Good British Chaps win the day by muddling through

The thing I enjoyed most about this book was that St. Mary's, both the institution and the people who give their lives to it, are quintessentially English in the way that they muddle through from one crisis to the next. They break the rules when the rules are silly or even when they're just inconvenient. They are chaotic to the point of recklessness, irreverent and prone to inappropriate humour, they're driven by a passion to do the right thing, they stumble over the simple day-to-day aspects of life, they are emotionally inarticulate, deeply loyal, keep their heads in a crisis, move TOWARDS the gunfire and do what needs to be done to make a bad situation better and, no matter how battered or beaten they are, if someone asks how they're doing the answers is always "I'm perfectly fine. Apart from a few cuts, scratches, a broken arm and a mild concussion. Nothing to worry about."

Of course, the English aren't REALLY like this, but they'd like to be. They're probably the ONLY ONES who'd like to be. Which is where the charm and the emotional impact of this book lies. It gets inside this mindset and helps you fall in love with it. If you're NOT going to fall in love with it, you won't make it to the end of the book. If you do fall in love with it, then, like me, you'll be buying the second book in the series pronto.

I am, of course, aware that this is a most improper review. I should have started by saying how this is about plucky time travelling historians from a near-future England, who, working in secret, find out what really happened in key historical events by the simple expedient of turning up, taking notes and trying not to get killed. I should have described the struggle between the good guys from St. Mary's and the bad guys who started in St. Mary's but didn't stay because they were the wrong sort: serious, power-hungry, organized and with no sense of humour at all. I should have commented on how well Jodi Taylor writes the historical scenes set behind the lines in the Battle of the Somme and gives a remarkably effective pen sketch of what it was like to be an unarmed civilian on the receiving end of a cavalry charged by the 15th Hussars in the Peterloo Massacre in 1819.

Instead, I rushed on to the bits I found most important. Perhaps the spirit of St. Mary's is infectious. I hope so.

This is the book I was hoping for when I bought Connie Willis' "Blackout" and "All Clear" novels (which I didn't manage to finish - so disappointing after her wonderful "Doomsday Book").

Part of what makes the madcap Englishness of St Mary's so appealing is that it is seen through the eyes of Madeleine Maxwell, "Max", a brilliant and brave woman who also has "damaged misfit" written all the way through her like "Brighton" in a bar of rock. Max is insightful and brave and dedicated and also distracted, socially inept, emotionally withdrawn, constantly in trouble with authority and ceaselessly, ravenously curious.

She is a well drawn character who makes the whole novel credible. Her relationships, her actions in the face of disaster, her breakdowns and her triumphs humanize what could otherwise have felt like a description of a slightly smug boy's club.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to meet the English as they ought to be.

By the way, the attitude to History (which of course has a capital H) is also very British. The title of the book is actually the definition offered by the influential British historian, Arnold Toynbee: "It's just one damned thing after another."

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137 people found this helpful

Oh Dear

Plus side? The narrator did a good enough job with what she was given.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting anything spectacular, but at least a fun romp through various periods of history. I gave up on about chapter 7 (I think? The main character is about to go see some dinosaurs). I'm going to give my reasons why, so beware that there are spoilers ahead:
1) There's remarkably little time travel for a book about, y'know, secret time travelling historians. Her first trip was 14 days of nothing on a mountain that could have been literally any time, anywhere. A bunch of other trips were entirely glossed over, and the only one that was described in any detail was a World War, which is the most overdone time-travel scenario in the genre.
2) For a specialist in ancient/classical history, the main character hasn't used this specialty once, and is somehow the best suited character to lead a trip to the Jurassic era. The lack of any major detail just makes me feel like the author doesn't feel like researching anything.
3) Speaking of time: it's remarkably unclear how much time is passing. It's mentioned at one point that she's been in Saint Mary's for 4 years - I honestly thought she'd only just finished her training. The lack of development of any of that time is surreal...
4) But matching with everything else. The side-characters are mostly uninspiring. Protagonist who consistently talks about how average she is whilst everyone admires her incessantly? Check. Love interest with dark backstory? Check. Evil woman who competes for the affections of the love interest? Check (Bonus points for his entire family dying and the cartoonishly evil ex-wife, who abandoned him/their kids, only for him to discover the children aren't his as they're dying). Smattering of interchangeable bffs? Check. A few other men who range between smarmy and sexually threatening? Check.
5) The lack of characterisation from the protagonist, Max, is especially egregious. It's mentioned as the book goes on that people try to talk to her but she's always drunk/absent minded/away -- I genuinely can't remember her being described as getting that pissed (she seems to mostly fall asleep in the bath whilst researching), and frankly that sounds like an alcohol problem that you probably don't want for a time-travelling historical agent, y'know. That's representative as well: stuff is just randomly brought up that we've never actually encountered as readers/listeners that we're supposed to take as gospel truth...
I could go on. Suffice to say - if you value books that are well written, I'd steer clear.

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83 people found this helpful

Fantasy/Drama/Humour/History. This has it all!

Bizarrely, (I am from the UK), I heard about this off a friend in the USA, even though it is a British author and novel.

I wasn't disappointed by the recommendation. This has everything, fantasy, drama, humour all wrapped around history. That just about ticks all my boxes of things that I enjoy in a book.

If you're not too keen on history you might find the passages that deal with important historical periods a bit overbearing. However, give it a try because that aside, the drama, fantasy and humour shines through. Personally I love history, and that love stems from our mother who was a font of knowledge when it came to all things history. It brought up many happy memories, a job well done.

