Books and Movies that Connect Disparate Time Periods
August 19, 2013 11:04 AM Subscribe
I really enjoy books and films that feature narratives strewn across different time periods. I'm looking for recommendations.
Examples of the sort of thing I'm looking for are The Red Violin or Cloud Atlas.
Ideally, the story is connected across time periods by something other than family - so things connected by objects or curses or mystery or some such. I'm looking not so much for things like East of Eden or Middlesex that are sort of just multi-generational stories.
I'm interested in recommendations from any and all genres and styles.
Thanks!
Examples of the sort of thing I'm looking for are The Red Violin or Cloud Atlas.
Ideally, the story is connected across time periods by something other than family - so things connected by objects or curses or mystery or some such. I'm looking not so much for things like East of Eden or Middlesex that are sort of just multi-generational stories.
I'm interested in recommendations from any and all genres and styles.
Thanks!
Best answer: Oh my freakin' God, Doomsday Book is Shakespearean in its casually awesome and nuanced characterizations, and it branches the 1320 with the early 22nd century. A doctoral candidate in history is all set to do her field research on the rise of the middle class, but gets set to the wrong century. She's gotta survive until her advisor can figure out how to rescue her... and meanwhile they're both dealing with THE RISE OF PANDEMICS -- she's got to make it through the Black Plague, and he's got to deal with the university's response to an outbreak of superflu.
ETA: It's by Connie Willis.
posted by spunweb at 11:12 AM on August 19, 2013 [7 favorites]
ETA: It's by Connie Willis.
posted by spunweb at 11:12 AM on August 19, 2013 [7 favorites]
You may enjoy A Canticle for Leibowitz. It is a post apocalyptic tale connected across vast time periods by a monastery. If you do end up reading it you will find this page of Latin translations and explanations of biblical references to be useful.
posted by sacrifix at 11:14 AM on August 19, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by sacrifix at 11:14 AM on August 19, 2013 [3 favorites]
I think A.S. Byatt's Possession (the book and the film) meets your criterion.
posted by Unified Theory at 11:16 AM on August 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Unified Theory at 11:16 AM on August 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
The Hours -- Connects Virginia Wolf, a modern day woman nicknamed after one of her characters, and a third woman. Suicide and suicide attempts are a theme.
posted by Michele in California at 11:16 AM on August 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Michele in California at 11:16 AM on August 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman might fill the bill.
posted by adamrice at 11:19 AM on August 19, 2013
posted by adamrice at 11:19 AM on August 19, 2013
John Fowles's "The French Lieutenant's Woman" does this very effectively.
posted by Infinity_8 at 11:20 AM on August 19, 2013
posted by Infinity_8 at 11:20 AM on August 19, 2013
Richard Powers's Gold Bug Variations and Three Farmers on their Way to a Dance.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 11:21 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Admiral Haddock at 11:21 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
Highlander.
posted by steinsaltz at 11:24 AM on August 19, 2013
posted by steinsaltz at 11:24 AM on August 19, 2013
Have you read anything by Olaf Stapledon? He was an early science fiction writer (and philosophy professor). His Last and First Men and Star Maker both cover very long stretches of time. However, they are less epoch-spanning novels than imagined future histories with occasional novelistic scenes. Star Maker is about the parallel development of many different intelligent species among the stars, and their search for meaning. Last and First Men is about the repeated fall and rise of humanity and its descendants. Both very good and very forward-looking.
posted by grobstein at 11:28 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by grobstein at 11:28 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
The Fountain is pretty great, IMHO.
posted by lumensimus at 11:33 AM on August 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by lumensimus at 11:33 AM on August 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier follows two women in the same place at different times - the first is a Hugenot woman in southern France and the second is a modern-day American woman trying to piece together the mystery of what happened to the first. I found it to be a really good read.
