zips along and you're meant to accept that the characters' actions makes sense even when there's no basis to any of it.

And this would all be somewhat okay if the themes were sufficiently rich and engaging, but they just weren't. Mildred starts having visions that 'the product' being developed at Hanford will wreak havoc and destroy innocent lives, but when she tries to warn the researchers, her concerns are ignored. Mildred then has to grapple with her own role in working for the facility that's developing this weapon: even as a secretary, does she hold some kind of responsibility? There's not... a whole lot of thematic depth to engage with there, despite very obvious present-day parallels, but this conflict is the main driving force in the story. And at another point, about 70% through the book, Mildred is brutally raped (as in, seriously brutal, do not enter into this book lightly), and Shields comes close to making some kind of point about how not believing Mildred about her visions has parallels to not believing women who are assaulted, but not much is really done with that opportunity.

And finally, this has to be one of the laziest myth adaptations I have ever read. There are two recognizable elements from the original story: that Cassandra can see the future and no one believes her prophecies, and that she's raped. One of my favorite things about reading retellings is trying to discern which characters played which role in the original, and of course as a contemporary writer playing with an established story you should be allowed to invent characters and subvert character types and put your own unique stamp on the story, because otherwise what's the point? But in this case, the original myth was such a rudimentary blueprint that it felt like the author wanted to use the myth only as an excuse to incorporate visions into the story without the reader questioning it too much. Mildred is Cassandra, of course (but why does Mildred get these visions in the first place? there's no backstory involving an Apollo figure to rationalize this, it's just another thing we're meant to accept), and the person who rapes Cassandra is obviously Ajax the Lesser, but do not expect many other elements from the original myth to come into play. I certainly admired Shields' research into the Hanford facility, but maybe she should have cracked open a copy of the The Oresteia while she was at it.

So, all things considered this was a pretty big disappointment. If you're looking for a contemporary reimagining of a mythological story I'd suggest Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie or Everything Under by Daisy Johnson, or if you're looking for feminist mythology there's The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker or Circe by Madeline Miller. With so many fantastic mythological retellings published in the last few years, I think you can safely skip this one without missing much.

Thank you to Netgalley and Henry Holt for the advanced copy provided in exchange for an honest review - sorry this didn't work for me! :(

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 that she tried to kill her mother, but this isn't immediately explained.

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.

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....

I had a copy from the publisher through Edelweiss. It came out February 12, 2019.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a most unusual novel. I loved the author’s writing style. It was at first hard to warm up to the protagonist but before long I found myself inside the character’s head, almost a Being John Malkovich thing without being spit out on the jersey turnpike.

This novel told of a powerful and chilling nightmare, both internally and externally. The biggest nightmare really happened externally in history. The nightmare that went on within the protagonist was merely a reflection of the havoc humans wreaked in the world.

To see the protagonist as mad is naive. What we judge as insane and what we deem as sane is questionable at best so often. Violence is rarely sane yet so much of many country’s resources go toward it.

The title of this novel is in reference to the Greek mythological priestess that was cursed to tell prophecies, while true, that would never be believed. The protagonist is a version of this.

This story is beautifully and intoxicatingly told. It dives into the violence that is sometimes there with familial relationships, between the sexes, and between nations. This novel shines a light on the link between misogyny and war and the all around terror that is fueled by some that need to save and destroy the world at the same time.

It also juxtaposes genius with intuition. To what end, the novel asks. When is genius and intuition in service to humanity and when is it in service to mayhem or ego. And it shows how looking hard at what we as humans do to each other might drive anyone mad. This is why we turn away, why we seek distraction and the lie of thinking that everything is fine when in fact it isn’t. The protagonist is seen as mad for seeing it clearly and expressing it. Those that choose to hide this from view, while also taking part in it, are seen as sane. It’s an odd delusion we create over and over again in history.

This novel has magic and light and darkness. The darkness from the protagonist’s point of view is fueled with empathy and the feminine while what brings destruction to the external world is fueled by fear and the masculine. The novel shows that all fear that leads to destruction is masculine in nature, once it seeks to destroy or lash out.

The novel illustrates how if one ponders the atrocities and the things we do to each other, the pain we bring - it will drive you mad.

Though the protagonist was a vessel to tell this story, I never warmed up to her, though she was fascinating.

