578 pages
English language
Published Nov. 10, 1993 by Bantam Books.
Somewhere in the future, ordinary history students must travel back in time as part of their university degree. An award-winning best-seller in the United States, this is the first of Connie Willis' brilliant Oxford trilogy.Kivrin knows everything about the Middle Ages - she's read all the books. She knows it's dangerous: cutthroats in the woods, witch hunts, cholera, and millions dying in the plague. For a young historian, it's fascinating.When Kivrin's tutors in Oxford's history lab finally agree to send her on an on-site study trip, she jumps at the chance to observe medieval life first-hand. But a crisis that strangely links the past and future leaves her stranded in the most deadly and terrifying era in human history, face to face with the heart-rending reality behind the statistics. And while she fights for her own life, Kivrin finds she has become an unlikely angel of hope in this dark …
Somewhere in the future, ordinary history students must travel back in time as part of their university degree. An award-winning best-seller in the United States, this is the first of Connie Willis' brilliant Oxford trilogy.Kivrin knows everything about the Middle Ages - she's read all the books. She knows it's dangerous: cutthroats in the woods, witch hunts, cholera, and millions dying in the plague. For a young historian, it's fascinating.When Kivrin's tutors in Oxford's history lab finally agree to send her on an on-site study trip, she jumps at the chance to observe medieval life first-hand. But a crisis that strangely links the past and future leaves her stranded in the most deadly and terrifying era in human history, face to face with the heart-rending reality behind the statistics. And while she fights for her own life, Kivrin finds she has become an unlikely angel of hope in this dark time.Five years in the writing, Doomsday Book is a storytelling triumph. Connie Willis draws upon her understanding of the universalities of human nature to explore the timeless issues of evil, suffering and the indomitable will of the human spirit.
I was not prepared for the grief and stress and loss in this! Sorry to say that her characterization in 1991 of how Americans would behave when confronted with health quarantines is exactly spot on.
I loved it. It was no surprise that I enjoyed a winner of both the Nebula and the Hugo awards. I was surprised that I connected with the characters and the world in this story more than any fiction I've read in the last couple of years.
In this world, the history department of Oxford has access to a time machine that they use to study the past. The way the machine works, they cannot make any significant changes to the path of time or the people they interact with.
Both the "present" day timeline, in the near-future 21st century, and the 14th century timeline, experience epidemics. I didn't realize I was reading a plague book when I started. I'm not sure I would have sought it out had I known, because COVID is enough plague for right now.
I'm looking forward to continuing the series ("The Oxford Time Travel") …
I loved it. It was no surprise that I enjoyed a winner of both the Nebula and the Hugo awards. I was surprised that I connected with the characters and the world in this story more than any fiction I've read in the last couple of years.
In this world, the history department of Oxford has access to a time machine that they use to study the past. The way the machine works, they cannot make any significant changes to the path of time or the people they interact with.
Both the "present" day timeline, in the near-future 21st century, and the 14th century timeline, experience epidemics. I didn't realize I was reading a plague book when I started. I'm not sure I would have sought it out had I known, because COVID is enough plague for right now.
I'm looking forward to continuing the series ("The Oxford Time Travel") with To Say Nothing of the Dog.
– originally written 2021-06-30
This could have been, should have been, a much shorter book. I do like books with a languorous pace but this one was just too repetitive and it was too repetitive. Nothing would have suffered if a third had been excised.
Time travelers from our future competently deal with a pandemic in their time while people from our past deal horribly with one.
першу половину (аудіо)книжки вагався, чи не покинути... другу — ковтав сльози. в підсумку — добра класична фантастична проза; не кожному «зайде», але дайте шанс, не полишайте на половині.
3.25 This book was a bit of a slog fo me and not only because of its length. It builds up momentum very slowly and spends a lot of time on university infighting / medieval family drama in its first half of parallel plots. Both of those feel realistic, but at the same time more than a little tedious.
The depiction of the epidemic striking 2050ies Oxford is very realistic in its social repercussions, but incredibly quaint and unbelievable in its technological features. It's a new virus, but the vaccine is available within weeks, but the (picture) telephone system breaks down almost immediately. It does feel more like 1950ies at times. The author does manage to convey a properly British feel most of the times, but I cannot help think it was an outdated feel even at publication.
