Helpful Score: 5
A riviting and vivid account of a 17th century village that becomes stricken with The Plague. Year of Wonders shows us the very best and the very worst of human nature.
My two complaints about the story was the surprise true character/personality of the Rector at the end of the novel. I didn't buy it and didn't much like it. I also didn't much care for the epilogue. It didn't seem to fit the rest of the book in my opinion. I felt like I was reading an epilogue to some other book not the one I was just nearly finishing.
Other than those two pieces of criticism I did enjoy reading this although not meant for the faint hearted. Many passages were very hard to get through emotionally.
My two complaints about the story was the surprise true character/personality of the Rector at the end of the novel. I didn't buy it and didn't much like it. I also didn't much care for the epilogue. It didn't seem to fit the rest of the book in my opinion. I felt like I was reading an epilogue to some other book not the one I was just nearly finishing.
Other than those two pieces of criticism I did enjoy reading this although not meant for the faint hearted. Many passages were very hard to get through emotionally.
Wow - what an amazing story! Thanks to whomever it was that suggested this book. I thought Ms. Brooks captured Anna's voice quite well and really brought her to life. I loved the use of arcane words and actually had to look some of them up! There were so many things happening and the character development was awesome. Be forewared, though, that this is not a book for the faint of heart - it deals with horrible deaths, witch hunts, rampages and murder.
This is definitely an author (and book) I will read again, and I'm keeping this one on my "Keeper" shelf.
My only criticism is that I thought there was sopme gratuitous sex and sexual discussion which detracted from the story. I'm not sure why authors insist on adding sex - it does nothing for me, personally, but maybe others get into that sort of thing. I just sort of find it annoying. :)
I would love to see this book made into a film. I imagined Anna Paquin as Anna, Gwenth Paltrow as Elinor and yummy Keanu Reeves as Michael Mompellion.
In closing, all I can say is thank God for antibiotics!
This is definitely an author (and book) I will read again, and I'm keeping this one on my "Keeper" shelf.
My only criticism is that I thought there was sopme gratuitous sex and sexual discussion which detracted from the story. I'm not sure why authors insist on adding sex - it does nothing for me, personally, but maybe others get into that sort of thing. I just sort of find it annoying. :)
I would love to see this book made into a film. I imagined Anna Paquin as Anna, Gwenth Paltrow as Elinor and yummy Keanu Reeves as Michael Mompellion.
In closing, all I can say is thank God for antibiotics!
Helpful Score: 3
I enjoyed the book, though it is not for the weak stomached or heavy hearted. The novel illustrates the will of the human spirit and the want of life when there is nothing else to want. The story truly brings you back the 17th century in diction but still remains a simple and light read.
Helpful Score: 2
A beautifully written account of what occurs when the plague runs rampant through a small English village. Compelling characters, careful research and a satisfying ending add up to a great read!
Helpful Score: 1
This novel about the plague is both harsh and inspiring. The story is told through the life of Anna, a peasant in a small village in the English countryside. The plague comes to their small village far away from the London plague. I do not want to tell too much of the story because the writing is so powerful and unwraps the story beautifully.
Through the terrible deaths that come to the village, Anna's heroism in visiting the sick, finding new homes for orphans and caring for her fellow human beings astonishes even Anna. This heroism is set against a village that is falling apart at the seams; neighbors and friends start turning on each other during this horrendous ordeal.
I was very disappointed in the end of the book. The characters do things that do not match their own temperament we have read about for 300 pages. It was so abrupt and out of character, it left me dissatisfied with an otherwise great book. It felt like the author didnt know what to do once the plague was over.
Through the terrible deaths that come to the village, Anna's heroism in visiting the sick, finding new homes for orphans and caring for her fellow human beings astonishes even Anna. This heroism is set against a village that is falling apart at the seams; neighbors and friends start turning on each other during this horrendous ordeal.
I was very disappointed in the end of the book. The characters do things that do not match their own temperament we have read about for 300 pages. It was so abrupt and out of character, it left me dissatisfied with an otherwise great book. It felt like the author didnt know what to do once the plague was over.
Helpful Score: 1
While not my usual genre of book I read for a book club and actually enjoyed. ( I had expected to be bored going into it.) Really shows the strength of the human spirit and the wonder at what humans will do when faced with trials. The book has vivid, easily pictured charcacters all self quarantined in a small village to try and keep the plague from spreading. Told from the view point of one strong young woman who helps nurse the ill, bury the dead, counsel the hurting all while struggling with her own losses and loves.