The narrator also does a really good job, and it was a pleasure to listen through to the end.

If you're a fan of works from authors such as Terry Pratchett or Neil Gaiman then this should appeal. Although not quite the same in the sense that you don't have the fantasy animals or people, this is based on time-travel for its fantasy, it is still well written.

I enjoyed this so much I immediately downloaded the second book in the series, and although the third book isn't available from Audible, I did download that to my Kindle to read. I hope the third book is added to the Audible catalog soon, because these are a series of books that work really well as audio books.

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41 people found this helpful

Disappointing

A great premise, utterly ruined by an immature writing style that favours pace over character development and in-world consistency.

It would have been better as a YA novel with the removal of the endless crass alcohol and sexual references. I'm no prude but this just seemed like a cynical attempt to make it an 'adult' story and was jarring alongside the fantastical historical elements that drew me to the book.

Early in the story it's established that 'History' (some nebulous entity with no attempt at an explanation) won't allow timelines and events to be disrupted... and from then on all the characters do is lay waste to this principle (guns in ancient Egypt anyone?) with weakly justified motives.

Chuck in some Dr Who-esque* 'timey-wimey' hand-waving with not even an attempt at justification, a central relationship that it's hard to care about because the characters are so one-dimensional, and a lot of supposedly witty dialogue which borders on the monotonous... and I won't be buying the numerous sequels!

I finished the book because I always do, but this one was not for me.


*At least Dr Who attempts some explanation, convoluted as it usually is, so that suspension of disbelief can be somewhat achieved.

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40 people found this helpful

Wonderful!

I listen to audiobooks at work (whilst designing websites and logos) and after a phase of listening to relatively heavy books, felt that I needed something:

- funny
- light-hearted
- with a streak of "fantasy"
- ideally British or European - American humour just doesn't seem to be as funny to me

"Just one damned thing after another" was a wonderful choice. Funny, clever, very British, and well-narrated, it made me laugh, kept me engaged throughout and left me sad at the end. Fortunately, the second book is also on Audible, and the third is on my Kindle. The fourth is coming out mid-July, so in short order, I'll have heard or listened to them all.

One comment is that it may be that the book needed a bit of editing - there was some repetition etc. but this wasn't a problem in the Audiobook version. It may be that these little editorial issues are more annoying when I read the book (as opposed to listening to it), but I can live with this. I mention this because there are folks who are a lot more pernickety than I am!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this. More, please!

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37 people found this helpful

How to make time travel boring

I'm afraid this was not for me. The narrator simply reads the story with little attempt to characterise the voices. I therefore found it difficult to tell one character from another. The story was also very dull with the heroine's reaction to the prospect of time travel about as exciting as an accountancy student seeing a calculator for the first time.

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Fantastic and fasinating romp through time

Would you consider the audio edition of Just One Damned Thing After Another to be better than the print version?

A fantastic and engaging performance.

What other book might you compare Just One Damned Thing After Another to, and why?

I'm a great fan of time travel adventures such as Arthur C Clarke's Time Odessy and Doctor who. This book brought an unusual but somewhat comfortable and very British feel to time travel.

What does Zara Ramm bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

I enjoyed the portrayal of the characters set out buy the tones and warmth of Zara Ramm's voice. The performance really brought the book to life.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

A very British romp through time, with tea.

Any additional comments?

Extremely enjoyable - give it a try!

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Trite, boring writing

What disappointed you about Just One Damned Thing After Another?

The story seemed poorly written. There are lots of cliches, I didn't find the characters convincing, the protagonist is frustratingly behind fairly regularly and the "teen romance" style love story is annoying.
It often seemed lazy, for example in one section "ghostly" figures are described as being or moving "like ghosts" (forgive me for not giving the exact quote but that would mean listening to the damn thing again.)

What was most disappointing about Jodi Taylor’s story?

I had imagined that it would be a fun, clever and entertaining story, but it wasn't. Worst of all is the "why is he behaving like that, it can't be that he fancies me" juvenile love story.

What aspect of Zara Ramm’s performance might you have changed?

The performance was fine. The reader has a pleasant enough voice, but it didn't save it for me.

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18 people found this helpful

Brilliant

Hits the right spots. Mixture of time travel and history which leaves you yearning for book 2 as so gripping. 'Max' is a easy likeable character and I can see this as a good series that could make it to film or TV easily.

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16 people found this helpful

Neither one thing nor another!

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Well for those who like this sort of thing - this is the sort of thing they like.

What could Jodi Taylor have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

This felt like a T.V. script in the making. Think 'episodic'; think 'Bonekickers' (and we all know how very dreadful) that was meets 'Quantum Leap' . It was inoffensive, although the sex scenes will undoubtedly be up for the 'bad sex' awards and there were some amusing moments although I struggle to remember them - hmm. This is 'light' and an easy listen so if that is what you want - enjoy.

How could the performance have been better?

The performance was not good. I struggled to identify one character from another as the reader had no ability or seeming desire to differentiate the characters. This meant that at times the plot was difficult to follow as it was not clear whose 'voice' was speaking. In an audio rendition I think it is very important to give each character who speaks an individuality - this was not the case here. Very monotonous, very 'samey' - couldn't even tell the females from the males.

Do you think Just One Damned Thing After Another needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Well clearly there have been more - it's an engaging formula and I'm sure many will enjoy superficially leaping from one historic period to the next.

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