Reviews

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

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war76wick's review against another edition

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I read half of it , and I like the story, but I was waiting for it to kick in

nclcaitlin's review against another edition

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3.25

Kivrin Engle, a young historian, is sent back in time to the 14th century whilst the modern day scientists who operate the machine are suddenly faced with an influenza epidemic. From there, the narrative switches between Kivrin in the 14th century and 21st-century Oxford as they both struggle to adapt to their new circumstances.

Kivrin’s chapters started off quite domestic, taking a role as a governess in the past as she tries to fit in and escape suspicion.

It takes a long time to get going, the true plot only getting going about 50% of the way through when the revelation of the wrong five travelling date and the reality of the Black Death becoming discovered.

Interesting, long, tedious, compassionate, faithful. These are all words I would use to describe this book.
I think the audiobook really helped me get through it!

holl3640's review against another edition

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dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

m_mentu's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

rachelenna's review

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adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

books_andprobablysome_wine's review against another edition

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2.0

I had such high hopes for this book. But honestly the only reason I finished it was because I´m participating in a pub fandom meet up and we are going to discuss this book on Tuesday. I don´t understand the purpose of this book. Is it that people die of disease? There were so much potential within the Christian imagery that was just unfulfilled. I could not stand the professor main character, just so full of himself and critical of everyone else, he does even liken himself to God at two points in description in how he views him self in relationship to his student Kivrin, the main character. That relationship is so effed up! He installs so much fear in her. She goes from being this strong and well-prepared professional to an actual damsel in distress crying for her teacher to save her. (And the author actually have him saving her in the end to the tune of “When at last my saviour cometh”, I´m sorry but fuck off). I found the story dragging and extremely repetitive. There were some aspects that was fun reading them from a post-covid perspective and I did like the village priest and his approach on faith. Everything that happened in 2054 was boring AF and I could not get into the family drama of 1348. The only people I was hoping for was the young women in the family and their survival would have been pretty cool as Kivrin, is known there as Catherine and St. Catherine is the patron saint of unmarried women so it would be cool to see that theme explored. I think I could enjoy a follow up to this book but with the priest surviving and he and Kivrin just travelling around England trying to save as many as possible from the plague and at the same time not being accused of witch craft… maybe! Not excited about the discussion on Tuesday as I think I might be one of the few people participating not enjoying this book.