Scott's Reviews > Fire Watch

I read this after I finished Blackout and All Clear. There are some minor discrepancies but nothing that a little willing suspension of disbelief won't cover up. It was nice to see Kivrin again.

I think Connie Willis has it correct. How often have you romanticized about traveling to the past? I never really take into consideration language differences - let alone differences in norms and folkways - in my flights of fancy.

I looked up The Battle of Britain on 29. December 1940 on the internet and found this link. What a time! Living in the United States where, until September 11th 2001, there has been no enemy invasion or destruction; it is hard to imagine what life in London would have been like in the fall and winter of 1940. As I scrolled through the images of the destruction it really hit me how much of a psychological punch that must have been for the whole nation night after horrible night. And then I got to the image with the little boy - not much older than my son - sitting on a pile of rubble clutching a misshapen stuffed animal looking as if he is either too scared to cry or he is summoning every last bit of his fortitude in effort not to cry. I completely lost it and started crying myself. I am tearing up right now just thinking about that image.