Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

If you haven't heard about the Radium Girls I highly suggest checking it out. The Radium Girls were female factory workers who painted watch dials with Radium paint. At the time, they didn't know radium was dangerous and by the time they found out it was too late. They ending up having to fight their greedy employer for justice after finding out they were dying of radiation poisoning. Their story is shocking and there's so much more to learn about the Radium Girls.

This is a great option for those who want to know the story of the Radium Girls but would prefer a quicker option. While there's a lot less information in this version it does cover the main events. If you want to learn about their story but have limited time or just prefer graphic novels definitely grab this version.

I did know about the radium girls beforehand, so maybe this wasn't as much of an eye-opening read as it could've been, but it did deliver either way. The art style is very unique, being drawn on paper with colored pencils instead of digitally, and the storytelling was character-driven, which was a nice twist that i always like in historical fiction.

My only complain is that, while the friendship between the six women was very prominent in the story, we didn't really get to see each of them individually. I recognize there are some things you have to sacrifice when you're making a graphic novel because of the medium, but a few individual panels of each would've gone a long way.

Sparse and haunting; this graphic novel really captures the creeping sense of dread that comes with hearing real-life tragedies of past eras and knowing where they're headed (and knowing, in a way, that injustices like these are continuing to this very day). While I think there was power to the starkness of the art and story, I was admittedly left feeling a little unfulfilled by the lack of historical detail and biographical information. I suspect I'm the sort of reader who would gravitate more toward the prose biography that the creator recommends at the end of the book, or at the very least, more detailed backmatter--especially concerning the trial that closes out their story.

This was such a great graphic novel. I had heard of the Radium Girls before and knew a little bit of their history but I learned so much more by reading this graphic novel. Overall, I would highly recommend everyone check this out.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher C. Spike Trotman for providing me an e-arc copy in exchange for my honest review.

I like to break down my graphic novel reviews into the character, plot, and art.

Character:
This graphic novel did an excellent job humanizing the girls (which history has tried to forget) showing them as young and full of life at the beginning with hopes and dreams and fun times at speakeasies and the beach. As well as showing them go through not only excruciating pain but the feelings of betrayal.

Plot
One of the options for my classroom for the Social Injustices unit is Radium Girls by Kate Moore, but is a long and technically heavy book that deters many students. This graphic novel is perfect! It is a little swift moving. I feel that it could be a little longer, but the story is all there and the author does an excellent job of capturing the historical events as well as the emotions within its pages.

Art
The art style of Cy is very unique, but I love the penciled look and the soft coloring. I also like that the girls have enough variations that you can tell who is who and get more invested in their characters. The full spreads without words are powerful and each of the girl’s deaths are haunting but artistic.

I will definitely be suggesting this graphic novel as an alternative option for those who want to learn more about this time period and these amazing women, but who do not want to read a large, scientific text.

The Radium Girls have been pretty popular as of late and this is a great introduction to their heartbreaking story. The drawings are simple pencil illustrations but effective in communicating the characters emotions. The drawings surrounding character deaths were both beautiful and heartbreaking. I think this a great medium to get more people interested in their story and their historical significance. The story is a broad overview of their story and hopefully will get people to read even deeper. I also enjoyed the interview with the author at the end.

This was an interesting book. I've always been fascinated with the Radium Girls. I knew quite a bit about them before reading this book and I thought I would get to know more from this book.

Radium Girls refers to those girls who used to paint watches with radium and lick their paint brushes that's coated with radium. To listen to this now is horrifying to me but back then people didn't know the adverse effects of radium, so they thought "hey let's make some glow in the dark watches" by using radium.

But eventually all the girls started to show the effects of radium. Their jaws disintegrated and they started dying. Truly horrible.

I enjoyed reading this book. The illustrations were simple but effective. I'd definitely recommend this book if you want to know more about the shocking events surrounding the Radium Girls.

“Radium Girls” is a solid graphic novel introduction to the real story of the radium girls. I did not know a lot about it before reading this graphic novel, but it is definitely an important part of labor history in the US. In the beginning, the women, who work at a factory painting dials with radium, are relatively carefree and even enjoy the glow in the dark features of radium. Later they discover the devastating effects of radium and attempt to fight for justice from a company that hid the harmful effects from workers, After reading this I’ll be looking for more nonfiction accounts of these events.

Thanks to Iron Circus Comics and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was already aware of the story of the Radium Girls but it was a nice refresher to read the story as a graphic novel.

This book is a good introduction to the story of the radium girls for those that have not heard of this part of history before. However because of it's nature as a single graphic novel, it cannot get as deep into the stories of the women or as detailed about the process of their deterioration and subsequent fight for compensation. Reading this might make someone curious enough to read the entire book. The art is drawn using colored pencils, and while the coloring is good it lacks punch. Many panels are very similar and simply feature someone talking. The lightness of the art also makes it difficult to fully show the horrors of the ravages of the radium on the women.

3.6

This graphic novel did a good job of giving an inside look into the lives of “Radium Girls,” a group of women in the early 1900s that were instructed to point the tip of their paintbrushes with their mouth when painting dials, thus leading to radiation poisoning. It is very grim to read about the working conditions women had to endure, and it’s very frustrating that they were lied to about the inks, being told they were harmless and not to worry about applying the brush to their lips.

The illustrations within are fairly simple and I think that allows the story to make quite a big impact. There are two colours used, greens and purples. I’m not sure I am a fan of the used of coloured pencils, and think perhaps the illustrations would have looked even better had the crayons been blended together. As is, the colouring looks a bit unfinished/unpolished but I still overall enjoyed the illustration style.

