I want to be Connie Willis when I grow up!

Two days ago I would have said I've never ready anything by Connie Willis that wasn't blindingly brilliant. Right now I'm in the middle of Remake so I might have to revise that opinion. Check back in a day or so.

But To Say Nothing Of The Dog is masterful. She set up the rules for her time travel in The Doomsday Book along with the glitch of Time Lag. As a frequent sufferer of jet lag I can understand Time Lag, especially the overly romantic part. How hysterical! You time travel too much and you fall in love with the first person you see. And what makes this truly priceless, for me at least, is the fact that our hero Ned falls in love with our heroine Verity and immediately decides she looks like the girl in the painting The Lady of Shallot by Waterhouse. How many novels use PreRaphealite painters as references?

Also hysterical are the title headers. Chapter 11 for example, Why the Victorians Were So Repressed-Dearum Dearum Juju Weturned To Her Mistwess-Fish-A Misunderstanding-Importance Of Knocking-Introductions-Irish Names- An Amazing Coincidence-More Fish-A Reluctant Departure-Another Misunderstanding-I Go To Bed-A Visitor-A Crisis. And these all make sense by the end of the chapter.

And some of the characters are just silly, but they don't realize that they're silly. The Professor is as absent minded as they come. The Mother is a stuffy and nervous perfect Victorian. The Daughter is so ridiculously self centered that she's utterly believable.

But this isn't an entirely silly book. There's a war going on (WW II in fact.) And there's class strife (in Victorian England.) And there's a cathedral to build (in the future.)

Recommended: Yes