Reviews tagging 'Death'

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

45 reviews

katiekeske's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

3.0

This was a painfully slow and frustrating read. This is my first book by this author, so I don't know if this is just her style or the fact that it's from the 90s, but it did not need to be so long. Very repetitive with info, dialogue, etc. 

I usually enjoy time travel stories, but I found it hard to even believe the premise of this one. An undergrad student is approved to go on a solo time travel mission to a time that has been off limits up until this point? Just because she's a top student? I feel like this author doesn't have any actual experience with academia. I just couldn't fathom this actually happening despite how the author tries to explain the situation. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Blood, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Infidelity, Physical abuse, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Vomit and Sexual harassment

The main character is not abused but sees other characters suffer.

pinkrain718's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Pandemic/Epidemic

sby's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Misogyny and Grief

caoimhemia's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Blood, and Pandemic/Epidemic

cheetah26's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, and Pandemic/Epidemic

jputzi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

How did I not know this book existed? It is absolutely gripping and so well written. Very dark at times, for good reason. I loved it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

zophiebrown's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

An eerily prophetic look at the modern response to a pandemic. Thought-provoking take on both history and current events, told through lovable characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, and Blood

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Sexual harassment

Eerily reminiscent of the Covid-19 pandemic.

chrisscorkscrew's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow!  A searing and heart-rending masterpiece.  Very powerful and perhaps rendered all the more so by the pandemic we experienced at the start of 2020.

This is not an easy rate, but it is worth the emotional journey,

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Suicide, Blood, and Death of parent

musicalpopcorn's review

adventurous emotional funny mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

In a not so distant future, Historians are sent into the past to learn about contemporary societies. When the head of the university goes away for Christmas, the person he leaves in charge decides it’s high time to send a historian to the Middle Ages, but none could foresee how exactly things could go awry.

I quite enjoyed this read, although I do agree with other reviewers who comment that it could have been edited down substantially. It was incredibly detailed in a way that made you think small details might be important later but they were just that…small details. 

Outside of the lengthiness however, it was an interesting story with a good balance of fun and intensity. I enjoyed both storylines immensely. I would say that characters like Gilchrist were almost too stupidly oblivious to the world, but that’s how people in power often are. 

Great read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

chandlery's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Medical content, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Animal death and Suicide