Rating: 
Summary: Ending a disappointment
Review: The ending of the book was unpleasant and implausible. Characters who lived their faith through terrible times became unpleasant, selfish creatures, forsaking God once the plague was over. Overall history of the plague-infested town was interesting.
Rating: 
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: A wonderful story of triumph over tragedy. A true parable for our time. Give this book to your daughter, mother, friend...anyone you love and cherish. This book is a gift beyond the imagination.
Rating: 
Summary: science vs God
Review: This is a book of of religion, or the failure of faith.
This is a book written by a person who does not believe in a God.
I wanted more. I thought this book was going to be about our faith. Our faith in doing th right thing. Faith in being moral.
What this book left me with, was that there is no reason to Believe in anything. What a shame. This book should not have been "just" about religion and/or faith. But The author chose this format to let us know that she doesn't believe in God. Again, the "White Devil" is totally evil.So far as history goes, I was fascinated to learn that there was really such a village that chose to "quarantine" itself. I looked at that village's choice and thought it's choice noble & accepting it's faith. I just wondered what I would have done, given the same choice? Was there really any choice? Were these villagers noble, or were they just fatalistic, or realistic?
Rating:
Summary: Year of Wonders is a wonder
Review: This was a very difficult book to read. It wasn't the use of some archaic language that made it so hard, but the heartbreaking storyline. This book is based on the true story of the villagers of Eyam, who chose to quarantine themselves from the surrounding villages in order to stop the plague that had invaded their lives from spreading. We see the entire story through the eyes of Anna Firth. We meet Anna after her husband has died in a mining accident, and she is raising two young children alone. Anna takes in a boarder to help with her expenses, laying the groundwork for tragedy, because her boarder is a tailor. One day a bolt of cloth comes from London, bearing the seeds of plague. The year is 1666, and Anna will begin the most extraordinary year of her life, as she becomes a healer and a heroine. She will face the loss of almost everything she loves, and almost loses her own sanity during the year of the plague. Despite the many horrors of the plague depicted in the book, there are also tiny moments of joy buried beneath the pain, and this is a book you will not soon forget. As with most of the other reviews, my main complaint is the last chapter of the book, the Epilogue. It seemed a very jarring and rather disappointing ending to a wonderful book. However don't let that stop you from reading this book, because if you do, you will miss a beautifully written story, with a truly inspirational heroine.
Rating:
Summary: Belief systems and prejudices as equal plagues to the Plague
Review: Anna Frith is a servant; she is poor, illiterate and she is the daughter of an abusive drunkard. Getting rid of another mouth to feed is his goal. Anna is married young and is widowed shortly thereafter. Her only respite from her terrible loneliness, especially after the death of her two babes, is the hours she spends in the home of Reverend Mompellion. He is a pensive, studious man, married to a gentle, nature loving wife, Elinor. Anna knows her place as a servant and at first finds it uncomfortable to respond to the friendly overtures made by her employer's wife, who also teaches Anna to read. Elinor is an enthusiastic gardener and has a growing interest in the herbs being cultivated by an ostracized family of women who are suspected of being witches, despite the fact that many of their herbal preparations have proven beneficial to the local villagers. From the beginning of this engaging novel the reader experiences a growing tension and increasing realization that something will happen to this tiny village and its mostly poor inhabitants. And that "something" is the Bubonic plague that in reality struck an actual English village upon which this story is based. Anna is so key a character that it is within her household that the person carrying the plague, a vagabond-type tailor, actually sets in motion the larger plot. How will persons of varying socioeconomic levels and belief systems deal with a plague? Will it force some to rely on their destructive superstitions? Will it be a catapult to positive change? What will its devastating force do to the small minded, the idealistic, the religious minded? These questions are all dealt with in this beautifully written novel. Reverend Mompellion is a good, idealistic man. Because he's educated, he and his wife are invited to the homes of some of the area wealthy. It is at these gatherings that he first learns that those "who have" will flee the area for London, expecting to escape suffering and death. Because the plague struck during 1655 and 1666, there was no understanding that the Bubonic Plague was carried by fleas from infected rats. Undoubtedly, escaping the poor, dirty peasants would bring a higher social strata some insurance from being affiliated with and, therefore, infected by the underclass! Death escapes no family. Some are decimated within days. Yet various neighbors assist one another, nurse one another, one another's children...and ultimately bury them. Others are convinced the witches are the cause of the plague; a murder takes place. All the while Reverend Mompellion keeps his head and is a strong, persistent leader who convinces his parishoners of two things: God is testing them; and they should voluntarily quarantine themselves so as not to spread the plague any further. Reverend Mompellion strikes a deal with a leader of a neighboring community to bring food and supplies to a certain point beyond which none of the villagers will stray. The community continually shrinks as its inhabitants die in increasing numbers. Church services are eventually stopped indoors, hoping lack of close proximity will quell the plague. Services are held for decimated numbers outside. Yet, Reverend Mompellion prevails in his unflagging belief in God....until tragedy strikes his own household and his own faith is crushed. The novel's ending is very much a surprise. As I earlier indicated, some grow in knowledge, spirit, understanding and generosity. Others do not! Belief systems are shaken but the results are not necessarily negative! Well written; well told; engrossing!
