Doomsday Book

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: Connie Willis is one of my favorite authors and this is definitely one of her best.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting idea, but frustrating
Review: As someone interested in both Sci Fi and the cultural affects of the Black Death, I was excited to hear about the existence of this book - especially because it won both the Hugo and Nebula awards. I was surprised to be so disappointed. I've read Connie Willis' book Bellwether as well and while I like that novel better it suffers from the same two problems.

The first problem is that Connie Willis seems to rely on tensions between the protagonist and the "Irritating Others" to drive a lot of the events in the book - people whose only purposes for existence are to throw trivial obstacles in the protagonists' paths. The Irritating Others are 2-dimensional caricatures of annoying people - the Officious Administrator of the competing school who won't let one character into the time travel room; the Overbearing Mother who keeps demanding that her son get special treatment because he's so delicate; the Demanding Americans who are more concerned with their scheduled performance than the crisis going on around them; the Disapproving Stepmother who suspects everyone. These caricatures are not funny but instantly grating, and they appear again and again and again...

Which is very frustrating because of the second problem; the plot just doesn't move forward very quickly. Most of the novel takes place in two locations and progress towards resolution is slow. This is fine if there is an interesting buildup with in-depth character development and interactions, but tedious when the Irritating Others are in those stagnant locations driving the plot with paperwork and scowls.

If you're drawn to the plot ideas of Connie Willis' books, I would recommend Bellwether. Although the Irritating Others exist there as well, they are part of the plot rather than a tool-kit's worth of wrenches in the works.

Rating:
Summary: A truly agonizing read
Review: I really did not enjoy this book. The story itself is passably interesting and could have resulted in a much better result. I think the two things that bothered me the most were the characters and the annoying plot mechanisms used by the author to try to build suspense and tension. With regard to the characters, most of them were either weeping and wailing over their self-created predicaments and misunderstandings, or allowing someone else to walk all over them when it would have been just as easy to speak one word and put a stop to it. While characters of this ilk have a place, this book has nothing but. By far the most annoying thing in this book were the contrived 'crises' that were seemingly designed to increase tension and/or increase the page total. The book is rife with examples of one or another of the aforementioned characters bemoaning the fact that they absolutely MUST speak to another character in order to straighten out some grave misunderstanding or find out some vital piece of information. They try and try, but something always prevents them. They finally (chapters later)get a perfect opportunity and GET DISTRACTED AND MISS IT (and then moan about their loss)! This happens again and again and again (at the hospital, trying to find her entry point, etc). It is as if the author is so enamored with this plot device that she can think of no other. It gets very tiring and frustrating and in at least one instance led me to throw the book across the room. Another annoying plot contrivance is that we have to wade through page after page of the heroine trying to figure out some trivial event when the answer has been made painfully clear. It just makes her look stupid. An example: The little girl is repeatedly(for over two pages) bugging our heroine because she wants to visit her dog's grave at the church. Our heroine keeps saying 'No'. Moments later, the little girl disappears. We have to slog through TEN PAGES of the heroine's frantic searching of the attic, the basement, the stables, etc. before she thinks to look for her at the church! Nothing comes of it, it was apparently just put in to pad the page count. Perhaps this is supposed to induce tension, but after countless episodes of this stupidity it is just annoying. I have lost much respect for the Nebula and Hugo awards because of this book.

Rating:
Summary: Stunning
Review: There's not a lot of SciFi on my reading list, but my dear friend Mamalinda not only recommended this but sent it to me. And I'm so glad she did; otherwise, I would have missed this stunningly beautiful novel.

Kivrin is a young English historian in this novel set some years in the future when time travel is possible. Set to embark upon what is to be a short, tightly controlled visit to 1320 England, something goes terribly wrong and she is sent instead into the year 1348, a time when the Black Plague is ravishing Europe and the British Isles. Sheltering with the family in a minor rural manor, realizing at the same time that something has gone awry and she is not going to find her way to the drop point in time to travel home, Kivrin finds herself bonding with the family, coping with the difficulties of everyday medieval life, and immersing herself in the daily travails of their lives. And then the Plague comes and it falls to Kivrin, a thoroughly modern young woman, to nurse the victims as best she can in primitive conditions, bury them when they die, and try to survive herself. The characters are so beautifully developed that it is impossible not to feel the emotions they are feeling, to rejoice with them, and hurt with them. This period in history is richly and expertly chronicled by the author, right down to the subtle nuances of the still-evolving English language. This is a beautifully written, powerfully moving book to get lost in, to savor, and to think about long after the final chapter is read.

Rating:
Summary: Best time-travel book ever? Quite possibly.
Review: I love this book. I have read it dozens of times, and every time it rips at my heartstrings. So many reviewers have sung its praises that there's almost nothing they haven't already said, but some things bear repeating.

If you are tired of time-travel books where all the characters exhibit contemporary philosophies and politics, this book is for you. If you like a good, gut-wrenching cry every now and then, get your Kleenex ready. If you've ever wondered how a carillon-ringing group works, then by all means dive right in.