I recommend this to anyone who is interested in learning more about this topic. Before reading this book, I didn’t know that these events happened and I feel like I learned quite a lot about both the events that took place and the importance of having conditions in place that protects workers from these sorts of occupational hazards in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing an e-ARC in exchange for a review copy. The expected release date is August 23rd 2022.

This book is obviously meant for adults, as evidenced by some of the illustrations. The illustrations are beautiful and in many cases convey tragedy and emotion quite well. However, the amount of actual information found in this book is seriously lacking, particularly for an adult audience. The graphic novel format can lend itself well to including a lot of information, but that just doesn't happen in this book. Yet pages are devoted to the Radium Girls' outings at a speakeasy and the beach; pages that could have been put to better use by including more facts than covering hypothetical outings that may not even have taken place.

Since I've already read quite a bit about the Radium Girls, I think I did enjoy this book more than someone who knew nothing about them. As I said, the illustrations truly are well-done, and I didn't need a full explanation of the story. However, I don't believe that anyone without any prior knowledge of the case would come away with a good understanding of it or a desire to learn more.

Disclaimer: I received a free digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. No compensation of any other kind was offered/received, and the opinions in this review are mine alone.

An unforgettable, poignant, heart-shattering book entry, yet strangely luminous and liberating than ever. <i>Radium Girls</i> tells the tragic yet empowering story of six women of Orange, New Jersey in 1918, who fought for their rights after suffering from radium poisoning from working in a watch factory. The art style with hints of cubism is strangely pretty and appropriate. The author heavily relied on this breath-taking art instead of dialogue which is nothing but effective for a quick read. The purple color motif gives the rather mix of luxury, sadness, beauty, justice, and truth in the totality of the work. It is truly one of its kind. I would like to read more about these shining women so I'll hit the non-fiction shelves and look for them.

My gratitude to Iron Circus Comics and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced reading copy of this beautiful graphic novel in exchange for an honest review.

A seriously STUNNING adaptation of the story of the infamous Radium Girls. I have heard the basics of the story before but seeing the glow and the decay made us feel for these women. Cy is a wonderful artist and I look forward to more of their work in the future!

**Disclaimer: I recieved a free eARC of Radium Girls by Cy. through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this opportunity.

Radium Girls by Cy. is a non-fiction graphic novel about a group of women who got radium poisoning through their work and ended up launching a change in the rights of workers.  It is set to be published on August 23, 2022.  I rated it 4 stars.


Here's the summary from GoodReads:

It’s 1918 in Orange, New Jersey, and everyone knows the “Ghost Girls.”
The proud holders of well-paying jobs at the local watch factory, these working-class young women gain their nickname from the fine dusting of glowing, radioactive powder that clings to their clothes after every shift painting watch dials. The soft, greenish glow even stains their lips and tongues, which they use to point the fine brushes used in their work. It’s perfectly harmless . . . or so claims the watch manufacturer.
When teeth start falling out, followed by jawbones, the dial painters become the unprepared vanguard on the frontlines of the burgeoning workers’ rights movement. Desperate for compensation and acknowledgement from the company that has doomed them, the Ghost Girls must fight, not just for their own lives but the future of every woman to follow them.
A stunning graphic novel retelling of the shocking and inspiring true story.

I have been loving graphic novels lately, and I did really enjoy this one too.  I have to admit that I didn't really know anything about these Radium girls prior to reading the graphic novel, and in that way it was quite informative.  I learned a lot about what happened to them, and how things went so downhill for them.  I appreciated the historical note that let the reader know about what exactly their sacrifice led to.

The art style in this graphic novel was really beautiful.  I loved the sketchy style and the colours.  I was really impressed at how the author was able to emphasis the glow from the radium throughout the story.  The only thing I struggled with was occasionally I had a hard time telling certain characters apart.  I just couldn't really differentiate between some of them.  However, that didn't really take away from the story too much.

I loved reading about their friendships.  It was really lovely to see.  It made it all the more devastating to read about as they started to get sick and pass away.  I wanted to get to know the women a little bit more too.

Overall, I definitely recommend that you check this graphic novel out!

RADIUM GIRLS is an absolutely beautiful depiction of a terrible tragedy. This gorgeous, lush graphic novel depicts the true story of the Radium Girls, whose grueling and painful experiences with radiation poisoning acquired on the job led to new discussions about workplace safety and workers' rights. Cy's expressive and dreamy artwork and efficient writing provide an engaging overview of this important event in history. I loved the soft colored pencil line work and muted pastels-- a perfect palette for contrasting the girls' optimistic outlook for the future with the dark fates that awaited them.

I love when graphic novels are used in historical nonfiction. It helped get through what is a sad and harrowing truth maybe a tad bit better. The story telling in the panels helped build empathy for this women's stories.

This comic is so well written. CY knows how to create empaty between us readers and the characters. I was already aware of the Radium Girls, but it was great to learn a little bit more. This girls will not be forgotten!.

Radium Girls tells the true story of the "Ghost Girls"..."The proud holders of well-paying jobs at the local watch factory, these working-class young women gain their nickname from the fine dusting of glowing, radioactive powder that clings to their clothes after every shift painting watch dials."

While the subject matter here is heavy and terrifying in real life, Cy was able to put justice in retelling it with thoughtfulness in her art. There's a lingering sense of hope and innocence in the art style and I really appreciate how it was presented. This was a compelling and beautifully-done graphic novel and I would love to see more of Cy's future works!

A beautifully drawn color pencil rendering of the historic Radium Girls. The story is told from the point of the view of the radium girls themselves, delving into their personal experiences and friendships. A bit less of the historical aspect than I'd like to see, but the author addresses this during the short interview at the end of the book. A quick and fascinating look into the little known lives of the Radium Girls that will leave you wishing for just a bit more.