The Historian is a bit of a multi-generational novel but it's tied together by a common drive the characters share to get to the bottom of the origins of the Dracula legend. Very well-written and gripping, though also pretty scary!
posted by lunasol at 11:43 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
The Historian is a bit of a multi-generational novel but it's tied together by a common drive the characters share to get to the bottom of the origins of the Dracula legend. Very well-written and gripping, though also pretty scary!
posted by lunasol at 11:43 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
The book, The Prestige, by Christopher Priest may have too many caveats to fit, but I'll mention it. It is connected by family, among other things, and the events primarily take place in one time with a sort of frame story (that also pops up from time to time in the middle, IIRC) that takes place in another.
It is the book that the movie of the same name was based on, but the book varies significantly from the movie. It's epistolary and rather dark, but I thought it was really good.
posted by brentajones at 11:47 AM on August 19, 2013
It is the book that the movie of the same name was based on, but the book varies significantly from the movie. It's epistolary and rather dark, but I thought it was really good.
posted by brentajones at 11:47 AM on August 19, 2013
It's not really a book, and I don't think it's a movie (yet), but man oh man, you should definitely read -- or better yet, find a production of -- Tom Stoppard's Arcadia. Best example of this. THE BEST.
Twentieth anniversary retrospective from The New Yorker.
posted by supercres at 11:47 AM on August 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
Twentieth anniversary retrospective from The New Yorker.
posted by supercres at 11:47 AM on August 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
People of the Book, Geraldine Brooks. Follows a Jewish religious book from Spain in the 15th century to Sarjevo.
posted by carolr at 11:48 AM on August 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by carolr at 11:48 AM on August 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
Oh, and re: Arcadia-- spoilers abound in the wiki and New Yorker links. Really heartbreaking spoilers.
Man, that's an amazing play.
posted by supercres at 11:49 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
Man, that's an amazing play.
posted by supercres at 11:49 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
well I really loved the film Cloud Atlas
Connecticut Yankee?
posted by glasseyes at 11:52 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
Connecticut Yankee?
posted by glasseyes at 11:52 AM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
Seconding People of the Book and The Historian
posted by TheLibrarian at 11:57 AM on August 19, 2013
posted by TheLibrarian at 11:57 AM on August 19, 2013
Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad. There are family ties between some of the sections, but other chapters have different sorts of connections.
posted by lisa g at 12:05 PM on August 19, 2013
posted by lisa g at 12:05 PM on August 19, 2013
I know you said you weren't looking for "multigenerational family sagas," but family is sort of the connection in this case - Sarum traces six "typical families" from the English countryside, beginning in prehistory and ending in the 1980's. This may still suit you as the emphasis is far more on history than on the family chronicles - the family names from one section to the next may have a bit of ironic flip to them (the Mason who did something for the church in the 1500's may think that he was "the first in the family to ever contribute to the cathedral," even though another Mason in the 1200's already did so), but for the most part each era's section stands alone - I get the sense that you aren't looking for a Forsyte Saga thing, here, and this isn't that.
The author also did similar books about Russia, London, Dublin, and New York City.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:31 PM on August 19, 2013
The author also did similar books about Russia, London, Dublin, and New York City.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:31 PM on August 19, 2013
I am a librarian, and I make a habit of saving lists of books in all sorts of genres & trends. Here's some titles from a list I have that you might like:
West of Here by Jonathan Evison
Obedience by Jacqueline Yallop
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
The Glassblower of Murano by Fiorato, Marina
Juliet by Anne Fortier
The Plague Tales by Ann Benson
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Flight by Sherman Alexie
The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway
The Eight by Katherine Neville
posted by stampsgal at 12:34 PM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
West of Here by Jonathan Evison
Obedience by Jacqueline Yallop
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
The Glassblower of Murano by Fiorato, Marina
Juliet by Anne Fortier
The Plague Tales by Ann Benson
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Flight by Sherman Alexie
The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway
The Eight by Katherine Neville
posted by stampsgal at 12:34 PM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
The Map of Love by Ahdaf Souief
It's beautiful. And this is coming from someone whose favorite book is Cloud Atlas
posted by janey47 at 12:45 PM on August 19, 2013
It's beautiful. And this is coming from someone whose favorite book is Cloud Atlas
posted by janey47 at 12:45 PM on August 19, 2013
Breath and Shadows by Ella Leffland fits on this list -- there are family connections, but the protagonists are mostly unaware of them.
posted by Corvid at 12:48 PM on August 19, 2013
posted by Corvid at 12:48 PM on August 19, 2013
Adam Thorpe's Ulverton, which traces the transformation of a single location over several centuries.
