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4 internautes sur 4 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile :
Well-researched, but chickens out, Janv. 1 2003
I looked forward to reading this book, as I enjoy (good) historical fiction and had previously read Geraldine Brooks' Nine Parts of Desire (which I do recommend.) I was disappointed in Year of Wonders, and I'd like to discuss why. This review contains important plot points, so if you haven't read the book, don't continue reading.This book is set in 1665; its heroine is Anna Frith, an 18 year old widow with two young sons. It is soon revealed that her husband was a miner killed in a mining accident. Anna is a servant in the household of the local Anglican priest and his wife, Elinor. As the book opens, it is clear that a) the "year of wonders" is almost over and b) Elinor is dead. Careful readers will learn in this chapter that Anna and Elinor were the bestest of friends and that Anna, despite the fact that she's a peasant in a remote English village, not only reads, but understands Latin. At this point, alarm bells started going off in my head. I'm always deeply suspicious of books that try too hard to make their historical heroines, well, heroic. Make the heroine smart, sure. Even let her have learned how to read on her own, fine - though it's unlikely that a young 17th century mother would have the time to learn and the ready access to books. But please don't make her an overevolved Rhodes scholar with modern sensibilities. Please. My pleas were not answered. Anyway, as the book progresses, it's clear that Brooks is imposing 21st century values on her characters. In addition, some very unwelcome Oprah-ization slinks in, mainly in the discussion of Anna's family, where it is revealed that Anna has an abusive father (with zero redeeming qualities) who is married to a woman, Aphra, who turns out to be bitchy, unloving, and also into witchcraft (?). On the other hand, Elinor is just as perfect as can be. She doesn't believe in social divisions. She literally looks like an angel, all wispy and with silvery hair and whatnot. She teaches Anna how to read and write and read great scholarly volumes. Apparently, Anna has plenty of time to indulge in all these scholarly pursuits. Anna, as I'll discuss later, also turns out to be pretty perfect herself. I actually laughed during Elinor's faux deathbed scene when Elinor basically congratulates both herself and Anna on becoming ever so wonderful. (The priest, Mompellion, is your average tortured artiste type. He is supposed to have chemistry with Anna. Scandalous!) Anyway, even though this is a novel of the plague, there isn't really THAT much about how horrible the plague is. Mompellion visits plague families. There's an interlude in which Anna and Elinor pluckily mine a vein so that a little Quaker orphan girl can keep the claim to the vein (Elinor and Anna are easily able to get beyond those silly 17th century prejudices about Quakers.) Anna's half-sister, Faith, is mentioned in passing about 300 pages into the book. Then she dies. Anys, a saucy herbalist chick, is hanged by panicked villagers. Boy, is Mompellion mad about that! (By the way, Anna is totally cool with Anys sleeping around, because she's moderne like that.) There are other random mentions of the village being deserted and various coping mechanism employed by the distraught villagers, but Brooks never really sells the reader on how horrible the Year of Wonders is. Rather, the Year of Wonders is more like a prep course to make Anna even more exceptional. Anna not only becomes an ace scholar, but she also becomes a terrific midwife in less than a year. After a very brief indulgence, she has the moral rectitude to primly burn Anys' poppy stash when she finds it, becuase opium is BAD. Her horrible father and horrible stepmother die horribly. Oh, she also learns to tame Mompellion's stallion, because she is just that good. Mompellion is written as an amalgamation of nobility and unexpected nuttiness. His abstinence from Elinor really doesn't make much sense, but it does mean that Anna can sleep with him without much guilt after Elinor dies. Anyway, Anna takes off at the end of the book. At this point, it seemed to me like the author sat around and thought "Hmm. I want my main character to continue her scholarly pursuits in medicine. Where can she do that? I know! Morocco!" Yes, Anna abruptly ends up as the wife to a well-regarded Arab doctor at the end of the book, where she studies in Arabic and raises her children (her new kids - her sons having died in the plague.) Wow, did that come out of nowhere. Brooks has clearly done a lot of research and the book is quite readable. But I found Anna and her friends to be too modern and too perfect, much like the protagonist of Pope Joan (another disappointing historical novel) or, dare I say it? Jean Auel's Ayla, the most perfect woman ever to exist in all prehistory.) If you want to read some decent fiction set in this period, I can recommend Slammerkin. The only diseases in that novel are venereal, though.
