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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
She is like Libba Bray. Brilliant at meshing history, magical realism and diversity.
I love this one, as the rest.
I love this one, as the rest.
Ms Winters strikes again with this book, making me both angry (because of the injustices portrayed) and feelsy (because of her wonderful characters) at the same time. Loved Hanalee, loved Joe, loved everything.
Now I need to get off my butt and finally read Hamlet . . .
Now I need to get off my butt and finally read Hamlet . . .
Read for 5427 class
TAYSHAS 2017
The Steep and Thorny Way by Cat Winters is a re-telling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet set in Prohibition-era rural Oregon featuring a biracial female protagonist named Hanalee. After her father’s scandalous murder two years previously, Hanalee became the only African-American in her hometown of Elston. With the rising prominence of the Klu Klux Klan and a haunting on the road where her father was hit by a car, Hanalee has to reexamine her own self-worth as she is thrust into situation after situation teeming with lies, secrets, hatred, violence, bigotry, and prejudice.
The arrival of the KKK in 1921 (Winters, 2016, p. 107) and their hatred and prejudice were not new to Hanalee. Indeed, she and her mother and father had been subjected to it before Hanalee was even conceived because “’there might be something unnatural about your father and me [Hanalee’s mother] having children together’” (p. 95). But, Hanalee had friends and family who loved her and supported her, like Fleur and Fleur’s brother, Laurence, who taught Hanalee how to shoot a pistol for protection and told her, “’Don’t ever let them hurt you, Hanalee. Don’t ever let them make you feel small’” (p. 108). Her father also instilled in Hanalee self-worth: “’Just lift your head and show them who you are deep inside. Look them in the eye and smile, and the kind ones will see that brown is a beautiful color’” (p. 174).
Hanalee never folds to the KKK and her neighbors’ hatred; she only lets them see her smile and promises to make changes to the societal norms of Elston. Even after she’s kidnapped and taken to a lynching tree, bound with rope, called cruel names, scared for her life, and is forced to grapple with friends’ betrayals, she never acts with hatred or violence. Despite knowing how to fire a pistol and having one secreted away when Hanalee is kidnapped, she doesn’t shoot anyone. She refuses to react to violence with violence. Instead, Hanalee proves her ingenuity. She fires the gun, and the bullet whistles right past fellow victim Joe, causing him to faint and appear dead. The pandemonium halts the KKK’s “necktie party”, and the sheriff removes his white hood to arrest Hanalee for “murdering” Joe.
Hanalee refuses to “become like one of them” (Winters, 2016, p. 203). She knows that her dream of leaving Elston, becoming a lawyer, and “com[ing] back with the tools to fight these high-and-mighty bigots” is a “difficult path”, but her life is a difficult path, and she refuses to live it within the confines of other people’s decisions concerning who “’can live and breathe --and breed’” (p. 242-243). She protests their prejudices based on the color of her skin and Joe’s sexuality that attempt to oppress them into sub-par lives. In fact, their bigotry encourages her and Joe to survive and thrive: “’become better educated than them-- make more money than them-- love people more fiercely than they could ever dream of loving’” (p. 269). Hanalee lives out her high self-worth by snubbing their violence and only reacting with love. And Hanalee’s commitment to love those who hate her started the de-escalation of KKK influence in Elston as Joe’s father leads the “community to take a stand against the Klan” (p. 305).
The Steep and Thorny Way is an excellent mirror text for those who are on the receiving end of prejudice, hatred, and bigotry. From Hanalee, these readers learn that it is extremely difficult to not act with vengeance and retaliation. Instead, Hanalee depicts how to love others when you don’t feel loved and how to “be the bigger person”. While the story revolves mostly around racial prejudice, it also illustrates homophobia through the horrors Joe also experiences. It is, however, when Joe and Hanalee become a team that they are able to right the wrongs in Elston. They both understand what it is like to be an “outsider” (Winters, 2016, p. 163). And, as such, they illustrate that we are stronger together than separate. We shouldn’t allow labels to divide us, but we should stand together to create a thriving world of smiles, nonviolence, and fierce loving.
References
Winters, C. (2016). The steep and thorny way. New York City: Amulet Books.
TAYSHAS 2017
The Steep and Thorny Way by Cat Winters is a re-telling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet set in Prohibition-era rural Oregon featuring a biracial female protagonist named Hanalee. After her father’s scandalous murder two years previously, Hanalee became the only African-American in her hometown of Elston. With the rising prominence of the Klu Klux Klan and a haunting on the road where her father was hit by a car, Hanalee has to reexamine her own self-worth as she is thrust into situation after situation teeming with lies, secrets, hatred, violence, bigotry, and prejudice.
