…brilliant…Rather than resorting to the familiar tricks of biography-litedramatizing tired anecdotes, larding the narrative with undigested research about particle physics and Oppenheimer's persecution during the McCarthy eraHall has shaped a richly imagined, tremendously moving fictional work. Its genius is not to explain but to embody the science and politics that shaped Oppenheimer's life…Oppenheimer's deepest secrets would remain as hidden as anyone else's, if Hall relied only on biographical data. What shocks us into a new understanding of this complex and secretive soul are his psychological ties to the invented main characters. Hall uses them to perform seven thought experiments, as if Oppenheimer, like a subatomic particle, could be revealed only indirectly, through his collisions with others. As if, as one character reports him saying, "any given entity can only be defined as a function of its observer." The resulting quantum portrait feels both true and dazzlingly unfamiliar.
The New York Times Book Review - Andrea Barrett
Brilliant… Hall has shaped a richly imagined, tremendously moving fictional work. Its genius is not to explain but to embody the science and politics that shaped Oppenheimer’s life…. The resulting quantum portrait feels both true and dazzlingly unfamiliar.” — New York Times Book Review
“Triumphant.... Each of the anecdotes functions as a compelling story in its own right, and only becomes more powerful when taken together as a complete narrative. With beautiful specificity and nuance, Hall interrogates such major issues as ethics in scientific discovery and breaching the chasm between public and private selves.” — Vanity Fair
“[Hall has] earned acclaim for her ability to wield language with unusual precision.... Trinity [is] a brilliant imagining of how the details omitted from one notorious man’s story might define him more fully than the broad strokes we already know....Trinity sounds a wake-up call.” — Time
“A startling novel that asks how well we can ever really know anyone else, no matter how much we scrutinize them.... Trinity is a dizzying, kaleidoscopic marvel of a book, and a beautiful reflection on the impossibility of creating a truly accurate narrative of any person’s life.” — Texas Observer
“Intelligent, elegant.... [Hall tells] his story through the eyes of seven fictional characters with whom [Oppenheimer] comes into tangential contact.... The emotional weight of their sections lies in their own hurts and betrayals, their own flailing attempts to understand how, precisely, their own lives have somehow come to this .” — Washington Post
“A narrative exploration of the gap between public and private selves, as the novel makes plain that people are unreliable, and that betraying others is inextricably linked with betraying ourselves.... Hall’s book ambitiously takes on far-reaching issues at Los Alamos in a passionate, personal way.” — Santa Fe New Mexican
“Using real events to frame the narrative, Hall creates visceral vignettes using science, history, and biography to create three-dimensional characters pouring forth their own stories.... Highly recommended.” — Library Journal (starred review)
“Ingeniously structured.... [Hall] excels at creating distinct characters whose voices illuminate their own lives and challenges, as well as the historical period that saw Oppenheimer’s fall from grace.” — Publishers Weekly
“[Hall] explores themes of guilt and betrayal as well as the fallout from lies and self-delusion—in the process bringing Oppenheimer, an often aloof, conflicted man, to vivid life.… Lushly written, this is an ambitious, unsettling novel that takes on big issues in a passionate, personal way.” — Kirkus Reviews
“With war, McCarthyism, and nuclear proliferation as backdrop, Hall’s observers paint a picture of not just one man but of humanity.... Each narrator has a unique and convincing voice in this compelling novel.” — Booklist
“Louisa Hall’s Trinity is an intelligent and sweeping account of the characterssome real, some fictionalswirling around the testing of the first atomic bomb. It is also an affecting meditation on the ways in which we betray others and, in the process, ourselves.” — Karan Mahajan, author of The Association of Small Bombs
“[Hall] employs an ingenious and creative tactic to paint an image of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb”.... In this staggeringly beautiful novel, he is fragmented, shown only through the eyes of people who are all struggling with their own existences.... Trinity is a masterpiece.” — BookPage
[Hall has] earned acclaim for her ability to wield language with unusual precision.... Trinity [is] a brilliant imagining of how the details omitted from one notorious man’s story might define him more fully than the broad strokes we already know....Trinity sounds a wake-up call.
A narrative exploration of the gap between public and private selves, as the novel makes plain that people are unreliable, and that betraying others is inextricably linked with betraying ourselves.... Hall’s book ambitiously takes on far-reaching issues at Los Alamos in a passionate, personal way.
Triumphant.... Each of the anecdotes functions as a compelling story in its own right, and only becomes more powerful when taken together as a complete narrative. With beautiful specificity and nuance, Hall interrogates such major issues as ethics in scientific discovery and breaching the chasm between public and private selves.
A startling novel that asks how well we can ever really know anyone else, no matter how much we scrutinize them.... Trinity is a dizzying, kaleidoscopic marvel of a book, and a beautiful reflection on the impossibility of creating a truly accurate narrative of any person’s life.
Intelligent, elegant.... [Hall tells] his story through the eyes of seven fictional characters with whom [Oppenheimer] comes into tangential contact.... The emotional weight of their sections lies in their own hurts and betrayals, their own flailing attempts to understand how, precisely, their own lives have somehow come to this .
Brilliant… Hall has shaped a richly imagined, tremendously moving fictional work. Its genius is not to explain but to embody the science and politics that shaped Oppenheimer’s life…. The resulting quantum portrait feels both true and dazzlingly unfamiliar.
New York Times Book Review
With war, McCarthyism, and nuclear proliferation as backdrop, Hall’s observers paint a picture of not just one man but of humanity.... Each narrator has a unique and convincing voice in this compelling novel.
[Hall has] earned acclaim for her ability to wield language with unusual precision.... Trinity [is] a brilliant imagining of how the details omitted from one notorious man’s story might define him more fully than the broad strokes we already know....Trinity sounds a wake-up call.
Intelligent, elegant.... [Hall tells] his story through the eyes of seven fictional characters with whom [Oppenheimer] comes into tangential contact.... The emotional weight of their sections lies in their own hurts and betrayals, their own flailing attempts to understand how, precisely, their own lives have somehow come to this .
With war, McCarthyism, and nuclear proliferation as backdrop, Hall’s observers paint a picture of not just one man but of humanity.... Each narrator has a unique and convincing voice in this compelling novel.
[Hall] employs an ingenious and creative tactic to paint an image of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb”.... In this staggeringly beautiful novel, he is fragmented, shown only through the eyes of people who are all struggling with their own existences.... Trinity is a masterpiece.
Louisa Hall’s Trinity is an intelligent and sweeping account of the characterssome real, some fictionalswirling around the testing of the first atomic bomb. It is also an affecting meditation on the ways in which we betray others and, in the process, ourselves.