Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

18 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.

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

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

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

katjacatbeans's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

The story craft of this book is impeccable. It's a real masterclass in plot building & character development. The prose & dialog are equally good - though I'm pretty sure that '"Yes," said Dunworthy' appears at least 100 times (it fits his character) - and it's heart-rending in all the right places.  

There are certainly some grotesque descriptions of illness, but it's not overwrought and is balanced between portraying the reality of the character's experience & sparing the reader. 

The text lives up to its title. It's bleak, and sad. The direness is broken up by having 2 storyline ( 1 in each century) and by Finch's comic relief. Finch is so important because this book is prescient; having just lived through COVID, it's absolutely wild to read that an author in 1992 would so accurately project a lot of the attitudes and difficulties of 2020. Human behavior doesn't really change that much, i guess. All she had to do was look back at the 1918 epidemic & update it a bit for modern elements (like faster turnaround on vaccines). Even the brief mention of "the Canadian Goose Flu of 2010" in the book is utterly wild because there WAS an outbreak of avian flu from December 2010-May 2011. Surely that was just happenstance but with everything else she got right, it's eerie. 

I really, really appreciate how well the medical stuff is researched (I've listened to a LOT of This Podcast Will Kill You and can verify that the book text lines up with the info in the episodes on cholera, typhoid, etc) and how determined the characters are to help care for each other. It's one of the few hopeful bright spots.

All in all, even though this is a 26hr audiobook, I'm sad to be finished with it. I wish it was longer; an epilogue would do my heart a lot of good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Animal death and Grief

philosopher_kj's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, and Medical content

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Cursing, Rape, and Alcohol

pocketbook's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I read this in middle or high school the first time around, and I didn’t remember the parts that took place in the “present time.” I remember being so gutted by

Father Roche’s death

and that I enjoyed this book, but not too many specifics beyond that. I’m so happy I revisited this one. Rerated because this will be staying with me for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, and Classism

Minor: Suicide

iris_garden's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Physical abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Infidelity, Rape, Self harm, Antisemitism, Abandonment, and Alcohol

fahyhallowell's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Fascinating to read this tale of two epidemics in the midst of our current pandemic. Many elements ring true such as conspiracy theorists popping up. Aside from time travel, the technology is comiclly antique - phones had video screens but that's about it. I appreciated the classic British humor in the present as a break from the grimness of the past. 100% recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child death

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Classism

silentquercus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, and Grief

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Suicide, and Alcohol