Mark

Hilariously Twisted

Revisado: 05-02-13

Lenny and Casper are just your average nerdy 7th graders living in Hairsprinkle, USA. One day, Casper decides to spend his birthday money on a small man-about-town suit and the Heidelberg Handlebar #7, the Rolls Royce of novelty fake mustaches. All of a sudden, people are treating Casper with much more respect than they'd normally give a kid, and Lenny detects something sinister about Casper's plans for the fake mustache. Before long, Lenny is caught in the middle of one of the most nefarious schemes in all of history.

This book is undoubtedly one of the silliest things I've ever listened to. The logic of the story world is unapologetically zany, with things like Herbert Hoover action figures, armies of mimes, and mysterious Belgians being among the more normal fare you'll find inside.

The story is split into three parts, with Jonathan Todd Ross narrating parts one and three as everyboy Lenny, and Jessica Almasy handling part two, as Jodie O'Rodeo, former preteen cowgirl TV star. Ross brings a sense of confused longing to the lead role of Lenny which is certain to be familiar to any 7th graders. He gives major characters their own, often hilarious, voices. Also, his minutes-long yodeling session toward the middle of the book is a real highlight. Almasy plays a convincing star-crossed teenager in the process of falling in love.

Overall, this audiobook is a hilarious listen, with an unusual thriller plot with twists and turns that kept me guessing until the very end.

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A story about time travel and human compassion

Revisado: 04-29-12

Doomsday Book tells the story of Kivrin Engle, a time-traveling Oxford history student from the near future who travels back to the 13th Century, and Professor James Dunworthy, Kivrin's mentor who faces his own crisis in the mid-21st Century. What makes this story stand out from a lot of sci-fi is Connie Willis' ability to draw memorable characters, and to tie together universal themes, which make the Middle Ages and the modern world seem not quite so different. Both are filled with the same kinds of people. Some are kindhearted, some are officious, some braggadocious, and others utterly innocent.

While I agree that certain bits of Willis' prose could use a trim here and there for being a bit repetitive, I'm willing to forgive quite a lot for the quality of the story itself. By the end, I found myself worried for each of the characters, and even looking kindly on some of the less likable ones.

Jenny Sterlin's narration is wonderful. Each character is distinct, the tone and emotion of the narration is just right, and she handles the Middle English dialogue like a pro, which, of course, she is (don't worry, you don't need to know any Middle English to enjoy the book).

Willis is clearly most interested in exploring the historical era that Kivrin visits, from both a social and linguistic perspective. The time travel aspect of the book allows Willis to explore what exactly it would be like for a modern person to see it. The food, the clothing, the society, even seemingly small things, like the cracked skin on the hands of aristocratic women.

In the end, Doomsday Book is more concerned with History than with Futurism. You won't find a thoroughly explored technological future here. What you will find is a touching story about seemingly unlimited human compassion. Even in a time of pestilence and witch-burning, there are those who are still willing to help out a stranger who is afraid and far from home.

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