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A review by isabellarobinson7
To say nothing of the dog by Connie Willis
5.0
Rating: 5 stars
To be completely frank, I didn't think To Say Nothing of the Dog would be amazing. I thought it would be good, I thought it would be entertaining at the least, but I didn't think it would quite reach the highs Doomsday Book got to. Thank goodness I am not one of those people that gets salty when they are proven wrong, because I could never have been more wrong! Because oh my giddy aunt, To Say Nothing of the Dog was incredible! (I figured I had to throw a Victorian saying in there somewhere given where (and when) this book is set.)
But the thing is, I probably had no reason to believe that To Say Nothing of the Dog wouldn't be as good as Doomsday. I got a comment on my Doomsday Book review from one of the readers on here I trust the most saying: "I have it on good authority that 'To say nothing of the dog' is equally as good. Lucky you ;)" so I shouldn't have assumed anything else. (JOHN, IF YOU ARE THERE, I WILL NEVER QUESTION YOU AGAIN.)
(Ok, now I'm going to go though and try to merge my notes together into some kind of cohesive review... key word: try)
I think this sentence alone sums up my enjoyment of this book: dammit why did I read so quick. (Yeah, I could fix the grammar, but I think the way it is more so depicts my raw reaction.) I just love being in this world, and spending three days in it is not enough for me.
Something that did bug me is that unlike Doomsday, To Say Nothing of the Dog started each chapter with a whole bunch of "key words" almost about what will happen in the chapter. An example:
A Search Party – Wartime Headgear – The Problem of Nepotism – Royal Headgear – The Bishop’s Bird Stump Is Missing – Jumble Sales – A Clue to Its Whereabouts – Astronomical Observations – Dogs – A Cat – Man’s Best Friend – An Abrupt Departure
It kind of reminded me of how each part is introduced in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, but in that book there is only 10 parts (plus a prologue and epilogue) instead of the 28 chapters this book has, and since I was listening to the audio for To Say Nothing of the Dog, I couldn't skim over them (nor have the option to skip them entirely).
Speaking of the audio, there was different narrator from Doomsday Book (because Doomsday was from a female POV and this one a male, so I understand) but Mr. Dunworthy’s voice was strange. Fortunately, (or unfortunately) there wasn't as much Dunworthy in To Say Nothing of the Dog as it was a single POV story (Ned). This was good because I didn't have to listen to the un-Dunworthy voice, but also sad because I love James Dunworthy, but it's ok because he turns up in all the books so yay!
Ok just a couple more little niggly things before I get to the gushing: There is talk of a soccer field. A soccer field. In England. And it is called as such not once, but twice. Willis is showing a little bit of her American-ness. And the other is the séance stuff, even though it is all fake and used by the time travellers. I just don’t like spirit stuff in any story, don't ask why.
Now back to the praising, and we will start off with something rather unexpected: the romance. There was more of a focus on romance in this book than in Doomsday and… for a change… I actually enjoyed it! Like, not just suffered through it, actually liked it! Was cheering for the couple! Usually when it comes to romance in books I spoil myself for it so I don't have to devote that much brain power to that part of the story, but in To Say Nothing of the Dog, I didn't ever feel the urge to do so! I know! Who am I?!
As the title promised, there were dogs!! I love dogs. (How appropriate; my dog just came in to sit beside me as I type this.) There’s this guy who talks about his dog and you would think that he was talking about his wife! Just listen to this: “You’d help if you could, wouldn’t you, boy?” I said. “It’s no wonder they call you man’s best friend. Faithful and loyal and true, you share in our sorrows and rejoice with us in our triumphs, the truest friend we ever have known, a better friend than we deserve. You have thrown in your lot with us, through thick and thin, on battlefield and hearthrug, refusing to leave your master even when death and destruction lie all around. 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—” (And then he is interrupted. How rude.) The main dog in the story is Cyril the bulldog who is the best. This is coming from someone who is usually a medium-large dog person (i.e. Labradors, Huskies, Newfoundlands, German Shepards, Border Collies, Huntaways) and even to me Cyril was awesome. But there is also quite a bit of cat stuff and, maybe this is just inherited from my dad, I did not enjoy that nearly as much as the dogs. I will say, though, Connie Willis did an expert job depicting this cat. I 1000% believe that cat was real.
In Doomsday Book (I know I keep referring to it, but I can’t help it) there wasn't much focus on the “mucking up history” aspect often included time travel novels (I talked about it in depth in my review of that book), but To Say Nothing of the Dog actually delves into it a bit. It kind of felt like Willis was going back to the roots of the (sub)genre, and dealing with the classic oh-no-I-altered-the-time-stream conundrum.
Another difference is that Ned is mostly… hopeless. He is confused and doesn’t really know much about the time period he is in. Unlike Kivrin, who thoroughly researched the Middle Ages before she went, and discovered once she got there she had probably studied too much. Ned is not dumb, per se. He knows a lot about 20th century history, but when it comes to the 1800's he is a bumbling fool being dragged along by Verity, worrying if he's doing the correct thing every five minutes. It made for a much more amusing read than Doomsday, which was a little doom and gloom in the end. All the Sherlock Holmes and Poirot quotes (perfectly applied, I might add) in To Say Nothing of the Dog also probably helped with that.
I will end this by saying that I think I do prefer Doomsday Book a liiiiiiittle bit more than To Say Nothing of the Dog, but only because I generally enjoyed the time period traveled to in Doomsday more so than the Victorian England where To Say Nothing of the Dog is set. But only because of that. I can't really separate them in any other way (oh, well, maybe Doomsday also gets more points for more Dunworthy). I would recommend them both equally. Just read them!
