José Hierro y Francisco Umbral (¡una de las mejores cosas que tiene leer es descubrir que uno no está solo en el mundo!) definieron este poemario a la perfección: pajillas de profesor universitario, pecadillos de poca monta de un señor que de pecador o poeta no tuvo ni un pelo verde de Baudelaire. Los insectos no son malditos ni en agosto. El único poema salvable es ese del «puñetero pedagogo» (léase Dámaso Alonso). El poemario más sobrevalorado de toda la literatura hespañola.hispañistán loathed poetry9 s M. Malmierca323 389

Releer algunos poemas de Hijos de la Ira (1944) teniendo siempre presente la época y la situación de España cuando fueron escritos es una experiencia de lo más intensa y la posibilidad de recordar momentos que no se deberían olvidar nunca, para evitar que se repitan.
Siempre he tenido claro que algunos poemarios hay que releerlos periódicamente.

Insomnio

Madrid es una ciudad de más de un millón de cadáveres (según las últimas estadísticas).
A veces en la noche yo me revuelvo y me incorporo en este nicho en el que hace 45 años que me pudro,
y paso largas horas oyendo gemir al huracán, o ladrar los perros, o fluir blandamente la luz de la luna.
Y paso largas horas gimiendo como el huracán, ladrando como un perro enfurecido, fluyendo como la leche de la ubre caliente de una gran vaca amarilla.
Y paso largas horas preguntándole a Dios, preguntándole por qué se pudre lentamente mi alma,
por qué se pudren más de un millón de cadáveres en esta ciudad de Madrid,
por qué mil millones de cadáveres se pudren lentamente en el mundo.
Dime, ¿qué huerto quieres abonar con nuestra podredumbre?
¿Temes que se te sequen los grandes rosales del día, las tristes azucenas letales de tus noches?poesía8 s Elizabeth122 104

4,5 en realidad.

‘Hijos de la Ira’ fue un libro que marcó una época. Publicado en 1944, fue el momento justo para rehumanizar la poesía española en un momento de crisis y desolación, tanto humana como poéticamente. Dámaso deja claro desde el principio su descontento y su desolación, por lo que había pasado durante la Guerra Civil, y lo que continuaba pasando. Considera que no son los muertos los que se pudren y reposan en un lugar oscuro y solitario, sino que somos los vivos, los que nos vamos pudriendo un poquito más cada día, nos vamos muriendo lentamente. Pero morirse es bueno, porque es liberarse, alcanzar a Dios, de cierta manera. Ya que Dámaso no deja claro cual es su pensamiento respecto a la religión, nombra muchas veces a Dios, pero de tan diversas maneras, que no podemos saber si lo ama o lo odia. Muchas veces clama a ese mismo Dios, por esos mismos vivos que se están “pudriendo” en vida, que están sufriendo, tanto por la guerra como por la posguerra, y por los que no hace nada. A veces se siente solo. Otras, cree que puede ver como sus acciones son guiadas. Pero siempre se siente un niño, incluso a sus cuarenta y cinco años cuando escribió este libro. También trata de todo lo que le quita el sueño, entre ellos, la injusticia social y política que se vivía en el momento. Algunos poemas parecen no casar con la línea general que sigue el libro, esto es debido a que fueron escritos antes de la guerra. Otro tema importante es la figura de la mujer, la madre y la esposa, dos figuras femeninas que necesita en su vida para no sentir que cae a la nada y esta completamente solo, para no abandonar la vida. Cada una de ellas son sus alas. Trata más temas, como las sombras, los sueños y pesadillas, los insectos, o los árboles. Todo desde un punto de vista muy curioso que no deja a nadie indiferente. Y aunque emplea bastante léxico escatológico no se hace desagradable su lectura.

Los temas que trata y la manera que tiene de hacerlo hace que el libro sea muy cercano, que puedas sentar algunos versos como tuyos propios. Alguna vez hemos sentidos esa soledad, desolación, agonía, esa necesidad de consuelo, de volver a ser un niño en los brazos de nuestra madre. De creer que hay un Dios bueno, que vela por nosotros. Y que una vez que alcancemos la muerte dejaremos de sufrir esos dolores horribles tanto físicos como psíquicos de los que habla en ciertos poemas.

