Rarely has a book so captivated and then disappointed me with such a 180 turn to what I called utter "dreckage". Year of Wonders managed to do this, infortunately.In order to review, I have to break the book up between pages so that you can see where the trainwreck happened for me, and why I'm so PO'ed I could almost cry....REVIEW FOR PAGES 1-255Rating: 5 stars (I'd give it 10 stars if Goodreads had that designation, but since 5 stars means it was amazing, then 5 stars it is)Year of Wonders: Pag...

Wow! This one is a solid Wow. Love the voice most of all. It captures the time period just enough as to not overpower the prose and yet enough to totally immerse me in the Fictive Dream. The point of view character is in first person and mostly told in narrative and not in scene. Which doesn’t matter because of the great voice in the prose that I clung to like a sailor, months at sea on a life raft desperate for water. I couldn’t get enough of this book that ticks all the boxes for me a great hi...

Year of Wonder offers a you-are-there account of the plague year of 1666 in the English countryside, seen through the eyes of Anna Frith, a young maid, widowed with two young boys.Geraldine Brooks - image from Mondoweiss The inspiration for the story is the actual village of Eyam, in Derbyshire. After it was clear that the plague had set up shop in their village, the residents elected to voluntarily quarantine themselves for the duration. Eyam is the only locale known to have taken on such a sel...

A lot of people have complained about this book being slow, but I found it beautifully paced for what it was about--after all, the title is "Year of Wonders," which kind of sets up an expectation and timeframe right away. The pace helped set up a world, a time when things moved more slowly, when people were more thoughtful, when people paid attention to the seasons and nature. This is a beautifully narrated, incredibly seamless (for the amount of research that must have been put into to it, it r...

I would have given this a higher rating if not for the strange ending.

I'm still reading the novel and must admit it's really gripped me. The novel presents the atmosphere in a 17th century remote English village during the Plague, but not only, it describes a small rural community, the beginnings of mining, witch hunting and superstitions, all of which ultimately lead to dramatic events. Also, the language is exeptionally powerful, you do not read it as a historical novel written in modern times. I did enjoy reading the novel as it's always interesting to observe

Update: Mar 29/13--I don't know why I did it, but the very fact that I did it (finished this book) was going to lead me to up it to three stars. But now that I've done it I'M TAKING THIS DOWN TO ONE STAR -- HOLY MOLY AND GOLLY GEE WILLIKERS BUT I AM P.O.'d AT THIS BOOK. None of the last 50pp - new character development COMPLETELY in opposition and nonsensical to anything that went before, new sub-plots suggested and followed - were either necessary or sensible. ALL of it was entirely a contrivan...

Year of Wonders tells the story of Anna, a servant to a pastor, and how she emotionally and physically survives the plague while the majority of her village falls ill around her.I was enthralled. I listened to the audiobook on my daily commute and it was fantastic.You get the very real drama of life in a small village mixed with the the despair that must have accompanied the plague. There's finger-pointing, people taking advantage of other's need and, above all, the need to rationalize why all o...

I have to say that I liked this book. But, I was greatly disappointed in it. I came to the book knowing of the sacrifice of that village and knowing, too, that when people sacrifice in such a way they are abundantly blessed by God. Unfortunately, the latter was completely missing in this book. It is easy to be an onlooker to suffering and assume that you’ve seen the injustice and the loss and the pain and that there is nothing else to see. This is not only completely at odds with everything I be...

I'd like to entitle this review How I Wish I Liked Geraldine Brooks More and subtitle it (for dramatic effect) How I Narrowly Escaped the Plague.True story: Last year, right before Labor Day here in the States, our dog became somewhat lethargic and had swelling around his neck. And, though it was hot and the end of August, I was, strangely enough, simultaneously experiencing a sore throat and swollen lymph nodes.It was the Thursday before the Monday Labor Day holiday (naturally) when I took in o...

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks is a debut novel and an historical fiction account of the village of Eyam in Derbyshire, England during an outbreak of the bubonic plague in 1665. The outbreak of the plague was thought to be from a bolt of material that had been ordered by the village tailor from London. It was thought that the material had been contaminated with infected fleas which in turn led to the outbreak of the plague in the village claiming more than half of the villagers within a yea...

This is a book about the bubonic plague so I am basically expected this by the end:Spoilers abound below along with a not insignificant amount of profanity:(view spoiler)[So, expecting this book to be bleak, I shunted all of the emotions I anticipated feeling into the area of my heart where I keep my New York Mets fandom. You know, these guys:Sufficed to say their years of incompetence and disappointment have formed a nice level of scar tissue over that part of my metaphorical heart. So whatever...

"Good yield does not come without suffering, it does not come without struggle, and toil, and, yes, loss. Each one of you has cried for the crop blighted by drought or pest. Cried, as you did what you knew you must, and ploughed each plant under, so that the soil could be renewed in the hope of the better season coming. Cry now, my friends, but hope, also! For a better season will follow this time of Plague, if only we trust in God to perform his wonders!" Perhaps only the deeply religious or th...