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Title: Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks ISBN: 0-14-200143-0 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 30 April, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.12 (178 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Superb piece of work!
Comment: Geraldine Brooks' Year of Wonders is a superb novel. It's an intelligent, engaging, emotional read. Anna Firth is a survivor, in many ways. She survives the plague, which utterly decimates her village. When the plague arrives, she has already lived through various adversities. Her father abused her and her husband died in a mining accident, left her a widow with two young children at the age of eighteen. As disease rips through her village, Anna works with the minister's wife, trying to provide solace and comfort to the rest of the village. The plague is not the only killer in these times -- hatred, jealousy and prejudice have destroyed the lives of the townspeople. The unnerving experience makes Anna a stronger person. The aforementioned statement may sound trite, but said statement is the overall essence of this novel -- and it works. There are parts of the story that literally had me in tears. I cannot recommend Year of Wonders enough. It is a superb, beautiful and compelling read!
Rating: 5
Summary: Well Read Book of Wonders!
Comment: "Year of Wonders", by Geraldine Brooks. Audio Cassette version read by Josephine Bailey, Books on Tape/Penguin Putnam, Inc. Book Number 5708
Set in England, in1665-1666, this book recounts in vivid detail the effects of the plague on a little village whose main industry is lead mining. On one level, it is entirely too detailed account of how so many people sickened and died from the plague, spread by rodents and their fleas. On another level, it is a love story of the village minister and his wife, Eleanor. On a third level, it is a story of the achievements of the young housemaid, Anna, who becomes the central character recoding the events of the "Year of Wonders".
The minister's wife, Eleanor, recognizes the intellectual ability of the recently widowed Anna, and begins to teach her reading and writing. Anna's husband had died in a lead mine cave-in. The young minister, who takes the place of the older Puritan cleric, preaches a sermon which causes the village population to quarantine themselves after they discover they are infected with plague. During this year of quarantine, Anna, the housewife, grows from a simple village girl, (who suffered the loss of husband and then her two sons), into an established mid-wife, with a knowledge of medicinal herbs, the ability to ease both child birth and the birthing of lambs, and a the ability to understand the motives of so many of her neighbors.
In some ways, this book is too gory: the details of the birthing of both lambs and children are far too vivid. The details of the death of Anna's father, as punishment for cheating his neighbors when he dug the graves for the dead, are too vivid. And, the attempt to drown the newborn daughter of Lady Bradford is described too vividly. Some of this I ascribe to the ability of the reader, Josephine Bailey, whose skill in making you see and feel the scene is a wonder in itself. Ms. Bailey, the reader for the audio book, has a wide vocal range, so that you can almost hear the preacher exhorting the villagers to establish their self-imposed quarantine. I enjoyed the book as I commuted around I-495, the ring road around Boston.
Rating: 5
Summary: Outstanding Historical Fiction
Comment: Since I was young I have always loved historical fiction and this book is one of the best I have ever read. Brooks creates an engrossing and enthralling world through the eyes of maid Anna Frith as she sees her rural english village ravaged by the plague. While some scenes are rather graphic about what the plague actually does to your body, they were done tastefully and in a way that is not meant to disgust, but simply to inform the reader. The plot is excelent, both interesting and well written. My one slight complaint is the ending which seems a bit unbelievable, but with the greatness of the rest of the novel, it is easily compenstated for.
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Title: The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory ISBN: 0743227441 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 04 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress : A Novel by Dai Sijie ISBN: 0385722206 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 29 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: Nine Parts of Desire : The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Geraldine Brooks ISBN: 0385475772 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 01 December, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Bel Canto: A Novel by Ann Patchett ISBN: 0060934417 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 16 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd ISBN: 0142001740 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 28 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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