To Say Nothing of the Dog

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Summary: I adore this book!
Review: As there are already over 100 reviews for this book, I'm writing this more for myself than for other people. This review is just an outlet of my love of this book. It's funny, it's romantic, it's sci-fi, and best of all, it's cohesive.

Connie Willis deftly ties together three and a half different stories. 1) Ned Henry's desperate attempts to fix a potentially disaterous cat-napping by fellow historian Verity Kindle, while simultaneously taking a vacation in Victorian England to rest up from time-lag. 2) Ned and Verity's growing romance, Tossie and Terence's flowering Victorian romance-like thing, Tossie and Mysterious Mr. C's supposed romance, and Warder and Carruther's truly unexpected romance. 3) Lady Schrapnell's rebuilding of Coventry Cathedral. 3 1/2) Poor undergraduate T.J. Lewis' attempts to teach himself advanced net and continuum theory in order to stop the net from failing and the continuum from disolving into one big mess, while not sleeping.

I know of no other author who could have written a book that not only ties all of these stories together so that they're dependant on each other while making it so funny that I ended up laughing out loud on a bus. You have no excuse not to read this book!

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Summary: Hugo Winner In Sci-fi But Also A Romance & Satire
Review: Connie Willis managed to combine several books into one without making it the size of the Bible. In fact, it is a normal size paperback where she rolls together a time-travel tale from the future back to Victorian England, with a romance, and one heck of a comedy. It all works and it must have taken an enormous amount of skill to combine all of these elements flawlessly. The only person she topped in the time-travel subgenre was herself. Some years before she had written "The Doomsday Book" where she sent the main woman character back to the middle ages during the plague. That didn't have the humor of this book but it was a real nailbiter as one character after another came down with the plague. I am not a fan of time-travel novels and it takes a lot to get me to read one but here you find a master at work within that subgenre. Accept no imitations; Willis is "the one."

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Summary: This book is a "HOOT" and a damned good read!
Review: Having an almost unnatural attraction to novels set in the Victorian era; I was a lock to purchase Mrs. Willis's book. When I realized it was also a "Time Travel" Novel, I was in heaven! Starting to read a book with such high expectations is usually a disaster. Most likely I am disappointed and I quit long before I am half way finished. Not only did I speed through "To Say Nothing of the Dog" I have read it many times.

Not only is the story "clean" (as in: not muddled or fuzzy) but hilarious and yet engrossing. The story has a great pace and a sense of urgency which is balanced well by the laid back attitude of the era. However, the reason I continue to reread this book is the author's ability to immerse me in the story. I can smell the "dog," feel the rocking of the boat, hear the train whistle, and taste the tea and biscuits. And, the characters? Well I will not spoil anyone's read but if you enjoy British humor at all, YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK! This tale also explores some interesting Time Travel ideas and an intriguing view of the complications of messing about in the past.

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Summary: Willis demonstrates her flair with humor
Review: This is, paradoxically, a book you will both want to take around everywhere you go so that you can read it in one go, and a book that you don't want to take out in public. That is, unless you don't mind people looking at you oddly when you start cackling at the frequent hilarious bits sprinkled about in these pages. Even though it's a light read, it's deeply satisfying.

Ned's been sent back to the past, hopping through jumble sales to look for a hideous artifact that he must bring back to the 21st century. Now he has a time-lag (think jetlag, only twenty times worse) that makes him say thinks like, "Ah, noble dog, you are the furry mirror in which we see our better selves reflected, man as he could be, unstained by war or ambition, unspoilt by--"

The solution: send him back to the Victorian era to kick back and get some rest. After all, he'll fit right in. But instead of getting a chance to relax, he finds himself getting entangled in romance, the possibility of human history changing drastically, and worst of all, *more* jumble sales (O horrors!).

There to help him (and tell him which fork to use) is a fellow time-traveler, Verity. With one cat, one bishop's bird stump, and the spirit of Lady Godiva, they may have a chance of saving the 21st century as they know it. To say nothing of the dog.

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Summary: Mystery, comedy and time-travel
Review: It isn't often that I read a book for the first time and it instantly becomes one of my favorites. "To Say Nothing of the Dog" did that, though. I love this novel!

Connie Willis flawlessly combines so many elements in this book: It's part mystery novel, part sci-fi, part time-travel drama, part Victorian romance, part comedy. The characters and situations are extremely funny, but at the same time, there is a deep and serious plot going on.

Ned Henry goes back to the Victorian era to get some rest -- he is time-lagged from going back and forth from 2057 to 1940 to locate an ugly piece of Victorian art. But, he also has an important mission to complete in 1888. Verity Kindle, a fellow time-traveler, inadvertently brought something back from the past. Ned and Verity must put things right before the course of history is changed and the space-time continuum breaks down. Ms. Willis portrays the worlds of 2057, 1940 and 1888 with equal ease and vivid descriptions.