A very well written novel.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved Sharma's first novel (The Sasquatch Hunter's Almanac) and though this didn't quite reach such dizzying heights, I still felt it was a strong and for the most part, enjoyable read. Although it doesn't hue as closely to its mythological underpinnings as some other recent offerings (Home Fire; Everything Under) that didn't really bother me, as it was never intended to be such. I found the view into the development of the atomic bomb, of which I knew very little, fascinating, and Sharma's extensive research shows. The major theme of all bearing responsibility for the misdeeds of the powerful I found particularly trenchant in these horrendous days of Porky McAdderall's crimes against humanity. My one major quibble is that the climax of the book (the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki) occurs at almost exactly 3/4 of the way through, and the ensuing 70 pages just reiterate ideas that have come before and seem almost superfluous/ponderous.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5
Sharma Shield's novel The Cassandra was a very dark read. The protagonist Mildred Groves' gift of prophecy alienates her from her family and the larger society. She struggles with a desire to fit in while visions reveal horrifying inevitabilities and men's true natures.

Mildred ceases the chance to escape her suffocating home and needy mother, thrilled to find work at a WWII government research facility in a remote part of Washington on the Columbia River. The "project" will shorten the war, she is told. Mildred becomes an esteemed worker, makes her first best friend, and even gains an admirer. She revels in the freedom.

But night finds her sleepwalking and experiencing gruesome dreams of the project's dire consequences for humanity.

Shields vividly describes the historical Hanford Project research facility, part of the Manhatten Project--the wind and dust, the subjugation of minorities and women, the ignorance of the workers and the willingness of the researchers to risk environmental degradation to win the arms race.

Mildred's abuse and violent acts in response to her inability to change events around her are disturbing. More disturbing is humanity's blind determination in believing that the ultimate weapon will save the world.

I received a free book from the publisher through LibraryThing.

[Geonn Cannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. I'm not sure why exactly it didn't work for me, and I think it might be that I just never quite warmed to the main character. The setting and plot were great, and Mildred was perfectly of her time. She was exactly the type of person you might find rebelling against the family and society expectations set in front of her, but I also kind of found her bland. She made the biggest decision of her life because of a vision. She didn't make a choice, she just saw it and basically shrugged and said, "Guess I'll do this now." It felt very much like the story was telling her, rather than her influencing events.

I also debated whether or not to include this, since it does happen after the halfway point of the book, but there is a graphic and very violent depiction of sexual assault which some readers may find very upsetting.

[Maddie O. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is more of a 2.5 but I’m rounding down. I think the author tried to do too much here, and it didn’t lend itself to a cohesive narrative. Totally not saying that books shouldn’t be multidimensional, but I felt like the different dimensions of this book were disjointed and didn’t weave themselves together properly.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Cassandra had such an interesting premise: a young woman who has very clear and graphic visions of the future is excited to leave her dysfunctional and claustrophobic family life to work as a secretary at the mysterious Hanford government research facility in Washington, but once there begins to suffer from visions of the death and destruction that will be brought about by the nuclear bombs for which Hanford is supplying the plutonium. I liked that it was a modern retelling of the Cassandra myth, having recently read and enjoyed Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire, a twist on the Antigone story, and I liked the World War II period setting.

Things fell apart for me very quickly, however, starting with the fact that the characters—and most particularly the main character Mildred Groves—are not developed into believable people who draw you into the story. They are either completely one-dimensional (particularly Mildred’s harridan of a mother and a sister—characters so unsympathetic that I could never understand why Mildred would try to maintain any sort of relationship with them) or underdeveloped, like Mildred’s Hanford friend Beth, who is supposed to be her wise and sensible protector and confidante but who acts inconsistently throughout. The biggest problem, however, is Mildred herself, an odd and unlikable character who swings from excitement and happiness to fear and distrust in a heartbeat and whose many eccentricities aren’t in the least endearing. Of her fortuitous meeting with Beth on the bus to Hanford, Mildred says, “The friendship shocked me in its immediate affection.” It shocked me, too. (And don’t even get me started on Gordon, Tom Cat and Kathy.)

The best parts of the book for me by far were the scenes of the Hanford facility. Shields does a very good job of making this vast settlement in the middle of the Washington prairie come alive with her descriptions of the campus, the dining hall, the food, and the ever persistent wind. It is obvious she did a lot of research but every time the book started to explore the actual scientific work being done at Hanford, Mildred would have another vision and we’d be off down another path—and a very weird one at that. The final quarter of the book lurches into all-out melodrama territory, with a rape, a murder, self mutilation, and a mental institution. By this time, however—and much like Mildred herself—I just wanted it to end.

