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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"A tour de force . . . [Willis] is one of America's finest writers."
--"The Denver Post
""This compassionate and deeply imagined novel . . . gives the reader a strong you-were-there feeling."
--"The Times-Picayune"
"[Willis has] researched Blackout so thoroughly, her readers may imagine she had access to the time machine her characters use."
"--The Seattle Times"
"A page-turning thriller . . . Willis uses detail and period language exquisitely well, creating an engaging, exciting tale."
"--Publishers Weekly"
Book Description
A Second World War time-travel masterpiece.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Loving alternate and speculative fiction and being a historian by education, I seized on this book: time travel, history, an ensemble cast, a promise of something going spectacularly wrong. Yum!
The first chapter didn't seem to get going, but it set up a number of scenarios and characters, so let's be patient, I thought. Half-way through my patience was pretty thin, but I struggled to the end.
Ms Willis has done intense, detailed research; that shows. All the time. And that's the big problem. She lists and describes things (sometimes inaccurately), but doesn't use them to drive the narrative.
Oh, yes, the narrative. Three main characters, who have little gumption and less intelligence, bumble around pointlessly. Entry requirements to Oxford colleges have obviously declined by 2060. Although a bit wet (as 1940s speech would have it) when we first meet them, I did expect the characters to change and grow as they faced and dealt with a difficult environment. But they still hadn't sharpened up or learnt anything by the end of the book.
Tension was injected in drips and drops, not racheted up to a crisis point. You knew the three would meet - that was the only plot coherence in a book that sorely needed it.
I couldn't believe the abrupt non-end. I felt angry and cheated. I regret buying this book and will not be shelling out a single penny for any other of her books.
The first chapter didn't seem to get going, but it set up a number of scenarios and characters, so let's be patient, I thought. Half-way through my patience was pretty thin, but I struggled to the end.
Ms Willis has done intense, detailed research; that shows. All the time. And that's the big problem. She lists and describes things (sometimes inaccurately), but doesn't use them to drive the narrative.
Oh, yes, the narrative. Three main characters, who have little gumption and less intelligence, bumble around pointlessly. Entry requirements to Oxford colleges have obviously declined by 2060. Although a bit wet (as 1940s speech would have it) when we first meet them, I did expect the characters to change and grow as they faced and dealt with a difficult environment. But they still hadn't sharpened up or learnt anything by the end of the book.
Tension was injected in drips and drops, not racheted up to a crisis point. You knew the three would meet - that was the only plot coherence in a book that sorely needed it.
I couldn't believe the abrupt non-end. I felt angry and cheated. I regret buying this book and will not be shelling out a single penny for any other of her books.
24 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I am a great fan of Connie Willis, and Doomsday Book has to be my favorite book of all time, so I'm sad that I'm not giving this book a five star review. There are a number of problems. Firstly it is only half a book. It ends at a sort of cliff hanger point and won't be completed until volume 2 All Clear comes out in the Autumn. This would be OK but actually not much happens in this (quite long) first half. The story really doesn't move on much. Secondly the book suffers from the kind of anachronisms and cultural errors that were also present in Doomsday Book (we all remember the mufflers!) Doomsday Book had a gripping enough story line to allow one to ignore these - this book, I'm afraid, hasn't.
Also (and I know this is not the authors fault) what on earth is going on on the cover? Why are there a squadron of American B17's on the cover of a book set in the Blitz (before America entered the war) and why are they bombing London? Also, if you read the notes at the back St. Paul's - which is regularly referred to in the text of the book - is called St. Patrick's! Oh dear.
Also (and I know this is not the authors fault) what on earth is going on on the cover? Why are there a squadron of American B17's on the cover of a book set in the Blitz (before America entered the war) and why are they bombing London? Also, if you read the notes at the back St. Paul's - which is regularly referred to in the text of the book - is called St. Patrick's! Oh dear.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I really did want to love it - Connie Willis is a talented writer with a splendid imagination. However, the book(s) is/are full of howlers - Mary is told to get stretchers from Edgware and two inches down the page refers to the bandages she has to get. Has the publisher actually got an editor?
Worse, though, are all the little details - the Underground lines which didn't exist, the use of Americans terms ( a "candy butcher" on a train from Warwickshire to London in 1940?), the sloppy use of American language (June fourth) alternating with British terms, the characters referring to "V-1" bombs - how did they know they were the first when they didn't know there would be V-2s? That's right - they didn't.
It's depressing to see reviews quoted as praising her superb accuracy, because it just isn't there. I don't really understand why she sets books in England - why must time-travellers go from Oxford in 2060 rather than, say, Harvard? She would save herself - and poor British readers - so much trouble.
I like the characters. The concept is intriguing, and I don't object to the leisurely pace. But I find myself thrown out of the story so often it's uncomfortable to read. A fanfic author would get a friend to "Brit-pick" a story in which a British setting is important. I so wish Ms Willis had done the same.
Worse, though, are all the little details - the Underground lines which didn't exist, the use of Americans terms ( a "candy butcher" on a train from Warwickshire to London in 1940?), the sloppy use of American language (June fourth) alternating with British terms, the characters referring to "V-1" bombs - how did they know they were the first when they didn't know there would be V-2s? That's right - they didn't.
It's depressing to see reviews quoted as praising her superb accuracy, because it just isn't there. I don't really understand why she sets books in England - why must time-travellers go from Oxford in 2060 rather than, say, Harvard? She would save herself - and poor British readers - so much trouble.
I like the characters. The concept is intriguing, and I don't object to the leisurely pace. But I find myself thrown out of the story so often it's uncomfortable to read. A fanfic author would get a friend to "Brit-pick" a story in which a British setting is important. I so wish Ms Willis had done the same.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Dreadful at best I'm afraid
I hate to knock books or authors, but this one is an absolute stinker. It's set in Oxford 2060 for no good reason since it doesn't matter to the story. Read more
Published 1 month ago by P. W. H. Bradley
Must try harder..........
As my teachers sometimes said at school! An interesting premise, although I personally doubt that if time travel had become the frequent possibility that Connie Willis presents by... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Luke Bluewolf
Gripping!
I simply loved this book - in my opinion it's so far the best of Willis' time travel series. It took me exactly three days to finish, though I must admit that reading it while... Read more
Published 4 months ago by S. Chetrit
A dud
This book is a miss mash of sic fi and half understood WW2 history. The story lines are almost unlinked and very tedious. The worst element though is that it is not a book at all. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Rick Stroud
Picks up after a very slow start
Quite a strange read initially; the author doesn't really seem to want to describe Oxford at all, so why set the beginning of the book there? Read more
Published 5 months ago by jambox
Gripping, but some howlers
I was three quarters through this book when I looked the reviews on this site and noted some of the complaints about the mistakes in this book. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mr. Keith Jones
alive and kicking
I received the book Blackout as a gift, so far the story line is really good written, its from the future 2060; a group of people goes back into time........... Read more
Published 6 months ago by alive and kicking
Gripping, but a little confused and shallow in places
This book takes a while to get going, and has an interesting premise at its heart - whether time travellers can influence the course of history. Read more
Published 7 months ago by W. R. Brook
Science not Magic!
Loved The Doomsday Book and have been looking for more to no avail until now. This is half The story, The other half is available in America but not here unfortunately, so am still... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Granny
Fascinating story
Imagine a world, sometime in the future when time travel is a reality and is used as a tool by universities to study the past. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Book Addict
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