# New Connie Willis novel: Blackout **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 1, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245 "2010-02-01T15:30:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245/21 "2010-02-26T16:29:43Z")
There was something… up about him. I wondered if he was also the hospital guy, because of his weird reaction to what whatshisface said, but it’s a pain on the Kindle to flip back for a name. He was supposedly writing ladies’ tea party articles for some stupid newspaper… but he locked them up, like, with two keys. And he was VERY concerned about not missing the deadlines for those local papers. And if he’s the same guy as Mike met in the hospital, he got a funny look on his face when Mike asked him if he’d be going back to his old job. A historian? A spy? An intelligence officer? ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245/22 "2010-02-26T18:10:00Z")
At first I assumed he was a historian, but then he was writing fictional articles for the newspaper, meant to mislead the Germans, to go along with the fictional tanks. So I thought that was what he was locking up. And I didn’t think about him being the guy at the hospital. Hmm, I need to go back and read those chapters again. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245/23 "2010-02-26T18:49:18Z")
No, the articles were definitely social scene and stuff like that. I assumed they were codes. And that he was either a spy or a double agent or an anti-spy or a spy handler… or, you know, a historian. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245/24 "2010-04-19T03:44:32Z")
While I enjoyed certain passages, overall, this book reminded me of my bad dreams. In the vast majority of them, I’m trying _desperately_ to accomplish something, and _things keep preventing me_, and I’m _immensely_ frustrated. It was 500 pages of that. Plus I was confused by the various historians until halfway through the book, when she dropped any others to focus on Michael, Polly, and Merope/Eileen. What happened to ‘Mary Kent,’ who wanted to observe rockets? And the fake tank guy? ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245/25 "2010-04-20T02:46:45Z")
I am about halfway through it and it is getting highly frustrating. None of the time travelers is doing what they were sent to do, and none of them can get back to Oxford and fix things. And they seem to be highly paranoid that any slight action on their part might result in Hitler winning WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245/26 "2010-04-20T03:41:49Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > I love time travel and WWII novels but I won’t buy this until one of you reads it and tells me that Willis doesn’t include a book-stopping subplot like she did in _Doomsday Book_ with that kid, the nephew (or some young relative of a peripheral character). Every time he showed up the story slid to a screeching halt. I’ve read it. Be warned–I love Connie Willis, but this one almost made me mad, because she ties up none of the plots/subplots so you HAVE to buy the next one. (Not spoilered, because I don’t think it should be.) Now, I WILL buy the next book. But I will be extremely upset if I don’t hear more of the subplot with the guys named after The Importance of Being Ernest, or if the characters just keep whining about their drops not working. Hey, they should have signed a disclosure form: Drop may not work, in fact, for plot purposes, probably nothing will work. Oh, and that kid? He’s in there, doing about the same thing. Although I didn’t notice him stalling out the plot. At least no more than anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245/27 "2010-04-20T13:54:39Z")
> [@GilaB](#): > > While I enjoyed certain passages, overall, this book reminded me of my bad dreams. In the vast majority of them, I’m trying _desperately_ to accomplish something, and _things keep preventing me_, and I’m _immensely_ frustrated. It was 500 pages of that. Plus I was confused by the various historians until halfway through the book, when she dropped any others to focus on Michael, Polly, and Merope/Eileen. What happened to ‘Mary Kent,’ who wanted to observe rockets? And the fake tank guy? Thanks for articulating exactly why it made me anxious - those are exactly my bad dreams, too. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245/28 "2010-04-20T14:08:54Z")
I wouldn’t time travel for these people. As disorganized and flustered as they are, I’m not sure I would trust them to coordinate lunch. I actually liked the paranoia about accidentally changing things, even though the historians are intellectually convinced it isn’t possible. Surely those dropped plots will be picked up in the next book. It looks like this wasn’t planned to be a two-parter, it just got too long so they chopped it in half. I’d have been perfectly happy with a 1000-page book. ---
