Rating: 
Summary: So entirely cool that it is beyond cool
Review: OK, so the title sounds really blonde, but I think that this is one of the best books I've ever read. I had an entirely different view of the Confederacy after I read the book. And it led me to do a project on Robert E. Lee (on which I got a very good grade).
Rating: 
Summary: Not Bloody Likely
Review: Perhaps it was because I was going through a "logic/realism" period in my life when I read this book, but the idea that the main female character, Annie, was having Robert E. Lee's dreams so that he could get some rest beyond the grave seemed a bit silly.
Don't get me wrong, I love most of Connie Willis' writing. I love that her writing style is so recognisable. She throws you into this world with barely an explanation, so it feels like you've entered halfway through a story, until you realize that there's still more than you expected. But the jump from "Annie's having vivid dreams from the perspective of Robert E. Lee" to "She must be having them because he can't rest in the afterlife" seems a bit stretched. Call me cynical. Maybe I missed something, but it's questionable.
Rating: 
Summary: A beautifully crafted story
Review: Science fiction fans should be familiar with Connie Willis, whose plague-era Doomsday Book achieved best-seller status a couple years ago. They should not overlook this remarkable short novel, in which a Civil War researcher encounters a young woman whose dreams mirror, day by day, events in the life of Robert E. Lee. A suspenseful road trip through Civil War battlegrounds ensues as the researcher attempts to find the cause of the dreams and disconnect the woman's life from Lee's before Lee expires, or the woman endures Lee's most heartbreaking battlefield losses.Willis writes a compelling and convincing story here, and--as in the best of her short fiction--all the events lead up to one powerful wallop that leaves you with an unexpected feeling of inevitable completion and emotional release. If the last line doesn't bring a tear to your eye, see a cardiologist--you obviously don't have a heart.
Rating: 
Summary: Haunting & Memorable, but too strange for me.
Review: That pretty much says it all except it feels more like a ghost or reincarnation story then science fiction. Actually it's most like those stories about a woman ,it's usually a woman I don't know why, being haunted or possessed by the past. Also it should be called Lee's Dreams the title's either misleading or I missed something. It's a good example of a ghost storystyle theme I just don't generally like that theme.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting, Dreamlike Quality
Review: This book is a perennial favorite, especially as my father is a Civil War buff, so I grew up hearing the facts and stories. I love it when the main character, Jeff, refuses a job studying the long-term effects of the Vietnam War because we haven't properly studied the long-term effects of the Civil War. Too true. And I agree with a previous reviewer that it has an incredible last line (However, I still think the last line of The Great Gatsby is the best ever.)
Rating:
Summary: An engaging mystery and history lesson.
Review: This is the first novel by Connie Willis that I have read, although I greatly enjoyed her short fiction read many years ago. Having now read and been intrigued by this, her first novel, I will move on to the others. Willis is a master story-teller. In Lincoln's Dreams Willis gives us a small cast of characters, some living and some long dead who are woven into a web of questions that emerge from the disturbing dreams of a vulnerable young woman. She is convinced that she is having the dreams of General Robert E. Lee. A young researcher who works for a writer of American historical fiction is attracted to her. He proceeds to do everything in his power to keep her safely out of the clutches of a colleague with questionable motives for trying to rid her of the dreams. Civil War events and present events twine together as the two travel from battlefield to battlefield, all graveyards containing the unknown thousands who died in that war. The characters are engaging. The story provides a little Civil War history. However, it is the exploration of dreams and relationships that makes the book interesting. This is not science fiction in the traditional sense, but it certainly challenges the reader to consider the power of relationships and commitments that cannot be defined or contained easily. A plot twist at the end brings the story to a satisfying and tantalizing, though somewhat melancholy close. All in all a quick and good read.
Rating:
Summary: A small novel about very weighty things
Review: This isn't a book to read if you can't read books that explore melancholy, depression, or death in a sensitive yet unflinching way. Sometimes you need a catharsis, and I find that by the end of this beautiful little book, I'm always crying. It explores some tough themes that would later be further explored in the same author's book _Passage_, also a very difficult yet fufilling read.
Rating:
Summary: Super Read
Review: This novel is, like all of Connie Willis's work, excellent. The character development goes above and beyond the Sci-Fi norm. Like all Connie's books I have found myslelf in discussions about the details/theories with fellow readers for months after reading the book, which is very rare with any genre, much less the same writer. I am very impressed with the attention to detail in this book, the research and subsequently the facts were excellent. I believe the thing that impresses me the most about the writing here is the small unpredictable details in the book. When you read this novel look for the minor details(this is what makes this book really stand out). If you are not an avid Sci-Fi fan do not be turned away by the "Sci-Fi" label, this book is not what you would consider a "normal Sci-Fi novel"(nor is any of Willis's work).
Rating:
Summary: Not a traditional science fiction book, but wonderful
Review: Willis explores many themes in this novel. Can a contemporary character dream the dreams of a historical character? Can the life of this contemporary character parallel the life of a person who lived over 100 years ago (or his daughter, or his horse)? Are we doomed to repeat the past? Or, by connecting to the past, do we connect with the meaning that we need to live?
A heartbreaking and wonderful first novel.
Rating:
Summary: Read Between the Lines
Review: Yes, this was Connie Willis' first book and though it could have been improved, she shows in this writing great things yet to come in her next novels. At first, I did not "get" this book. I thought it had little characterization and had a poorly developed plot. I wanted to yell, "so what!" But then! I discovered it is not about the dreams of Annie and her life, it is about the life of Robert E. Lee and his dreams. Re-reading it, I discovered that the characterization of him and those around him are fully fleshed out, the Civil War told in extreme accuracy. This is what the book is about. His dreams are tied into the present day dreams of Annie who is somewhat linked to Lee's daughter, Annie, and then the whole scenario is linked then Lincoln himself. Confusing? Maybe, but good reading. Complicated time travel, if you want to call it that, but a pleasurable book and the ending gives it a really Twilight Zonish feel.
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