All Clear – Connie Willis
Allen & Unwin, 2010
656 pages
RRP: AU$32.99
ISBN: 9781741758429

Reviewed by Kate Smith

After having read Blackout, it was with some trepidation that I picked up All Clear. Blackout had not left me with a desperate desire to continue the story or find how it concluded, and as I trawled through the first half of the text I was not encouraged. As a reader who usually finds it difficult to put down a novel, in this case I found it difficult to pick it up between chapters. I was a little disappointed also with a few stereotypical plot devices and phrases at certain times but this was due to my feeling that Willis’ story was something different from the mainstream and I may have expected more from it because of this. These small negatives, however, do not mean that All Clear should be avoided. There is no doubt in my mind that Willis is a very good writer and the plot in overview was what piqued my interest in the first place.

The story picks up with the major characters stranded in World War II Britain. As with Blackout, Willis writes well and allows the reader a feel for the period in question, and as the pages unfold it becomes clear that the different characters described are only the same three at different times in history. In another case I would have been very tempted to go back and re-read both books in order to see the story with this realisation in mind, however both books were just too long. This was the major issue I had with Willis’ work. Both the premise and the story were interesting but in seeking to provide the detail she felt necessary, Willis drew the tale out for far too long. In making her story over 1,000 pages, she has risked losing her audience before bringing the different threads of the plot together. I was gripped by the last 300 odd pages but I nearly did not get that far.

The fact that I finished both books because I felt I had to is not a great recommendation for them. Those who are particularly interested in this period of history will no doubt enjoy the detail, however other readers may not last the distance. As I mentioned in my thoughts on Blackout, All Clear would translate well into a television series and if anyone ever does this I will be very interested to see how Willis’s very interesting plot concept is dealt with.