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May 30, 2008

Debbie rated it:

A fun novel, sort of a proto-Passage, centring on two scientists, Sandra Foster (who's researching the origins of fads) and Bennett O'Reilly (who's investigating information diffusion), whose professional and personal lives converge, despite (or because of) the incompetence of Flip, an "assistant" with an "i" branded on her forehead and unusual uses for duct tape.

Many of Willis's favourite themes are here: the bewildering disconnectedness between what you want and More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Mar 16, 2007

Jill rated it:

This is a formulaic love story set in what is supposed to be a research institution. The author has clearly done a lot of reading and found a lot of trivia about fads, and drops short infobites about fads in history into the text throughout. Unfortunately the plot moves slowly, the writing is competent in a breezey way and the researchers don't appear to do any real research. As a researcher myself I was disappointed in the shallow portrayal of science. Apart from the rather unlikely ways in whi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 13, 2009

Melissa rated it:

Interesting read -- light, but full of tidbits about fads and how scientific discoveries were made that would be interesting even without the underlying story.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 10, 2011

Olivia rated it:

This one is definitely a new member of my "top ten books of all time" list. It was so well written on various levels. I loved the historical facts about fads and how it was a true science-fiction. This was one of those books that reinforced a way of thinking about our culture that I could never have articulated with so much humor and accuracy. Plus, the character Flip is...wow.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 23, 2012

Jenny rated it:

Parts of this were very funny, but like so much of Willis' work the book went on too long and the situations that were funny in the first chapters weren't so funny the third or fourth time they were repeated, almost unchanged, further on in the book.

Willis shows a fine understanding of the workplace ethos of the late 1980s, and skewers it masterfully. Her rundown of various fads of the 60s-90s is mostly spot on. But, as in Passages, the "science" that forms the core of the More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 04, 2011

Janessa rated it:

This book was interesting although there was nothing quite fantastical about it even though I found it in the science fiction/fantasy section. Because of finding it in this section for the first part of the book I was waiting for something fantastical to happen but when it never did I just got into the book and enjoyed it for what it was. What it ended up being was a book whose plot centered around two scientists, one who was working on chaos theory and the other who was studying trends and fads More...

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Aug 24, 2011

Mike rated it:

I read the first chapter or so of Bellwether in some sci-fi compilation back when it first came out, and finally got around to the actual book. I wish I'd thought to read it back then; not for its own sake, per se, but because it's a good example of her strengths and weaknesses, and would probably have gotten me to read To Say Nothing of the Dog and Doomsday Book earlier. I'd really rate this 3.5, but I'm rounding up because I do like Connie Willis quite a bit.

It's a fun book: Willi More...

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Aug 11, 2011

Barky rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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May 05, 2011

Mjhancock rated it:

My score here mostly reflects my grumpiness at the book not being what I expected. Since I found it the sci-fi section of my local library, since the covers, front and back, laud Willis' Hugo and Nebula wins, I was expecting a sci-fi. (In fact, this book was itself nominated for a Nebula, which I can't say I agree with. It's not exactly a bad book, but it's certainly not science-fiction.) Instead, what I got was part satire, part sociology (on human trends), and, for the largest part, a scre More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 25, 2011

Dawn rated it:

This slim volume is packed with amazing writing. Some will argue that it is not Science Fiction, but I think that this is the best kind of science fiction...it sneaks up on you and darn it if you don't learn something and look at the world differently when you're done reading it!

Sandra Foster works for a corporation that employs scientists. Honestly, just reading the description of the staff meetings is enough to recommend the book. They are absurdly ridiculous. Sandra's More...

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Apr 13, 2011

Lisa rated it:

Bellwether by Connie Willis is the story of a sociologist who specialises in fads and a biologist whose focus is chaos theory and monkey behavior. They work in two completely different realms but a misdelivered package and some terrible luck, mostly due to the strange and terrible office assistant Flip, they end up coming together on a joint project with a flock of sheep. Despite Flip’s continued ‘assistance’ and with the help of the assistant’s assistant, they both eventually find the answers t More...

