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The Gilded Years: A Novel | Karin Tanabe

Another anachronism. Aaaaahhh! Just when I was starting to accept the writing.
I don't mind that she uses contemporary language for 1895, but at least weed out concepts or words not known back then. Especially not by an average older black woman.
#anachronism #wherewastheeditor

Hollie Ugh! That drives me nuts! 8y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa Ok.... I've got nothing to rationalize this one away for you, sorry. 8y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa And I really tried last time too... to try and make that one possible. 😕 (edited) 8y

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Riveted_Reader_Melissa Wait..... here it is....Maybe she was so smart she discovered inheritance and genes BEFORE Mendel, and told everyone who wouldn't listen because she was a woman, soooo Mendel stole her work and passed it off as his own and got all the credit from history.....🤣 (edited) 8y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa Plus of course she named them genes decades before the term was coined...and that credit was stolen from her too.....🙁 8y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa Sorry, it sounded like such an interesting book too when I first read the description.... I wish it was more accurate with history to make it a better story and representation. 8y

Gezemice @Riveted_Reader_Melissa It is a great story, but anything interesting about it can be found in this article: https://vq.vassar.edu/issues/2002/01/features/passing-as-white.html. The book adds nothing to the inherent appeal of the story - unless you like young-adult romance novels written at the eighth-grade level. 8y

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Gezemice

The Gilded Years: A Novel | Karin Tanabe

This is supposed to be a dialog between two girls in 1895. There is no way anyone would have talked casually about carbon monoxide in 1895. This is a very 21st century expression.

Anachronisms like this can really throw me off. If this was not a book club book I would have just stopped reading it.
Anyone else feels the same way?
#anachronism #wherewastheeditor

Riveted_Reader_Melissa Unless it's some steampunk, alternative history thing that's super annoying. 8y

TrishB I would probably bail on it! 8y

Texreader I agree with you. My grandmother lost an older sister and all her kids to carbon monoxide poisoning. It was a terrifying topic during those days. 😔 8y

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Gezemice @Texreader Oh no! That is a real tragedy. 😔 8y

Gezemice @TrishB Yeah, but it is our book club book. The subject matter is really interesting and it is based on real history, so I am interested in finding out what happens. The writing is not up to par to the story, unfortunately. 8y

Gezemice @Riveted_Reader_Melissa Yeah. Especially when it is about a real historical event. She took tge time to research what kind of lamps were used, you'd think she or her editor would have caught this. 8y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa Actually.... maybe we are all off... looks like Carbon monoxide was fairly well know earlier than we thought. http://science.jrank.org/pages/1210/Carbon-Monoxide-History.html 8y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa "The earliest description of carbon monoxide poisoning date to at least 200 BC by Aristotle.[135] Documented cases of carbon monoxide being used as a method of suicide date to at least 100 BC in ancient Rome.[135] In the AD 350s, the Roman emperor Julian suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning in Paris, and later described it in his work" according to Wikipedia (for what that's worth) 8y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa " In 1895 J. S. Haldane demonstrated that the formation of carboxyhaemoglobin is an equilibrium reaction which depends upon the relative partial pressures of carbon monoxide and oxygen in inspired gas. Haldane's interest was stimulated by the problems caused by carbon monoxide in British coal mines" http://www.encyclopedia.com/science-and-technology/chemistry/compounds-and-eleme... 8y

Gezemice @Riveted_Reader_Melissa It was certainly known - but not by the name "carbon monoxide". And it certainly would not have been a casual remark between college girls studying. 8y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa @Gezemice LOL maybe they just learned about his experiments in class. Just think that and maybe you'll feel better while reading it. 🤔 8y

Gezemice @Riveted_Reader_Melissa No. The experiments were done in 1895... 8y

Riveted_Reader_Melissa @Gezemice maybe his discover was just on the front page of the newspaper? 8y

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