Comments on things mean a lot: Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

I loved this book! Looks like your cover is a lot...

2010-09-10T11:04:15.240+01:00

I loved this book! Looks like your cover is a lot nicer looking than mine!

I linked this post over at Kate's Library as part of my Friday Five.

I loved this novel, and I had very mixed feelings ...

2010-09-03T16:33:20.717+01:00

I loved this novel, and I had very mixed feelings about the ending. It intrigued me, but as others have said, it didn't quite seem to fit.

I loved this book, except for that pesky ending, w...

2010-09-03T14:02:05.690+01:00

I loved this book, except for that pesky ending, which just didn't seem to fit at all!

Yes WWI is exactly what I was thinking of too. Whe...

2010-09-03T07:33:07.059+01:00

Yes WWI is exactly what I was thinking of too. Whenever I see a program that traces a major shift in womens lot back to that event I'm initially unthinkingly going 'yay' then straight after 'oh, oh no that does not make me feel good about myself'.

Iliana: She did capture the time period very well,...

2010-09-02T20:48:41.174+01:00

Iliana: She did capture the time period very well, and I loved the writing for the most part. If only I could change the ending :P

raych: Yep, exactly. Which... did not work.

Alyce: Yes, I agree. If I ever read it again I'm going to stop 50 pages from the ending :P

Mumsy: lol - bookish equations have a way of defying conventional maths :P

Stu: It's funny how you and Simon feel the same way for the same reason! I'd love to go to Eyam sometime.

Emily: I'd say it's still worth reading for the first 3/4s. You can always pretend it ends differently in your head, which is what I think I'll do :P

Emidy: Yes, I'm still glad I read it. She did bring the time period to life brilliantly.

Elisabeth: I had no idea! I can see how it'd be a bit too grim for a moment like that.

Trisha: Though March also seems to divide opinions to some extent, I'd suggest starting there.

Andi: Hopefully in a few years I'll have forgotten it myself, and will be able to remember the book more fondly ;)

Jeanne: You and Andi make me curious about how I'll feel about it in a few years!

Stephanie: It is a fascinating period! If you have any recommendations of other plague books, I'd absolutely love to hear them.

Chris: It makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Chris: It is sad, but I loved the first three quarters exactly because it dealt with all that emotion with subtlety, you know? And then suddenly everyone goes nuts :P But yeah, do read it anyway, Chris. I'm not sure if you remember this, but Dewey really loved this one, and she didn't even dislike the ending (I re-read her review on GR after I finished it, and she said it was surprising, but she didn't mind it. I miss her.)

Violet: Yes, probably expecting something... unusual will help some :P

Teresa: I'll get to her others at some point - despite my issues with this one, there's a lot about her writing that I like.

Debi: Definitely do read it anyway! As I was telling Chris, Dewey loved it.

Heather J: I think that's an excellent idea ;)

Jodie: I often feel guilty about having those thoughts about WW1 and the vote in Britain in particular, but I can't help but wonder. Also, I've often thought the same about the Victorians. That's one of the reasons why I'm such a Sarah Waters fangirl: she manages to defy our idea of them AND be completely believable. But yes, it does annoy me when people dismiss anything that attributes sexual freedom, early feminism, etc. to the Victorians as historically inaccurate and clearly the result of the interference of the author's modern sensibility, as if any of that happening back then were unthinkable.

Sibylle: Little Women is one of those books I link...

2010-09-02T20:39:23.851+01:00

Sibylle: Little Women is one of those books I link for its gaps and silences, if that makes sense, and I really enjoyed March because it filled some of them. March does seem to be a general favourite, but these are the only two I've read to date.

Exiledbyaccident: Yeah, that twist was just....what? It came out of nowhere, and it was so at odds with her characterisation up to that point. Anyway, I'm so glad I'm not the only one who feels this way!

Marg: I'm so relieved that I'm not alone! And I completely agree with this: "...seemed completely outside both the realm of possibility and the more importantly the likely choice that the characters would make given what we had learned about them the rest of the way through the book." Exactly.

Fiona: I wonder the same myself. I just can't see what it achieved! But the first 3 quarters really were very good.

Jessica: Yes, it's too bad, as it could have been a brilliant book.

Sandy: There really is! The in media res technique impresses me when done well for that very reason: it's SO hard not to make a mess of it.

Violet: I'd say that if you didn't like March then probably you wouldn't like this one either, but then again some of the other commenters have liked this and not March, so who knows :P

Teresa: After March I thought I might have found a new favourite author, but now that I've read Year of Wonders it no longer looks that way :\ I didn't find Match heavy-handed, but I do see what you mean in this case.

Amanda: I'd love to read more about the true story of the place myself. I promise a full report if I get to visit it :P (It's not too far from where I'll be).

Clare: Yeah, and it's like raych said: she felt she had to make it extra dramatic because readers knew it would happen all along, and the result was a huge mess.

Elise: Yes, yes, exactly!

Amy: It's a fairly quick read, so I guess you might as well give it a try and see how you feel!

Simon: I can see how knowing the place would make the book even more resonant. She mentions there's a museum in Eyam in the afterwords. I'd love to visit it sometimes!

Zibilee: Yes, it was great up until the ending, so all in all I'm still definitely glad that I read it.

Steph: I wonder what authors are thinking when they make that kind of choice. What do they expect it to achieve? It does take a lot of skill to pull that off well, which is why I'm always so impressed when someone manages it. But when in doubt, best not to try!

'As the number of those afflicted by the plagu...