Lindsay Clarke's The Chymical Wedding, featuring failed poets in two different eras.
John Crowley's Lord Byron's Novel, in which contemporary characters try to work with--you guessed it--a novel by Lord Byron.
Nalo Hopkinson's The Salt Roads, a multi-genre (fantasy, historical novel) variant on the theme, involving goddesses, mistresses, and slaves.
Guy Vanderhaeghe's The Englishman's Boy, set in the West (the 1870s) and the nascent Hollywood film industry (the 1920s).
Nuala O'Faolain's My Dream of You, in which a modern Irish writer tries to unearth what was going on in a nineteenth-century divorce suit.
Bharati Mukherjee's The Holder of the World, which has SF elements, features a modern historian studying a seventeenth-century woman who journeyed to India.
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's Heat and Dust, in which two women in two different eras find passion (with very different outcomes) in India.
posted by thomas j wise at 12:51 PM on August 19, 2013
Lindsay Clarke's The Chymical Wedding, featuring failed poets in two different eras.
John Crowley's Lord Byron's Novel, in which contemporary characters try to work with--you guessed it--a novel by Lord Byron.
Nalo Hopkinson's The Salt Roads, a multi-genre (fantasy, historical novel) variant on the theme, involving goddesses, mistresses, and slaves.
Guy Vanderhaeghe's The Englishman's Boy, set in the West (the 1870s) and the nascent Hollywood film industry (the 1920s).
Nuala O'Faolain's My Dream of You, in which a modern Irish writer tries to unearth what was going on in a nineteenth-century divorce suit.
Bharati Mukherjee's The Holder of the World, which has SF elements, features a modern historian studying a seventeenth-century woman who journeyed to India.
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's Heat and Dust, in which two women in two different eras find passion (with very different outcomes) in India.
posted by thomas j wise at 12:51 PM on August 19, 2013
Oops, I knew I forgot one: Peter Ackroyd's Chatterton, following both the short-lived forger-poet Thomas Chatterton and latter-day readers trying to figure out a mysterious text.
posted by thomas j wise at 12:54 PM on August 19, 2013
posted by thomas j wise at 12:54 PM on August 19, 2013
T.C. Boyle's San Miguel
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 1:03 PM on August 19, 2013
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 1:03 PM on August 19, 2013
There's this sort of terrible movie that I love anyway called Somewhere in Time, starring Christopher Reeve.
posted by nushustu at 1:44 PM on August 19, 2013
posted by nushustu at 1:44 PM on August 19, 2013
Kate and Leopold. Hugh Jackson perfects the toaster.
posted by mmmbacon at 1:46 PM on August 19, 2013
posted by mmmbacon at 1:46 PM on August 19, 2013
Do graphic novels count? If so, try Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" books.
posted by Leontine at 2:05 PM on August 19, 2013
posted by Leontine at 2:05 PM on August 19, 2013
Timeline by Michael Crichton
Slaughterhouse Five - "Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck in time."
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 2:52 PM on August 19, 2013
Slaughterhouse Five - "Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck in time."
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 2:52 PM on August 19, 2013
Since you say "any and all," I'll throw out the original Dark Shadows gothic daytime soap about a reluctant vampire, Barnabas Collins, which ran on ABC from 1966-1971 and which is available on Netflix (DVD, not streaming). While it does follow the (mis)fortunes of a family over time, the plot line is littered with curses, spells, demonic possession, seances, ghosts, voodoo and on and on.
