Dunno if this belongs here, in IMHO, or even the pit. But here we go…
I picked this book up because my wisdom teeth are being yanked out on August 2nd (tomorrow) and I figured I’d better have some reading material around the house to distract myself from the pain.
I just didn’t expect that the book would double as an anaesthetic and sporific…
Jumping jesus on a POGO STICK!! I’m 159 pages and 10 chapters in, and NOTHING HAS HAPPENED! I’m serious! The most significant event thus far in the book has been a narrow escape through a time portal from the scolding clutches of an eccentric old harridan. OHHHH, how exciting!
Please, please tell me this book gets better. I’m going to literally have the experience of pulling teeth tomorrow, and I am worried that it will seem pleasant in comparison!
I read Bellweather and though it was tolerable. My friend said that The Doomsday Book sucked. This book reminds me of an American manga I once read called Steam Detectives. It’s pure mushy, girly, soap-opera in a Victorian setting. Every guy in the book thus far is a complete airheaded moron, either by nature or temporary bad luck. The major plot point revolves around an excruciatingly cute kitten. I’m tempted to take the female characters and use them to write on, they’re so paper-thin. Glah! Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the bookstore!! Bag Of Bones was better than this!!
-Ben
I lovedTo Say Nothing of the Dog. Also Doomsday Book. Also Connie Willis’ most recent book Passage. But if she’s not your cup of tea, I guess you’d better bring something else with you to the dentist.
The book doesn’t get any better, but I liked it anyway.
I picked it up while grazing through my friendly neighborhood library, so even if it was a stinker, I wasn’t out anything. I thought it was a pretty good story. Not the best time travel tale ever, but good charactizations.
-Rue.
For a quick, easy read that’ll get your mind off the pain, I’d recommend Sick Puppy by Carl Hiassen. (I think that’s the right spelling). It’s very funny and off-beat, and goes quickly.
True, up to the the point under discussion not much has really happened yet, but I found the trip quite enjoyable anyway.
I’ll keep it vague for the sake of those who haven’t read the book, but I can’t continue my reassurance with out putting in a SPOILER WARNING, just for formality’s sake.
Now that they’re firmly settled in Victorian England, it will pick up–you know what’s going on, and part of the fun is watching the main characters, who don’t.
Eventually the ‘road trip’ gets resolved, at which point things stop being predictable.
I would advise you to keep reading, myself. If only for the bits about Victorian furniture and decorative aesthetics, which are howlers.
Hazel, and anybody else: Is Passage good enough to merit buying the hardcover? Or should I wait for paperback?
I did not enjoy Passage as much as The Doomsday Book, Bellwether* or To Say Nothing of the Dog, but I still am glad I went ahead and got it in hardcover. It’s almost impossible to discuss without slipping in a spoiler, but I will say that if you like books with a lot of layers of symbolism, you definitely will like this one.
[sub]* pet peeve: there is no ‘a’ in “bellwether.”
I read some more last night and go past the “road trip” as Grandfather Trout so accurately put it, and it’s definitely gotten less monotonous. A few things actually are happening. I think I’m probably not getting a lot of the humor, which seems to revolve around the sillyness of Victorian customs. This is probably going to ensure I don’t enjoy the book much. Ah well. An uncultured lout, I am…
Have you read Three Men in a Boat? Not only is it one of the funniest books ever written in English, but it is in the background a lot in To Say Nothing of the Dog. Which I enjoyed. A lot.
Go get yourself Alan Folsom’s The Day After Tomorrow. Best damn book I’ve ever read, couldn’t put it down and skipped school pretending I was sick simply so I could keep reading it.
