Connie Willis
Doomsday Book (1992)
Author: Connie Willis
Genre: Science Fiction (Philosophical Focus)
Plot Summary:
In the year 2054 a technology exists to allow time travel. Historians have been using time travel to gather first hand information about the past. Kivrin Engle, an undergraduate history student, has elected travel to the year 1320 and observe the Middle Ages. She left well prepared for even the smallest detail, but no one could have anticipated the disaster that followed. Soon after Kirvin's departure a deadly virus hits Oxford, isolating the town and possibly stranding Kivrin in one of the most dangerous times in history. As Kivrin explores the Middle Ages she begins to realize that something has gone wrong. Meanwhile, her colleeges in Oxford are determined to find a way to bring her back. Both the past and the present are filled with hysteria and suffering, but also hope and the strength of humanity. SPOILER: The "tech" who was in charge of setting up all of the details for Kivrin's trip to 1320 had been ill and disoriented when he set the date she would be sent to. She was actually sent to 1348 when the plague, the Back Death, was hitting Oxfordshire. Having been inoculated against all diseases present in the Middle Ages, she was immune and left to take care of all the victims of the plague in the village she had been living in. The entire village, including the family she had been living with and had come to care for, died within a matter of days once the plague hit. In 2054, after the tech recovered from his illness and the virus was no longer a threat he was able to send her advisor and a companion to 1348 to retrieve Kivrin. They found her in the isolated village and brought her back to 2054.
Geographical Setting:Oxford and Oxfordshire, England
Time Period: 2054 and the 1300's
Appeal Characteristics:
Doomsday Book has an action centered story line with multiple plots. In some chapters, the reader follows Mr. Dunworthy as he tries to figure out what went wrong with Kivrin's time travel and as Oxford deals with the quarantine. In other chapters, Kivrin deals with the consequences of traveling to the wrong time and having no way to get home. The book begins by putting the reader right into the middle of the action (in a scene where Kirvin is preparing to time travel) and the fast pace grips the reader immediately. The multiple plot lines speed the flow as the reader reads quickly to find out what happens to the characters. Towards the middle of the book the pace slows a bit, and it continues at that pace until the end. Willis's writing style is unpretentious and straightforward, and that combined with the pace results in an easy read. Another important element is the bleak tone of the novel. In both 2054 and 1348 people are dying prolonged and unpleasant deaths while others try in vain to save them, resulting in a dark and, at times, hopeless tone. Also important is the detailed frame; in the chapters that take place in 1348 Willis paints a rich picture of life in the Middle Ages, addressing the customs, dress, dialect, speech patterns and other details about life in that era. Less important is the characterization; while there are several compelling and sympathetic characters, they don't develop much throughout the story because the emphasis is on the story itself.
Read-alikes: Readers might want to try other books by Connie Willis. To Say Nothing of the Dog would be a good next book to read by this author. Also a Hugo and Nebula award-winner, this book also revolves around time travel from Oxford (a few years later) to a destination in the past, this time to the Victorian Era. The wit and sometimes light-hearted tone apparent in much of Willis's writing is also apparent in this book, as well as an emphasis on characterization and great historical detail. Those who enjoyed the details of the Middle Ages and the Black Death or the parralel storylines between the middle ages and a more modern time might consider The Plague Tales by Ann Benson. It follows a physician in the middle ages who races to save the Royal Family from the Black Death and a scientist in modern day who digs up and unleashes a a surviving strain of the Black Death virus in moden day society. For more reading that involves time tavel from the the 21st century to the Middle Ages and a little crisis that adds to a compelling storyline, readers can try Timeline by Michael Crichton. It follows a group of scientists who have traveled back to 14th century France to rescue their mentor. Readers who enjoyed the time travel aspect and the wit and warmth of this book might also want to try The Eyre affair by Jasper Fforde. This book is a humorous adventure in time travel in which the main character tries to stop a criminal from kidnapping famous literary characters. Readers who liked the historical detail and the realistic characters, as well as time travel might try The Plot to Save Socrates by Paul Levinson. In this book, the main character is a young graduate student who attempts to travel back in time and save socrates from death. It also deals somewhat with issues of human nature. Readers more interested in historical fiction than science fiction might be interested in Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague, by Geraldine Brooks. Set in England in 1665, it follows a young widow as she nurses others who get the bubonic plague. In addition to a similar story line, Brooks provides significant detail about the setting. Those readers with an interest in learning more about the plague might try The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time, a non-fiction title by John Kelly that provides information about the plague outbreak in vivid, detailed description.
Red Flags: Some detailed descriptions of disease (oozing, bleeding, vomiting, etc.)