The arrival of the KKK in 1921 (Winters, 2016, p. 107) and their hatred and prejudice were not new to Hanalee. Indeed, she and her mother and father had been subjected to it before Hanalee was even conceived because “’there might be something unnatural about your father and me [Hanalee’s mother] having children together’” (p. 95). But, Hanalee had friends and family who loved her and supported her, like Fleur and Fleur’s brother, Laurence, who taught Hanalee how to shoot a pistol for protection and told her, “’Don’t ever let them hurt you, Hanalee. Don’t ever let them make you feel small’” (p. 108). Her father also instilled in Hanalee self-worth: “’Just lift your head and show them who you are deep inside. Look them in the eye and smile, and the kind ones will see that brown is a beautiful color’” (p. 174).
Hanalee never folds to the KKK and her neighbors’ hatred; she only lets them see her smile and promises to make changes to the societal norms of Elston. Even after she’s kidnapped and taken to a lynching tree, bound with rope, called cruel names, scared for her life, and is forced to grapple with friends’ betrayals, she never acts with hatred or violence. Despite knowing how to fire a pistol and having one secreted away when Hanalee is kidnapped, she doesn’t shoot anyone. She refuses to react to violence with violence. Instead, Hanalee proves her ingenuity. She fires the gun, and the bullet whistles right past fellow victim Joe, causing him to faint and appear dead. The pandemonium halts the KKK’s “necktie party”, and the sheriff removes his white hood to arrest Hanalee for “murdering” Joe.
Hanalee refuses to “become like one of them” (Winters, 2016, p. 203). She knows that her dream of leaving Elston, becoming a lawyer, and “com[ing] back with the tools to fight these high-and-mighty bigots” is a “difficult path”, but her life is a difficult path, and she refuses to live it within the confines of other people’s decisions concerning who “’can live and breathe --and breed’” (p. 242-243). She protests their prejudices based on the color of her skin and Joe’s sexuality that attempt to oppress them into sub-par lives. In fact, their bigotry encourages her and Joe to survive and thrive: “’become better educated than them-- make more money than them-- love people more fiercely than they could ever dream of loving’” (p. 269). Hanalee lives out her high self-worth by snubbing their violence and only reacting with love. And Hanalee’s commitment to love those who hate her started the de-escalation of KKK influence in Elston as Joe’s father leads the “community to take a stand against the Klan” (p. 305).
The Steep and Thorny Way is an excellent mirror text for those who are on the receiving end of prejudice, hatred, and bigotry. From Hanalee, these readers learn that it is extremely difficult to not act with vengeance and retaliation. Instead, Hanalee depicts how to love others when you don’t feel loved and how to “be the bigger person”. While the story revolves mostly around racial prejudice, it also illustrates homophobia through the horrors Joe also experiences. It is, however, when Joe and Hanalee become a team that they are able to right the wrongs in Elston. They both understand what it is like to be an “outsider” (Winters, 2016, p. 163). And, as such, they illustrate that we are stronger together than separate. We shouldn’t allow labels to divide us, but we should stand together to create a thriving world of smiles, nonviolence, and fierce loving.
References
Winters, C. (2016). The steep and thorny way. New York City: Amulet Books.
Hanalee has always stood out in her hometown in Oregon in the 1920s. She is half African-American and so has very few rights under the law. Her father died a year ago, hit by a drunk driver. A neighbor has told Hanalee that her father is now a “haint,” a ghost traveling the road where he died. Hanalee also discovers that Joe, the boy found guilty for her father’s death is out of jail and back in town, hiding from everyone. The community is also ruled by the KKK, which is certainly not safe for someone like Hanalee. As Hanalee starts to piece together how her father may have died in a different way than a car accident, she also takes a tonic to see her father’s ghost. Joe also tells Hanalee his own secret, why his family has refused him shelter and why the KKK is after him as well.
Winters writes a gripping novel in this reworking of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Set in a time period that is often forgotten, this is a novel of Prohibition, the Klan and the lack of civil rights for people of color. Winters also ties in the loss of rights for LGBT people and how they also lived in the shadows and in desperate fear of being discovered. There is an additional layer of fear as eugenics was being done at the time, a danger for both people of color and LGBT people. With that level of societal pressure and fear, this novel soars and unlikely truces are made in a search for the truth.
Winters’ writing is piercing and honest. She allows Hanalee to figure out the various dangers in her life and somehow at the same time Hanalee is brave enough to not go into hiding or run away but to continue in her search for the truth. Hanalee is an amazing character, filled with love for her best friend, caring for Joe and an adoration of her dead father. Meanwhile she has to handle the dangers around her, and even face them head on with her simple presence in the community.
Brilliantly written, this is a stunning historical novel filled with ghosts and also a firm truth about the risks of the time. Appropriate for ages 14-17.