Creo que es uno de los libros de poesía que más me ha gustado, con el que más he podido conectar, no me ha costado tanto entender lo que el poeta quería decir. Lo he sentido muy cercano.
poesia5 s Ana M. Román655 87

La poesía no es lo mío, por más que me empeñe de vez en cuando en leer algo. Por lo que no me extrañaría que mi noción de poesía fuera errónea y que por eso no me haya gustado esta lectura.

Sin embargo, para mí la poesía es el bello uso de las palabras y un montón de figuras de las cuales no me acuerdo de la mitad. Pero de este poemario apenas si salvaría algún que otro poema y sólo si me viera en la necesidad.

Me pregunto si no hubiera sido escrito cuando lo hizo y no tratara sobre lo que trata si habría tenido la misma repercusión.

Claro que, como ya he dicho, la poesía no es lo mío y estamos ante un autor de la Generación del 27 así mejor dale una oportunidad y decide por ti mism@.clásicos5 s Meghan Herbst36 31

"Life is 'monstrous' because it is unintelligible."
Poetry from post-Franco Spain, with rage derived from this time, when the poet lost so many of his poet friends. Prior to the Spanish Civil War, Alonso wrote poetry that awed at the beauty of the world. After the war, this all changed dramatically.
He wrote the first Spanish "protest" poetry. But it wasn't just a protest against the oppression of his government, and the decades of almost relentless war and death- it was a "universal, cosmic protest, which of course includes all those other partial wraths."
One of the themes that recurs throughout the book of poetry is a slight obsession with insects, with their buzzing and "gnawing." That's what drew me to the book in the first place (which is not easy to find in America).
I'm studying insects, consciousness and trying to find where these things could possibly intersect with poetry. Alonso's poetry could not have been more perfect for the further understanding of those connections.
It's out of print, and difficult to get your hands on a bilingual version (although boning up on Spanish this way is wonderful), but if you can manage to- Alonso's poetry is beautiful and raging, a reflection of his time and the current of anger and disbelief that has overwhelmed the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. 3 s Andrés R. G. 54 4

Es un gran poemario corto. El contexo histórico importa aquí mucho, pero aunque se desconozca, no deja de disfrutarse (quizá no es el mejor verbo -disfrutar- pues son poemas desoladores). 3 s Truncarlos250 31

Qué puta pasada (<- últimamente mi capacidad de análisis literario es esta y nada más)3 s Diego Sánchez Pérez332 32

Este libro es una de esas obras que sorprenden de la manera de expresar que tiene aparte de ser existencialista y absurda. Además, me engancho en los temas que se tratan para ser un libro de poesía. Es simplemente ira, perdida, injusticia, desesperanza, frustración y soledad hecha poesía en toda su expresión especialmente inspirada en las vivencias de Dámaso Alonso en la guerra civil española. Buen libro para leer en un parpadeo.2 s Francisco1,047 122

Uno de los mejores libros de poesía de la posguerra.españoles poesia2 s Luscar82 5

Llevaba desde que empecé el grado queriendo leer Hijos de la ira, pero ni ha sido hasta ahora que me he animado a leer todos sus poemas.

Dámaso Alonso es brusco con sus palabras, crea metáforas e imágenes bellísimas que luego destruye con un solo verso, dejándote desolado.

No tengo muchas palabras para expresar lo mucho que me ha gustado entrar tan de lleno en su poética.

Sin duda, "Insomnio", "Madre", "Raíces del odio", "A la Virgen María" y "Dedicatoria final (Las Alas)" son los poemas que elegiría si solo pudieran leerse 5.1 Lilsweetpotato23 4

Poemario muy triste1 Uryun160

3,5/5

podredumbre y depresión? mm nice, i thatclassics poetry1 Yolanda Patina101 3

Dámaso está bien, pero qué señor prólogo de Doña Fanny Rubio, on god, hay que leerlo.1 mor ?7

he’s just me (está en crisis constantemente)1 herondale ??146 20 Read

[English]

[En español al final]

Dámaso’s poetry is brutally honest. I was particularly impressed by the way he manages to channel his frustration and anger through his verse. It’s not that often that I get to read authors who convey that helpless feeling in such a powerful way, so it was exciting to finally get my hands on this book. This feeling, however, becomes increasingly vague as one gets to the final pages of the anthology. The last few poems are rather existentialist and slightly less emotion-driven. I personally enjoyed the first ones best, both form and content-wise.

