Rating: 
Summary: A good novel goes bad
Review: I couldn't put this book down, so intent was I on discovering the ultimate plight of the heroine and her village. However, as I neared the end of the book, what began as a believable work of historical fiction abruptly transformed itself into a ...
fantasy/romance novel. The characters, whom I felt were relatively well-developed up until the last few chapters, suddenly behaved in ways incongruous with their previous selves. As a reader, I felt a bit betrayed. I found myself saying "on, come on", you don't expect me to believe THAT". What started out for me as a great book wound up being only mediocre.
Rating:
Summary: Starts good -- but
Review: This is a book about the impact of the plague on the people in a small English village in 1666. It's beautifully written. As a parent and grandparent, I dreaded reading the inevitable parts about the deaths of children. But the novel has problems. First, and not so major, is that the principal character, Anna, is a bit too savvy for her time and place. Authors often are unable to prevent their 21st century views from creeping into the portrayal of a character born in an earlier century. I found the philosophical leanings, feminist awakening, and medical insights of this peasant woman of the 17th century too modern and uncredible. Second, and more importantly, this novel had an implausible and ridiculous ending. The author loses control of her story about page 290 and goes off into flights of fancy for the last 15 pages of the book. It's not a bad novel until then.
Rating: 
Summary: WONDERFUL
Review: I will restrain myself from writing in bold letters: "I loved it!!" all the way across the top of the page. I will even restrain myself from saying this was my favorite book of the year, because it is only January and there are many books to read. Simply put, I loved this book. I will not argue the finer points of history. I want a novel that entertains, educates and encourages me to delve into the subject matter with furthur intensity. This novel did just that. I am newly interested in the plague and in the herbs and medicines gathered long ago and today to soothe the miseries of mankind. I appreciate being enticed to research these topics more thoroughly. I also relish a unique plot, and I found the story line powerful and the ending pleasantly unexpected. I found the story told through a young widow and housemaid, Anna, to be a colorful character that gracefully narrates the stories of the villagers plagued with a deadly disease but with the courage to quarantine themselves from the outside world. For those of you reviewers that had issues with the historical factual presentation, I say buy a medical manual and miner's history books. I daresay you won't find a finer fictional novel about the plague than Geraldine Brooks' _Year of Wonders_.
Rating: 
Summary: A powerful portrait of the Plague
Review: "Years of Wonders" by Geraldine Brooks is an engrossing read. This fictional account of events in the tiny English village of Eyam in the year 1666 left me with an insatiable desire to learn more about the Plague in Europe. A young servant woman, Anna Firth, narrates the story. Anna is a full-bodied character with a strong narrative voice. However, her somewhat feminist viewpoints are hard to accept in a 17th woman. In fact, there are a few women in the book with feminist leanings, and they seemed false and contrived to this reader. This shortcoming did not spoil my reading, however. Brooks created a complete world in "Wonders." The town and its people are well drawn. Brooks rendered detailed scenes of horrible suffering as the Plague attacks family after family.
Through Anna's eyes, we watch the village fall prey to superstitions, witch hunting, and illicit love. At times, I felt that Brooks attempted to incorporate too many Plague-related catastrophes into the story. She clearly did her research, but it seemed to me that she wanted to include everything she learned in this book, even if it meant straining the storyline a bit far. I highly recommend this excellent piece of historical fiction. Mothers may find certain scenes emotionally challenging, so keep your Kleenex close at hand! I found that I had to put the book aside occasionally and take a break -- many scenes include raw depictions of how the Plague virus ravaged human bodies.
Rating: 
Summary: Well-researched, but chickens out
Review: I looked forward to reading this book, as I enjoy (good) historical fiction and had previously read Geraldine Brooks' Nine Parts of Desire (which I do recommend.) I was disappointed in Year of Wonders, and I'd like to discuss why. This review contains important plot points, so if you haven't read the book, don't continue reading. This book is set in 1665; its heroine is Anna Frith, an 18 year old widow with two young sons. It is soon revealed that her husband was a miner killed in a mining accident. Anna is a servant in the household of the local Anglican priest and his wife, Elinor. As the book opens, it is clear that a) the "year of wonders" is almost over and b) Elinor is dead. Careful readers will learn in this chapter that Anna and Elinor were the bestest of friends and that Anna, despite the fact that she's a peasant in a remote English village, not only reads, but understands Latin. At this point, alarm bells started going off in my head. I'm always deeply suspicious of books that try too hard to make their historical heroines, well, heroic. Make the heroine smart, sure. Even let her have learned how to read on her own, fine - though it's unlikely that a young 17th century mother would have the time to learn and the ready access to books. But please don't make her an overevolved Rhodes scholar with modern sensibilities. Please. My pleas were not answered. Anyway, as the book progresses, it's clear that Brooks is imposing 21st century values on her characters. In addition, some very unwelcome Oprah-ization slinks in, mainly in the discussion of Anna's family, where it is revealed that Anna has an abusive father (with zero redeeming qualities) who is married to a woman, Aphra, who turns out to be bitchy, unloving, and also into witchcraft (?). On the other hand, Elinor is just as perfect as can be. She doesn't believe in social divisions. She literally looks like an angel, all wispy and with silvery hair and whatnot. She teaches