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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
This book could probably be a shorter story and be just as good or better, it almost has too much frustrating communication failures and people groping around desperately (even for me), but it is good story.
A solid read but suffered from Willis’ tendency to dive into too much detail, pepper the dialogue with irrelevant asides, and introduce a kind of frenetic energy that can be tiring rather than exciting; that all said, it was fun in many ways.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
DNF. I just can't, guys. The story idea behind this book is great. I love it. I'd love to read it. But I just can't slog through this. I just didn't care. Things meandered on at such a slow place, I found myself skipping ahead for ANYTHING interesting. Bah.
This is a definate positive recommendation if you enjoy time travel, historical fiction and melodrama. I enjoyed 90% of this book but did find some aspects over the top. The general story is very well crafed, from beginning to end. I think it could have been shortened though. It is a long book and some sub-lines just won’t move forward - to the point I was audibly growning when one character saod for the umpteenth time, “Something went wrong.....” before he collapsed or passed out or was interupted and could not finish the sentence and tell the reader WHAT went wrong. There were times I wanted to shake the author or the character and tell them to stop, or move on, or get over it already - but I was hooked on the story so let t go. Ultimately I am glad I did, but if annoying characters drive you crazy be forwarned - there are a few here, whose behaviors are over the top and beyond realistic. That said, the story is compelling and the descriptions of the plague experience worth the read.
The book was written in 1992 and won major Scifi awards. I found it very interesting to see what she anticipated as the technocological advances of the mid 21st century when the book is set. Interestingly, other than the time travel machine not much. I got a chuckle as many plot developments involved making phone calls. She created video phones, but all land lines and not in great working order - she even had trunk or long distance calls as a big deal. This book is mild on future world building but plot and historical world building are fantastic.
The book was written in 1992 and won major Scifi awards. I found it very interesting to see what she anticipated as the technocological advances of the mid 21st century when the book is set. Interestingly, other than the time travel machine not much. I got a chuckle as many plot developments involved making phone calls. She created video phones, but all land lines and not in great working order - she even had trunk or long distance calls as a big deal. This book is mild on future world building but plot and historical world building are fantastic.
This is hard to rate. There were times I considered not picking it up again then would give it one last shot and find myself reading longer than I planned. It is sad, heartbreaking and yes as others have said often repetitive. But there was just something about the main characters that drew me in.
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Very long, and almost more of a story of dealing with pandemics (influenza in modern times, plague in middle ages). It dragged a little at some points, but was still very good.
This is really a 3.5 for me. I might change my mind and push it up to a 4 later, but I'm not sure just yet.
Reviewing your teachers is just the worst. Okay. In a lot of ways, this reminded me of reading Passage (also by Connie Willis), in that I pretty seriously wanted to edit it. Not as badly as Passage, but still. Based on these two books, Connie Willis seems to prefer to build tension by having all of her characters run around, failing to find people. Which is not a completely ineffective strategy and clearly for many readers it worked. For me, though, it just happens too much. I can only read Person A failing to locate Person B or get Person C on the telephone, or Person B failing to find Person C or get Person D to pay attention to what he's saying and give him the information he needs for so long before the tension fades into tedium. I really feel like about 100 pages could be shaved from this book just by editing this aspect alone, and it is without a doubt my biggest problem with the novel.
(Also, I only wanted ONE THING not to happen. ONE THING. And of course it did. This isn't an actual problem with the novel, mind you, just a frustration. Damn you, Connie Willis.)
On the other hand, a lot of this story is very well done. I love the ending, the whole last 100 pages, really, even if I wished the ending had come much, much sooner. Some things are very carefully setup and pay off well. Others are nicely averted. Mr. Dunworthy does occasionally get on my nerves, particularly in the beginning (everyone has priority issues in this book), but he is generally likable. I didn't love Kivrin immediately either, but I grew to like her a good deal and I did really love the journey she goes through. It's not exactly an upper, this book, but it's also not cheap when it kicks you in the balls. Thematically, I enjoyed the story. Emotionally, it worked for me as well.
But I had to push HARD to get through to those last 100 pages, and I'm not convinced it needed to be that hard.
Reviewing your teachers is just the worst. Okay. In a lot of ways, this reminded me of reading Passage (also by Connie Willis), in that I pretty seriously wanted to edit it. Not as badly as Passage, but still. Based on these two books, Connie Willis seems to prefer to build tension by having all of her characters run around, failing to find people. Which is not a completely ineffective strategy and clearly for many readers it worked. For me, though, it just happens too much. I can only read Person A failing to locate Person B or get Person C on the telephone, or Person B failing to find Person C or get Person D to pay attention to what he's saying and give him the information he needs for so long before the tension fades into tedium. I really feel like about 100 pages could be shaved from this book just by editing this aspect alone, and it is without a doubt my biggest problem with the novel.
(Also, I only wanted ONE THING not to happen. ONE THING. And of course it did. This isn't an actual problem with the novel, mind you, just a frustration. Damn you, Connie Willis.)
On the other hand, a lot of this story is very well done. I love the ending, the whole last 100 pages, really, even if I wished the ending had come much, much sooner. Some things are very carefully setup and pay off well. Others are nicely averted. Mr. Dunworthy does occasionally get on my nerves, particularly in the beginning (everyone has priority issues in this book), but he is generally likable. I didn't love Kivrin immediately either, but I grew to like her a good deal and I did really love the journey she goes through. It's not exactly an upper, this book, but it's also not cheap when it kicks you in the balls. Thematically, I enjoyed the story. Emotionally, it worked for me as well.
But I had to push HARD to get through to those last 100 pages, and I'm not convinced it needed to be that hard.
adventurous
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced