It’s been a little while since I read it, but I remember The Fever taking place in shiny suburbia, while Give Me Your Hand has a theme of class and privilege, the haves and have-nots. Kit’s background is at odds with her career in Severin’s lab, and she’s constantly conscious of the gap between herself and her colleagues, who have the connections of good schools and upperclass families. This, of course, plays right into the general imposter syndrome of women at work, especially women in male-dominated fields.
The Fever blended real and magic, normalcy and insanity, and Give My Your Hand does it again. The Severin lab is researching the wild hormones of PMDD, intense PMS. As Abbott describes the women suffering from raging moods and violent actions, at the mercy of their hormones, it’s hard not to empathize. I mean, I don’t want to go kill anyone, but my sarcasm and eyerolls are a bit more pronounced at certain times.
I thought the Severin labmates, even the minor characters, had realistic workmate interactions, and they were shown as focused on their work without becoming scientist caricatures. The low-level sexism — calling Dr. Severin Herr instead of Frau, constant blood “jokes” — was so realistic, too. It was a little disturbing how realistically they turned on each other in competition for a limited number of grant-funded positions.
I think I liked this one even more than The Fever. I felt like I was just beginning to unwrap the secret motivations and connections in the lab when I happened to notice that I was 90% of the way through the novel, and even though I consciously tried to read more slowly, I flew through the whole thing.
This is my Review of the Month for the review collection on LovelyAudiobooks.info
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I've seen the author's books around but never read any of them. I'm glad to hear you liked this one, and flew through it! It sounds intriguing.
-Lauren
I'm on a bit of a thrillers kick recently, and this was really well-done.
This sounds interesting - almost a little too realistic! Thank you for the review.