Definitely one of my favourite books so far.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Brutal, honesto, directo, con una capacidad increíble para expresar la frustración y la rabia. No he leído a muchos autores que sepan transmitir esa sensación de impotencia con tanta claridad como Dámaso. Eso sí, estas emociones se pierden conforme uno avanza por las páginas de la antología y los poemas se vuelven cada vez más existencialistas. Me han gustado bastante más los del principio (tanto en forma como en contenido), pero, aun así, ha sido una de mis lecturas favoritas y lo he disfrutado mucho en su conjunto.

Destaco los poemas «Caín postrer», «Mujer con alcuza», «Elegía a un moscardón», «La pizca», «Los insectos» y «De profundis».favourites poetry1 Pau Guillén152 7

Y Dámaso empieza así: "A veces en la noche yo me revuelvo y me incorporo en este inicio en el que hace 45 años que me pudro..." (Insomnio) . Vacío existencial de postguerra asociado a versos ácidos, crudeza verbal y remover bilis.

El alma era un aullido
y mi carne mortal se helaba hasta los tuétanos. (La injusticia)

A cada instante mi vida cruza un río,
un nuevo, inmenso río que se vierte
en la desnuda eternidad.
Yo mismo de mí mismo soy barquero,
y a cada instante mi barquero es otro. (En el día de los difuntos)

A continuación "Cosa", uno de los poemas más singulares y que sale un poco de ésta temática existencialista. En busca de la esencia de la realidad ("era tu sombra lo que aprisionaba")

- http://www.poemaspoetas.com/damaso-al...1 Carolina Alicia17

Unos
se van quedando estupefactos,
mirando sin avidez, estúpidamente, más allá, cada vez más allá,
hacia la otra ladera
otros
voltean la cabeza a un lado y otro lado,
sí, la pobre cabeza, aún no vencida,
casi
con gesto de dominio,
como si no quisieran perder la última página de un libro de
aventuras,
casi con gesto de desprecio
cual si quisieran
volver con despectiva indiferencia las espaldas
a una cosa apenas si entrevista,
mas que no va con ellos. universidad1 Leonardo Rodríguez110

Hay un airado y también un cursi en Dámaso Alonso. El hijo de la ira me gusta más: abre los ojos, se divierte vertiendo buenos chorros de embriagadora espuma por la boca, se insulta con estilo; es un notario y un actor de sus emociones. Hay tres o cuatro poemas interesantes en esa vena. El cursi es sólo infantiloide y, a veces, rematadamente imbécil. poetry1 Lindsay Wuchner50 6

Estos poemas existencialistas de Dámaso Alonso son muy interestantes pero muy tristes. Muestra la angustia de la guerra civil española y como afecto a los poetas como Alonso. Los poemas son fabuloso pero muy inquietantes. Te hacen pensar. spanish-poems1 Francisco TapiadorAuthor 9 books8

The best poems of the mid-20th century period in Spain. 1 Deivid León López84 14

Este libro es puro arte. Necesario en el mundo y necesario en la vida.

He subido un vídeo donde recito uno de los poemas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJaTp... espero que os guste.1 Tai13 1 follower

Un libro lleno de tristeza y también de rabia debido a la tragedia que sacudió España. Un libro que realmente merece la pena leer. Lleno de dolor y desasosiego, pero escrito magistralmente.1 Eleidhunita105 10

El minor de hispánicas está empeñado en deprimirme con sus lecturas obligatorias! Pero este libro tiene poemas bonitos.1 Fran Faura73 3

Depresión y existencialismo hechos puro arte. No hay dios que pueda ayudar a Dámaso, y en el caso de que lo hubiera, este ya lo ha abandonado.1 Iván Grande López423

3,5. Tiene poemas muy buenos y muy potentes, pero otros me han dejado indiferente.1 Bere Tarará518 30

Versos poderosos y a veces violentos, Mujer con alcuza y Raíces de odio fueron de mis poemas favoritos 1 Xavi54 4

Dámaso Alonso canta a la angustia en Hijos de la ira.

