Love this. Very interested in this time period. It means a lot when you can see the characters as real life people. Also makes you appreciate moments in history on a deeper level.

This is a well researched, and well written book about the three women who had a major impact on J. Robert Oppenheimer's life. Of the three women written about I felt that I learnt more about Kitty then either of the other two, and this gives a more depiction of Kitty than other Oppenheimer books.

What a very interesting book and I like how the title explained. Robert operahammers with these different women. I like how they did the titles in the book. At every chapter explained how they came about and why they came about. Explain where they came from the history behind it. His true love was jean he kept seeing her after he married kitty. Ruth was also a very powerful woman he knew through physics. These 3 women were very important in his life. Because everyone had a story detail, and it was related back to Robert. Groove studied mental issues. Kitty's family was very wealthy and she was Very manipulate toward a lot of people. You must have been really hard in those days. For these women to be married and mistress to this man Also I like the history behind it too because of the Communist party. And how everybody kind of turned On each other. Your name was pretty interesting too

Nope. Not it. Oppenheimer is a big hyper fixation for me but the writing was just not interesting for me. I get what it was trying to say, but way too boring in how it was presented to me.

After reading "American Prometheus," I was interested in learning more about the three major love interests in Oppenheimer's life. This book is interesting, well-written, and well-researched. The chronological organization makes the narrative difficult to follow. We get a few paragraphs about one individual before moving on to the next. I think this would have worked better if it had started with Oppenheimer and continued with him until he met each of the women, then given the biography of the woman leading up to that point. The book would have felt more like a story and less like an amalgamation of facts.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Rather than just a straight cradle-to-grave biography – although it is that too – this one focuses very much on the three key women in Oppenheimer’s life. Each of them really deserves her own biography (perhaps they already exist?) as at the beginning I found it hard keeping track of who was who, not least because there seemed to be so many Ruths amongst the women’s circles. The narrative switched from one to another rather than concentrating on one at a time and I really did quite literally lose the plot at times. However, matters improved once everyone was grown up and they emerged as distinct characters. As well as their lives, we learn a lot about the expectations and restrictions women faced professionally at that era, and how they all had to navigate in what was essentially still a man’s world. Their relationships with Oppenheimer were often troubled although it is clear they each had deep feelings for him. Towards the end of the book I became much more engaged, but the difficult early section prevents me giving this a higher rating. Nevertheless an intriguing and insightful read, well-researched, and a welcome addition to all the many books about Oppenheimer.

An Atomic Love Story; The Extraordinary Women in Robert Oppenheimer’s Life ; by Shirley Streshinsky and Patricia Klaus

What excellent timing for this book coming out around the time of Nolan’s epic movie Oppenheimer. For me this book was an informative read about the women in Oppenheimer’s life. Jean Tatlock – his first love, Kitty Oppenheimer- his wife and Ruth Tollman perhaps a lover but certainly a confident for many years during Oppenheimer’s married life.
I would not recommend this book as a way to understand Oppenheimer or the complexity of his losing his government clearance. These issues are better understood reading either Bird& Sherwin’s book or the Oppenheimer book by Monk. Both these books are over 600 pages and full of the complete life of Oppenheimer. However, neither really gives a full account of who these three women were in Oppenheimer’s life and their impact on him. Someone who is as intelligent and as complicated as Oppenheimer was, would not be surrounded by pretty but dull women. And none of these women were thick or dull.
Although I have a Ph.D. in Physics, I was never in the high altitude of Oppenheimer though I have known a few people who were. Many of these men were emotionally stunted and immature and I believe as was Oppenheimer. Thus, though each of these women loved Oppenheimer they had to deal with him on his terms and his inability to understand love. As a result, each of these women made huge sacrifices and no doubt this frustration may have played a part in Jean Tatlock taking her own life or his wife being an alcoholic.
As a result I recommend this book only to those who have an interest in Oppenheimer and have read deeply about him. The two authors have done an excellent service in describing the role these three women played in Oppenheimer’s life.