2010-09-02T16:34:12.337+01:00

'As the number of those afflicted by the plague increases, the traditional social order erodes, and Anna’s age, gender, widowhood and social stand cease to weight as heavily on whether or not she’s taken seriously.' It's so conflicting to look back at history and wonder if without terrible things happening to the rest of the population big social changes would ever have happened for women. I like to think they would, but it's hard to cut your knowledge of history off and think in hypotheticals.

And what you said about needing the perception of accuracy as much as accuracy is so smart. I think about this with the Victorians A LOT, especially when I started finding out that the Victorians were quite adventurous sexually. If you wrote a Victorian novel where everyone wasn't all coy and shy would people react against it because it doesn't fit with prevailing ideas about the Victorians?

Ah well you still have People of the Book left to go, maybe that one will be really, really good.

I really loved this book ... until the very end. ...

2010-09-02T14:01:29.085+01:00

I really loved this book ... until the very end. In fact, I sometimes recommend to friends that they read everything except the epilogue. :)

Oh my goodness...it sounds like I would absolutely...

2010-09-02T14:00:28.396+01:00

Oh my goodness...it sounds like I would absolutely adore this book! (At least until the ending. ;) ) But honestly, the book you described up to that point sounds so wonderful, that I think I might have to give it a go despite knowing I may be disillusioned with the ending.

I read this a couple of years ago but I do remembe...

2010-09-02T10:18:50.209+01:00

I read this a couple of years ago but I do remember enjoying it. March was more of a so-so novel for me but I really liked People of the Book. I've also read Nine Parts of Desire (non-fiction).

hmmm...I haven't read even a single book by he...

2010-09-02T08:46:31.060+01:00

hmmm...I haven't read even a single book by her although I do have this one in my TBR pile. I guess I'll have to be prepared for the ending.

I feel like I'm going to hate the ending to th...

2010-09-02T06:32:29.441+01:00

I feel like I'm going to hate the ending to this book :( But it does sound so damn good at the same time. Sounds really depressing too, but that's never stopped me from liking a book :p But really...half the population being wiped out by the plague and and 18 year old who's been widowed with two children :(...all things that have happened, no doubt, but still very sad.

So many people complain about that ending, didn...

2010-09-02T00:49:27.202+01:00

So many people complain about that ending, didn't her editor notice it? Did he/she say, "Um, what? You need to work on that."? It was like a different book suddenly.

I really enjoyed this book, although I would be ha...

2010-09-01T22:26:06.995+01:00

I really enjoyed this book, although I would be hard pressed to dislike any historical fiction based on the plague. It is just so intriguing to me!

I came across this book all on my own several year...

2010-09-01T22:22:26.407+01:00

I came across this book all on my own several years ago and was so delighted by the beginning that I don't remember being at all critical of the ending. In fact, I remember it fondly as a heck of a good book. Now I might have to find it at the library again and reread the ending to see if I was just too caught up to have any perspective.

I read this one several years ago, and my memory i...

2010-09-01T22:18:57.252+01:00

I read this one several years ago, and my memory is a fond one. Sadly, I don't remember enough to know what happened in that last section!!! Now I suppose I'll just have to re-read! :D

Having never read Brooks, I don't think I'...

2010-09-01T22:09:23.401+01:00

Having never read Brooks, I don't think I'll start with this one. She's been on my radar for some time, but for some reason, I don't have any of her books waiting on the shelves. I'll have to rectify that.

Sorry you didn't like this one as much. It is ...

2010-09-01T21:54:58.779+01:00

Sorry you didn't like this one as much. It is one of my favorites. Something that is interesting - and I'm relying on second-hand knowledge - is that this book was supposed to ROCK it's publication. However, it came out either on or right after 9-11 and so basically it tanked & didn't get near the attention it was supposed to have gotten. At that point, no one was up for "dark." Anyway, I think that's a neat book note...

I don't think I've ever read a book that d...

2010-09-01T19:50:06.888+01:00

I don't think I've ever read a book that deals with this period of history, so for that reason I'd love to read Year of Wonders! Even though it clearly has some flaws, it's probably an interesting book all the same.

Oh, bummer that you & others are less than cra...

2010-09-01T18:04:56.190+01:00

Oh, bummer that you & others are less than crazy about this (and your criticisms are things that tend to bother me too), since I have an ongoing fascination with plague/quarantine literature and was excited to read the plot synopsis. But a sudden onslaught of unconvincing drama at the end does not sound like my cup of tea. Ah well.

I loved this book when I read it but Eyam is near ...

2010-09-01T17:54:25.383+01:00

I loved this book when I read it but Eyam is near here and I ve been a few times ,so it appeal to me a lot but her other books are good too march was nice ,lovely review all the best stu

I don't much care for Geraldine Brooks; someho...

2010-09-01T17:02:26.459+01:00

I don't much care for Geraldine Brooks; somehow I always end up feeling that she had a really smashing idea that she was not able to master. So I end up rating her an A for the idea, B for writing, and C for emotional resonance and fully-realized characters, and for some reason, that always averages to a C+, which is not at all mathematically correct.

I completely agree with you about the ending! It r...

2010-09-01T16:34:11.328+01:00

I completely agree with you about the ending! It really veered off into left field for me. Up until then I really liked the story (although the foreshadowing was a bit much).

I feel like she spent so much of the novel being a...

2010-09-01T15:17:08.206+01:00

I feel like she spent so much of the novel being all, This person is gonna die!! that by the time it came time for that person to die she figured she had to make it DRAMATICAL since we all knew this person was going to die anyways.

The last part of the book was not my favorite part...

2010-09-01T15:16:20.520+01:00

The last part of the book was not my favorite part either but on the whole I loved this book. I think because I really felt like I was in another time. I have People of the Book waiting for me and definitely look forward to it.