All Clear

I am reviewing Connie Willis’s Blackout and All Clear together since they are not two books but really one lengthy (1100-page) book. (The decision to release the two books feels like an effort to extract more cash from readers, since Blackout has no ending and All Clear no beginning--one books abruptly and awkwardly ends, and the second merely picks up as if the reader has turned a page instead of starting a new book.) I generally don't take to overly lengthy books, but Blackout/All Clear really held my attention, and I'd urge even those who may be intimidated by lengthy tomes to give these books a chance.Blackout/All Clear has its flaws (which I will get to in a minute) but these books are also easy to recommend. Perhaps the best recommendation I can make is this: I cried at the end--more than once--which is not something I do often with books. There are some great moments of suspense and beauty in these books, and I am thankful I stuck with the lengthy and intricate story.These books are rich with history and characters, and a patient reader is rewarded with a series of overlapping and intertwined short stories that evolve and combine into a wonderfully complex puzzle of a plot populated with vivid characters. I cared for the characters and found I was fascinated with the tales of how Londoners came together, sacrificed, helped and protected each other and often went about their lives at a time when bombs and missiles were falling by the hundreds and thousands on their city. This is one of those rare books that makes history come alive, neither sacrificing the story nor the history.These books are historical fiction wrapped in a thin veneer of science fiction. I do not think my review will give away any spoilers, but anyone familiar with Willis' other books will know that the world she has created is one where time travel is a reality and historians traverse time to experience and observe what they previously could only ready and study. Blackout and All Clear take readers to WWII Dover, Dunkirk, Bletchley Park, St. Paul's, Trafalgar Square and elsewhere during the war, and they give a strong and immediate sense of the way the British persevered during some of the darkest and most difficult times in human history. I was thoroughly swept away and truly moved by some of the stories of sacrifice, bravery and loss. These books were literally (and not just figuratively) a page-turner for me. I had a hard time putting it down.So, why am I not giving this a five-star review? While I found the books very rewarding, they are not without their flaws, and it was within Willis' grasp to produce something truly great and not merely very good with a little more discipline (and, frankly, more than a little bit of editing.) Some readers complain that it is difficult to keep up with the overlapping story and characters--the book leaps forward and backward within the war years and outside of them (to 1995 and 2060) and layers in many characters, and it can be difficult to keep track of it all. The best advice I can give people is to simply approach these books as if you're reading short stories and not to worry about keeping track of it all--simply enjoy each plotline on its own and, as the books progress, the relationships between seemingly unrelated people and plots converge.For me, the biggest flaw was that Blackout/All Clear needed more than a bit of editing. Or perhaps Willis should have trusted her readers to put the pieces together more quickly than do the characters in her story.It is giving very little away to say that central themes of this book include that the historians who go back in time worry about returning to their contemporary period and fret about the impact they may have on history--but a little bit of this sort of worry goes a long, long way. Time after time, characters torture themselves about whether their presence may have inadvertently lost the war and seek signs they’ve created “discrepancies” in the timeline (which, for all their worries and effort, is an unknowable topic that gets tiresome well before Willis’ characters let it go.) Repeatedly, the characters chase around looking for ways to return home (long after readers know--and the characters should have realized--they cannot). And even once the pieces are brought together toward the end, Willis cannot help having her characters ponder time and again how one thing led to another. I found myself having a dialog with Willis, the author, wanting to tell her, “We get it! Move on!”I have no idea how often characters cite the proverbial "For Want of a Nail" rhyme in these books, but it is done A LOT—dozens of times, I’d guess. The repeated bludgeoning of readers with the meaning of this proverb came, for me, to represent how the author needed to stop reinforcing and returning to the same topics time and time and time again. The repetition of these themes detracts rather than enhances the wonderful narrative and characters Willis has created, and I found myself wondering why these seemingly smart characters were unable to reach obvious conclusions sooner. I am sure I am not alone in that I worked out the central problem at the core of this book 500 PAGES before the characters do, themselves.So, these books have some flaws, Willis could have trusted readers to work out the pieces, and this very good 1100-page work could have been an amazing 800-page book with more discipline and a sharper focus on what is necessary or not. That said, I once again want to reinforce that despite some frustration and even though they sometimes tried my patience just a bit, I still found Blackout and All Clear very rewarding and affecting. If I gripe a bit about these books, it's only because they were so good and it was apparent how tantalizingly close greatness was.

