Year of Wonders

Rating:
Summary: Truly Wondrous!
Review: The story of Anna Firth and her plague-stricken village is the story of the survivor in all of us. Everyday we walk this Earth our faith in God is tested by one affliction or another. Some cower and run, some lose faith and slowly disintegrate, and the rest (empowered by faith in God/Science) persevere and deal with it. The plague of 1666 can be easily compared to the AIDS of 1981. People are falling left and right and no one knows why, and even worse, how to stop it!

The book is definitely expressive and doesn't shy away from describing horrific accounts relating to plague symptoms, ignorance-driven killings, crazy atonement methods and sheer madness induced by despair. The details, told so vividly, can be a little gory for the squeamish of us.

The story has many subtexts that you will find to be very intriguing. The ending is heartwarming as it brings total closure to an incredible saga of survival. I cannot recommend it enough!

Rating:
Summary: ¿Wonders¿ is wonderful!
Review: I am a sucker for anything historical, so I knew Year of Wonders had at least that aspect going for it. And by novel's end, I felt very satisfied. It was everything I expected, and even a little bit more. And as depressing as this book may seem, I had a fantastic experience with Year of Wonders, and am looking forward to another book by Geraldine Brooks.

Set in a small village in England in 1666, Year of Wonders tells the story of young Anna Frith, a widow with two small boys. When Anna takes in a boarder, an experienced tailor from London, he unwittingly brings with him the Plague contained in a contaminated bolt of cloth. As the infection spreads throughout the village, the rector, Michael, asks the villagers to quarantine themselves in an effort to keep the sickness from escaping into neighboring communities. And Anna soon finds herself in a position of healer, comforter and companion to the many families in which the Plague affects.

This was an incredible story. And at first, one is puzzled regarding where the "wonder" fits in. Then by the close of the book, it all becomes clear. I was utterly fascinated by the struggle and strength of the Plague community. I will remember this novel for a long, long time. I hope there is another great story coming soon from Geraldine Brooks.

Rating:
Summary: A hard book to read...
Review: I had a fairly hard time getting through this book...not because it was technically difficult to read, but because of the subject matter. This is definately not for the weak hearted. This story follows Anna as she tries to save her fellow villagers from death by the plague. The story pulled me in, which was a very good thing since some of the details made me squeamish and not a little in awe of her will to live. This is one of those books I am very glad I read, but will probably not read again. It really brings the horrors of the time alive.

The book was fanatstically written, at least up until the epilogue. I found the ending to be too jarringly sugary sweet for the overall tone of the story. Although, I must admit, after all Anna had been through, I was very happy she was able to find peace and fulfillment.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, until the end.
Review: It took me a while to read this little book. It was depressing and dark. A year filled with many, many losses and hardships. Knowing that a village really did quaranteen themselves to help their fellow man helped me enjoy much of this novel. However, the "tie it all together happy ending" didn't do the rest of the story justice.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent story
Review: In history class we all learned about the famous Bubonic Plague in Europe. But this book makes it more real than any history book ever could. This is the story of a small British mountain village whose inhabitants become infected with plague when a contaminated shipment of cloth arrives from London. They decide to quarantine themselves, to not let anyone in or out of the village so as not to infect the surrounding villages. A courageous effort, to be sure, even more so considering that this book is loosely based on the true story of the village of Eyam which did indeed decide to quarantine itself in 1666.

Overall, this was an excellently told story. Brooks does a good job conveying the despair and exhaustion that comes after watching two-thirds of your friends and neighbors die from a horrible illness. It's a very real and moving story. However, I didn't like how the author started the book at the end of the plague year. The first chapter is the aftermath of the plague and the rest of the book is treated as a flashback of the year of the plague. I think it would have been more effective if the author had just started the story with chapter two, the introduction of the characters and the beginning of the plague. One other thing, the ending seemed out of place. It didn't really fit with the rhythm and story of the rest of the book. The fate of Anna Frith, the narrator, seems a little unusual and unexpected. But it's not a bad ending.

All in all, I really recommend this book. It's a compelling story.

Rating:
Summary: Years of Wonders
Review: "As we approached the rectory, we saw Michael Mompellion in the chruchyard,his coat off, the wide sleeves of his white shirt rolled up past his forearms, his damp hair from his own sweat." The reason he's in the chruchyard is because he's working on digging graves. At this point he had got three done and he was working ib the fourth one. It was midday and he needed six graves to do for the day. One was of his friend Jon Millstone. He was working on digging graves and his heart gave out.

In the Years of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks almost every single chapter is talking about some one new dying. The reason they are is because of the plauge of the 1666 in London. Most of the young people lived without pain. There were really bad storms to in like every other chapter. "The storm that had threatend at morning in by early afternoon."

The main character in this story is Anna. Well I should say she's the one who is telling this story. In the Years of Wonders, Anna Frith is a housemaid. Maggie which she is in this book a lot to she is the Bradfords cook. Then there is also Jane she is the Bradford's maid. "Maggie had a small oak coffer wedged tight beneath her bed, but her girth, was such that she couldn't bend down low enough to get it."

In the sections that we read the setting was in quite few different places at the first of the book it starts at the rectory cellar there is because it is apple picking time. Then further in the book its at the graveyard because so many people are dying because of the plague. The plague stared in London then worked its way up to the isolated Mountain Village. Like some of the chapters interested me like "Venom in the Blood," "Ring of Roses," "Sign of a Witch." "In the days that followed, I tasted what life would be like if i survived through this dying time to see my own old age." The setting right here starts out outside at the well-bucket.

The plot mostly takes place at the chruch. Then in the store, and at Barmot court. Anna is the one who is still telling the story and it is in 1st person and 3rd person. "And so is the rest of us set about learning to live in the wide green prison of our own election. The most magor events were Faith's funeral, then Elinor's burial place.