En el Madrid de 1944 y sintiéndose abandonado por todos, el poeta aúlla de espanto y su grito desesperado resuena en la noche. Nosotros somos los vecinos de Dámaso; primero nos asustamos, después escuchamos su voz con más atención. Pared con pared avanzamos por estos poemas en verso libre y pensamos que su angustia puede ser también la nuestra: una tristeza negra, una podredumbre, retratada por el poeta de forma extrema. Sus gritos nos hacen revolvernos en el lecho pero seguimos leyendo/escuchando con la oreja pegada al tabique del dormitorio contiguo. Y creemos que después de escribir Hijos de la Ira el poeta fue menos infeliz, porque supo que la carne puede herirse y el alma retorcerse pero que la injusticia no apagará la brasa del amor. Canta, Dámaso, canta tiernamente para curar tu dolor. Me ha encantado, sí.poesía Maria Ivars78 3 Read

No sé si puntuar este libro o no.

Sé que el miércoles, después de clase, mi perspectiva sobre la obra de Dámaso Alonso habrá cambiado, pero... sin duda, no he conseguido conectar con ella en ningún momento.
Puede que tenga esta opinión por mi falta de conocimientos sobre poesía, pero es que hay muy pocos poemas que realmente me han parecido interesantes. Eva Gruss70

Me ha gustado mucho el poema de “El día de los difuntos” y siempre ha sido de mi agrado el famoso “Insomnio”. Por lo demás, aunque no me meta a analizar su forma de escribir (porque no me corresponde hacerlo) el libro gira mucho en torno a lo teológico y en torno a Dios. Algunos hasta me han gustado, pero no es el tema que más me seduzca. De ahí mi puntuación.poesía Paky1,037 7

Wow! This was SO good. I can't think why I have never read it before. And why oh why did I not go and see the movie. I suppose it was because I thought it was some kind of science fiction thing whereas it is actually a serious thriller. I found it hard to put down at any point in the story and when I was not actually reading it I was still thinking about it. The main characters are interesting and appealing and the reader is fully invested in wanting to save Emma's life. The progress of the virus is well described and completely horrific. People die in totally disgusting ways:) And the suspense is magnificent. I loved it to bits!48 s Melissa (Mel’s Bookshelf)498 302

This is my first Tess Gerritsen book. I know right? I'm a crime and thriller fan, AND a nurse... I should have read all the Rizzole and Isles by now!?? Well I never intended to, but having read this one I am inclined to give all of her books a go!

To quickly summarise it, some bizarre virus is killing off the crew of the international space station. Where did it come from?? How are they going to stop it? Doctor on board Emma must try to keep everyone alive whilst her husband back on earth goes on a mission to discover the origins of the pathogen.

Great read! Extremely suspenseful and exciting! Loved the whole thing! Yes, it was pretty corny... But it was supposed to be! I thought it was fantastic!

The characters were great! Soon to be ex husband and wife Emma and Jack are a great team.

The audio version was fantastic. The narrator was wonderfully talented and probably the best narrator of any audio book I have listened to so far. Even his portrayal of the female characters was fantastic and he really captured the emotion of all the characters.

There was quite a bit of blood and gore in this book and I really enjoyed it! Because most of the gory scenes happen in space it added an extra grossness... Floating blood etc. Thought it was really well done.

Some of the medical scenes were totally over the top, but Dr Gerritsen obviously knows her stuff as everything was quite accurate. I guess that is what makes her one of the top medical thriller authors.

Would I recommend it?

Yes it was great fun! Really enjoyed it. Any thriller and fan of a little space blood and guts will love Gravity! I've already started putting her other books on my TBR list!

For more , visit my blog
www.booksbabiesbeing.com
Follow me on twitter
www.twitter.com/BBB_Melaudiobooks45 s Dennis660 302

“For the past thirty years, Michael Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain has served as the benchmark … not anymore. Tess Gerritsen sets the new standard with Gravity … one of those rare books that scares you for all the right reasons.“
-The Providence Sunday Journal

I’m a fan of Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain. So in my ears that’s pretty high praise. And the book didn’t disappoint.

Dr. Emma Watson is sent to the International Space Station after the wife of the physician aboard ISS had a terrible car accident and NASA decides to bring him back home.
Watson had been very eager to go to space and even though the circumstances are unfortunate she’s relishing the opportunity.

But on ISS an experiment with some mice goes wrong and one of the astronauts gets seriously ill. Watson, as the physician on duty, is tending to the patient whose vital signs start to show some peculiar developments. She can’t quite figure out what’s going on. And neither can NASA.