There is mystery (Why was Verity able to bring what she did through the time-travel apparatus? What was it? How does it relate to the Bishop's Bird Stump? What is the Bishop's Bird Stump and why is it important?). There is science fiction (More about the "net" and how it works than in Doomsday Book). And, there is comedy. Ms. Willis' witty characterizations are reminiscent of Oscar Wilde or Jane Austen (Tossie is Cecily from The Importance of Being Earnest. Colonel and Mrs. Mering are Mr. and Mrs. Bennett from Pride and Prejudice.) Ned is hysterical as he struggles through an era he knows nothing about.

Fans of Doomsday Book will enjoy the return of Dunworthy and Finch. But, in my opinion, To Say Nothing of the Dog is much better than Doomsday Book.

I couldn't put this book down, and I was extremely satisfied with the ending. All the mysteries are solved and the facts are presented -- but a twist at the end leaves a new mystery unsolved. A fantastic book! I hope for more time-travel novels from Connie Willis.

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Summary: A Superbly British Comedy with a Time Travel Twist
Review: First of all, this book is only just barely science fiction, but within a chapter or two, you won't care HOW the characters manage to travel in time, as long as they continue to do so.

Secondly, if you want to make it past Chapter One, you have to give up all effort to make sense out of the narrator. He is suffering from extreme "time lag," symptoms of which include auditory and visual disorientation, as well as a tendency to lapse into flowery prose. He doesn't know where the Bishop's Bird Stump is, and you don't know WHAT it is. So forget about it. You're not going to find out what it is until halfway through the novel, and even then, you won't guess WHERE it is.

Just give up trying to figure everything out, lay back, and enjoy the relaxing trip down the Thames, with Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog.) Soon enough you will be completely caught up in this tale of cats (drowned or not?), seances, butlers, penwipers, jumble sales, and antimacassars (I had to look that one up.) By the time Ned recovers his senses, you will be hooked.

I will certainly read this book over and over in the years to come, which is more than I can say for The Doomesday Book, which, while also brilliant, was too sad to be repeated.

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Summary: Terrific Read
Review: I got four Sci-Fi books for Christmas this year and read them all before New Years. This was easily the best of the lot. A terrific blend of comedy, detective novel, and time travel twister. I couldn't putit down

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Summary: Original, Funny and Delightful
Review: What a wonderful book! An intricate story of time travel, Ned Henry goes back to Victorian England to help prevent a possible "incongruity" when fellow time traveller Verity Kindle rescues a cat from certain (?) drowning. Dozens of characters, multiple story lines and an extremely well thought out plot highlight the book. The humor is laugh out loud funny and the writing is crisp. I recommend this book highly. It would definitely be on my "ten best" list.

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Summary: Humorous, colorful and immensely entertaining!
Review: This was another immensely entertaining and satisfying novel from Connie Willis. It was humorous and filled with colorful characters; Cyril the dog is one of the best nonhuman characters in recent literature. Willis doesn't bog us down with the physics of time travel; she asks us to believe the possibility and proceeds with a charming mystery/romance set in both the future and in Victorian times. As in her previous novel, The Doomsday Book, the strength of the novel is in her detailed imagining of the past. The tone is light and it doesn't quite pack the emotional punch of her grim previous novel, however, it is very well written and cleverly plotted. The last fifty pages will leave your head spinning as you work out the possibilities. Another memorable novel, I highly recommend it.

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Summary: Capsized
Review: "God is in the details," Lady Schrapnell informs the exasperated time travel staff of a futuristic Oxford. Lady Schrapnell, a shrew in the tradition of the infamous Kate, had her life, to everyone's utter dismay, altered after the reading of her great, great etc. grandmother's journal. In the diary, Tossie, a young woman of the Victorian era, describes having her life changed forever after a visit to Coventry Cathedral and seeing what became known as the Bishop's Bird Stump-a Victorian artistic monstrosity. Ned Henry, our protagonist and a historian/time traveller for Oxford, finds himself severely time-lagged after a series of failed attempts to locate the Bishop's Bird Stump. Ned is sent back to the Victorian era to recuperate and to help solve a disaster after a beautiful fellow time traveller, Verity Kindle, causes an incongruity by bringing an historic object forward through the net. As Ned and Verity try to correct the situation, they struggle with Lady Schrapnell's frustrating and hysterical ancestors and the saccharine environment of the Victorian period in Englad. To Say Nothing of the Dog is exceptionally witty with vivid characters and excellent commentary on Victorian lifestyle. References to the works of Jerome K. Jerome and Dorothy Sayers are added bonuses. ;)