The language in Years of Wonders were mostly Anna because she had been telling the story in all different types of P.O.V. we had four sections to read in and the first two sections were in 1st person and the last two were in 3rd person. "And yet I found myself walking that Monday morning in the direction of the Boundary Stone."

I think everybody should read this because it has to do with the plague of 1666. It was really interesting to me. So i think everyone should.

Rating:
Summary: A true gem!
Review: 'Year of Wonders' was one of five books chosen for the recent Books Alive campaign, which was run by the Federal Government and designed to promote reading across Australia. It is, as it says, a novel about the plague of the 16th century and the story of one brave village that chose to isolate themselves from the rest of the world rather than risk infecting anyone else.

This novel is (I think) all the things a first class novel should be... witty, well researched and beautifully written with an enticing storyline and well developed characters that demand emotional involvement from the reader. 'Year of Wonders' is unusual in a number of ways. The first is that it grabbed my attention from the very first page, which a rare occurrence in my experience. The second is the language used in the book which is meant to reflect the written account of the main character and makes use of old words and phrases.

Reading a good novel is like eating ice-cream with sprinkles. Reading -this- novel is like eating ice-cream smothered in whipped cream, hot chocolate fudge, and chocolate flakes. It's -that- tangible and that good.

Rating:
Summary: get out your hankies - on second thought . . .
Review: Oh my gosh golly! What happened after the first 20 or so pages? It started as a well-written little page riffler, promising a good account of the black death, but then descended into mediocre writing. Maybe the problem is that the characters remained 2-dimensional, never developed more than those you see in a pretty bad movie-of-the-week.

I thought the author might compensate for her problem with character development with a ripping narrative of life during plague-time, but that curiosity stayed mostly unsatisfied. Her inability to step out of a modern frame-of-reference is crippling, and it consigns this book to bodice-ripping romantic fiction.

Immediately after finishing this tripe, I pulled out Barbara Tuchman's excellent history, "A Distant Mirror" and reread chapter 5: "This is the End of the World : The Black Death." If you want a well-written account of the plague, Tuchman's is the best out there.

The inspiration for Year of Wonders is a gift on a platter to a capable writer. Geraldine Brooks squanders it in this novel. Poorly done.

Rating:
Summary: "Oh, yes, the Devil has been here this night!"
Review: Set in the Derbyshire countryside in 1666, THE YEAR OF WONDERS details the accounts of a small village ravaged by the Plague. Told exclusively from the first-person account of Anna Firth, a young hardworking widow and mother of two young children, who is employed in the residence of Michael Mompellion, the rector, and his wife, Elinor. After the Plague was incidentally transported to the village inside a bolt of fabric the disease spreads fast and eventually kills one third of the population of the village. The village voluntarily quarantines themselves from any outside contact in a hope to contain the infection. During these desperate months Anna takes it upon herself to help ease the pain of others. In her efforts she forges a strong friendship with Elinor while learning and studying natural remedies and therapies. Helping others aids her in helping ease the pain of her own loss to the Plague.

THE YEAR OF WONDERS is not a typical work of historical fiction. According to the book's Afterword this story was inspired by the true story of the villagers of Eyam, Derbyshire and their own historical account of the Plague. While hiking through the English countryside Geraldine Brooks encountered a finger post pointing the way to the 'Plague Village'. Months of painful research concluded in the writing of this book, and a recreation of how a village struggled against a deadly disease while trying to maintain social order. While Brooks took some liberties in the development of the plot, but some aspects are rooted in truth including several true identities and names. The title of the book reflects worldly events and the strong belief that God works in mysterious ways.

I only wish that Brooks included more social and historical background to the events that were simply alluded to. This would strengthen the plot and make reading more beneficial. Otherwise, I felt left in the dark when events such as the war with the Dutch were briefly mentioned. A very brief summary was included in the Afterword but it seemed too little too late. Otherwise, Brooks did a good job recreating the events occurring in Eyam during the Plague year of 1666.

Rating:
Summary: Lite Historic Reading
Review: This story follows the tale of an English handmaiden named Anna Firth during the year of the plague, 1666. The plague seed arrives to her secluded village via bolts of cloth sent from London. As the residents begin to fall ill and die, one after the other, those that remain alive make the vow to remain in the village, because to flee would only spread the disease further.

This is a historical novel but it's not a dry, boring read. It's based on the true account of an English village that did impose a self-inflicted quarantine, but much has been invented to make for a more readable story.

Undeniably, Anna is made into a heroine as she goes to the rescue of her fellow villagers, delivering babies, tending to the sick, helping those that cannot help themselves. But Anna is also made human by a few rare emotional choices she makes. After losing her husband in an accident and losing the prospect of new love with another man, quiet Anna feels a sudden surge of jealousy at the love between the village rector and his wife. That they should have each other and she should be alone is too unfair; so she smashes every single dish she had close at hand. That was in 1666, but by today's standards, I would imagine this to be akin to pushing a car off a cliff just to watch it be destroyed. Her loss of control was a small passage in the book, merely a paragraph, but it brings Anna down from the saintly, iconic picture that she has been painted into throughout the whole story.

I've heard people say that they didn't enjoy the ending of this book. They thought the ending was too abrupt or a 'cop out'. Yes, the book wrapped up quickly, but it wasn't "...and then she woke up. The End." This book was following Anna and it went where she went. It could have continued on, covering the aftermath of the plague and all that entails, but then the book would have been 10 volumes long.

I call this book "Lite Historic Reading". If you want something more substantial, pick up Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose or Iain Pears' An Instance of the Fingerpost. Both are extremely long, erudite, satisfying works of fiction that one could write their Master's thesis on. The Year of Wonders is a good book to read during a rainy weekend.