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juushikaTitle: A Spell of Winter
Author: Helen Dunmore
Published: New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1995
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 313
Total Page Count: 122,613
Text Number: 357
Read Because: included in this list of brother-sister incest in contemporary fiction, borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: An absent mother and dying father leave Catherine and her brother Rob in pseudo-isolation, encouraging the relationship between them to grow intense and intimate. But when that relationship begins to break down, Catherine alone must reconstruct the fragments of her life. A Spell of Winter is a dream of a book, disjointed, atmospheric, and cold. However effective that atmosphere, it deadens the intensity of relationships and characters's sufferings. The right elements are there: a complex and distinct protagonist, a gothic (dark, often intense) view of relationships and experiences with a poetic (if unrefined) voice to match, and a well-intended character arc. But the book only floats along—surprisingly explicit in some aspects, it still leaves too many secrets to linger in implication; its tone is always cold, dreamy, disconnected, and its impact follows suit. I'm predisposed to love half a dozen tropes in A Spell of Winter, but to my surprise the book did nothing for me. The intent is there, and the book isn't a waste, but in its heart it stays frozen. I don't recommend it.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Author: Helen Dunmore
Published: New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1995
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 313
Total Page Count: 122,613
Text Number: 357
Read Because: included in this list of brother-sister incest in contemporary fiction, borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: An absent mother and dying father leave Catherine and her brother Rob in pseudo-isolation, encouraging the relationship between them to grow intense and intimate. But when that relationship begins to break down, Catherine alone must reconstruct the fragments of her life. A Spell of Winter is a dream of a book, disjointed, atmospheric, and cold. However effective that atmosphere, it deadens the intensity of relationships and characters's sufferings. The right elements are there: a complex and distinct protagonist, a gothic (dark, often intense) view of relationships and experiences with a poetic (if unrefined) voice to match, and a well-intended character arc. But the book only floats along—surprisingly explicit in some aspects, it still leaves too many secrets to linger in implication; its tone is always cold, dreamy, disconnected, and its impact follows suit. I'm predisposed to love half a dozen tropes in A Spell of Winter, but to my surprise the book did nothing for me. The intent is there, and the book isn't a waste, but in its heart it stays frozen. I don't recommend it.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