The basic plot of the book is fairly simple by fantasy standards. A modern university student is sent through time to the era of the Black Death, while pestilence sweeps her own era. The action switches back and forth between the two time periods. It sounds basic, but the unparalleled character development and unflinching look at the hardships of life in any century make this book truly unforgettable. Connie Willis's characters are flawed, funny, angry, *human* people who will suck you in to their world without apology.

I just cannot praise this book enough. The historical accuracy, gripping plot, and generally outstanding prose make it a must have for any reader, not just a fan of sf/fantasy.

Rating:
Summary: Haunting and lyrical
Review: How do you gauge the success of a book... Try reading it years ago, packing it up in a box, stumbling across it unexpectedly years later, and recalling the haunting beauty of it immediately.

Doomsday is not a standard novel. It does not fit into a standard genre, but it does tell a marvellous story that is moving, thought provoking, and ultimately truly memorable. The medieval people are particularly good - I agree with the reviewer who said that for once these were not 20th century people in fancy dress, but you really got a glimpse of how humans from a different time may have thought. What imagination and what a gift it is to read it!

Not only is this a wonderful book, it improves on rereading. for a few dollars and you get a new way of looking at the world - what more could you ask for...

read and enjoy,

amf

Rating:
Summary: redefining the time-travel sub-genre to make it new again...
Review: I cannot add much to all the other glowing reviews, except to say that I found this book to be completely devastating, which is a rare thing, I think, in such a tired old genre. In fact, I normally would have given it a miss, just from knowing it involved time-travel, but I remembered reading a really good story by Connie Willis called "Jack", a subtle and extra-creepy vampire tale that's unlike any of the usual vampire cliches, and so I gave "Doomsday Book" a chance. And am very glad I did. Ms. Willis is a strong writer, with a great sense of character and place. Not many authors could venture into such well-travelled country and discovered a new vein of gold, but Ms. Willis can and does, consistently. So, even though I am mostly a fan of a whole other kind of SF, I am glad to recommend this touching, humane and very haunting book.

Rating:
Summary: I knoweth naught how I shall bide the toil of this day
Review: I knoweth naught how I shall bide the toil of this day, when I wish nothing more than to goeth hence and seek yon feline and read of Doomsday.

Ah! Mamalinda was charmed and enveloped by this amazing story of time travel into both the future and the past. Truly an amazing and clever "don't set it down" kind of tome. Most of the other reviewers have said pretty well everything, but I felt moved to other worlds. However, this 7 year old book does miss a few things about the future - as in cellphones and e-mail - it was amazing to even imagine our futuristic friends hanging about for a phone call.

Aye, the but the sky to the north drops clean snow. Do not waste yet more time on drudgery, but seek ye solace and comfort with this book and thy hound and/or feline. I would but seek ye Lord of the Manor and bade him some distant toil, and send him thence. Then perchance thou may partake of tales of distance times, mayhap with a warmed jar of libation and a cheery hearth.

Rating:
Summary: Connie Willis' best work yet
Review: I've read Doomsday Book so many times I've lost count, but I still love it. This is by far the most cinematic of Willis' works, but it seemed that she put a lot more work into the characters in the past. The sisters--Rosemund and Agnes--were my favorites. Yes, Rosemund was constantly in a bad mood, but who can blame her? How would any young girl react if they were betrothed to someone like Sir Bloet. Agnes, though, stole my heart. She was such a spirited little girl (I did feel sorry for Blackie, the puppy).... What I liked best, though, was when Kivrin first arrived in the past. The sections written in Old English are fun to try to decipher. Do yourself a favor and read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Very Moving And Human Reconstruction Of The Past
Review: This blend of fantasy, science and historical fiction, unlike so many other attempts, is entirely successful, in large part due to the author's writing skills and ability to create believable characters and circumstances both in the future and in the past. Replete with some of the most memorable characters and moving interactions I have experienced in any genre, Ms. Willis invests her protagonists with a humanity and realism unparalleled by any other genre author I can recall reading. Criticism that some of the characters are flatly rendered is preposterous, Ms. Willis' characterizations even with the secondary characters rising far above the typical protagonists encountered in most fantasy and science fiction. And, as other reviewers have commented, the final scenes with Father Roche, Agnes and Rosemund should stir the emotions of even the most cynical, nor have I ever encountered children more realistically and poignantly portrayed.

The author has invested this tale with a great amount of historical detail and realism, bringing the period of 1348 England back to life in a way that should satisfy even the most fastidious historical scholar. And, as others have noted, there is an element of humor running throughout the narrative that alleviates some of the grim circumstances being recounted, offering a balance to what essentially is a tragedy leaving the central participants forever changed . Even more astonishing is the author's ability to interweave both the tragic and comic elements without their ever seeming forced or overtly contrived. She avoids both the farcical as well as the melodramatic, making the events she narrates and the characters she creates utterly believable.

It is a shame that a recent work such as Michael Crichton's "Timeline," with it's obvious borrowings from this book, should have garnered by comparison such a wide readership, while "The Doomsday Book" remains relatively ignored except for devotees of fantasy and science fiction. While perhaps lacking the rousing action that typifies much of the common currency of these genres, the author's skill of writing and the humanity in which she invests her tale elevates this work well beyond the ordinary tale encountered in any genre. It is a memorable work that easily stands alone, and I would strongly recommend it to anyone, regardless of his or her taste in fiction.