Subject: Review: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

From: "Aaron M. Renn" <[email-masked]>
Date: 13 Aug 1999 12:09:19 -0400

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
	Review Copyright (c) 1999 Aaron M. Renn

Conclusion: I Hated It

To be blunt, I thought it sucked out loud.  This is the first novel in
years that I could not bring myself to finish.  Had it been shorter I
would have slogged through it.  But after 150 pages of misery I just
couldn't bear the thought of 350 more.

This is ostensibly a humorous time travel romp through Victorian England.
Something from the past has been brought forward to the 21st century,
disturbing the time stream.  Intrepid time traveller Ned Henry was sent
back to make things right, and lands squarely in the middle of absurdity
gone ballistic.  I didn't laugh even once.  The whole thing reminded me of
an old Mad Magazine parody of Shakespeare, though with the difference that
if this had really been Mad, I would have been rolling on the floor
grasping my stomach in pain from laughing so hard.  Alas, I found myself
nodding off instead.

The title is taken from the book "Three Men in a Boat (to Say Nothing of
the Dog)" by a person with the unlikely name of Jerome K. Jerome.  Willis
beats us over the head with quotes from it and references to it.
Supposedly her book also is littered with allusions to numerous other 19th
century works, but since I'm just a poor white boy from Laconia, Indiana,
I haven't read any of them and so miss the joke.  Even if I got it all
though, I suspect I'd still find this book terminally dull.

To be fair, it is inevitable with a work of humor that some people just
aren't going to get it, and even if they do might not find it funny.  I'd
sure hate to live in a world where everyone had the same sense of humor.
In this case, I appear to be part of that minority (a minority of one so
far as I can tell) that just didn't connect with Willis on this one.  But
I promised myself when I started writing these reviews that I'd call 'em
like I saw 'em, and I have to put To Say Nothing of the Dog on my to be
avoided at all costs list.  This books is nominated for a Hugo this year.
Needless to say I didn't vote for it.

%A Willis, Connie
%T To Say Nothing of the Dog
%I Bantam
%D 1998-12 (original publication 1998-01)
%G ISBN 0-553-57538-4
%P 493 pp.
%0 mass market paperback, US$6.50

Reviewed on 1999-08-09

-- 
Aaron M. Renn ([email-masked]) http://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/