Connie Willis: Bellwether

This is a funny book. It's a commentary about chaos theory and herd mentality. It’s full of running jokes, witty remarks, science anecdotes, fad histories, facts about rivers, and lists of books. Oh and a little about sheep. It clearly took a lot of effort to research and to set up. I think the author enjoyed herself a lot while writing. I can just picture her chuckling and pulling her hair out alternately. Sometimes I would think, enough with the jokes already, but it never felt over the top like Hitch Hiker’s Guide (which really really made me laugh; even now just thinking about it). I liked the plug for literacy, and the plug for creativity. I liked the book. I think I might like to read Browning after this.

I also like love stories. I didn’t expect there to be any love, but there was. It’s not dewy in the least. Here’s a quote that caught my attention. It could be a thesis statement, except the author clearly endorses chaotic systems with unknowing guardians. In it Sandra Foster offers her critique of the vastly popular book, Led On By Fate, which she has just finished reading:

“It’s premise was that everything was ordained and organized by guardian angels,
and the heroine was given to saying things like “Everything happens for a reason, Derek! You broke off our engagement and slept with Edwina and were implicated in her death, and I turned to Paolo for comfort and went to Nepal with him so that we’d learn the meaning of suffering and despair, without which true love is meaningless. All of it – the train wreck, Lilith’s suicide, Halvard’s drug addiction, the stock market crash – it was all so we could be together. Oh, Derek there’s a reason behind everything.”

I liked this book. I would read it again. I would own it.

http://www.rambles.net/willis_wether.html