Rating: 
Summary: Do the Dog first
Review: With _Bellwether_, Willis has created something strikingly like _To Say Nothing of the Dog_, one of the funniest compilations of highbrow wit this side of Stoppard and Shakespeare. But _Bellwether_ comes off feeling somewhat inferior: a bit less clever, a bit more oversimplified. While Willis obviously did scads of research regarding the lives of scientists, chaos theory, and fads, her characters are very familiar. For example, as something of a 20-year-old myself, I gritted my teeth through the novel, waiting for a single character between the ages of 15 and 30 to be anything but vapid, vain, and irrationally unfriendly. I don't know what kind of horrid teenage customer service experience Mrs. Willis has had in Greeley, but I resent being defined by association as an i-branded lemming. Through an entire novel crammed with minor-role twentysomethings, nothing but empty-headed lovers of _90210_ and Eddie Vedder ever appear.Still. This is Connie Willis we're talking about. The writing is almost terminally good, and if a bit of the humor seems a touch forced, well, a lot of it isn't. (In one case that I caught, she drops the gratuitous word "corduroy" in a sentence, which, coupled with an observation her main character made 100 pages earlier, makes for a very funny joke; just to make sure you're awake.) If she resorts to gushy sentimentalism, she cordons it off safely to one five-page section of the novel where it doesn't infect the rest of the work. All in all, this is a fine book. But it has its flaws, and when compared to the virtual perfection of _Dog_, it cannot help but suffer by comparison.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting look at humans herd mentality
Review: I really enjoyed reading this book. The fad facts made me laugh, and I actually work for a big corporation that obviously took pointers from Hi-Tech's staff meetings. Ms. Willis' strength is her characters. Satire is very difficult, and not everyone is going to agree with the author's stand, but I find it the most rewarding to read because it makes me think of my own believes and habits. If a books can do that and make me laugh, I'll read it again.
Rating:
Summary: Not SF but still an interesting hybrid
Review: I was well into this book, still waiting for an SF element to kick in, when I finally realized that it wasn't going to happen. What can we call this-- romantic satirical physics fiction? There's a cute little love story, some sharp satire from the world of research science, some nice application of chaos theory and, well, not much else. Ultimately this is fluff, but well written, well informed, and funny fluff.
Rating:
Summary: The Dog Was Awful, Doomsday Was Good, This Was Funny
Review: This is the third Willis Book I've read and I think the key is to know what you're in for before you start the read. When I read To Say Nothing Of The Dog I was expecting science fiction ... what I got was a Victorian romance and slapstick humour ... arg! When I read Doomsday I was expecting science fiction and the black death ... I got the black death ... some satisfation. When I read Bellwether I was expecting humour ... that's exactly what I got! This book was very funny. I actually laughed out loud quite a few times. And, I actually read this book AFTER being turned off of Willis because of 'The Dog'.
Rating: 
Summary: this is stupid
Review: this book is dumb. no one should read it. maybe if you are a nerd.
Rating:
Summary: Well, HEAVEN FORBID!
Review: You know, it really irks me when a wonderful book like Bellwether comes out and all these "well-read" types come out of the woodwork to tell you how awful it was because it wasn't like her other work, didn't turn out how they wanted, maybe wasn't as deep as something else she'd written....Please read it anyway! I loved this book! I have read it many times, loaned it to many friends, bought it for birthdays...you name it! I love the fact that it's not like her other books. I love that Connie Willis can allow herself to branch out. She is a fine author in any incarnation, and just because it doesn't focus on spaceships or aliens or time-travel, doesn't mean it can't be science fiction. You got your science. You got your fiction. Voila! And if nothing else, the ending will make reading the book all worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: Baaaaah.... Baaaaahhhh....
