The Only Woman in the Room

I can’t say enough about how disappointing I found this book. I recommended it for my book group and led the discussion. As I read, I wanted to hurl the book across the room many times. I knew that Hedy Lamarr was a beautiful, complicated and brilliant woman. That she had escaped from a war torn Europe and possessed a genius mind behind her stunning looks. The first four fifths of the book covered her abusive relationship with her first husband, an inaccurate relationship with her parents (yes, she was close to her father and her mother was cold, but they never went along with her decision to marry her munitions mogul suitor), descriptions of her costumes and jewels, the controversy over her nude scenes and simulated orgasm in her first movie, her escape to America and, finally, finally, her invention of broad spectrum technology for which she received no recognition during her lifetime. The book failed to mention that she tinkered with inventions all during her adult life, that the baby she “adopted” because he was an infant refugee from Europe was really her biological son, or that she died a meth addict because she, like many studio stars of that time, was fed uppers and downers so she could work slave hours for the film moguls. While it listed some of her most famous roles, it failed to even mention her most acclaimed and well-known movie, the one that won several oscars, “Samson and Delilah,” which co-starred Victor Mature. In short, here was a woman who yearned to be taken seriously all her life and then was given short shrift by this poorly written novel. I kept going back to the professional critic’s reviews and just can’t understand why they are favorable. Lamarr’s story is so compelling and captivating. What a great book it could have been.

I really enjoyed Marie benedicts two previous books CARNEGIES MAID and THE OTHER EINSTEIN so was looking forward to her take on Hedy Lamarr. I was NOT disappointed as she delivered the compelling story of Hedy Lamarr. Benedict brought to life the little known history of one of the worlds most beautiful women and, more importantly, highly intelligent women.

Hedwig Kiestler was born in Austria to a Jewish mother and father. While performing the role of Empress Sisi, she came to the attention of the munitions magnate Fritz Mandl. After a short courtship, his proposal of marriage was seen as a way to protect Hedy from the growing anti-Semitism of the time.

Mandl spoke openly to Hedy about the armaments and munitions he sold. Always the curious one, Hedy read as much as she could about the arms her husband sold and listened in on conversations he held with business partners. The men never imagined that this beautiful woman had any interest in or understood their conversations.

Mandl became more and more controlling and Hedy knew she had to escape his powerful clutches. She flees to England and then to Hollywood where Jewish actors and actresses were fleeing to as they could not perform in Europe. She quickly becomes one of the highest paid performers and is dubbed the most beautiful woman in the world. But over her hangs a cloud of guilt.

Knowing what she did, could she have prevented some of the senseless deaths of European Jews? She now draws on her scientific knowledge to develop equipment to shorten the war thus saving lives. But her real challenge is getting someone to listen to her.

This is a commanding novel based on the true story of actress Hedy Lamarr whose patented idea laid the foundation for secure communications and cellphone technology.

The story was so riveting I flew through the pages losing all track of time. This is a story not to be forgotten.

I preordered this book because I knew a little bit about the real Hedy Keisler. However I regret the choice of the author to write in 1st person voice. I couldnt help wondering what the real Hedy said and thought. I found the story interesting, especially the early part about the relationship with her mother and father, as well as her teenage marriage to the fabulously wealthy Fritz Mandl. I actually was disturbed by her parents willingness to use her fame/ notoriety to protect them in the event Austria fell to Hitler. The book showed me Lamar’s steely determination, even at the age of 19. I can see if you knew nothing at all about the actress’ history that the book would be extremely interesting. But for me, it was light on development of other characters in her life. Time skipped ahead too fast. And I was left wanting.

I have given this book 3 out of 4 stars. If I could have given it 3.5 stars, I would have, but that wasn’t possible. I don’t, off hand, know if I have watched a film with Hedy Lamarr in it, I may have done, but none comes to mind. Likewise, her physical appearance doesn’t come to mind either…a bit before my time maybe? Although, the book was well researched and interesting in parts, there were other parts that seem to go on and on, if only I could have taken those parts out, or squashed them together, the book wouldn’t have suffered from the midway slump that it did.

This is a good story, which whilst I enjoyed reading it in some parts, I was left lacking information at points in the book and certainly at the end. There were so many opportunities to elaborate the story line and build more impact and character information. I do think this will make a great movie, which would benefit from additional information. It was an okay read but Id have loved to have enjoyed it, especially as it was based on a true story.

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