**Author:** ![Sycorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245/29 "2010-04-23T23:49:30Z")
Borrowed it from the library, and since it was relatively new, had only two weeks to read before having to return it because someone else was waiting for it. Not sure I’m going to borrow it again - I haven’t put myself on the waiting list. I was so looking forward to this book - I loved “The Doomsday Book” and “Passage”; couldn’t put them down. But “Blackout,” so far, hasn’t grabbed me. I don’t think I had read half of it, but enough that I was getting frustrated by the daily, mundane stuff the historians were going through, with hints of errors in the way-back machine, and found it tedious. I thought Michael’s experiences (there to observe the Dunkirk evacuation) were the most interesting and suspenseful. The female historian (don’t recall the name) working as a maid in an aristocrat’s mansion, and helping with the evacuated children and their issues really got on my nerves. Like, Jeez, just go to the damn drop and forget about the kids and everyone! Why would that be so hard? She wasn’t there for the original event, so her disappearing isn’t going to affect history, right? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245/30 "2010-04-23T23:54:27Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > You win! I actually made it through _Gravity’s Rainbow_, years ago. Might attempt it again, while I still have my full faculties. It’s a hard book to read, at least the first time, but it does repay re-reading. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245/31 "2010-04-24T03:16:35Z")
Another thing that bugs me: The two female time travelers are from 2060 and are supposedly empowered, successful women, but when transported back to 1940 London and facing difficult circumstances end up acting like a couple of pathetic dunces. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245/32 "2010-04-24T03:26:53Z")
I was extremely upset that Blackout turned out to be a serial novel. I eagerly checked it out from a branch of the library that is way out of my way, and now, in six months, I’ve got to check it out again to refresh my memory, and then go on the waiting list again. I sincerely hope that Willis is not going to be the next George R. R. Martin. I won’t - I can’t! - offer a comment on what I think of it, as I have not yet read the entire story. ---
**Author:** ![beowulf573](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@beowulf573](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulf573)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245/33 "2010-04-24T04:30:32Z")
No problem there, it’s only a two parter and the second part is already done. The book was too large to publish as one novel. She said at the book signing, “Don’t worry, even if I get hit by a bus, the second book is still coming out.” I can’t wait, love me some Connie Willis. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245/34 "2010-10-18T14:34:50Z")
_All Clear_ comes out tomorrow! Amazon says my copy is on its way. I’m going to try to re-read portions of \*Blackout \*this week. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245/35 "2010-10-18T15:17:10Z")
If anyone will be near Rockville, Maryland this weekend, Connie Willis will be the guest of honor at Capclave: [http://www.capclave.org/capclave/capclave10/](http://www.capclave.org/capclave/capclave10/) ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245/36 "2010-10-19T00:41:53Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > _All Clear_ comes out tomorrow! I guess I’ll check it out from the library whenever they get it, but I’m not horribly enthusiastic about it. I didn’t _dislike_ Blackout, but (as I mentioned above) I am against breaking a novel into two for no good reason. There are countless hanging ends that need to be picked up, and if the book was completed and ready to publish all at once, then it should have been. I’ve been sitting here for six months, as a reader having been trained to read a Connie Willis book the moment it comes out, trying to imagine how I would feel about Doomsday Book or To Say Nothing of the Dog had they been cut in half and published in two sections six months apart. I think I’d feel about as I do regarding this one, “Whatever.” ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245/37 "2010-10-19T00:46:58Z")
I changed my mind; I’m #19 on the library holds list (instead of buying it). I guess this means I don’t go to the Connie Willis signing:( --because when I do that, I’m usually guilted into buying the book. But right now I still have too many books, and no compelling urge to own _All Clear_, and still a little lingering resentment that I’ve been made to hang for six months. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245/38 "2010-10-19T14:26:11Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > I guess I’ll check it out from the library whenever they get it, but I’m not horribly enthusiastic about it. I didn’t _dislike_ Blackout, but (as I mentioned above) I am against breaking a novel into two for no good reason. No good reason! The book - even half of it - weighs enough that I get arm fatigue trying to hold the damn thing while I read it. That’s reason enough for me 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245/39 "2010-10-20T12:15:33Z")
The title _All Clear_ is a bit of a misnomer as you’re immediately plunged into the myriad plot strands from the end of _Blackout_ without any hint of what had gone before. I’ve read a couple of dozen books since the 1st one came out; would it have hurt to give a single page precis saying who was where? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245/40 "2010-10-20T14:10:15Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > No good reason! The book - even half of it - weighs enough that I get arm fatigue trying to hold the damn thing while I read it. That’s reason enough for me 😃 Oh how I love you, Kindle! Seriously, I am never buying another Stephen King hardback again when everything weighs the same on the Kindle! I was sick yesterday, too sick to read even, so I haven’t started the new volume - very disappointed that it evidently has no “last time in _Blackout_” page. Sigh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-connie-willis-novel-blackout/527245.md?page=3)