Helpful Score: 1
One of my all-time favorite books! Love it, love it.
Helpful Score: 1
A great historical fiction about a year in the life of The Plague that preys on a small town, after an outsider from London takes housing with a local widow, Anna. With the help of the Rector, they decide to close themselves off from the rest of England to keep it within their borders. A sad story, but redeeming in the end. The language used is genuine to the time. I feel like I have some sense of what it must have been like to see 2/3rds of your neighbors die, and then endure the aftermath of grief and disbelief that followed. Highly recommended 4/5
Carol F. (cactusflowerwomen) reviewed Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague on + 628 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is most definitely a book I will circulate among my reader friends who are strong of heart. It is an astounding read. "A Year of Wonders" is based on historical fact about the bubonic plague that devastates a small village in England in the mid 1600s. Entire families are wiped out and most of the villagers turn to the village rector to save them. Others turn to witchcraft in fear that God is punishing them for their sins. The heroine, Anna, is amazing in her strength and vision. I learned so much about how the peasant people lived then, witchcraft, superstition, religion and a very cruel life. I loved the arcane language, and as other reviewers above, that the stories of the sexual trysts were superfluous, an unnecessary to the story. I also didn't like the change of character of the rector at the end, or the epilogue, neither believable. I cried a lot while reading this book, nonetheless, I highly recommend this book. The characters are vividly drawn and the story so compelling.
Although, this is a depressing topic (the Plague in the 1600's), the story and characters are so well done. This book gives you such a clear picture of life during that time period. I just didn't think the ending went well with the rest of the book. I still highly highly recommend this book.
I read this over 10 years ago and I am always quick to proclaim it as one of my favorite books. When I came across the audio I decided to listen to it since I rarely take the time to reread even my favorite books. I am so glad that I revisited this old favorite. There were so many parts and details that I had forgotten, honestly I had completely forgotten the epilog, which is a necessary part of the book. Yes, the story is heart breaking and hard to hear at times, but it is beautifully written. The version I had was read by Brooks herself.
Heather J. (ReadingAddict) reviewed Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague on + 102 more book reviews
A quick read about a horrible time. It draws you in without giving you too many horrid details.
You can read my complete review here.
You can read my complete review here.
My mother loved this book, and recommended it highly. It probably is a very good book, but the subject matter (the plague's effect in a small country village) is a little intense,a nd the ending highly unbelievable.
Once again, an author has managed to blunderingly insert a modern mindset into a historical period, and has created a heroine who is a priceless superwoman as well. This book, based very loosely on real events in the 17th century, is a poorly veiled attempt at trumpeting the author's viewpoints and opinions. The ending is nothing more than the author showing off her knowledge of Islamic customs, while the writing it self leaves a lot to be desired. It is as thick and as uplifting as mud.
This book includes a heroine who is saintly, intellectually brilliant (she learns to read in a couple of months, learns Latin too, and becomes well versed in herbalism - I kept waiting for her to invent the airplane and penicillin) and remarkably resilient in the face of a village-wide plague. She nurses tirelessly, she overcomes personal tragedy, she has insight into the motivations and actions of people that Sigmund Freud would envy, she can mine lead and she can ride a highly spirited horse at a gallop sans saddle. All in all - absolutely unbelievable, particularly for the time period and the social status of the main character.
Add to that a feminist witch, abortion, women who don men's clothing and successfully mine lead in an afternoon though they have never done such work in their lives before, children's rights, alternative medicine, and wicked men who restrict and make miserable their wives and all other women within their sphere, this book is a nauseating airing of modern politically correct thought, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the mindset of the historical era it supposedly portrays. The smear campaign done on the character of the village minister (based on a real person) alone is such an act of libel that I'm surprised the real man's descendents haven't tried to sue Ms. Brooks. She has taken a selfless act on the part of a real person and his wife (who lost her life as a result of their determination to stay in the Plague Village rather than fleeing at the first sign of the plague) and turned it into a perverse attempt on the part of an evil man to punish his wife for having had a premarital affair and abortion.