Review: The hero of Bellwether is Sandra, a sociologist for the massive conglomerate company, HiTek. What, exactly, HiTek produces--if anything--is shrouded in mystery (one is almost reminded of "Memoirs found in a Bathtub" by Lem, or perhaps even an upbeat Kafka), but it's abundantly clear it's got it's share of modern problems. Chief among them are paperwork and a catastrophically incompetent, branded, multi-color mohawked, duct tape-wearing, glorified mail clerk named Flip. As the story opens (and progresses, and even ends), Sandra is researching trends--especially WHY they start and, in her mind, why they're usually of little or no significance to humanity: "why doesn't thinking for oneself or being nice for a change ever become a trend?" she wonders (for myself, I finished the book in the food court of the local mall and found myself wondering about the current trends of clunky-heeled shoes, floppy-legged jeans and Mendi bracelets/necklaces). Through a series of random events, the initus being a misdelivered package by the oft-promoted but never competent Flip, she is brought into contact with a chaos theorist who is so UN-trendy that a friendship is immediately formed (note: Dr. Ben is not ANTI-trend, as Sandra quickly points out, like the hippies growing long hair in protest of the short buzzcuts of the 50's, but seems IMMUNE to them). At first, she is merely curious as to why he, of all people, seems so impervious to trends, and then discovers--in a flurry of ridiculous but easily recognized management and social trends--that chaos theory and the sociology of trends are actually much more linked than either of them had originally thought. That is, until Flip looses Dr. Ben's funding form (and, of course, Management believes the claim of the mohawked, duct taped lackey that she never GOT it), and enter the sheep, stage left... As an amateur student of sociology, I personally loved the book and the fun it poked at modern society. However, sometimes Ms. Willis's character's fads DID get a bit out of hand, and the trends in the book seemed TOO trendy. Flip, of course, being a main character SHOULD have the latest trend, like putting swatches of duct tape around a brand of the letter "I" between her eyes and going off on an anti-smoking campaign. However, when EVERYONE starts rolling their eyes, flipping their hair, and sporting swatches of tape just like Flip-and I mean EVERYONE-the book looses some of it's realism. Even within trends, there's got to be room for individual variation (like KAKHI pants that completely cover the wearer's shoes vs. denim). Also, sometimes my reality got in the way of the book. For example, as "Dilbertian" as HiTek may be as a company, and though I know first hand and through the works of Mr. Scott Adams that MOST companies, no matter how big or small, have complete dunderheads making decisions, it took me the longest time to be convinced that Flip--with her appearance alone, to say nothing of her inability to do her work, etc--would ever be EMPLOYED by any large company, let alone PROMOTED... Multiple times. "Bellwether", like Ms. Willis's other works (I especially enjoyed "Doomsday Book" and "Uncharted Territory") is a fine read, desipite the occasional difficulty I had in "willingly suspending disbelief." I recommend it highly. I ESPECIALLY recommend it to anyone who has ever gone to the mall and wondered why on earth people (especially teens who, like sheep, tend to travel in tight herds and follow their own bellwether) feel the need to do what everyone else is doing.
Rating:
Summary: Sheep + Management + Flip = Good Book
Review: A strong book that kept getting better as it progressed. This is the second Connie Willis novel I have read, the first being the Doomsday Book. This book fell a little short of her Hugo & Nebula award winner, but still a very good book. Reading through this book has given me the feeling that she has worked in Corporate America. Here portrayal of management's lack of common sense and inept practices will hit home for any Science/Engineering company employee (see dilbert). I would highly suggest this book for anyone in one of those fields....
Rating:
Summary: My least-favorite Connie Willis novel
Review: This novel is superficially clever, but contains some real turnoffs and bloopers. For instance, she passes on a notorious urban legend as a truth (so much for research, Ms. Willis?) and seems to think that the growing public distaste for smoking is a fad. Not up to her best work.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful speculative fiction
Review: The more Connie Willis I read, the more I like her work. The tone of this book is strongly reminiscent of "To say Nothing of the Dog", so chances are if you liked that one, you'll like this one. Instead of being a time-travel story, however, it is set in contemporary Boulder, Colorado (an ideal environment for any trends researcher such as our main character, I assure you). I really got the feeling while reading this that I was present at a scientific breakthrough. All the disparate events and characters force the story gradually to a satisfying conclusion, while giving the impression that they are stumbling blocks to any progress that might be possible. Just a lovely, lighthearted book -- which may lead you to deep thoughts if you wish, but which can certainly be enjoyed on a more "surface" level.
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