I really wish I liked this more and could get behind it, but I appreciate receiving an ARC from NetGalley and Henry Holt publishers in return for my honest review.

[Bonnie]

DNF @ 21%

In Greek mythology, Cassandra was cursed to speak prophecies that no one would ever believe. Sharma Shields’ Cassandra is a woman who also possesses the ability to prophesize and when she goes to work for the research facility that created the atomic bomb during WWII, her protestations fall on deaf ears when she tries to warn everyone of what’s to come. The plot of this one sounded fascinating and I was anxiously awaiting my opportunity to read it but unfortunately, I found Cassandra’s character to be insufferable and the rest of the characters were completely depthless. Whether or not they were developed further on in the story is a moot point since I obviously did not finish this story, however, character development is not a better late than never sort of thing and should have been done in the very beginning. The bit of story I did read left a lot to be desired plot-wise as well. Cassandra’s story lacked fluidity and felt rather like she was simply checking off boxes on a list of what she knows she does in life. Considering she’s got the gift of prophecy it’s thoroughly possible that this could have been the reason, except, Cassandra never felt like an active participant in her own life and seemed much more likely that it was the author checking off boxes instead. It was at about the point I hit this quote that I decided this just wasn’t for me:

“I admired his stridency. I wanted to bake it, to eat it like a large meat loaf so that it would enter my bloodstream and become my own.”

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I received this book free from Library Thing in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

[Crystal King · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Cassandra is a modern retelling of the ancient Greek myth, this time set in Washington state. It begins in the town where my own father grew up and so I immediately felt a connection to the character...Omak is not a place well known to many! Mildred ends up at Hanford during WWII when the nuclear plant was most instrumental in making the most powerful weapon in the history of mankind..This is not an easy tale to read emotionally, (particularly in our tumultuous times) but it is brilliantly told and will leave you thinking for days and weeks to come.

[Tucker Almengor]

Many thanks to Henry Holt & Company for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review

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[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A haunting and beautifully written book.
I want to add that I had an impromptu book club discussion about this book with some friends. It was the best book club discussion we've ever had. The book is very thought provoking and lends itself well to book clubs.

[Benjamin - Les Mots Magiques · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mildred Groves est une jeune fille presque ordinaire, à un détail près : il lui arrive d’avoir des visions prophétiques. Lorsqu’elle se voit embauchée en tant que dactylographe au sein d’une unité militaire, c’est enfin l’occasion pour elle de quitter sa campagne, et surtout sa mère, une femme difficile et insultante. Mais le soulagement est de courte durée puisqu’elle se trouve vite assaillie par des visions d’un désastre imminent en lien avec les activités de son employeur.
⠀
J’attendais vraiment cette sortie avec impatience. Le résumé m’attirait vraiment, et la superbe couverture d’Éléna Vieillard donnait, comme toujours, extrêmement envie. Malheureusement, je n’ai pas réussi à dépasser la moitié du roman. Je ne peux donc pas vous parler de l’ensemble du livre, uniquement de sa première moitié que j’ai trouvé vraiment poussive.
⠀
En soi, la plume n’a rien de désagréable, et ça se lit même assez bien, mais j’ai eu un énorme problème : le personnage principal. Les mots vont être durs mais j’ai rarement eu l’occasion de lire un livre dont le protagoniste était aussi inintéressant, terne et insipide que Mildred… Sur ces 200 premières pages, l’autrice nous fait l’étalage de toute la naïveté de son personnage et j’ai trouvé ça épuisant à lire. On comprend bien que la pauvre Mildred sort de sa campagne profonde et qu’elle a toujours été un peu malmenée par son odieuse mère et par sa sœur qui ne vaut pas bien mieux, mais je pense que ça aurait pu être amené différemment.
⠀
Et en ce qui concerne l’histoire… Je n’ai même pas vraiment l’impression qu’elle ait vraiment commencé arrivé à la moitié du roman. Oui, Mildred commence à avoir ses visions qui laissent présager que des choses terribles se préparent, mais mon ressenti c’est plutôt qu’on la suit pendant 200 pages alors qu’elle cherche un mari et l’approbation de sa mère… Personnellement, je n’ai pas envie de lire ça.
⠀
Par curiosité, je suis quand même allé lire quelques avis (globalement personne ne supporte Mildred), et je suis même allé me spoiler la fin pour être sûr de n’avoir aucun regret si j’arrêtais. J’ai l’impression que les choses deviennent peut-être plus intéressantes dans la seconde moitié et que les messages de l’autrice (autour du patriarcat et des violences faites aux femmes notamment) deviennent un peu plus présents. Mais pour ma part c’était trop tard. J’étais vraiment trop braqué contre le personnage, et par extension contre le livre, pour insister plus longtemps.
⠀
Dommage que ça n’ait pas fonctionné, mais on ne peut pas n’avoir que des coups de cœur non plus ! J’espère quand même que le roman trouvera son public dans le francophonie parce j’aime beaucoup le travail de la maison d’édition, mais j’aurais en tout cas du mal à vous recommander cet ouvrage.