Soon things start to go horribly wrong and the situation threatens to get completely out of hand. With the disease spreading amongst the astronauts.

In the beginning my fascination with the Space Program flared up once again and I was in awe of the things human beings are able to achieve.

But we are also capable of fucking up big time and space is not exactly the best place to make mistakes. Not even small ones.

Very quickly this became a highly suspenseful medical thriller, where the reader is trying to figure out what exactly went wrong. And a lot of things do go wrong and Dr. Watson is always at a disadvantage because of her challenging surroundings.



As things go from bad to worse, the military is butting in and it becomes clear that we are dealing with something significant.

Until the point when it is finally revealed what’s causing the disease, this indeed felt very much The Andromeda Strain in space. And an all-around better version of it even, because while there is a ton of science in Gerritsen‘s book as well, it offers a better realised plot and slightly more interesting characters.

When it’s finally clear what happened and attempts to rescue the astronauts and cure the disease became the major plot points, it wasn’t quite as good as before. But still highly entertaining.

In addition to The Andromeda Strain I also got some vibes of Alien, The Martian and the Wolfgang Petersen movie Outbreak.
It's great fun!

This book goes right onto my favorites shelf. And I’ll be looking for more works from the author.favorites science-fiction suspense ...more34 s BradleyAuthor 5 books4,414

Before reading this, I had few expectations. Just knowing that the author writes popular police procedurals doesn't always mean that other genres are a cinch to write. So I had to back off and just let the tale tell itself.

I let myself flow into the story as it began heavily on the characterization and it slowly turned into a medical thriller just happening to take place in space. The Andromeda Strain? Hmmm. But then the modern storytelling style got me hooked. No one behaved unreasonably. Smart, strong characters. Rising tension... and then somewhere in the middle, I found myself thrilling to the horror of it. :)

There's plenty of cool biology and medical thriller stuff, but you know what I found most interesting? It had cool echoes of Starfish. It even reminded me a bit of that movie, Life. Or conjure in your mind any rampant story of contagion, and you've got a great idea about where this novel is headed.

I have very few complaints. I had a great time throughout. But if I should feel the need to complain about anything... it's the end. I'm not sure I buy it.

But other than that, I think I had a lot more fun here than I thought I would. :) Tess really can write SF thrillers. :)2019-shelf horror sci-fi31 s Brenda4,457 2,851

As Doctor Emma Watson exited the simulator training module after yet another simulated mission, she knew she was ready. The whole team would be ready to head into space when scheduled in three months’ time. But the unexpected emergency involving one of the current astronauts at the space station meant he needed to be brought home – and Emma was chosen as his replacement. Emma was a research physician, excellent at her job; her estranged and soon to be divorced husband Doctor Jack McCallum was also involved with the space program, but a medical condition meant he was unable to go into orbit – Jack used his surgical and specialist abilities at a civilian hospital while watching from afar.

Once Emma had settled into life aboard the space station, the intrigue and fascination of space once again held her in its grip. But when one of their crew members became ill, Emma struggled to diagnose his problem. She knew he needed to be evacuated immediately – but as the horror of what was happening intensified, the crew on the space station plus their support from NASA knew they were up against something catastrophic – the danger was not just to the astronauts but to anyone who came into contact with them. What would happen to Emma and the courageous crew? What could Jack and NASA do in their fight to bring them home?

Wow! Gravity by Tess Gerritsen is unbelievably tense and gripping! It is a psychological thriller by an author who knows her craft and knows how to entertain her readers. I flew through the 500 pages of this book with my heart racing - it has an excellent plot which reads easily. Highly recommended.
own-read thriller25 s Trish2,135 3,653

Turns out, I have known this author's work for a while. Because my sister is a fan of the TV show Rizzoli & Isles which is based on a book series by this author. Nevertheless, this was my first book by her.

We follow Emma Watson and a few other astronauts as they are getting ready to go on a mission to the ISS. While on board, some experiment goes horribly wrong because suddenly people are infected with something and the race to find out what it is begins.
Naturally, back down on Earth, people are trying to help but depending on what it is, it's too dangerous to allow the crew back home.

There is a little politicking but mostly it's science. The science of getting people into space (physics) as much as chemistry and biology. And wonderful bodily horror once people start dying. Think Contagion but on a station in Earth's orbit.
Naturally, it helps that the author knows her facts (she's a doctor in anthropology and medicine) and she has a wonderful way of filling this book to the brim with those facts but in such a neat way that they seamlessly blend with the suspense of having to solve the mystery of what is going on, how it is possible and if it can be stopped.