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Apr 11, 2011

louisa added it

I wanted this to be more. Carolina says that's my problem: I'm always imagining better versions of where the premise and promise could have gone and am strangely unforgiving when the author takes a more pedestrian route. It's just that I've seen books take fire, perfect, unexpected, glorious incandescent fire. It's hard to forget that sometimes.

Bellwether is very much a book of its time, riffing on the same observations as earlier books like Coupland's Generation X. What Willis More...

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Dec 30, 2010

Kathleen added it

Bellwether, by Connie Willis, narrated by Kate reading, produced by Blackstone Audio, downloaded from audible.com.

Sandra Foster Is a sociologist working for a high-tech corporation. Her project is to find trigger points for what starts a fad. The idea of course is to make those trigger points work for the company. Because she complained bitterly about an assistant who lost her a grant by losing her application, she ended up with Flip. Of course Flip is worse. Flip misdelivers a More...

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Aug 27, 2010

Tony rated it:

Prior to picking this up, I'd read and greatly enjoyed two of Willis' other books: To Say Nothing of the Dog and The Doomsday Book. However, despite the science fiction packaging, this one is a completely different kettle of fish -- and not in a good way. It's basically a run-of-the-mill romantic comedy blended with an unsuccessful social satire. The heroine is a sociologist working for some kind of research firm (how this firm actually makes money is entirely unclear) who is attempting to isola More...

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Jul 30, 2010

Steve rated it:

Bellwether by Connie Willis is a book that is hard to categorize. (I'm always looking for something unusual to read, so for me its uniqueness is a great quality.) The plot Willis has given us primarily concerns the efforts of two scientists struggling to fill out funding forms. Of course the subtleties give us more and make for a book that is hysterical at times, but people who are looking for big, adventure stories are not going to like this one. However, fans of "The Office" or " More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 30, 2010

Valerie rated it:

It took about 100 pages into this novel about a young female scientist studying society's fads before I caught on that the characters showcase fads/trends themselves (so if you're a literal reader, like me, who is waiting for traditional plot and characters, this might help you in your approach to this book), and then it was amusing to pick out all the places where the author pokes fun at how ridiculous most trends are and our herd mentality at following them.

While the setting the auth More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

thefourthvine rated it:

This is a fun, light book that, to me, is a little too much with the romance and a little too light on the plot. The characters are absolutely awesome, though - Flip alone makes the book worth reading - and Willis's deft hand with humor (why, why oh why does she spend so much time writing things that aren't funny when she does funny this well?) makes it well worth not just reading but owning.

Plus, there are recalcitrant sheep. Who doesn't want to read a book with recalcitrant sheep?

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 23, 2008

BunWat rated it:

Here's what I love about this book. It plays on a number of levels with the notion that the world is not necessarily ordered as we suppose it to be, and that we generally don't notice because we are predisposed to seek patterns that make sense to us. But maybe what we see in the world is more about what we want and expect to see than it is about what is actually there. If that isn't science fiction I have no idea what would count as science fiction. Oh also its very funny.

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 27, 2011

Our Intrepid Heroine rated it:

I really wish Connie Willis wrote more humor because she's rather good at it. This one was much less complicated than my favorite of hers, To Say Nothing of the Dog, but it had just the right degree of silliness to tide me over.

Basic premise: Sandra, a scientist working for a company that doesn't really understand science, is thwarted by incompetent office staff and overzealous coworkers alike while trying to figure out what makes a fad catch on. Through hair bobbing, hoola hoops, flo More...

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Oct 14, 2010

Kressel rated it:

My husband was reading this while I was reading Predictably Irrational, and since it seemed like there might be some overlap (it's the fictional story of a sociologist studying fads), I thought I'd try it. Actually, it overlaps much better with The Tipping Point, and for the first half of the novel, when the protag's research is going so badly, I kept thinking, "Someone ought to give her a copy of The Tipping Point," but of course, the novel preceded The Tipping Point by about ten year More...

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Jan 28, 2009

Julia rated it:

This is one of those "comfort books" that I frequently reread. I was little surprised to realize today that Bellwether is over ten years old. Some of the trends and fads described do date it somewhat, but the big ones mentioned are the historical ones, like hair bobbing and the Hula Hoop. Almost everyone now has cell phones now. They were still enough of a novelty at the time of "Bellwether". Strangely very little else has changed. Corporate America is still changing policies More...

