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A review by mfinch76
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
5.0
I was so absorbed in this story that I didn't want to walk away. The beginning is fun and funny with little parallels to the covid-19 pandemic we're in now. Reading about running out of lavatory paper and the people picketing for England to leave the EC felt a lot like now and Brexit. It was close enough that I kept checking the publish date to be certain it wasn't published in 2020.
When the clerk gets sick and Kivrin realizes she's not in 1320 after all, it gets dark and sad and felt a little too close to now. I've read stories of entire families dying from covid and while it isn't the same as the plague, it's pretty awful.
I cried for most of the last quarter of the book.
I like that it humanized people. I vaguely remember learning about the plague in school and people were talked about as uneducated, selfish, and cowardly. This book tells a specific story about a family and people in the village that makes them feel real and complex.
When the clerk gets sick and Kivrin realizes she's not in 1320 after all, it gets dark and sad and felt a little too close to now. I've read stories of entire families dying from covid and while it isn't the same as the plague, it's pretty awful.
I cried for most of the last quarter of the book.
I like that it humanized people. I vaguely remember learning about the plague in school and people were talked about as uneducated, selfish, and cowardly. This book tells a specific story about a family and people in the village that makes them feel real and complex.