However, as much as I d getting to know the NASA staff, the flight crews, and following the experiments as well as the inter-personal relationships on the ISS, the ending was almost a bit of a letdown. I mean, not only did Emma survive (thanks to her hero husband) but she also woke up and recovered despite having been on Death's threshold ... think about it, the cure was just fighting the chimera, that thing had already done considerable damage to her body. Moreover, the fact that the chimera still exists on Earth, down in the ocean near the Galápagos islands, waiting in that submerged asteroid ... there is a strong current around there so it could simply be swept to places and infect people but the government isn't taking precautions?! That was all ... I don't know. I think what troubled me the most was what kind of "miracle" was found - the cure lying in pregnancy. However, the author IS a medical doctor so she would know if that was at least partially realistic and I did the thought of an alien species being out there and unleashing this chimera seeds on the wind to colonize other planets.


(Don't let that smile fool you, this lady is a killer!)

All in all, the above mentioned points are relatively minor complaints, just thoughts floating around my head while reading the book and now that I've finished it and I'd love to have a chance to talk to the author about her thought process.

Anyway, the action was relentless, the characters were extremely lively (making you suffer with them), and the science was superb (I cannot say if that one thing bugging me would be scientifically accurate) so the book still gets full marks for being so different from other thrillers and engaging and for it demanding a smart reader. Besides, who doesn't an experiment gone wrong - in space! - that has the potential of either wiping out humanity or at the very least decimating us the zombie apocalypse?!20 s Wulf Krueger406 105

I must have read a different book from most others… I’ve read an extraordinarily cheap science fiction thriller that feels very dated, e. g. when NASA officials threaten to fax a secret to the newspapers, when they present evidence on a cassette tape and that caters to admirers of body horror at best.

Yes, it’s a thrilling page turner but of the 90s variety; think of the old b-movies with body snatchers and smart scientists, a cowboy-infested US government and many more stereotypical characters and story elements. It’s mostly disgusting with cheap thrills and the intellectual depth of a puddle.

I finished it less than a day ago and, thankfully, the “story” is already fading into oblivion. I’ll stick to more modern works of Gerritsen.

One out of five stars.


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Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam0_wk_read_2023 almost-dnf20 s Leo4,558 485

I tried to removing my currently reading thingy on this book as I did decide to dnf it for now but loved it back in 202018 s TheBookNeighbour39 89

Tess Gerritsen's Gravity is a splendid horror novel that covers familiar ground with the story all while keeping the thrills and adrenaline rushing. It's an absolutely bone-chilling, suspenseful, horrifying, and overwhelmingly tense hell of a novel that will surely make you hold your breath, page after page. It's very gruesome at times but never relinquishes its tone with unneeded jump scares and cheap cop-outs. The ending was a bit predictable but it was very impressive to me. Definitely worth the read, and time, especially for medical thriller and part-sci-fi horror fans.17 s Carolyn2,397 670


Tess Gerritsen moves the setting for her medical thriller to space and boy is it scary! Emma Watson is a doctor and astronaut who is thrilled to finally be able to go into space and work in the space station. However, when a strange illness begins to affect the crew, she finds herself struggling to work out what is wrong with them. Back on Earth her husband Jack can only watch while her colleagues at NASA try to work out how to save the crew.

An excellent page turner of a sci fi thriller! medical psychological-suspense relationships ...more17 s Cathy1,750 268

About 15 years ago I read the first Rizzoli & Isles thriller, The Surgeon, and d it. And although I 5-starred it, I never again picked up anything by Gerritsen. Well, space and an infection sounded too tempting to pass up. And after finishing this book, I think I should have picked up something by Gerritsen sooner.

On the book it mentions ER meets Apollo 13. Throw in Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton and we have a deal. And maybe bits of Life and Contagion.

Gordon Obie, known as the Sphinx... that got old eventually. I am also not a massive fan of the whole conspiracy theory shindig and the mysterious grey haired billionaire. And the ending seemed a bit too easy.

