Hidden Figures Review

Title of the Book: Hidden Figures

Author: Margot Lee Shetterly

# of Pages: 265

Star Rating:  ☆☆☆☆

Margot Lee Shetterly book Hidden Figures highlights the story and celebration of the women who worked for the  National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and its successor, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from the 1940’s - 1980 as computers, mathematicians, and engineers. This moving non fiction book conveys the historical events that lead to the space race, while also incorporating the struggles and triumphs that these women made to overcome inequality, sexism, and racism, in a time of segregation in our nation.

The idea behind Hidden Figures is fascinating. By focusing on the lives of the women who walked away from traditional jobs in education or as secretaries, and marched into a predominantly white, segregated work force that considered them, in Shetterly words, “invisible and invaluable at the same time”, Shetterly captivated the interest of a variety of readers. The book dove into the lives of each of these women and all of the struggles and controversies that they face in their lives; in doing so it connected each character to the reader in one way or another. The hardships that these women faced and the way that Shatterly describes them can not help but make your heartache for these women.  

While the this novel drew me in with its hopes of exciting tales of space advancements I found that it lacked in the fluidity of the story. I had a hard time keeping each of the story lines straight between the women. I also found that I was waiting for the lives of each of the women to connect in a perfect plot line, which some did eventually but not until the last fifty pages. In the end I found myself wishing that Shatterly had included more details about the work that these women did instead of focusing so heavily on their backgrounds and lives leading up to their time at the NACA or at NASA.

Hidden Figures attracts such a wide variety of readers and includes pieces that are perfect for every reader; however, I personally thought that reading this book was taxing. I had to read in very small parts and eventually made a chart to keep track of each of the characters and their life events. The historical events will provide you with a window into the what life was like for these women and is very interesting in that sense. I gave this book four stars because I felt that while it was hard to follow the writing is very thorough and is overall a captivating story. I hope that if you chose to read Hidden Figures you will enjoy it as much, if not more than I did.