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Mike's Reviews > Year of Wonders
Year of Wonders
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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)
Spoilers abound below along with a not insignificant amount of profanity:(view spoiler)
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Year of Wonders.
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Reading Progress
May 22, 2014
–
Started Reading
May 22, 2014
– Shelved
May 22, 2014
– Shelved as:
book-club
May 22, 2014
– Shelved as:
historical-fiction
May 29, 2014
– Shelved as:
reviewed
May 29, 2014
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-17 of 17 (17 new)
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Athena Shardbearer
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May 23, 2014 11:00PM
LOL. I need this picture!
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This is my favorite picture of the book:
This will never get old.
Awesome review/rant. Just, awesome.
I will continue to say this: if you compare your favorite baseball team to the fucking PLAGUE, you need a new baseball team! Go Nats.
Also, you clearly haven't read enough depressing books. I can help you change that ;)
It is not that the Mets are like the plague, just that I have become emotionally numb to their successes/failures (mostly failures). Turned out to be helpful here considering the body count that got racked up.@Kat: Thanks, the author was just too eager to pile sorrow upon sorrow on the poor characters in this book. It lost its emotional punch quite quickly and by then I was just reading the fates of the villagers in a very distant and dispassionate way making for an unengaging read.
Kit wrote: "While I enjoyed reading this book, you definitely bring up a lot of good points. :)"And as I always say: different strokes for different folks. I am glad you got more enjoyment out of it than I did, I can certainly see how it would be appealing for some folks, just not me apparently.
Khanh (Kittens, Rainbows, and Sunshine) wrote: "[spoilers removed]That sounds like 2012 for me."
Hopefully just in terms of books and not life events.
I loved this book enough that I check it out sometimes with books I haven't read so if they are awful I'll have a nice little chipper read about the plague to fall back on. I didn't feel as jarred by Michael as some other reviewers, I think because I assume most people are hiding something and he was a little too good, it made me suspicious. I think some stories should be told at least some of the time with all the gruesome truth that history says was there. I could really imagine being in that world, a little scary but then after watching the news, not much scarier than the one I live in.
April wrote: "I loved this book enough that I check it out sometimes with books I haven't read so if they are awful I'll have a nice little chipper read about the plague to fall back on. I didn't feel as jarred ..."My issues wasn't so much about the terrible situation the town found itself in, but the writing and narrative decisions. There are ways to effectively write about bleak, hopeless situations that are emotionally resonate, I just don't think the author did a good job on that front with this book.
About midway through I just felt jaded with all the terrible things that happened that each subsequent terrible thing didn't affect me. It was just "Ho-hum, another family I never got to know is dead, how ::yawn:: tragic." If the author made me stop caring about entire families being wiped out over night they screwed up somewhere along the line.
But to each their own. I am glad you enjoyed it and continue to get enjoyment out of it.
I've read it twice. If I read it again I'll try to keep in mind whether or not I care about people as individuals and have a more critical eye. I can do than on a re-reading. It makes it more interesting.
Laughing hysterically
I loved this review. Your sarcasm is witty and insightful. I laughed out loud.I thought the author's writing was moving and poignant, yet she piles on one misery after another. I read this for my book club and was so relived when I finished with it. I felt the relief I feel when I recover from a painful, stabbing migraine headache. Thank you for this review.
Oh did you make my day with this review. As I'm a lifelong Mets fan-suffering for over 50 years (with a few exceptions)...Yeah-this year is one of the worst. (and I now live near Philly-and have to listen to my friends who are Philly fans. Oy. The ending reminded me of last year's baseball season. Or FWIW-the finale of the TV show Supernatural. Taking 15 years of character development and tossing it out the window. Killing the main character (and another) in the process.....