The medieval setting is a bit more ambiguous. While the characters feel …
3.25 This book was a bit of a slog fo me and not only because of its length. It builds up momentum very slowly and spends a lot of time on university infighting / medieval family drama in its first half of parallel plots. Both of those feel realistic, but at the same time more than a little tedious.
The depiction of the epidemic striking 2050ies Oxford is very realistic in its social repercussions, but incredibly quaint and unbelievable in its technological features. It's a new virus, but the vaccine is available within weeks, but the (picture) telephone system breaks down almost immediately. It does feel more like 1950ies at times. The author does manage to convey a properly British feel most of the times, but I cannot help think it was an outdated feel even at publication.
The medieval setting is a bit more ambiguous. While the characters feel real, the constant fear of being burnt at the stake doesn't - though that might be a case of really stupid historians, even if it does beggar belief. Not all details feel appropriate, but overall there is some real effort at verisimillitude.
Why then the rather low rating? Nothing to do with the work itself, but when the blurb spoils the central twist (occuring after more than two thirds of the book) it is hard to get excited in the first part. The second part not only picks up in pacing, but also feels far less scripted. It would be an easy 4.25, but with all that has gone on before (including the spoiler) I can't go further than 3.25.
Zeitreiseroman mit gleich ZWEI Seuchen, eine in jedem Strang der Geschichte! Obwohl das Buch schon 1992 erschienen ist, steht eigentlich alles über Corona drin: Klopapiermangel, Schutzkleidung wird knapp, idiotische Erklärungsversuche und so weiter. Die Zeitreiseerzählung wird dadurch verschönert, dass (wie auch schon in #2 der Serie) die Arbeitswelt voll ist mit Bürokratie, unerreichbar verreisten Kollegen, fehlenden Unterschriften auf den zahlreichen Formularen, immer müssen siebzehn Dinge gleichzeitig erledigt werden, von denen drei unmöglich und zehn sinnlos sind, das Telefon funktioniert schlecht, Backups werden vergessen, alles erfreulich realistisch. Niemand kann jemals einfach so von A nach B gehen, es kommen immer Scharen von Leuten dazwischen, die dringend irgendwas wollen.
As my first foray into books by Connie Willis, I am sold. This book was incredible and, in hindsight, well deserving of the awards it has earned. I like how real the characters were, including the ones I hated. The plot kept me glued to the story and there is some clever foreshadowing and misdirection going on that kept me guessing what was going to happen all the way to the end. I highly recommend this book and will look forward to reading her other time travel books.
Check out my blog for my full review: strakul.blogspot.com/2020/02/book-review-doomsday-book-by-connie.html
This was simply outstanding. Emotional, compassionate, insightful, intelligent, thoughtful... you get the point. If you have not read it, I recommend you do. For me, I will try another by this wonderful writer from Greeley, Colorado.
I totally get the people who think it was boring, but for me, the tension was so high that I raced through this book. I actually think Willis was really effective at creating the feeling of unending labor that would be life during an epidemic: the monotony of small, unglamorous tasks; then the terror of death; then repetition of it all. And I liked all of the characters and the style enough to care about them through it all. It's gutting, though. Definitely gutting. To me, definitely worth the ride.
But if you've read a ways into it and you find yourself bored, put the book down. It's not for you.
While it employs the same time travel mechanism and backstory as To Say Nothing Of The Dog, this book is still very different in almost every other way. Much less light-hearted, for one, and with a solid B plot in the present time. Thoroughly enjoyed it, again.
Ohhhh my god this was SUCH a good read. It got recommended to me by narrative muse and I'm so glad it did...
The writing is just so enthralling and I got so attached to so many characters and the last portion left me in so many tears, I'm so emotional but so happy to have read this at the same time
Not everybody dies, Superb ending!
PLEASE remind me to write a review!
Really enjoyed this book. Loved the voice. I feel like the story dragged a bit in the middle, but damn, did it finish strong. Moving on to the next in the series pronto.