Anna how to read and write and read great scholarly volumes. Apparently, Anna has plenty of time to indulge in all these scholarly pursuits. Anna, as I'll discuss later, also turns out to be pretty perfect herself. I actually laughed during Elinor's faux deathbed scene when Elinor basically congratulates both herself and Anna on becoming ever so wonderful. (The priest, Mompellion, is your average tortured artiste type. He is supposed to have chemistry with Anna. Scandalous!) Anyway, even though this is a novel of the plague, there isn't really THAT much about how horrible the plague is. Mompellion visits plague families. There's an interlude in which Anna and Elinor pluckily mine a vein so that a little Quaker orphan girl can keep the claim to the vein (Elinor and Anna are easily able to get beyond those silly 17th century prejudices about Quakers.) Anna's half-sister, Faith, is mentioned in passing about 300 pages into the book. Then she dies. Anys, a saucy herbalist chick, is hanged by panicked villagers. Boy, is Mompellion mad about that! (By the way, Anna is totally cool with Anys sleeping around, because she's moderne like that.) There are other random mentions of the village being deserted and various coping mechanism employed by the distraught villagers, but Brooks never really sells the reader on how horrible the Year of Wonders is. Rather, the Year of Wonders is more like a prep course to make Anna even more exceptional. Anna not only becomes an ace scholar, but she also becomes a terrific midwife in less than a year. After a very brief indulgence, she has the moral rectitude to primly burn Anys' poppy stash when she finds it, becuase opium is BAD. Her horrible father and horrible stepmother die horribly. Oh, she also learns to tame Mompellion's stallion, because she is just that good. Mompellion is written as an amalgamation of nobility and unexpected nuttiness. His abstinence from Elinor really doesn't make much sense, but it does mean that Anna can sleep with him without much guilt after Elinor dies. Anyway, Anna takes off at the end of the book. At this point, it seemed to me like the author sat around and thought "Hmm. I want my main character to continue her scholarly pursuits in medicine. Where can she do that? I know! Morocco!" Yes, Anna abruptly ends up as the wife to a well-regarded Arab doctor at the end of the book, where she studies in Arabic and raises her children (her new kids - her sons having died in the plague.) Wow, did that come out of nowhere. Brooks has clearly done a lot of research and the book is quite readable. But I found Anna and her friends to be too modern and too perfect, much like the protagonist of Pope Joan (another disappointing historical novel) or, dare I say it? Jean Auel's Ayla, the most perfect woman ever to exist in all prehistory.) If you want to read some decent fiction set in this period, I can recommend Slammerkin. The only diseases in that novel are venereal, though.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable historical fiction
Review: Year of Wonders [pulled] me in. I enjoyed the first person narrative. Anna, the main charcater is memorable and the loosely-based-on-truth story line is fascinating. Only downfall is the ending - which was weak - out of place - like another author wrote it. I highly recommend it overall.
Rating:
Summary: A grueling but fascinating read.
Review: Year of Wonders is a book I would never have picked up if left to my own devices. I tend to steer clear of too true-to-life accounts of death and despair. Having recently joined a new readers group, and this being the first official selection, I felt duty bound to read it from cover to cover. And I'm glad I did. Sort of. The story is all about the Black Plague and its effect on the inhabitants of a small town that decides to close itself off in order to avoid spreading the disease. The story concentrates on a young woman who endures more loss and grief than it seems one person should ever be forced to bear. But bear it she does. As the plague spreads, it brings with it fear and superstition, and brings out the worst in her neighbors. Startling secrets come to light as many of the inhabitants of the small town succumb to the plague. The book is extremely believable, the characters act realistically and the book moves along at a brisk pace up until its last quarter. As the book progresses the secrets and plot twists become increasingly over-the-top and it becomes difficult to suspend disbelief and my interest began to wane.
I did find most of the book utterly fascinating but can't say that it was a pleasant reading experience. The plague and all of its ugliness are described in living detail and I read with a continuing sense of dread. Still, this story is one of the few that really made me sit back and appreciate my life.
Rating:
Summary: Great historical novel, weak ending
Review: This fine piece of storytelling paints a fascinating but grim picture of life in a plague-stricken village in England in the 17th century. It offers credible characters, a wealth of historical details, and a compelling plot. I agree with other reviewers that the ending is the book's weakness. By choosing an ending that indulges her personal interest in women in the Islamic world, the author veers off into implausibility and undermines what otherwise is a tight, captivating work.
Rating:
Summary: Year of Wonders
Review: This is about a maid for the pasture and her wife in a town where over two thirds end up dead. it makes you realize the true meaning of the child song ring around the roseys. it is about the people dying from the plage. teachers recomend parent permission.
Rating:
Summary: Well written yet extremely disturbing
Review: I am an avid reader of historical fiction yet I had to stop reading this book after 100 pages. I agree that it is well written, which is why I gave it 4 stars. It is a personal preference that I could not finish it. This book is extraordinarily disturbing (or accurate, depending on how you look at it) and details the effects of the Plague and the confusion and despairity of the townfolk in more detail than I could stomach. The author did such a good job of character development (like with Anna's babies) but I found it difficult to watch them die slow, painful deaths. This book is definitely not for everyone.
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