Reviews

Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks

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jshoe212's review against another edition

5.0

4.5 stars. I truly enjoyed this book. I loved the structure, the characters, the progression that many chapters went through over time, the sense of foreboding/overall mood, and the friendship between Anna and Elinor. The ending seemed a bit incongruent and threw me off, but it was fine and didn’t spoil the experience of reading it. The MC did lean secular and logical, almost to the point of being anachronistic, in the way that modern writers seem to regularly portray their main characters. However, it didn’t go so far as to be totally unbelievable since it was set in the 17th century, but rather made use of a well-worn trope. I loved the characters, the dialogue, and use of historical terms. For the latter, I’m glad I read this as an ebook so I could easily look them up. I now know what a sennight is!

saraotoole's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

boomboomboom's review against another edition

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inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25

jskenzer's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

sarahetc's review against another edition

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1.0

Year of Times I Should Have Given Up But Somehow Didn't

When I realized that Geraldine Brooks may be a very good writer, but she can't read aloud for anything.

That first graphic lambing scene with the overly long, overly florid description of sheep vagina.

That first graphic description of a superating bubo.

The description of the exsanguinated dead baby

The scene with the breech baby and the hook. I'm not even going to describe it.

The other breech baby scene, altho at least there everybody lived.

The witch hunt, altho of course we had to have one of those

The description of the abortion by hot poker

Then it went along okay for a little while, I guess, except for the poor narration.

Then the whole thing with the grave digging dad getting dagged through the hand and nobody went and got him so he died of exposure so his wife went nuts and then the little girl died but she was actually a witch and didn't bury the little girl....

And I just can't go on. Not recommended. Nothing to recommend it. Jeez.