Passage (2001)
Author: Connie Willis
Genre: Science Fiction (Storyteller Focus)
Plot Summary:
Psychologist Dr. Joanna Lander specializes in near death experiences, or NDEs, and has spent the last two years of her life interviewing patients who have clinically died and lived to tell their stories about the "Other Side." Neurologist Dr. Richard Wright believes NDEs may be a survival mechanism that if understood by medical professionals may help them slow or even reverse the dying process. After witnessing the sudden death of a patient who from death's door leaves her a mystery involving the number 58, Joanna signs on as Dr. Wright's partner as he has figured out how to simulate an NDE. What follows is the story of their partnership and Joanna's dual roles as both doctor and patient. When Joanna's own near death experience transports her back in time to the decks of the Titanic, she must wade through her long term memory in search of one statement uttered by her high school English teacher that seems to be the unifying piece of the puzzle. SPOILER: Joanna learns the significance of the number 58: The Carpathia was 58 miles away from the Titanic when she received its first SOS, signifying that other patients' NDEs have involved the ill-fated ship as well.
Geographical Setting: Denver, CO
Time Period: 2001
Appeal Characteristics:
This is a compelling novel that moves at a fast pace in spite of its length. The chapters are short (usually around ten pages total) and consist of short paragraphs that feature plenty of dialogue. The story centers around the main character, Dr. Joanna Lander, and the events of the story are viewed from within either Joanna or Dr. Richard Wright's mind. Secondary characters are fairly well fleshed out and their interactions with Joanna help give her character depth. While this story isn't short on action, the main focus is on how Joanna reacts to these events. The frame of this novel offers readers detailed information about near death experiences and disasters, especially the Titanic. To convey information about near death experiences, Willis uses medical/psychological jargon which gives the novel a serious tone that dominates the story, but also subsides briefly as readers are allowed to relax into Joanna's and Vielle's Dish Nights where the #1 rule is to avoid discussing work.
Read-alikes:
Readers looking to deepen their understanding of near death experiences and who enjoyed the short chapters and paragraphs Willis used to tell her story may want to read Embraced By the Light by Betty J. Eadie. Eadie recounts her journey to the "Other Side" and back after she died in a hospital post surgery. For a fictional account of a near death experience readers should pick up a copy of Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg. Short chapters, plenty of dialogue, and a quirky cast of supporting characters help Flagg tell the story of octogenarian Mrs. Elner Shimfissle whose fall from a tree sends her on a journey to the afterlife while her friends and neighbors are left asking themselves that all important question, "What is life all about, anyway?" For readers who enjoyed Willis' inclusion of the specific details and history regarding the Titanic, Donald Lynch's Titanic: An Illustrated History is an excellent nonfiction title on the subject. Illustrations depict the various places Joanna's near death experience included and the text reveals the true stories of history's most famous passengers. This book deals with its subject in the same precise and professional manner that Willis used in writing Drs. Lander and Wright's near death experience research, which is sure to appeal to fans of her novel. Jack Finney's Time and Again will certainly appeal to readers who enjoyed Willis' use of time travel via Joanna's near death experiences. Simon Morley, an artist, is chosen as a candidate to travel back to New York 1894 where he must solve a mystery that involves a suicide and a cryptic letter. Fans of Willis' characters will find much to love about Finney's characters who seem just as likely to grace the pages of her novels as his. Readers who couldn't get enough of Willis' use of medical/psychological jargon mixed with near death experience research and experimentation might also like The Terminal Experiment by Robert J. Sawyer. Dr. Peter Hobson's investigations into death and the afterlife lead him to create three separate electronic versions of himself: one has no memory of physical existence and represents life after death; one has no knowledge of death or aging and represents immortality; and the third is left unaltered as a control. The problem lies in the fact that all three have escaped and one of them is a killer.
Red Flags: descriptions of medical conditions/ailments; some disturbing details about history's greatest disasters
Remake (1995)
Author: Connie Willis
Genre: Science Fiction (Speculative Fiction)
Plot Summary:
In the near future, every movie that comes out of Hollywood is either a remake or a sequel, and every one of them digitally borrows scenery, props, and even actors and actresses from earlier movies. Tom's job involves finding things to borrow from other movies, as well as digitally altering original films (like Dumbo and Casablanca) to make them less offensive. Tom meets Alis, who wants to dance in the movies, really dance, not just have her face pasted on the body of the original dancer. He thinks her dream is impossible, until he starts seeing Alis in the movies he's editing. He becomes consumed by a need to find out how she's doing it. Did she really sell out, or is she traveling back in time to dance in the musicals when they were first filmed? SPOILER: While the digital footage is managing a little time travel, Alis is not. She's actually putting herself in the movies by accident, perfectly mimicking the original dancers in the movies during practice. The slight romance between Tom and Alis doesn't really work out, but there's at least hope for the movies in the future - Alis continues to pursue her dreams in China, while Tom digitally puts back all the references to addictive substances that he removed from various movies.