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book descriptions tend to give too much away, so I often merely skim them to determine interest. From skimming this one I expected something with war experiments and psychics along the lines of mind control experiments of 50s, 60s and 70s, but this is essentially Manhattan Project material. Creation and implementation of the atomic bombs during the end of WWII as witnessed by a helpless prophet. Cassandra is a tragic figure of Greek Mythology. There are different versions of the story, but traditionally the Apollo is to blame, after being spurned by Cassandra despite his gift of prophecy, he punished her so that she’d never be believed. What a thing to do, what a fate. She’s become an archetype, a cautionary tale, a metaphor. There’s even a Cassandra complex. So you’re not going in expecting a happy story, but this book isn’t merely dark, it’s emotionally devastating. It requires immediate infusion of sunshine or something equally joyous upon completion. It starts off relatively upbeat as a young woman sets off getting away from her comedically terrible family to start a new well paying job as a typist. The project is secret, but everyone’s very proud to contribute to war efforts. And then the visions come, visions no one believes, visions everyone perceives as madness exhibited. Because the project is creating the world’s deadliest weapons, a devastation no one can even imagine, save for one woman. Gender politics (grotesquely unbalanced as they were back in the day)aside, there’s absolutely no way Mildred (the book’s Cassandra) can do a thing to change the already set course. To have such knowledge and be powerless to affect a change is tragic enough, with sudden violent attack thrown in it becomes catastrophic, sending the unheeded prophet spinning out of any bounds of normalcy previously so tenaciously clung to. In the end it seems the only option is to sit back and witness the world go by, helpless and resigned. So yeah…a very heavy story. Potently so. Essentially a tale of the way the world stomps out one's innocence. Definitely didn’t go in the direction my imagination took the skimmed contents originally, not in tone, not in context. It was still very much a good read, very well written, much food for thought. But terribly bleak , especially when read in more or less one go. But right on cue as I’m finishing up this review the sun finally came out, so there’s that. Thanks Netgalley.

[Literary Redhead · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend “The Cassandra: A Novel” by Sharma Shields, a modern day slant on the Cassandra myth, only this time with a young woman who works in a top secret research facility during WWII tormented by visions of what the mission will mean for humankind. She risks all by questioning those in power, demonstrating great bravery and spiritual inspiration as she “sounds” the metaphoric alarm bell. 5/5

Pub Date 12 Feb 2019

Thanks to Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are fully mine.

#TheCassandra #NetGalley

[Brandon B · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only likable character died :(

[mad mags · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hugely disappointing.

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through NetGalley. Trigger warning for child abuse and racist and misogynist violence, including rape.)

This—the butchery, the dripping floor—was what kingdoms of men did to one another. We were no more than instruments of hatred.

DNF at 65%.

Mildred Groves has always been haunted by visions. Actually, "haunted" is the wrong word: as terrible and disturbing as her visions are, Mildred welcomes them, like an old friend or security blanket. They make her powerful. Different. Unique. Yet they also make her an outcast, a lightening rod, a target for bullies. Turns out that people don't very much like hearing about the calamity that's about to befall them.

Things come to a head not long after the death of her beloved father. At their riverside memorial Mildred pushes her mother into the water. After this she's put on house arrest, of a sort: sentenced to take care of Mother, in all her failing health. An unemployed, friendless spinster at twenty-something. In Mildred's quest to be the perfect daughter, her visions flee soon afterward. So when she has a prophecy that she will be employed at the newly built Hanford Research Center in Washington, helping to defeat Hitler, she eagerly plans her escape.