We've been working our way through the series for the past year and love it, if for all the wrong reasons: bad acting; low production values; the many inevitable gaffs resulting from the live-to-tape production process used then; "brilliant" physician Dr. Julia Hoffman, who can diagnose a patient by taking their pulse AND devise an injection protocol that enables Barnabas to walk in daylight AND hypnotize subjects with just about any sparkly object at hand; the hilarious idea that throwing I Ching sticks on a table enables time travel; etc.; etc.
But the time shifts themselves can be interesting. A chained coffin is discovered in Sixties Maine, in the hidden back room of a rich family's on-estate mausoleum, and when it's opened, out pops Barnabas. Later, the story shifts (for several months) to 1797, where we learn all about how Barnabas was made a vampire and much more. Later in the series, some of the characters are transported to 1840--including Kate Jackson in her first job out of acting school--where, for example, Barnabas's faithful servant in 1797, Ben, is now an old man. There's even a several-week shift to the future (1995) where Barnabas and Julia find the Collins estate destroyed, and they contrive to go back in time to alter the circumstances so that this won't actually happen.
What makes the series drag from time to time, for me, is the writers' over-reliance on literary tropes that they milk for months on end, like The Picture of Dorian Gray, Frankenstein, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and The Turn of the Screw, to name four.
So there's that.
posted by Short Attention Sp at 3:35 PM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
We've been working our way through the series for the past year and love it, if for all the wrong reasons: bad acting; low production values; the many inevitable gaffs resulting from the live-to-tape production process used then; "brilliant" physician Dr. Julia Hoffman, who can diagnose a patient by taking their pulse AND devise an injection protocol that enables Barnabas to walk in daylight AND hypnotize subjects with just about any sparkly object at hand; the hilarious idea that throwing I Ching sticks on a table enables time travel; etc.; etc.
But the time shifts themselves can be interesting. A chained coffin is discovered in Sixties Maine, in the hidden back room of a rich family's on-estate mausoleum, and when it's opened, out pops Barnabas. Later, the story shifts (for several months) to 1797, where we learn all about how Barnabas was made a vampire and much more. Later in the series, some of the characters are transported to 1840--including Kate Jackson in her first job out of acting school--where, for example, Barnabas's faithful servant in 1797, Ben, is now an old man. There's even a several-week shift to the future (1995) where Barnabas and Julia find the Collins estate destroyed, and they contrive to go back in time to alter the circumstances so that this won't actually happen.
What makes the series drag from time to time, for me, is the writers' over-reliance on literary tropes that they milk for months on end, like The Picture of Dorian Gray, Frankenstein, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and The Turn of the Screw, to name four.
So there's that.
posted by Short Attention Sp at 3:35 PM on August 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
I just finished Long Division by Kiese Laymon, and it was one of those books that left me feeling like I needed to write him a thank you note. It's honestly one of the most beautiful things I've read in a long time, and gave me that happy/sad/heartswell feeling that good art gives.
It does have a bit of a family arc, but because it's about time travel, it has less of a multi-generational feel than one of the main character reading about himself in a book that takes place in different eras.
posted by Fiorentina97 at 3:59 PM on August 19, 2013
It does have a bit of a family arc, but because it's about time travel, it has less of a multi-generational feel than one of the main character reading about himself in a book that takes place in different eras.
posted by Fiorentina97 at 3:59 PM on August 19, 2013
My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares follows a couple as they are reincarnated several times.
posted by soelo at 4:51 PM on August 19, 2013
posted by soelo at 4:51 PM on August 19, 2013
Connie Willis is quite fond of time travel, she's used it in several of her books. In addition to the aforementioned Doomsday Book there's To Say Nothing of the Dog (which won a Hugo and Locus, and is even funnier if you have also read Jerome K Jerome's Three Men in a Boat, which does not involve time travel but is also very funny) and the pair of novels Blackout and All Clear.
Seconding The Years of Rice and Salt. I got Cloud Atlas on the strength of it sounding as though it might be similar. Eh. (Although I liked the movie better than the book...) Anyway, awesomely awesome made of awesomeness. Ahem. It's hard for me to describe why I like it so much without giving things away, but I will say stick with it. I've read it about 4 times (and it is huge) and each time I get sucked in again by the alternate history, the politics, the way the characters develop and don't as they are reincarnated, even the geeky thrill of recognising them in the next setting.
