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Title:
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Year Without Summer, The |
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Authors:
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Glasfurd, Guinevere |
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Genre:
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Fiction |
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Pages:
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390 |
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Year:
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2020 |
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Language:
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English |
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Description:
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With the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia, the global climate is disrupted and the year that follows is without a summer. The far-reaching effects of the temporary climate change play out with profound consequences, both personal and political, and are traced through the lives of six unconnected global citizens - some invented, some adapted and others familiar (artist John Constable and writer Mary Shelley).
This is an unforgettable story of the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history, passionately rendered and a powerful reminder of the aftermath of climate breakdown in an unfair world.
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Categories:
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Fiction, Environmental, Grief/loss, Historical, Social commentary/perspectives, Tragedy/disaster, USA, UK, Indonesia, 2022 Titles, Larger font |
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By: WELL 045
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2025-09-01 09:45:04 |
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A really engaging and topical book, once we got used to the way the story moved to different characters and locations and situations. Fascinating for its historical 'fleshing out' of well known authors and artists. |
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By: AUCK 473
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2025-08-24 08:47:41 |
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Overall, nobody in our group enjoyed this book - largely because the stories were so disconnected from one another, the structure making it confusing and hard to "get into", and each story was harrowing, with little action. But the notes were excellent, and we'd recommend reading those alongside the book. None of us were familiar with this historic event, and its ramifications, so that was interesting to learn about. We had a great discussion about the book, but unfortunately would not recommend. |
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By: AUCK 277
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2025-04-03 10:16:50 |
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Everyone in our group enjoyed this book. No-one had previously heard of Tambora, although we knew about Krakatoa. The concept of climate change resulting from the eruption, and the fact of it being so long-lasting was a challenging one. One member decided to read through about each character sequentially, rather than as the book was written. Some of us found the structure of the book challenging and a little disjointed. Overall, we are pleased to have read it and learn about Tambora. |
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By: CLUTHA 001
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2025-03-19 13:42:41 |
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Harrowing - as we are all living/working in a farming community and could vividly see what would happen here if this occurred near us. BUT - we all loved it! |
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By: AUCK 014
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2024-12-17 16:15:22 |
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Opinions were divided. Some found the book hard to follow and rather gloomy, and did not finish reading it. Others considered it prescient, well researched and written, with particularly profound insights through the lives of the characters. Perhaps the wide range of both the themes and characters made it difficult to focus on the important message embedded in the narrative. |
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By: HOKITIK 004
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2024-10-24 16:57:57 |
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Very robust discussion from this book: economic and political issues, both historical and present day. We all enjoyed the book and didn't find the to and fro between characters distracting at all, in fact we almost rated it a 4. The inclusion of historical figures added to the authenticity, along with the fascinating insights into social classes of that time. We were moved by how this far-reaching environmental hazard devasted people's lives on so many levels. |
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By: CHCH 086
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2024-10-23 13:55:16 |
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Generally everyone enjoyed the book, especially the historical significance. Only slight downside was that it always felt a little disjointed with the separation of the characters. |
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By: AUCK 065
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2024-02-15 13:55:27 |
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The subject topic was excellent and most informative, but the way the book jumped from person to person was annoying. |
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By: OAMAR 004
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2024-02-15 13:53:24 |
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Amazed that none of us knew about this piece of history. The style of the story was difficult to follow. Separate short stories would have worked better. |
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By: WESTP 001
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2023-06-21 12:43:15 |
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As we were ignorant about the Mount Tambora eruption and its consequences for other countries, we appreciated the historical aspect of this book. Our discussions included climate change, poverty and instant information spread. Some members found the structure distracting. |
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By: CHCH 395
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2023-05-17 14:07:04 |
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The group enjoyed this book. We agreed it wasn't an enjoyable or uplifting read but it was interesting and worth a read. |
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By: GORE 001
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2023-03-27 12:05:33 |
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An extremely profound book - written with care to detail of each of the characters, including their local patois, living situations, beliefs and passions. A very important addition to the fractious subject of climate change. We learned a great deal about what can happen with a change of weather and felt overwhelmed by our new knowledge. Thank you, Guinevere Glasfurd. |
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By: INVER 002
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2023-01-12 11:26:10 |
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Several members found this to be a depressing story and a bit disjointed. I learnt a lot - the effects of a volcano; what the Tongan volcano is doing to the world; and climate change is caused by many things. |
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By: CHCH 194
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2022-11-20 16:07:56 |
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The history basis was interesting and relevant but the structure didn't give the storyline natural flow. The future impacts expected from climate change were a logical discussion stimulus. |
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By: TIMAR 019
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2022-10-26 12:59:46 |
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Interesting and relevant subject - eruption. Ditto the characters from history although sometimes confusing movement between them. |
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By: CHCH 058
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2022-05-05 16:23:27 |
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This book was acknowledged by all in our group to be very well-written and extremely interesting. However, almost all of us felt it was badly structured - to the point of being maddening for some. It was thought the material would work better as a series of short stories. |
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