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Year of Wonders

Geraldine Brooks

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Genre

Genre - December 2016 - Ancillary Justice
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last updated Jan 13, 2017 11:18AM

Genre - February 2016 - Whatever Science Fiction Books You Want to Pick Up
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last updated Dec 17, 2016 04:13PM

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What Members Thought

Aug 20, 2015 Susanna - Censored by GoodReads rated it really liked it

This is quite a first novel.

5 likes · Like · see review

Jul 14, 2023 Nadine in California rated it liked it

This was close to a 5 star book for me, up until the very end, when the author ruined it by taking a leap in storyline that I can't help but attribute to commercialism (view spoiler). Why else take a story that had such perfect emotional pitch up to that point and throw in a cheap monkey wrench. What started out as a terrific crisis of conscience elemen ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 06, 2014 Karen Michele Burns rated it really liked it

I was about halfway through Year of Wonders when I remembered that it was Geraldine Brooks’ first novel. This was somewhat hard to believe, because it is quite well written. Her descriptions of both the horrific plague juxtaposed with the beauty of the natural world along with strong characterizations were above the level of many debut novels. I have read all of her other novels and have wanted to go back and complete this one for a long time. The ending has been debated in other Goodreads revie ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Oct 07, 2013 Rachel rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, classics, feminism, historical-fiction

I think this would be a 3.5 from me. It was so well-written and so intense that I was swept away by the description of a small village quarantined by the plague. But then it changed and the change, while still enjoyable and intense, wasn't believable to me. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Nov 21, 2007 Sera rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, own

This is an excellent book about the plague. It's a fast, gripping read. I really enjoyed it, and I would definitely read another book by this author again. ...more

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Nov 13, 2010 Janice (JG) rated it really liked it

The only other novel I'd read of Geraldine Brooks was Caleb's Crossing, which was historically interesting and not much more. Then I read Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women by Brooks, which was so revelatory and personal I thought ah, this is her true calling -- as a journalist and documentarian. So I was reluctant to pick up Year of Wonders, fearing this novel would fall short after reading Nine Parts of Desire and after remembering the mediocrity of Caleb's Crossing. I'm s ...more

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Mar 16, 2021 Lori rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: zy-own, modern-history, britain, zy-calibre, fiction, literature, historical, 17th-century, z-recommended, z-read-2021

Very well written and historically accurate. It was emotionally difficult to read because you know at the beginning many of the characters are going to die, so each chapter has more death. Brooks writes well enough that it's worth reading. I have some problems with the end, particularly the epilogue. There are several major plot events in the last chapter, at least 2 of which are totally unexpected. I think it's too many too close together at the end. If Brooks could have made them a bit sooner ...more

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May 23, 2011 Erika rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction-general

So this turned out to be an excellent book. The narrator's voice is not convincing, and the ending is implausible, but the premise of the novel (an English village in the 1600s struck by plague and closes its doors, no one in, no one out, for the plague to run its course) is apparently historical fact, and the bulk of the work is engaging and insightful. Camus is the master, but it is always worth reading other people's consideration of what happens to individual and collective psyche and behavi ...more

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Apr 17, 2023 Pat rated it it was amazing

Shelves: giveaways, favorites

I started this book knowing very little about it and ending up really liking it. The writing is first rate. The style and setting reminded me a bit of the books of Thomas hardy.
Like Hardy, it takes gives a very believable image of village life and tragic events with characters that feel very real.

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Feb 12, 2010 Julie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2010, historical-fiction

Good book but I thought there wasn't anything really great to make it stand out among other plague books I've read. If I had never read a book about a plague, I would probably have found it more interesting and rated it higher. ...more

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Nov 26, 2020 Heather(Gibby) rated it it was amazing

Once again a masterful read from Geraldine Brooks!

I don't know if it is a little perverse or not, but I seem to be reading quite a few plague books while riding out this pandemic. ...more

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