If you don't mind kids' books, a lot of them feature this kind of thing. Andre Norton's Red Hart Magic springs immediately to mind but I know I've read others.
posted by Athanassiel at 5:43 PM on August 19, 2013
Seconding The Years of Rice and Salt. I got Cloud Atlas on the strength of it sounding as though it might be similar. Eh. (Although I liked the movie better than the book...) Anyway, awesomely awesome made of awesomeness. Ahem. It's hard for me to describe why I like it so much without giving things away, but I will say stick with it. I've read it about 4 times (and it is huge) and each time I get sucked in again by the alternate history, the politics, the way the characters develop and don't as they are reincarnated, even the geeky thrill of recognising them in the next setting.
If you don't mind kids' books, a lot of them feature this kind of thing. Andre Norton's Red Hart Magic springs immediately to mind but I know I've read others.
posted by Athanassiel at 5:43 PM on August 19, 2013
Edward Rutherfurd's Sarum
It was first of his books I read and actually the only one that has what you're looking for, which was a disappointment when I read his other books.
posted by thebazilist at 9:39 PM on August 19, 2013
It was first of his books I read and actually the only one that has what you're looking for, which was a disappointment when I read his other books.
posted by thebazilist at 9:39 PM on August 19, 2013
Are you open to YA novels, too? I like A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle.
posted by pitrified at 4:41 AM on August 20, 2013
posted by pitrified at 4:41 AM on August 20, 2013
Came in to say The Years of Rice and Salt, see that it's already covered.
Glimpses is quite an emotional read and exactly what you're looking for in terms of time periods being connected by an object. Any summary you read of it makes it sound kind of cheesy, but it's a deep and fantastic read so I'd say just go read it (free (legal) PDF download of the book).
Also try TransAtlantic by Colum McCann and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.
Jumanji is a kid's movie but it definitely meets your requirement of connecting different time periods with a curse.
posted by mikepop at 5:43 AM on August 20, 2013
Glimpses is quite an emotional read and exactly what you're looking for in terms of time periods being connected by an object. Any summary you read of it makes it sound kind of cheesy, but it's a deep and fantastic read so I'd say just go read it (free (legal) PDF download of the book).
Also try TransAtlantic by Colum McCann and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.
Jumanji is a kid's movie but it definitely meets your requirement of connecting different time periods with a curse.
posted by mikepop at 5:43 AM on August 20, 2013
How about Time After Time, with Malcolm McDowell? He plays HG Wells traveling forward in time to catch Jack the Ripper in modern day (1970's) San Francisco.
It's excellent and interesting and fun!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 8:08 AM on August 20, 2013
It's excellent and interesting and fun!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 8:08 AM on August 20, 2013
Another "any and all" recommendation:
Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves. It's classic Asimov sci-fi, not nearly as famous as his Foundation novels or Robot stories, but it's the most ambitious story he ever wrote.
posted by RobinFiveWords at 10:01 AM on August 20, 2013
Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves. It's classic Asimov sci-fi, not nearly as famous as his Foundation novels or Robot stories, but it's the most ambitious story he ever wrote.
posted by RobinFiveWords at 10:01 AM on August 20, 2013
The Dream of Scipio is a novel by Iain Pears. It is set in Provence at three different critical moments of Western civilization—the collapse of the Roman Empire in the fifth century, the Black Death in the fourteenth, the Second World War in the twentieth—through which the fortunes of three men are followed:Bonus: I had forgotten the name of the book and found it via the Goodreads thread "Historical Fiction that plays with time?" which has a lot more recommendations in this genre.