If you are reading this review then you need to know that 'All Clear' is the second of a two part book. The first part is 'Blackout'. And it's not a book with a sequel, it's one book that got so big the publisher split it in half and made two books out of it. (Both books in hardcover total nearly 1200 pages). You have to read 'Blackout' first. If you try to read 'All Clear' as a stand alone book you will be thoroughly confused.Short summary:Historians from the year 2060 use time travel to go back in time and visit the time/location of which they want to study.Several historians have chosen to go to Word War II London during the time of the Blitz bombings, Dunkirk evacuations, and VE day celebrations as their theses.In 'Blackout', these historians become lost and stranded as their time portal ceases to open for them and, worse, it slowly begins to appear as if they have somehow altered time as there begins to creep into the record inaccuracies in the events that they are there to witness.In 'All Clear', these historians struggle to survive and plan for an uncertain future that may not involve getting back to their own time.I won't spoil anything so you'll have to read the books to see the outcome.Pros:I have a soft heart for time travel stories so I automatically like this story. The author has done what appears to be a great job at researching the events of World War II London such that the reader learns what it must have been like to be a civilian living in London and be bombed and attacked by Nazi Germany for 5 years. The historical, social, and cultural details seem accurate and plentiful enough that the reader should become very informed about life in World War II London.Some, but not all, of the characters are detailed enough that you should be able to form an attachment to one or more of them and focus on their story. I liked the character of Merope Ward (Eileen) whose job it was to care for children evacuated from London for safekeeping.The author does a reasonable job of building some suspense into the narrative as the characters gradually learn that they are, indeed, stranded in time and are unsure how they will get back to their own time, or even survive in the time they are in.Cons:Too many characters and waaaay too much repetitive detail.The book was written in this fashion: 10-15 pages of character x and their events. 10-15 pages of character y and their events. 10-15 pages of character z and their events. 10-15 pages of character xyz and their events. 10-15 pages of character zxy and their events. Then back to character z for 10-15 pages, and then to character x for 10-15 pages, and then on to another set of characters you never heard of. It grew tiresome such that by the end of the story I was skipping pages to get back to what I considered the "main" trunk of the story. Having to constantly go back 40-50 pages to figure out where you last saw a character and what they were doing got old.There were entirely too many characters with almost no introduction to them and what place they had in the story. One other thing that makes this confusing is that each time traveler has two identities - their "real" identity from their "real" time of 2060 and their assumed identity they used to travel to World War II London. With dozens of characters, each having two identities, and no introduction to most of them, I found it easy to become confused.In addition to this complaint, the repetitive detail may have you skimming pages also. For example, in one section one of the characters is convinced he did something to alter history. Another character is not as sure of this and is silently trying to determine what to tell him and what not to tell him that may make him believe the worst. After 5 pages of reading her character silently saying things like "...if I tell him there were 5 casualties instead of 3 he'll know he changed history, but if I tell him 3 casualties and not 5 he'll find out I lied, and if he finds out I lied he'll be mad, and I don't want him mad, but I can't tell him the truth or he'll go bonkers, but if I lie I'll go bonkers, or if I do this and say that and he says that and does this, then what will I do........". Three pages of this. And then in another section the same thing repeated for another three pages when some other event triggers the possibility of changed history. It bordered on the characters being whiners and I got real tired of it.-----------------Ultimately I rated 'All Clear' 4 out of 5 stars because I do like time travel stories and because I did like two of the characters and their story very well. 'All Clear' is significantly better than 'Blackout' and although the ending may not be to your liking, things are generally wrapped up and most of your questions will be answered, although you'll have to think about it for a while. But the publisher should have forced the author to cut the story in half and whittle 1200 pages down to 500 or so.

Acabei de ler All Clear, sentado na ponta do sofá, com o coração saindo pela boca. É magistral a forma como esse livro é escrito e como ele completa o primeiro, Black Out.É uma obra de ficção histórica inacreditavelmente envolvente, bonita, triste e feliz ao mesmo tempo.Me faltam palavras pra tamanha capacidade da autora em fazer a gente querer mais e mais do livro, mesmo depois de seu fim.Só posso recomendar que todos leiam esse livro.

Muye buena novela, es la segunda parte (la primera se llama Blackout); y me la leí como el agua, muy bien escrita y buena conclusión de la historia. No digo más para no spoilerear...

Following of black out, it keeps the same narration and deepens again the profile of the characters. You can feel the bonds creating while the story about time travel and impact on History goes on. I couldn't stop reading ^^

Blackout and this book are really a single work. Blackout ends with a very weak cliffhanger and all the story hanging loose. The story works itself out in this book in a quite satisfying way. I do think that the sum total is flabby and could stand a good edit and being cut into the single book that it really is.

日本版「ブラック・アウト」の巻末に続編の翻訳刊行は２０１３年４月とあった。とてもそんなに長く待てない。空襲下の英国から脱出できなくなった３人の史学生の運命がどうなるのか、結末を早く知りたくて原書を購入した。　分厚いけれど、日本語の上巻があるので、参考にしながら読める。　意外な展開だった。まさかダンワージ教授が…。悪ガキ2人がこれほど重要な役割を果たすとは…。もし著者がＪ・Ｋ・ローリングなら、「主要な登場人物のうち少なくとも1人が、犠牲になるかも…」と発売前に予告したかもしれない。　　この物語はけっきょく、悲劇なのか、それともコメディーなのか。著者は作品の中で、主人公のポリーにその答えを言わせている。眠れる森のプリンセスを王子様が救う物語でもあり、ちょっぴり悲しいラブコメだと思う。 コニー・ウィリスの作品には、ほとんどハズレがない。特に未来のオックスフォードを舞台にしたタイム・トラベルものは。