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Ummm....what happened to the end????????, Jui 22 2004
The mood of the novel is sad and depressing but the author does a wonderful job of creating a character that you connect with. She is human, has her own faults which she is aware of, but has an amazing amount of internal strength to accept and move on from what life has dealt her. However, this book changed halfway through and the ending was completely ridiculous. It lost that historical atmosphere to the book where you felt like you really could be reading about someone's life during 1666. By the end, I felt angry like I wasted my time since the author shortchanged her own work with a stupid ending that fits nowhere into the rest of her book. Its as though she got tired of writing her own book and just wrote anything to finish it. Don't waste your time...I hate to say that because I really did like the book until midway.
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Year of Wonders Review, Fév 10 2004
The book Year of Wonders did not grab my attention to the story of the Black Plague. The theme was emotional and depressing, which wasn't entertaining for me to read for a free reading book. The book expresses feelings toward death, love and working together through such a difficult time. By reading this book you feel Anna's emotions when those close to her, such as family and loved ones, die because of the Plague. The plot captures a unique and mind-twisting love story that is looked upon as rebellious during that time period, along with a society working together and fighting to stay alive. Families have to decide whether to stay in the town or move out, risking spread of the Plague. Any decisions would hurt those around you, and death was a common outcome. Read Year of Wonders to find out if the society works together to overcome the Plague or are families selfish about surviving this tragedy.
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great period piece, but had too many soap opera moments, Jui 24 2003
Par Un client
Geraldine Brooks' research into the period and the plague is flawless -- her details regarding food, medicine, dress, class, and religion are intriguing and flow seamlessly into her narrative. Furthermore, her characters are deliciously well-drawn.Nevertheless, the final quarter of the book reads like a melodramatic soap opera. For a novel centered on something as heart-wrenching as the devastation of a small town, the author doesn't need to resort to far-fetched plotting to keep the readers' hooked. Also, the narrator's sensibility is far too modern for 17th century England -- I forgave it initially, but by the end, it became too much...
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Year of Wonders is a promise unfulfilled, Fév 21 2003
Par Un client
While engaging in the way an ABC movie of the week is engaging (you just can't turn your head away to see what new horror is around the corner) the fundamental flaw with this book is the heroine and her journey, or more accurately, her lack of one. Brooks is operating in a modern frame of mind and narrative with Anna, which I was willing to forgive, but Anna is SO giving, and understanding, and noble that you really feel she as a character has nowhere to go - except for her faith, which she questions almost as an afterthought in several points in the book. The right way to end this book would be to have this questioning become a real crisis for Anna, and have her transformed by that crisis in some way. Instead, she quite literally rides off into the sunset away from the plague village, and even more unlikely, ends up with two daughters to replace the two sons she lost in the epidemic - all without ever really dealing with the one point - her faith - which would have made her an interesting, well-written character. What could have been a wonderful insight into the seeds of thought for the Age of Reason became a contrived happy ending. Disappointing.
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Wonderful story...truly terrible ending, Oct. 4 2002
Par Un client
As I read and continued to read this book, I was all set to give "Year of Wonders" a five star review. I have a pretty extensive knowledge of the English village of Eyam and its factual role in 17th century history. I've researched it extensively, have been to the village, and seen the very places Ms. Brooks uses as the setting of the story. In the ending, I found myself angry that she shortchanged this wonderful story so inexcusably. In reading the author's bio, it is apparent that she has an extensive amount of experience with the Middle East. But Ms. Brooks did the character of Anna Frith a grave injustice by using the epilogue to "force" that aspect of her own life into this story. I didn't even fully read the epilogue once I realized what this author had done, just skimmed to get the final facts. I closed the book's cover shaking my head in disbelief. Anna deserved a much better ending after her year of the Plague and the horrible things she had to endure. Even though I know well the history behind the first 98% of the story, that last chapter stole any credibility the book might have had for me. To be honest, I tucked the receipt which I had been using as a bookmarker at the front so that I will have it when I return the book to the store where I purchased it.
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Great Start but Disappointing Second Half, Juil 9 2002
Although the premise of this story is intriguing and the story is written in an engrossing manner, I was very disappointed with it's ending and almost felt betrayed by its totally contrived and ridiculous second half. It's really a shame that the author appears to have lost her good judgement in plot development as she had me completely committed to the story and its sympathetic protagonist, Anna, after the first page until she lost me around half way through.
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Not what I expected, Sep 5 2001
I heard about this book on NPR, and when I read the reviews on Amazon, I was almost certain I'd really like it. Well, I was wrong. The book was more about soap opera scandals, petty behavior, and predictable "trysts" than it was about the sociological impact of self-imposed isolation during the plague. I must give credit to this author's publicist, because s/he has done a wonderful job spreading the word about a mediocre book.
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Accueil Amazon
