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)

Time travel at its best

Best: It gets time travel right. A simple premise, simple rules. Without tryng to explain every aspect of how it works.

Worst: The story takes a solid three hours to get used to all the characters and keep them straight.

Good: The main story in the past. Character development. A memorable child named Collin. The suffering of various characters in the past story line.

Bad: Not much, the book in my opinion should have had another ten pages to give more closure, but hey sequels.

The voice actor takes getting used to, but does well after an hour or so.

Author in a paradoxical bubble

There were a few things that bugged me about this book like phones. The book was published in 2008, but in 2054 people have not improved upon the cell phone? Yes, they have video phones, but they have to look up their coworkers contact information. Why have a phone installed in a room when people should have a cell phone? This is a time when time travel is possible, but people can't get ahold of someone in their own time. I swear, the editor should have caught these issues even if the author lives in a pre-cell phone bubble.

I liked It

I got right into it and will check out other stories by this author.

Haunting Reality of Humans - Argh!

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would not recommend this to friends that have never had children, friends that appreciate more technical time travel verse, or those that get aggravated at repetition in audio content. I would recommend it to those who are into the intro-spection of human nature, like some of the content in the Hunger Games.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

It ended predictably. It was a good ending and I couldn't think of a better one, but I missed a few minutes towards the end and I did not rewind.

What does Jenny Sterlin bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I would not have had the same response to the annoying parts by 2 of the youthful elements if I had read it. The dialogue of the two youthful elements, one in the past and one in the future drove me up the wall at certain points, which is probably what the author and narrator were going for, but not to my taste (like putting pepper in beer).

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

I would enjoy this story as a movie (and would still cringe at points).

Any additional comments?

I thought the visualization details for the period in the past were great. If you wanted to prepare yourself for a Ren Festival, this is the way the do it.

A wonderful book

Oh, wow, I loved this book! A friend had recommended BLACKOUT/ALL CLEAR and I really enjoyed those books but this one really grabbed me.

Ok, time travel has never been a genre I would seek out. In this book a 21st Century historian goes back to medieval Oxfordshire and lives through some dangerous times. It's not all fun and games by any means. This is more of a historical novel than a sci-fi story and it drew me in from the start. I seriously could not put this down.

The narration was great! Very well done.

I know readers seem to either love this or hate it but I found it to be one of the best books I've read this year.

Narration falls short but great story

What did you like best about this story?

This is a terrific story that takes place in the England of the near future AND the 14th century, made possible by time travel. It's part of a series by Willis, although this one is my favorite, and can stand alone. A university student goes back to study medieval England and the trip doesn't go as planned. Meanwhile, her professor worries about her while things aren't going so well at home, either.

There are lots of laughs as well as teeth-grating suspense in the story and I highly recommend it. The whole thing is pure English, with much at the expense of Americans, so be prepared for that.

How could the performance have been better?

Ms. Sterlin's narration was not timed well. There were significant pauses between words that made the entire thing drag terribly. I listened at 1.25x speed to avoid that and it seemed to work, but I had read the book and so knew the plot. For those new to the book, I think this would be quite annoying.

Apocolyptic

I have now listened to all 4 books of the Oxford time travel series and in my opinion this was the best. It was much more focused than the others and full of surprises. Basically it deals with 2 parallell epidemics 700 years apart. An influenza epidemic in 21 st century Oxford and the plague epidemic of 1348, witnessed inadvertently by time traveller Kivrin Engle.
There are many interesting aspects to the book, including a dig of a medieval town near Oxford which unleashes the influenza epidemic.
The book is a history lesson in the Black Death as well.
There are numerous instances where Christ is interpreted as a time traveller from god whose fix and drop went wrong.
Many of the characters, especially those who are villainous, such as Mr. Gilchrist and Lady Hermione become real as described by the author. Also, she is able to make children like Agnes and teenagers like Rosemund and Collin come to life.
Mrs. Willis is able to inject humanity into all the contemps of the 14 th century despite their brutal and primitive circumstance.
Toward the end of the book the author becomes maudlin over the death of Father Roche, but otherwise this an incrdible accomplishment and does not have the excesses and repetition of Blackout and All Clear .
A tour de force which bring to life England during the black death of 1348. Kudos to Mrs. Willis

Just ok

The story often moves too slowly and drags certain events on way too long. The ending was very abrupt.

Impressive but Bleak

Impressive, but not one to read for cheering up. There are attempts to lift the mood with keystone-cop-antics, and they help some, but a story set in one time in a flu pandemic, and in another during the plague, is still not particularly light. There's a sort of comedy of errors around the time machine (called simply "the net") and sending Kivrin, and getting her back, but there's an awful lot of bleakness as well. I'd read it once before in college, and knew what to expect. Definitely one to be prepared for before reading.

There are some oddities that show up because of when it was written. It's set around 2050, but no one has cell phones, and there's no reference to email or the internet. The same story could be woven with those element and a few adjustments, but it certainly feels rather strange for those to be missing.

As for the audio version, Jenny Sterlin is mostly a fine narrator, except that she cannot do a decent American accents. She kind of gets the vowels most of the time, but cannot seem to do a strong American 'r'; the best she manages is a New Yohk 'r'. As the Americans are mostly comic relief, this kind of works, but I really hope she got a dialect coach before doing any other American accents...

#TimeTravel #Plague #Bureaucracy #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

It’s the Brit’s turn

I am sure the Brits cringe at our vernacular and accents. The incessant abbreviated/truncated words like “vid” and “corder” were off putting for me, however I got past it and was able to stay with the story. The narrator had difficulty with changing accents and character changes but for the most part made it believable. It held my attention and I enjoyed it.