With her strong secretarial skills and unusual mind, Millie is quickly hired as physicist Dr. Phillip Hall's secretary, where she's privy to sensitive information about "the product" they're developing at Hanford. Her escalating visions, accompanied by bouts of sleepwalking, tell her things, too: glimpses of bodies with the skin melted off, eyeballs oozing into nothing, a river choked with corpses. Yet when she questions the ethics of what they're doing at Hanford - continuing to develop a nuclear weapon even after the surrender of the German forces - she's dismissed as misguided, hysterical, or crazy. Or, worst of all: threatened with dismissal on mental health grounds, sending her straight back to Mother's depressing and oppressive home in Omak.

Part historical fiction, part reimagining of the Greek myth of Cassandra, I thoroughly expected to love The Cassandra. Unfortunately, it's just...not good.

As other reviewers have noted, the characters are all one-dimensional - especially the abusive Mother and sister Martha. They're such caricatures that I wondered for awhile if Mildred might be an unreliable narrator, but I really didn't get any confirmation of this in my reading. Like, Mother deserved to take a tumble into the Okanogan River, and then some. And yet there's no indication that anyone sees Mother and Martha's treatment of Mildred as wrong. Which in itself seems wrong. It's all just really weird and frustrating.

Ditto the rampant sexism, which is certainly appropriate for the era - but, in order to make it somewhat bearable, we need a character who questions, challenges, stands up against it. A contrast or aspiration. Mildred seems the obvious choice, and yet. Nada.

I struggled with DNF'ing this book more than most; even though I hated every minute of it, I found the plot interesting enough to want to know how the story ends. The final nail in the coffin came as I was perusing Goodreads reviews, and saw that Millie is brutally raped at the 70% point. I was 65% in, and that was it for me. I don't appreciate rape scenes to begin with, and I certainly wasn't willing to sit through one for this story.

I usually love the unpopular books - especially feminist scifi written by women - but sadly I'm with the haters here. Hard pass.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2019/03/29/...

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Greek Cassandra in WWII Manhattan Project - sounds like a good storyline. Picked this book randomly off the shelf at the library for some flight reading. The female characters sound like they were written by a man, so the fact that they were written by a female is just disturbing. Book is set in WWII, but there are a few paragraphs of the author ranting through the main character about displacing American indians, ruining the environment, 21st-century feminism, etc. Those in themselves don't ruin the book, but they aren't integrated into the story at all. Story/setting had a lot of potential but is ruined by half-developed themes and just odd, random, depressing chapters of suffering that are totally unnecessary. Also, quotes like "I thought about the cattle cars I'd heard about in Germany, the ones ferrying the damned to concentration camps and gas chambers" make me question - would US civilians in 1944 even have known that?? Maybe, maybe not, but to almost assume it as an obvious fact is just poor writing.


I felt myself split in two at the sight of it, a woman of confidence, a woman of uncertainty. To be both, I worried, meant I was nothing. Too much balance erased identity.
Need was nauseating. What was wrong with him, that he seemed so singularly bent on my existence?

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Damn.

[Jypsy]

Based in mythology, The Cassandra is a harrowing read. Cassandra was a prophet with the gift of true visions of the future, and the curse of no one ever believing her visions are true. Imagine seeing the fruition of The Manhattan Project before it actually happens. Now, imagine having no way to stop what you have seen, and everyone believes you are just some crazy person. The story is straight up bleak. The characters are engaging and tragic. I liked the story overall because I'm interested in the time period. I also disliked the story because of it's weight of sadness. I'm torn on how I feel.

