Reading Connie Willis

Feb 24, 2008 10:41

I'm going to start writing about books I love and why I love them without spoiling any major plot points so that if I entice you to try them, you'll still enjoy discovering all that for yourself.  This first one is going to be somewhat vague on details because I'm covering Willis's oeuvre instead of a single text.

Over the holidays, I must admit that I went back and devoured every book I own by Connie Willis.  Perhaps in a reflection of the serious family issues I had to deal with, I began with Doomsday Book, alternated to the hilarious and superbly crafted Bellwether, tackled the serious (though not as dismal as Doomsday) Passage, and again yo-yoed to the funny To Say Nothing of the Dog.  Finishing up with some smaller novels and collections of short stories, I re-realized just why she's one of my favorite authors.

Willis may use sf tropes, but as in the best 'soft' sf, they serve as a tool to allow her to place her characters in situations that can't be explored in mainstream fiction.  Her characterizations are complex and built slowly as the novels progress, and she never loses sight of their basic humanity.  Craft wise, I'm always floored by her ability to layer in tons of subplots, symbolism, and little details that at first just seem random, but by the end of the book become clearly a piece of the whole.  For instance, Bellwether:  there isn't a single thing anywhere within the book that doesn't tie into what she's trying to do (and again, I mean little details included).  In Doomsday, the two plots running simultaneously echo and reinforce each other in interesting ways instead of perfectly overlapping (which would be boring), offering a range of experiences and solutions to similar problems.

The other thing I admire about her is her ability to write at two ends of the spectrum of tone.  Although humor is used to allay some of the seriousness of Doomsday Book, she's still tackling very gruesome and sad material within while still having an action/adventure component to the text.  Yet the tone of To Say Nothing of the Dog, which uses the same setting of Oxford and sf trope of time travel, is consistently funny from cover to cover.  Passage really borders on regular fiction, and I have the feeling that if it had been written by someone with a mainstream reputation, it would have been marketed as such.  The technological element that propels the story, the ability to induce life after death experiences, seems within reach.  Therefore, the focus here is on plotting and how to interweave a large cast of characters and do so well.  She also has a fantastic idea about what life after death experiences might mean.

This isn't to discount her short stories.  Unlike some authors who only excel at one form or the other, Willis does both exceedingly well.  There are two older collections of short work available that you might find in used bookstores.  Fire Watch contains the titular story, which revisits the Doomsday verse in a serious fashion, while Impossible Things contains three award winning stories, including the wonderful "The Last of the Winnebagos."  There's also a new, larger collection out, The Winds of Marble Arch, that picks from these two previous collections, so you can get most of the short stories in one place.

But you don't have to take my word for it that she's a great writer.  It turns out Connie Willis has won more Hugo and Nebula awards than any other author.  (2 and 6 respectively - the Hugo is awarded by fans, the Nebula by other sf writers.)  I hope you try her work and enjoy, whether you're looking for something meaty and serious or something funny and clever.

Doomsday Book - Kivrin, a young Oxford history student, is sent back to the Middle Ages for her practical, but something goes horribly wrong; as she struggles to survive, those at 'home' in future time struggle to discover what's happened to her while facing their own unexpected difficulties

To Say Nothing of the Dog - Oxford's time machine has been commandeered by a society lady determined to rebuild the perfect replica of Coventry Cathedral; doing so means sending Ned on an endless quest to find the bishop's bird stump - one of the most hideous examples of Victorian art ever produced in Merry Olde; contains a touch of romance

Passage - follow Dr. Joanna Lander as she teams with Dr. Richard Wright in a race to understand life after death experiences; ducking 'tunnel of light' and Angel Gabriel types, they traverse a chaotically built hospital, encountering a brilliant and hilariously morbid young girl struggling with a deadly illness, a WWII vet just longing to tell someone every war story he knows, and more

Bellwether - can two scientists, Sandra and Bennett, combine their work on fads and chaos theory to create a viable and funded research project?; will they be doomed by bureaucratic paperwork nightmares or the most incompetent mail clerk on the planet?; it's short and funny and somewhat romantic, so this is a great one to start with for reading Willis

book review, books, sf

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