- Manlius Hippomanes, a gallic aristocrat obsessed with the preservation of Roman civilization
- Olivier de Noyen, a poet and scholar, active in the Papal Court at Avignon
- Julien Barneuve, an intellectual who cooperates with the Vichy government
The story of each man is woven through the narrative, all linked by the Dream of Scipio, written by Manlius (not Cicero's eponymous classical text) and rediscovered by Olivier and Julien. Inspired by the teachings of Sophia, a Neoplatonist philosopher and the daughter of a student of Hypatia, Manlius composes the text to justify the decisions he takes when facing attack by the Visigoths and Burgundians, with little support from Rome. Religious issues, and how politics have influenced religious tolerance, shape all three stories: the roots of twentieth-century anti-semitism are traced and linked to other political decisions to use Jews as scapegoats. The three stories are untied by an extended deliberation how one resolves ethical conflicts, emotional commitments, and the quest for the true meaning of human life.
posted by Rhaomi at 2:04 PM on August 22, 2013 [1 favorite]
One of the first books to use loose narratives across time is Thomas Pynchon's first novel, V..
posted by ovvl at 8:48 AM on August 24, 2013
posted by ovvl at 8:48 AM on August 24, 2013
There's the spooky (and short) Marghanita Laski tale "The Victorian Chaise Longue". Edmund de Waal's The Hare with Amber Eyes. An oldie: The adventure of a three guinea watch.
posted by Marauding Ennui at 7:33 AM on August 27, 2013
posted by Marauding Ennui at 7:33 AM on August 27, 2013
Georges Perec's Life A User's Manual. The book moves through a Paris apartment building room-by-room, and tells seemingly endless and connected vignettes about the residents and objects that reside and resided there.
For the first 50 (out of 500) pages, it seems a bit dry, and then you realize how beautiful and funny and poignant and perfect it all is. It somehow manages to make the world and life seem massive and overwhelming, while simultaneously making individual stories and moments seem meaningful and important.
The time period isn't linear, as the sequence through the rooms is almost random (Perec divided the apartment building into a 10x10 grid, and then moves from room to room like a knight in chess), but it doesn't span eons - more like decades, as most of it takes place in the early 20th century (up to the 1960s, I think).
posted by taltalim at 2:41 PM on August 28, 2013
For the first 50 (out of 500) pages, it seems a bit dry, and then you realize how beautiful and funny and poignant and perfect it all is. It somehow manages to make the world and life seem massive and overwhelming, while simultaneously making individual stories and moments seem meaningful and important.
The time period isn't linear, as the sequence through the rooms is almost random (Perec divided the apartment building into a 10x10 grid, and then moves from room to room like a knight in chess), but it doesn't span eons - more like decades, as most of it takes place in the early 20th century (up to the 1960s, I think).
posted by taltalim at 2:41 PM on August 28, 2013
Response by poster: Thanks for all of these incredible suggestions folks.
I think I'm going to mark off best answers as I make my way through the list. I just finished Doomsday Book and it was absolutely excellent.
Thanks again!
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:30 AM on October 15, 2013
I think I'm going to mark off best answers as I make my way through the list. I just finished Doomsday Book and it was absolutely excellent.
Thanks again!
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:30 AM on October 15, 2013
Ooh, I thought of a couple more -
Ursula, Under starts with a little girl falling down a mine shaft while on a vacation with her parents - but then it jumps back in time to tell [largely self-contained] stories about that little girl's Chinese and Finnish ancestors.
And then there's Winter's Tale, which may be a bit of an edge case; the separate times' stories are connected more strongly, but the connection isn't necessarily a family one, it's [I'm not trying to kid here] a magic fogbank that periodically sweeps people up and then spits them back out dozens of years later. It's like Gangs of New York met Einstein.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:39 AM on October 15, 2013
Ursula, Under starts with a little girl falling down a mine shaft while on a vacation with her parents - but then it jumps back in time to tell [largely self-contained] stories about that little girl's Chinese and Finnish ancestors.
And then there's Winter's Tale, which may be a bit of an edge case; the separate times' stories are connected more strongly, but the connection isn't necessarily a family one, it's [I'm not trying to kid here] a magic fogbank that periodically sweeps people up and then spits them back out dozens of years later. It's like Gangs of New York met Einstein.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:39 AM on October 15, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by chiefthe at 11:09 AM on August 19, 2013 [3 favorites]