Geographical Setting: Hollywood
Time Period: Near future (early 21st century)
Appeal Characteristics:
This book was a nominee for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1996. Its central appeal is its many movie references, especially classic movies and musicals and anything involving Fred Astaire. It's not necessary to have watched the movies that Willis refers to, although readers who have seen them will probably get an extra level of enjoyment from this book. The tone, both sad and witty, is another main draw. Willis seems to mourn the direction in which movies have gone in her world, a direction that is not unimaginable in the real world, even as she keeps things light with subtle humor, such as when Tom comes to the conclusion that there isn't a film out there, even a Disney one, that doesn't have at least a little alcohol in it. Those who don't generally read science fiction will also appreciate that this book is fairly light on science and techno jargon. The focus is not on the technology used to alter the movies, but rather on Tom's love and appreciation for movies (even if he won't admit it) and his obsession with the mystery of Alis's appearance in classic musicals. Although the three characters that appear the most in this novel, Tom, Alis, and Tom's friend Heada, are given only basic development, they are all likeable and believable.
Read-alikes: Readers who want more of Connie Willis's humor and considerable background research and would like a greater focus on time travel should try To Say Nothing of the Dog, set in 2057 when time travel is an acceptable method for historical research. A wealthy woman uses her money to basically assume control over a time-traveling historical research group in order to restore Coventry Cathedral to exactly what it was before it was destroyed in World War II. For readers who enjoyed Willis's movie references, Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series may be a good read-alike, although this series references books rather than movies. In the first book, The Eyre Affair, Thursday Next, a special operative in literary detection, must stop attacks on characters in various works of literature, including Jane Eyre. Fforde handles the literary references in a way those who haven't read the books can still appreciate and, like Willis, writes with a mix of wit and seriousness. Those who liked the movie-making and film industry aspects of Remake but would prefer something with even less techno jargon may want to try Terry Pratchett's fantasy novel Moving Pictures, which is part of his Discworld series. In this humorous book, alchemists have just invented movies and move to Holy Wood to deal with the results in a world where magic gets involved in just about anything, often with strange and disastrous results. Terry Bisson's Voyage to the Red Planet is another taking on film-making in the future - Disney has bought NASA and hopes to drum up some cash by sending a cast of offbeat yet believable characters to film a movie on Mars. Finally, readers who enjoyed Willis's mix of science fiction, humor, and romance may want to try Kate Wilhelm's Crazy Time, in which a laser beam zaps a man's molecules apart without actually killing him. The only witness is a psychologist named Lauren, who doesn't believe what she's seen and feels persecuted when the man, Corky, starts following her around.
Red Flags: Drug use; lots of alcohol drunk both by characters and in various movies (and the conclusion that this is not necessarily a bad thing, since alcohol was often responsible for moving the plot forward in the movies Tom tries to edit); several references to sex and one sex scene, with no detailed descriptions
To Say Nothing of the Dog (1998)
Author: Connie Willis
Genre: Science Fiction (Time-travel/Humor)
Plot Summary:
In 2057, the formidable Lady Schrapnell has donated massive sums of money to Oxford's time-travel program in return for their help in her plan to rebuild Coventry Cathedral, which was destroyed in a Nazi bombing raid in 1940. Due to weeks of continuous missions, historian Ned Henry is severely time-lagged and needs a rest. In order to do so, Ned is sent back to the summer of 1888. However, Ned's not there only to rest; he also has to help fellow time-traveler Verity Kindle to repair an incongruity in the space-time continuum that she accidentally caused by bringing something forward to 2057 from the past. He's also on the lookout for the bishop's bird stump; a hideous piece of Victorian art that apparently went missing during the air raid that destroyed Coventry Cathedral. Eventually, the fate of the universe depends on a cat, a butler, a bulldog, and the bishop's bird stump.
Geographical Setting: England
Time Period: 1888 and 1940, with a few trips to and from other times
Appeal Characteristics:
The main draw to this Hugo and Nebula award-winner is definitely the tone. The story is told with great wit and warmth; I found myself laughing out-loud quite often while reading. Even though the novel is, for the most part, quite light-hearted, there is also a serious undertone that keeps it from being silly or over-the-top. Another major appeal to the book is character; the story is told in the first person by Ned Henry, who makes a charming, if at times slightly befuddled, narrator. The secondary characters, especially Verity, are also strong; however, they are
stereotypical - the perfect butler, the absent-minded professor, the
overbearing Society matron, etc. There is also a mystery to solve: how can Ned and Verity
fix the supposed incongruity? Where is the bishop's bird stump? And what is the bishop's bird stump, exactly? There is also an element of romance: the main characters fall in love eventually and much of their meddling with the Mering family has to do with setting up romances and getting characters to meet and fall in love. The book is leisurely paced, but compelling. Willis is quite adapt at blending genres and drawing from a wide range of literary sources; this work plays off of the conventions of science fiction, mystery, Shakespearean romantic-comedies, and the 19th Century comedy of manners, to name a few. The title, in fact, is drawn from the sub-title of Jerome K. Jerome's classic Three Men in a Boat. The book was the winner of the Hugo Award (1999), the Locus Award (1999), YALSA's Best Books for Young Adults (1998), the Alex Award (1999), and was placed on several expert's "Best Picks".
