Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague | Geraldine Brooks

Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague | Geraldine Brooks | A-

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Year of Wonders: A...

	Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague Geraldine Brooks Viking Adult, 2001 - 400 pages average customer review:based on 309 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated village, a housemaid named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer. Through Anna's eyes we follow the story of the fateful year of 1666, as she and her fellow villagers confront the spread of disease and superstition. As death reaches into every household and villagers turn from prayers to murderous witch-hunting, Anna must find the strength to confront the disintegration of her community and the lure of illicit love. As she struggles to survive and grow, a year of catastrophe becomes instead annus mirabilis, a "year of wonders."

Inspired by the true story of Eyam, a village in the rugged hill country of England, Year of Wonders is a richly detailed evocation of a singular moment in history. Written with stunning emotional intelligence and introducing "an inspiring heroine" (The Wall Street Journal), Brooks blends love and learning, loss and renewal into a spellbinding and unforgettable read.

"The novel glitters . . . A deep imaginative engagement with how people are changed by catastrophe." (The New Yorker)

"Year of Wonders is a vividly imagined and strangely consoling tale of hope in a time of despair." (O, The Oprah Magazine)

"Brooks proves a gifted storyteller as she subtly reveals how ignorance, hatred and mistrust can be as deadly as any virus. . . . Year of Wonders is itself a wonder." (People )

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Amazing ending

This book was wonderful to read, especially the ending. It tells the story of a woman, Anna Firth, who moves back and forth in society between the villagers and the decision makers during the plague year. Her observations are the heart of the book. The ending is particularly moving because all her prior beliefs about right and wrong are completely turned upside down. She must create a new sense of morality for herself in a new place and with a different religion (or lack of religion). The ending is difficult to accept, we want something else for her, we want her faith restored and in tact. The author was very brave to end the novel the way she did. I highly recommend it.

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A-

Brooks' Year of Wonders is almost a social commentary in the way it depicts the actions of people under the stress of a catastrophe such as the plague. Her prose is engagingg and haunting. Her detailed descriptions of daily life gave way to a beautiful line like this one: "The sun glinted off the serried instruments and then I could see the notes of music, molten, dripping like golden rain." The entire novel is filled to the brim with such imagery, that one can practically taste the scent the apples bring in the vividly described orchards. Everything about this book is so well-imagined. But it falters. There is a chapter-long detour about mining that seemed misplaced, and the bizarre Epilogue is sudden and grossly unbelievable. That shift in tone was uncalled for, and makes one think that it is from another book entirely. Luckily, it is short, and one can forget about it when confronted with the previous narrative. Because until that point, the characters had roundness and well-developed backstories that explained present motivations. Brooks tells of a time that, though seemingly past us, yields emotions and actions that could mirror any disaster in the modern age. Wondrous and rich, Year of Wonders is a treasure that, like a living person, stumbles, yet delivers.

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Beautifully Written, But Strange Ending

This is a beautifully written book with elegant prose. The author handles the gory details of plague accurately (I assume, I've never seen plague) and tastefully. You are struck by the horror and devastation, but not totally repulsed by the gore of so much death.

I have wondered how people who survive something like this (seeing almost all of their family and friends die) do so without serious pyschological damage. They don't. Even those who seem strong cannot, in the end, withstand the trauma of it all. Their grief leads to some very strange and out-of-character actions. I highly recommend that you put enough time aside to read the last 100 pages without interrruption because you will be rivitted. The ending is odd, and will shock you, but how do you end a book about events that were totally out of the ordinary for these people?

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enjoyable yet puzzling. . .

I loved the book, the story was riveting until the very abrupt ending. What happened? After so much detail in the first 80% of the book, did Geraldine Brooks get bored somehow and just decide she needed to finish the story immediately? If only she had taken a little time to flesh out the details of what happened between the "year" and the aftermath, she would have had a truly epic novel. Phooey!

Engaging, but not quite "perfect" read

I have visited the town of Eyam several times and well familiar with the "plague village," so I eagerly looked forward to reading this book. The story of the villagers plight is gripping and readable, but overall, the characters are lack depth and became tiresome. They wer either near-perfect, virtuous people, stoics or downright evil, nothing in between. The last 80 or so pages are outright ridiculous, even laughable with gratuitous sex and a rather unbelievable ending. Like another reviewer said, maybe the author grew bored and just wanted to finish the story. In the end, the reader really knows little about how villagers planned to begin anew once the plague had passed. Yes, this is a good story that has "entertainment" value, but don't have high expectations that this is a truly great novel .

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