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Nov 11, 2008

Carol rated it:

The first time I read this, I figured I was either lost or losing my mind, but I was torn between laughter and rueful recognition. Worth reading, re-reading, and re-re-reading.

Note: Gotta love a protagonist who checks classic books out from the library regularly, even when she doesn't have time to read them, so their circulation stats stay high enough to keep them on the shelf. Even more because I like the books she checks out :)

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 20, 2010

Brandy rated it:

Part of a review posted here.

I laughed my way through this entire book. Sandra is a wonderful character and narrator. Her knowledge of trends and her resultant distaste for them coupled with her practical common sense and snarky humor made it easy for me to identify with her and get caught up in the story. She is also a little clueless and mean-spirited at times but it all comes together wonderfully. The scary thing about this book is that Willis didn't have to over exaggerate mo More...

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Dec 31, 2011

Bix rated it:

I discovered this book because Nancy Pearl recommended it highly, and I have yet to fail to enjoy any of her selections. In Bellwether, Connie Willis wields a wicked sense of humor in a story involving fads, chaos theory, sheep and one of the most ridiculous workplaces ever created. Sandy Foster is a scientist working at Hi-Tek, researching the origins of fads – including the bobbed hair craze of the 1920s. She meets fellow scientist Bennett O’Reilly by accident when she tries to return a wro More...

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Oct 04, 2010

Jared rated it:

This book is something of an odd duck. I could describe it as science fiction, even "hard" science fiction, but not in the sense that people normally use those words. Rather, this book is fiction about science, and how the scientific process works. The science in the book itself is barely science-fictional at all. Other than that, Bellwether is a screwball romantic comedy.

Connie Willis would return to this kind of sly humor later, and more successfully, in the fantastic More...

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Sep 04, 2009

Nancy rated it:

Bellwether is an absolute romp of a book. There are truths and great humor.
In the first place, Connie Willis lists fads before each chapter and tells how long they lasted, why they died and what came after. Fads include interesting historical tidbits such as Alice Blue or dance marathons during the depression. They are also fun fads such as coonskin caps and hula hoops.
The serious side of this book harbors a more serious truth. Corporate scientists and inventors are eaten up by More...

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Apr 08, 2010

Jennifer rated it:

I think I would've enjoyed this novel more if I had realized from the get-go that there wasn't going to be some strange otherworldly occurrence---I sort of held my breath for 80% of the story expecting something like that to happen but it never did. Other than my unrealized expectations, however, I got a big kick out of this story. There's no time travel or futuristic setting, but still plenty of science. There's no gripping mystery (unless you are really inspired to find the source of the bobbe More...

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Apr 03, 2009

The Flooze (Michelle M.) rated it:

Willis' Bellwether is a fluid, witty story, filled with wry and insightful commentary on the American Public.

Sandra studies fads. What triggers them? Why do people follow them? What's the new "it" thing? She hopes to find the initiation point of such phenomena, and in examining each "next big trend," she becomes increasingly disheartened with the Public. Independent thinking is something Sandra cherishes, and when she meets a scientist whose dress and behavior ma More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 11, 2011

Megan rated it:

I've read a lot of books lately that were entertaining or engrossing, but this book was the most interesting I've read in quite a while. Looking back, I can see that not a lot actually happens in the way of plot (i.e. don't expect mysterious twists or explosions, battle scenes or big romance) but it is never boring. Reading this also made me realize that I haven't read many books lately that are very... smart. It's been awhile it seems since I've encountered new ideas or critical thinking or any More...

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Jun 11, 2011

Andre rated it:

Think The Office meets Malcolm Gladwell, particularly The Tipping Point. There's a lot of factual research behind this book about various historical fads, mixed in with an amusing light romance set in a highly stereotypical office of a research company. It's all there - the miles of incomprehensible forms, the sensitivity training, the acronyms, and the intentionally unintentional humor of working with sheep, although this part probably wasn't milked for all it could have been worth. (No sheep a More...

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