Read-alikes: Those who liked the light humor and romance in To Say Nothing of the Dog might like Bellwether, another book by Connie Willis. The plot deals with Chaos Theory, and a main character, Sandra Foster, who is trying to predict fads for a high-tech company. Sandra, together with biologist Bennett O'Reilly, studies Bellwether sheep to test their chaos theories. Humorous blunders and romance abound. Another book mixing time travel and romance is Jack Finney's Time and Again. The main character is sent back in time by a group that believes that time is charted out in the details, and if surrounded by the objects of an era, one might be able to travel back into that actual time. The author artfully describes 1894 New York in graphic detail. The book also contains a mystery, that a sent letter might cause the destruction of the world. Time and Again shares Connie Willis's tradition of creative, yet realistic characters set in a time where time travel is an everyday occurrence. Following on this theme of time travel, history alteration and romance is David Morse's The Iron Bridge, a book about a woman who travels back in time to stop the creation of the first iron bridge. David Morse brings the main character, Maggie Foster, to life by discussing her worries and passions, as well as her relationship with the Quaker family she becomes attached to. This book also deals with the altering of history: if Maggie fails at stopping the bridge from being built, there will be an ecological disaster in the future, if she succeeds, then her adopted family will be ruined and her loved ones in the future will cease to exist. Readers wanting time travel and humor (minus the romance) should look at Terry Bisson's Bears Discover Fire as a good read-alike to To Say Nothing of the Dog. Bears Discover Fire is a collection of short stories involving all types of typical science fiction plots, including time travel. In addition, the characters are considered "absurd," realistic and ordinary, and the eclectic mix is sure to keep readers entertained. A final read-alike to To Say Nothing of the Dog is Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. The book contains sequences of time travel and focuses mainly on the absurdities and dangers of war. The main character transfers from scenes of World War II to distant alien planets. Through the main character, Billy Pilgrim, the reader catches glimpses of how Vonnegut believes human nature (and the human mind) truly works. This book is for readers who enjoyed the time travel aspect of To Say Nothing of the Dog, but wants something with a more serious tone. Frederick Brown's Martians, Go Home is another fast-paced and funny science fiction story, as is Douglas Adams' Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Another book that combines time travel and a love story is The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. In this book, Henry is a man who travels in time, but has no control over it. He meets Clare and falls in love with her, but while she ages normally, Henry bounces around in age, so they're not always in sync. Readers who like the Victorian setting and appreciate the mystery and romance of To Say Nothing of the Dog might try Possession by A.S. Byatt. In this novel, two historians researching Victorian writers discover a love affair that happened between their two writers and uncover more and more in their research. For science fiction mystery and a skillful juggling of several story lines that all come together at the end, try Dick Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, also by Douglas Adams. For time travel, try The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, though it has a darker story line. Keith Laumer's Retief series combines action-packed humor with stereotypical bumbling public servants in the diplomatic corps. Readers looking for a tale blending the genres of science fiction, mystery, and literary fiction with a strong dash of humor would also enjoy Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series ( The Eyre Affair). Another genre-blending tale the reader might enjoy is Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which deftly blends fantasy, historical fiction, and literary fiction with a certain wry wit. Readers who enjoy the comedy of manners in a science fiction setting might also enjoy Lois McMaster Bujold's award-winning Miles Vorkosigan series ( A Civil Campaign). This crossover novel may also be a springboard to other genres. Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat, to Say Nothing of the Dog is the inpiration for Willis's book. It is the story of three men of the Victorian upper class who boat down the Thames with their dog. Isaac Asimov's Murder at the ABA is not science fiction, but Asimov fans may enjoy his humor and his casting of himself as a major charactor in this murder mystery set at the American Booksellers Association conference. Anne Perry's Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series and her William Monk series are both mysteries set in Victorian England and have extensive descriptions of Victorian society. Her stories do contain violence (mostly offstage) and there is frequently a sexual element to the violence. The Importance of Being Ernest, a play by Oscar Wilde, is a humorous look at Edwardian society, with romantic twists and eccentric characters.
Red Flags: Lots of maudlin Victorian poetry
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