The descriptions of horseback riding are absurd, and Ms. Brooks could have gotten more accurate information by speaking for fifteen minutes to any child in a pony club. Her grasp on herbalism is equally ridiculous - a few hours with any of hundreds of well-researched books on the subject would have helped her avoid a number of ridiculous gaffes.
And the ending, where the main character travels, on her own, with a newborn baby in tow, via ship, unmolested, to North Africa where she then enters into a platonic marriage with a great Muslim physician (who just happens to be conveniently right there) and becomes his assistant, helping Muslim women and living in his harem - well, it's the stuff of cruddy bodice rippers, and so strains the already insulted intelligence of the reader that high blood pressure is the result. How Ms Brooks thinks that anyone with any knowledge or capacity for critical thought would swallow this absurdity is beyond me. She seems to forget that her protagonist lives in a time where a woman would not have been permitted to travel alone or given passage on a ship by any captain at any price, and would most likely have been killed or sold into slavery had she actually managed to find her way to North Africa and walk around the streets in her English clothing.
This book is an insult to the real people of the Plague Village and their descendents. It is chock full of repulsive images that are obviously added simply for shock value, and go far beyond any realistic portrayal of plague symptoms or historical fact.
This book includes a heroine who is saintly, intellectually brilliant (she learns to read in a couple of months, learns Latin too, and becomes well versed in herbalism - I kept waiting for her to invent the airplane and penicillin) and remarkably resilient in the face of a village-wide plague. She nurses tirelessly, she overcomes personal tragedy, she has insight into the motivations and actions of people that Sigmund Freud would envy, she can mine lead and she can ride a highly spirited horse at a gallop sans saddle. All in all - absolutely unbelievable, particularly for the time period and the social status of the main character.
Add to that a feminist witch, abortion, women who don men's clothing and successfully mine lead in an afternoon though they have never done such work in their lives before, children's rights, alternative medicine, and wicked men who restrict and make miserable their wives and all other women within their sphere, this book is a nauseating airing of modern politically correct thought, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the mindset of the historical era it supposedly portrays. The smear campaign done on the character of the village minister (based on a real person) alone is such an act of libel that I'm surprised the real man's descendents haven't tried to sue Ms. Brooks. She has taken a selfless act on the part of a real person and his wife (who lost her life as a result of their determination to stay in the Plague Village rather than fleeing at the first sign of the plague) and turned it into a perverse attempt on the part of an evil man to punish his wife for having had a premarital affair and abortion.
The descriptions of horseback riding are absurd, and Ms. Brooks could have gotten more accurate information by speaking for fifteen minutes to any child in a pony club. Her grasp on herbalism is equally ridiculous - a few hours with any of hundreds of well-researched books on the subject would have helped her avoid a number of ridiculous gaffes.
And the ending, where the main character travels, on her own, with a newborn baby in tow, via ship, unmolested, to North Africa where she then enters into a platonic marriage with a great Muslim physician (who just happens to be conveniently right there) and becomes his assistant, helping Muslim women and living in his harem - well, it's the stuff of cruddy bodice rippers, and so strains the already insulted intelligence of the reader that high blood pressure is the result. How Ms Brooks thinks that anyone with any knowledge or capacity for critical thought would swallow this absurdity is beyond me. She seems to forget that her protagonist lives in a time where a woman would not have been permitted to travel alone or given passage on a ship by any captain at any price, and would most likely have been killed or sold into slavery had she actually managed to find her way to North Africa and walk around the streets in her English clothing.
This book is an insult to the real people of the Plague Village and their descendents. It is chock full of repulsive images that are obviously added simply for shock value, and go far beyond any realistic portrayal of plague symptoms or historical fact.
I love Geraldine Brooks' writing! I had previously read "People of the Book" and found it to be a very rich, haunting story. That was the case with this book as well. The story is so engrossing, you simply don't want to put it down. I highly recommend it!
A really interesting story based on life in England during the time of the plague in the 1660s. Very well-written.
A sad but brilliant novel featuring the plague of 1666. The characters are developed and memorable.
Heather J. (ReadingAddict) reviewed Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague on + 102 more book reviews
A quick read about a horrible time. It draws you in without giving you too many horrid details.
You can read my complete review here.
You can read my complete review here.
Heather J. (ReadingAddict) reviewed Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague on + 102 more book reviews
A quick read about a horrible time. It draws you in without giving you too many horrid details.
You can read my complete review here.
You can read my complete review here.