To be completely frank, I didn't think To Say Nothing of the Dog would be amazing. I thought it would be good, I thought it would be entertaining at the least, but I didn't think it would quite reach the highs Doomsday Book got to. Thank goodness I am not one of those people that gets salty when they are proven wrong, because I could never have been more wrong! Because oh my giddy aunt, To Say Nothing of the Dog was incredible! (I figured I had to throw a Victorian saying in there somewhere given where (and when) this book is set.)
But the thing is, I probably had no reason to believe that To Say Nothing of the Dog wouldn't be as good as Doomsday. I got a comment on my Doomsday Book review from one of the readers on here I trust the most saying: "I have it on good authority that 'To say nothing of the dog' is equally as good. Lucky you ;)" so I shouldn't have assumed anything else. (JOHN, IF YOU ARE THERE, I WILL NEVER QUESTION YOU AGAIN.)
(Ok, now I'm going to go though and try to merge my notes together into some kind of cohesive review... key word: try)
I think this sentence alone sums up my enjoyment of this book: dammit why did I read so quick. (Yeah, I could fix the grammar, but I think the way it is more so depicts my raw reaction.) I just love being in this world, and spending three days in it is not enough for me.
Something that did bug me is that unlike Doomsday, To Say Nothing of the Dog started each chapter with a whole bunch of "key words" almost about what will happen in the chapter. An example:
A Search Party – Wartime Headgear – The Problem of Nepotism – Royal Headgear – The Bishop’s Bird Stump Is Missing – Jumble Sales – A Clue to Its Whereabouts – Astronomical Observations – Dogs – A Cat – Man’s Best Friend – An Abrupt Departure
It kind of reminded me of how each part is introduced in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, but in that book there is only 10 parts (plus a prologue and epilogue) instead of the 28 chapters this book has, and since I was listening to the audio for To Say Nothing of the Dog, I couldn't skim over them (nor have the option to skip them entirely).
Speaking of the audio, there was different narrator from Doomsday Book (because Doomsday was from a female POV and this one a male, so I understand) but Mr. Dunworthy’s voice was strange. Fortunately, (or unfortunately) there wasn't as much Dunworthy in To Say Nothing of the Dog as it was a single POV story (Ned). This was good because I didn't have to listen to the un-Dunworthy voice, but also sad because I love James Dunworthy, but it's ok because he turns up in all the books so yay!
Ok just a couple more little niggly things before I get to the gushing: There is talk of a soccer field. A soccer field. In England. And it is called as such not once, but twice. Willis is showing a little bit of her American-ness. And the other is the séance stuff, even though it is all fake and used by the time travellers. I just don’t like spirit stuff in any story, don't ask why.
Now back to the praising, and we will start off with something rather unexpected: the romance. There was more of a focus on romance in this book than in Doomsday and… for a change… I actually enjoyed it! Like, not just suffered through it, actually liked it! Was cheering for the couple! Usually when it comes to romance in books I spoil myself for it so I don't have to devote that much brain power to that part of the story, but in To Say Nothing of the Dog, I didn't ever feel the urge to do so! I know! Who am I?!
As the title promised, there were dogs!! I love dogs. (How appropriate; my dog just came in to sit beside me as I type this.) There’s this guy who talks about his dog and you would think that he was talking about his wife! Just listen to this: “You’d help if you could, wouldn’t you, boy?” I said. “It’s no wonder they call you man’s best friend. Faithful and loyal and true, you share in our sorrows and rejoice with us in our triumphs, the truest friend we ever have known, a better friend than we deserve. You have thrown in your lot with us, through thick and thin, on battlefield and hearthrug, refusing to leave your master even when death and destruction lie all around. 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—” (And then he is interrupted. How rude.) The main dog in the story is Cyril the bulldog who is the best. This is coming from someone who is usually a medium-large dog person (i.e. Labradors, Huskies, Newfoundlands, German Shepards, Border Collies, Huntaways) and even to me Cyril was awesome. But there is also quite a bit of cat stuff and, maybe this is just inherited from my dad, I did not enjoy that nearly as much as the dogs. I will say, though, Connie Willis did an expert job depicting this cat. I 1000% believe that cat was real.
In Doomsday Book (I know I keep referring to it, but I can’t help it) there wasn't much focus on the “mucking up history” aspect often included time travel novels (I talked about it in depth in my review of that book), but To Say Nothing of the Dog actually delves into it a bit. It kind of felt like Willis was going back to the roots of the (sub)genre, and dealing with the classic oh-no-I-altered-the-time-stream conundrum.
Another difference is that Ned is mostly… hopeless. He is confused and doesn’t really know much about the time period he is in. Unlike Kivrin, who thoroughly researched the Middle Ages before she went, and discovered once she got there she had probably studied too much. Ned is not dumb, per se. He knows a lot about 20th century history, but when it comes to the 1800's he is a bumbling fool being dragged along by Verity, worrying if he's doing the correct thing every five minutes. It made for a much more amusing read than Doomsday, which was a little doom and gloom in the end. All the Sherlock Holmes and Poirot quotes (perfectly applied, I might add) in To Say Nothing of the Dog also probably helped with that.
I will end this by saying that I think I do prefer Doomsday Book a liiiiiiittle bit more than To Say Nothing of the Dog, but only because I generally enjoyed the time period traveled to in Doomsday more so than the Victorian England where To Say Nothing of the Dog is set. But only because of that. I can't really separate them in any other way (oh, well, maybe Doomsday also gets more points for more Dunworthy). I would recommend them both equally. Just read them!