[Cobwebs-Iced-Across-SpaceTime · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading THE CASSANDRA is a monumental Reading Experience. I read it in a matter of hours because I couldn't turn away, I couldn't stop reading, and I thought about it all night afterwards. This literary historical novel was my first introduction to author Sharma Shields, and it "blew me away." I'd long been interested in the World War II history of Hanford, Washington, so I was excited to discover this novel, but I received far more than I expected. Not only is Sharma Shields an incredibly gifted writer, she also paints so capably the history, the individuals, and yes, "the product," the driving force and rationale for the military installation at Hanford, once a village and home of a native tribe who fished the Columbia River. Before World War II, the air there was pure and the Columbia safe from pollution. That was soon not the case. Ms. Shields very subtly draws on the damage, both to the region, to the inhabitants, to the personnel at the installation, and of course to the end result: Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

She also weaves in prophecy (hence the title), reflections on humanity as a species, and individual terms, and metaphysics and psychology. (Whether it is one or the other of those last two likely depends on one's perspective.) Protagonist Mildred Groves (her life still makes me shudder) is a plain, rather plump, young woman from a small Central Washington community, caretaker of an ailing mother. Mildred may have psychological issues (if so, that is quite understandable); or she may actually be a seer, a prophetess. In order to escape her life, she applies as a typist at the new Hanford installation, and indeed she is highly skilled in stenography and typing. However, her personality is not strong nor stable enough to withstand the constant stresses, and just as many of the men break under the constant wind if they are assigned outdoors, so does Mildred lose control of her prophesying, and just as in school, she again becomes known as "Mad Mildred."

This is just one of the layers of this complex story. There is also rqcism, sexism, sadism, and the horrible nature of state mental hospitals, militarism, rape culture, patriarchy. Even though this is the story of one individual, it is also the story of a time, of a process, of horrifying consequences, and a prediction of a vitally bleak future for the globe. I cannot recommend highly enough THE CASSANDRA.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Entertaining Modern Retelling Of The Classic Greek Myth.
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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. Also its interesting how Mildred a person with prophetic visions is labeled as mentally ill where in Ancient times would have been more likely believed than branded.
The writing is quite good and you can tell this was well researched.
Although I did like Mildred's character I found it hard to connect with her at times. But other than that it was an interesting read.
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Thank You to the publisher for sending me an arc.
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[Tad Wisenor · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, this is one fascinating and troubling read, and I would encourage you not to enter it lightly. As a resident of Eastern Washington, I particularly enjoyed the way small town mid-century life was captured. More importantly, I appreciated the peek inside life at Hanford during the development of the atomic program: the haste, the secrecy, the narrowly focused goals that failed to take into consideration larger human and environmental impacts. But at the heart, I cared about Mildred. I know this story is not for everyone, and it could even come with its own set of trigger warnings, but Mildred’s dreamlike visions were so well-wrought that I felt them viscerally. If we have a hard time getting to know the other characters, or seeing them as more than props in a play, I attribute that to the first person narrator’s own limitations, not those of the author. I heartily recommend this one, and commend to you her earlier “Sasquatch Hunters Almanac” as well. Shields’ is a welcome and needed new voice in American literature. Her knack for finding new ways to unpack and entertain topics we have conveniently boxed and shelved is the reason I love to read.

[Rem · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you want a one-way ticket to hell, this is the book for you. The premise is clever: a young woman with the gift of prophecy (hence the reference to the Greek prophetess) moves to Hanford in 1944 to help manufacture the first atomic bombs. To make the point that the bomb was the devil incarnate, we are treated to apocalyptic visions, betrayal, racism, rape, and murder. The heroine is unsympathetic, and even the sunsets are described as "shameful." As someone raised at Hanford, I know that the legacy is dark and temptingly dystopic, but there were complex people there too, filled with intelligence and courage as much as brutality and denial. You won't find any of them here.

[Edwin Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mildred Groves in THE CASSANDRA, by Sharma Shields, wants to escape the life she has been dealt caretaking for her cantankerous, angry mother. She finds a job at Hanford, a secret government base where the "product" is being created and help is needed by the bus full. Mildred develops friendships and relishes in her new life, but quickly her hidden ability, having accurate visions of the future, begins to overwhelm her life and reveal so many truths to her that she finds it hard to live in the present with the future constantly swirling around her. Mildred must reconcile the present and the future and find out what she wants and whether she is satisfied with what the future holds.
Shields does a masterful job of creating Mildred Groves. Not only is she likable and the reader pulls for her, but Mildred's voice is so clear that no choice she makes, while shocking at times, is unbelievable in any way. The setting at Hanford during World War II is compelling as well, the image of futuristic technological advancement in a desert almost void of life mirrors Mildred's simple views of right and wrong butting heads with the philosophical considerations of the intellectual giants Mildred works for. From Mildred's overbearing mother, to her caring but guarded boss (Dr. Hall), to her best friend throughout most of the book (Beth) who would do anything to help Mildred but will always make the easy choices in her own life, Sharma wastes no character and makes them as three dimensional as possible and each fascinating in their own right.
Shields is an excellent storyteller. As I read the THE CASSANDRA, I enjoyed discovering Mildred's world, the good and bad of it, and I look forward to reading another book by Shields in the future.
I received this book as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pretty ones, the loud ones, the impossible ones, were prodded and bedded and beaten. Some complained of the rats and of the food, which looked and tasted like vomit. I tried not to frown at these bellyachers or appear too condescending.

