Doomsday Book

By: Connie Willis

Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin

Length: 26 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

One of the most respected and awarded of all contemporary science-fiction writers, Connie Willis repeatedly amazes her many admiring fans with her ability to create vivid characters in unusual situations. With Doomsday Book, she takes listeners on a thrilling trip through time to discover the things that make us most human.

For Oxford student Kivrin, traveling back to the 14th century is more than the culmination of her studies - it's the chance for a wonderful adventure. For Dunworthy, her mentor, it is cause for intense worry about the thousands of things that could go wrong. When an accident leaves Kivrin trapped in one of the deadliest eras in human history, the two find themselves in equally gripping - and oddly connected - struggles to survive.

Deftly juggling stories from the 14th and 21st centuries, Willis provides thrilling action - as well as an insightful examination of the things that connect human beings to each other.

©1992 Connie Willis (P)2000 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

• Hugo Award, Best Novel, 1993
• Nebula Award, Best Novel, 1992

"Ms. Willis displays impressive control of her material; virtually every detail introduced in the early chapters is made to pay off as the separate threads of the story are brought together." (The New York Times Book Review)
"A stunning novel that encompasses both suffering and hope....The best work yet from one of science fiction's best writers." (The Denver Post)

Great listen!

I really enjoyed this book. The author did a fine job switching from life in the future (2056, I believe), with time travel to the middle ages. The narrator made the characters quite believable.

Good concept. Drags on a bit.

Overall I enjoyed this book, but it did get bogged down at times. It is an interesting and personal insight into a dark period of history and the people who lived through it. You need to wade through some repetition and waffle at times, but if you can make it I thought it was worthwhile.

For science fiction this was only so-so.

There were two features that detracted:1 the level of detail and repetition were tiresome, very! 2 the character of Colin was annoying even irritating, really!
The premise was interesting and if I ever wanted to know what the Black Plague was like this sure conveyed it.
Helpful editing would easily reduced this book by half or more without losing any of it’s good qualities. Just my opinion

One of my favorite books ever

I liked this book so much that I got two other books from the same author: "To Say Nothing of the Dog," and "Blackout." The narration is excellent, and I would be happy to get another book by the same narrator.

Absolutely Wonderful

This is a new writer for me, and I wish I had discovered her earlier. This was an interesting, exciting tale in which the characters were not only real but entertaining! I enjoyed every second of the listen. The narrater was terrific - the various characters had their own accent and tone. Again, wish I'd discovered Ms. Willis sooner.

Read this book,

But don't bother with Ms. Sterlin's ploddingly slow interpretation. I loved this book when I read it years ago. Unfortunately, Jenny Sterlin reads as if it's the phone book and she's bored witless. Listening to her l.o.n.g pauses between words just puts me to sleep. Yawn.

Sickening but Excellent!

I learnt much about the Black Death from this work, and often felt quite sickened but informed. An entertaining read, with the time-travel theme similar to that of "To Say Nothing of the Dog", which I also enjoyed.

One easily relates to each character, in typical Connie Willis style.

My heart bled for the cow!!!!!

Excellent narration. I loved the British accent, and I love lengthy, quality books from Audible.

Loved it!

It’s official— I love Connie Willis’s writing style. Something about it just resonates with me. I first read To Say Nothing of the Dog, which is a light and delightful confection of a time travel comedy, but somehow Connie made this poignant novel about a very dark time in human history also a delightful read??? The balance she is able to strike between comedy and tragedy, hope and despair, is exquisite. I didn’t find the repetition in the book to be tedious, but perhaps it’s because I’ve realized that repeated statements or concepts are usually important to the twists at the end or bringing home a major theme/element of symbolism. Stellar reader, but some listeners may want to increase the speed.

Decent read, just twice as long as it needs to be

The overall story was good, I can see why others liked it. But much of the stories in both timelines simply dragged on and on and on.... That said, many of the characters were likable, their motivations were mostly clear, and the ending was satisfying. Just be prepared to be somewhat bored in the middle...

Repetitive

Any additional comments?

If you can tolerate a lot of repetitiveness, you will enjoy this book. The listen was good, but if I heard, "Something's wrong" once, I heard it 100 times. I found myself shouting "I know, I get it"! The story was enjoyable, but the author drug it out, which made it seem that much more lengthy.

The Narrator did an excellent job, which is the only reason I persevered to the end.