Setting that aside, this was a very enjoyable read, full of action and suspense and plenty of gross bodily fluids. Whilst I started slowly, I read the bulk of the book in one day and had a hard time putting it down. Well done!14 s Pamela142 11

ponad polowa ksiazki byla okropnie nudna i myslalam nad zrobieniem dnf ale w koncu sie troche rozkreciloaudiobook-2022 books-i-own14 s Paula Brandon1,136 31

Wow, what a great thriller! Tess Gerritsen has always been one of my favourite authors, but I stayed away from this one because of the whole lawsuit over the movie thing. All of a sudden, Gerritsen seemed to be accusing any movie set at the International Space Station of ripping off her book, and wasn't afraid to say so on social media. Then she was complaining about readers not understanding the ending to "Playing With Fire"....and well, I was a little put off, both by Gerritsen as an author and tackling "Gravity" the book.

However, a bit of time has passed since then, and I'm glad I gave this a try, because it was a fast-paced thrill ride. Although this book is to do with a mission into space and obviously meticulously researched, it was never overwhelmed with too much research on the page and endless technical jargon. Believe me, mine are the first eyes to glaze over if there is too much of that - and has even done so in other Gerritsen books - but that was never the case here. It maintained a feverish pace from start to finish.

Heroine Emma Watson, a doctor, is added to a space crew at the ISS after a family tragedy sees an existing member exit. She joins right around the time one of their experiments is contaminated and infects one of the crew members. Attempts to get this crew member evacuated sees events spiraling out of control. The hero is Emma's soon-to-be ex-husband, Jack McCallum, who had to exit the astronaut program due to health risks. His love for Emma is reignited by his efforts to help bring her and the other astronauts home.

"Gravity" is an exciting space thriller with lots of gooey action and gore as the bacteria/lifeform infects various astronauts one by one with messy results. I read it in one go. This book bears very little similarity to the movie "Gravity", so ignore all that business with the lawsuit. This is very much a sci-fi/medical/horror thriller as opposed to the straight-out survival theme of the movie. It was a tale I literally couldn't put down, and pretty much read in one go!

There are some quibbles that keep this from 4 stars. Firstly, there are too many characters. I started writing down the names of them all so that I could keep track. Nearly every chapter seemed to introduce a new one. It could get a little confusing, so I needed my own personal cheat sheet to keep up! Secondly, it needed more focus on Emma and the other astronauts, stranded in space and dying under gruesome circumstances. They were the characters we needed to know the most about and care about, because they were the ones in peril. Too much time was spent on the ground with Jack, and various meetings the government/military/NASA undertook to determine what they felt the fate of the astronauts should be. Too often, I was thinking, "Get back to the space station!" That's where the action was, and it was frustrating to be pulled back to Earth so often for another meeting.

But otherwise, this kept me hooked from start to finish. I'd love to see this properly adapted as a movie or TV series, it's that exciting! Sadly, after battling Hollywood over the movie "Gravity" and what she sees as plagiarism by other films, as well as the end of the "Rizzoli & Isles" TV series, Tess Gerritsen seems to have given up writing books, and moved to script-writing. Guess I'll be tuning into her films, then! But definitely give this one a look.12 s Wendy Darling1,800 34.2k

Probably my actual favorite of all the Tess Gerritsen books, in the vein of techno-thrillers written by Michael Crichton. Suspenseful and fast-paced, it has very cool scenes set in space that are cinematic and action-packed. The relationship angle was a little clumsy (and unnecessary) here, but overall it's an enjoyable read.adult sci-fi-or-futuristic thriller-suspense12 s Lata672 145

An entertaining sci-fi. There were relevant medical information and details about space travel. It was exciting to read about the preparations and training the astronauts undergo and about the launch.

I think, all thriller writers, Tess Gerritsen doesn't believe in teamwork and doesn't believe in inter-agency cooperation. And she also resorts to the trope of the Hero/Heroine doing everything single -handedly. Jack (on earth) and Emma (on the space station) have to find the treatment and antidote to the deadly infection on their own. Though the top researchers were trying to find a cure and had failed, Jack and Emma quickly manage to find it.
Jack has to rush everywhere to understand about the origin of the contagion (don't know what other NASA researchers were doing). And in the end, he alone had to.... OK, I won't give away the spoiler.

I was laughing when they wake up the PR lady to do some search on a private scientific research lab on Lexis Nexis and give her instructions on what to search for. I didn't know NASA was short-staffed. and that the scientists didn't have access to computers
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