What do you expect? This is womanhood, boiled down.

The Cassandra is a bleak read, absolutely. It's angry, it's ugly, and it's gruesome. Sharma Shields created a world to mirror our own-- one without any redemptive qualities. The characters are caricatures of humanity: selfish and cruel. There is no love. There are no friendships built on kindness, there are no familial ties, there are no loving marriages. The future, any future, that contains humanity is doomed to failure.

The Earth, however, is beautiful. I really admired her writing about the landscape. As someone who lives in the Inland Northwest I felt instantly familiar with the magical descriptions of landscape Shields writes. But even those descriptions become twisted. The last page of the novel focuses on Mildred's view of the passing landscape: "suffocating greenery," "spindly waterfalls," "muscled, burnished fists of the canyon," and the "disinterested grey serpent of the Columbia River."

The Cassandra is a powerful read with a Jane Austen level of cultural/feminist scathingness (though with a bleak humor rather than a dry one). But it made me feel similar to when I read The Handmaid's Tale -- like I had pored over a newspaper only featuring the bleak and disgusting. Not like I had gotten a true glimpse of humanity (though I think this was purposeful, the Cassandra figure is, after all, a harbinger of doom). There was no hope or love and it was a draining experience.

I enjoyed it and think it's an important read; however, I only recommend it to those who can handle despair.

[Chandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really really wanted to like this book and maybe I would have if I read it at a different time or in a different mood. That said, I found the book long-winded and depressing. There were moments where I liked the story, but an unexpected and gruesome rape scene ended up erasing most all of the bits of good.

[Asia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my usual fare, but I was drawn to this book by the cover. It is dark and filled with nightmarish visions... so fractured, though, that I was left without a real sense of who the main character truly was and what was real and what was imagined.

[Mark]

Wow! I finished this book and want to immediately start reading it again. It's a dark and tragic story written so beautifully.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the 1940’s Mildred Groves lives at home with her oppressive mother and catty and mean sister but runs away from home to join a facility in Oregon that works on the Atom bomb. She is blessed but mostly cursed with an ability to see the future. It causes her to hallucinate and sleepwalk and contributes to people thinking that she is crazy. At the camp, she makes friends and proves her value even while not quite being seen as an equal with her male colleagues. But it is still better than living at home, though the weapon they are about to unleash will bring an evil on the world that cannot be contained.

The Cassandra was classified SCI-FI by my local library, but the science fiction is a very small part of this story, like a small trace of it seeped in to make the character something more than a beleaguered woman living in the 1940s. What this story takes a view on a historical event and shows it from another angle.

There are some developments in this book that could very well make some people uncomfortable. It might even lapse into shocking.

We have led the world to environmental ruin, wars, devastation, destruction, racism, hatred, poverty, overcrowding, and a whole host of awful things. I don’t think it is unreasonable to point at men and say “you did this.”

And ultimately our protagonist learns the secret of surviving this ugly world: you have to stop giving a shit, especially about other people. Kinda like a man.

I can definitely see reasons to love it or hate it, in equal measure. The main character is kinda batshit. There are certainly things that drive her toward that. Her helplessness and entrapment and her crushing visions of the future could not be more stark and depressing. But this is the kind of story that probably isn’t told enough. In the real life narrative which paradoxically says “those bombs saved lives” there is a corresponding narrative that is also true: with the action of dropping the first atom bombs against a country that had none, we unleashed a terrible force upon the world.
We did that, and it worked. But The Cassandra forces us to take responsibility for the pain that it caused humanity.

(I went back and forth on this one. I started at three stars then wanted to give it four but I think it most accurately would fall into 3 and a half.)

This book is very dark, and it only gets darker as it goes along. It is difficult and ultimately unsettling. And I think that is exactly the point.