Rating: 
Summary: Piece of Trash not fit for pigs consumption
Review: Oh that I ever set eyes on this book! I am 27 years of age, but I have read many books, from Tolstoy to Dickens, George Eliot, the Brontes, and Austin. This book is the reason why I don't read comtemporary lit. A piece of rubish penned by an author as faithless and shallow as her own character Anys Gowdie. Why are "Gods words so harsh" indeed, Anne Firth...I imagine it is the Christian god you complain of, as every other gutless liberal does,...why? Any idiot can tell you that in Christian doctrine GOD has given people "freewill", if a deity interceded on mortals behalf everytime there was a tragedy you would be a pawn, a puppet, life would be meaningless! DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND MOVE ON!!! Try anything other than this book!!!! Oprah recommended bah!!!! If you see another "O" magazine recommendation know that O stands for Odious!!!!!
If you want to read books written by great women try Eliot, the Brontes, or Austin,...LEAVE THIS BOOK LIE!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful story...truly terrible ending
Review: As I read and continued to read this book, I was all set to give "Year of Wonders" a five star review. I have a pretty extensive knowledge of the English village of Eyam and its factual role in 17th century history. I've researched it extensively, have been to the village, and seen the very places Ms. Brooks uses as the setting of the story. In the ending, I found myself angry that she shortchanged this wonderful story so inexcusably. In reading the author's bio, it is apparent that she has an extensive amount of experience with the Middle East. But Ms. Brooks did the character of Anna Frith a grave injustice by using the epilogue to "force" that aspect of her own life into this story. I didn't even fully read the epilogue once I realized what this author had done, just skimmed to get the final facts. I closed the book's cover shaking my head in disbelief. Anna deserved a much better ending after her year of the Plague and the horrible things she had to endure. Even though I know well the history behind the first 98% of the story, that last chapter stole any credibility the book might have had for me. To be honest, I tucked the receipt which I had been using as a bookmarker at the front so that I will have it when I return the book to the store where I purchased it.
Rating:
Summary: Can't put it down!
Review: It's such a sad story that I almost closed the book and stopped reading after the first 30 pages, because I was getting too depressed... But I just couldn't stop reading it. The author really knows how to keep the suspense. So I kept reading with my heart tight in my chest till the last page. It is a beautiful and inspirational book, that discusses with great depth how a tragedy can reveal the worst and the best in each individual, and how it can also transform people. Many passages appeal to motherly instincts, which touched me deep, and in general the book is full of subtleties more easily understood with a feminine approach. But by recognizing it I will have to agree with my husband's comment that "it's a chick book". Well, maybe it is in a sense, but it's one of a kind and I enthusiastically recommend it to all chicks of all ages.
Rating:
Summary: Well-written but not contextual
Review: The story is well told and overall, the book is hard to put down. But I had to keep reminding myself that this was, theoretically, historical fiction. Nothing about the dialogue and few elements of the description indicate this story is in the 1600s. And I was completely dissatisfied with the story's ending. I would probably try this author again, though - just in case.
Rating:
Summary: HORROR AND BEAUTY, HAND IN HAND
Review: Geraldine Brooks' novel YEAR OF WONDERS is a rich reading experience, one which quickly and easily transports the reader to the time and place of the story - a rural village in England, 1666 - and establishes a wonderfully varied set of characters. It is part historical novel, part mystery, part love story - and has a strong element of the 'coming of age' story about it as well, even though the central character is an adult, has been married, and is a mother. The story's narrator, Anna Frith, is a simple woman - poor, but happily married and ecstatic to be a mother. She works as a serving woman in the house of a wealthy local family, and comes to work in the home of the new minister and his wife as well. She finds a friend in Elinor Mompellion - the rector's wife - that she will cherish for the rest of her life, a friendship that will enrich her and change her life in ways that she could have never imagined. After the death of her husband in a mining accident, Anna takes in a lodger to help her with the few expenses of her life. He is a tailor, and a decent man - she is happy to have found such a tenant. When a bolt of cloth arrives for him from London, however, it carries with it the seeds of a disaster the likes of which Anna and the rest of the villagers could only envision in their worst nightmares of hell - the cloth is infested with fleas, which carry Plague. The disease kills the tailor himself first, then insidiously spreads throughout the village, claiming the lives of over half of its inhabitants by the time it runs its course. The story so well-told in this novel concerns the villagers trials at the hands of this demon - they are gripped by fear and preyed upon by not only their own superstitions and ignorance, but by those in their midst who would profit from their pain and suffering as well. Anna's journey - and the journey of the other villagers - through these trying times make for a very compelling read. There are horrors to be found here, as would be expected, but there are moments of epiphany and great joy as well. Brooks, an experienced journalist who has covered Bosnia, Somalia and the Middle East for The Wall Street Journal, has put the observational skills she has honed in that profession to good work here - even though is it set in another era, human tragedy, suffering and happiness are universal. The faces and the customs might change, but tears and a smile are recognizable anywhere - as are the deeper emotions of the heart and soul, which Geraldine Brooks has so aptly portrayed here. I'll be very interested to read her next foray into fiction - and from the quality I see in her writing, I hope there are many more.
|