Winters writes a gripping novel in this reworking of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Set in a time period that is often forgotten, this is a novel of Prohibition, the Klan and the lack of civil rights for people of color. Winters also ties in the loss of rights for LGBT people and how they also lived in the shadows and in desperate fear of being discovered. There is an additional layer of fear as eugenics was being done at the time, a danger for both people of color and LGBT people. With that level of societal pressure and fear, this novel soars and unlikely truces are made in a search for the truth.
Winters’ writing is piercing and honest. She allows Hanalee to figure out the various dangers in her life and somehow at the same time Hanalee is brave enough to not go into hiding or run away but to continue in her search for the truth. Hanalee is an amazing character, filled with love for her best friend, caring for Joe and an adoration of her dead father. Meanwhile she has to handle the dangers around her, and even face them head on with her simple presence in the community.
Brilliantly written, this is a stunning historical novel filled with ghosts and also a firm truth about the risks of the time. Appropriate for ages 14-17.
It was good ? Well written, good characters, amazing setting. Just. Kinda. Boring.
It was important. Dealt with some important themes that I'll discuss in my review but. Idk. wasn't too great. ghosts were just...there
It was important. Dealt with some important themes that I'll discuss in my review but. Idk. wasn't too great. ghosts were just...there
With The Steep & Thorny Way, I’ve read all of Cat Winters’ published novels, and I’ve been a big fan of every single one. The Steep & Thorny Way is no exception, cementing Winters even more firmly in my must-read author list. In some ways, The Steep & Thorny Way is my favorite of hers so far.
Winters tackles some seriously dark and painful subjects in The Steep & Thorny Way: racial tensions in Prohibition-era Oregon, the KKK, homosexuality, and eugenics to name the big ones. Obviously, I’m not in a position to where I can speak to how well Winters did with the biracial (Hanalee’s mama is white and her daddy was black) voice. From what I can tell, her treatment of everything seemed really good.
Hanalee’s the only non-white person in her hometown of Elston, Oregon (aside from the rumors that the Deputy might be secretly Jewish) and has been since her dad died two years before, killed by drunk driving Joe Adder. For the most part, that’s been okay; sure, some people stare but she has good friends and doesn’t spend much time around the hateful folks. With Joe’s release from prison, though, tensions in the town are increasing and Hanalee’s encountering more hate than she ever has before, while also dealing with the fact that her dad’s death may have been calculated and not Joe’s fault. Hanalee teams up with Joe to figure out what happened that night and prove his innocence.
Where this book is really brilliant is that all of that stuff is fit into a Hamlet retelling. Winters obviously has a thing for ghost stories, and Hamlet fits her wonderfully. This gender-flipped Hamlet isn’t a tight retelling, but it’s very clearly there, in Hanalee’s dad showing up as a ghost and her mother marrying her “Uncle” Clyde. Winters does an amazing job, because the Hamlet framing is a) very well done and b) actually helps to ratchet up the intensity of the book and make the ending more unpredictable, because you don’t know whether she’s going to follow that ending or not.
The only way that The Steep & Thorny Way missed for me was that I didn’t really get hit with the feels. I know that I should have, but somehow that was missing. That’s why on an emotional level, my favorite Winters book is her adult title, The Uninvited, as it’s the only one that’s really walloped my feels. However, I do think that, as a novel, The Steep & Thorny Way is stronger and more original.
Winters tackles some seriously dark and painful subjects in The Steep & Thorny Way: racial tensions in Prohibition-era Oregon, the KKK, homosexuality, and eugenics to name the big ones. Obviously, I’m not in a position to where I can speak to how well Winters did with the biracial (Hanalee’s mama is white and her daddy was black) voice. From what I can tell, her treatment of everything seemed really good.
Hanalee’s the only non-white person in her hometown of Elston, Oregon (aside from the rumors that the Deputy might be secretly Jewish) and has been since her dad died two years before, killed by drunk driving Joe Adder. For the most part, that’s been okay; sure, some people stare but she has good friends and doesn’t spend much time around the hateful folks. With Joe’s release from prison, though, tensions in the town are increasing and Hanalee’s encountering more hate than she ever has before, while also dealing with the fact that her dad’s death may have been calculated and not Joe’s fault. Hanalee teams up with Joe to figure out what happened that night and prove his innocence.
Where this book is really brilliant is that all of that stuff is fit into a Hamlet retelling. Winters obviously has a thing for ghost stories, and Hamlet fits her wonderfully. This gender-flipped Hamlet isn’t a tight retelling, but it’s very clearly there, in Hanalee’s dad showing up as a ghost and her mother marrying her “Uncle” Clyde. Winters does an amazing job, because the Hamlet framing is a) very well done and b) actually helps to ratchet up the intensity of the book and make the ending more unpredictable, because you don’t know whether she’s going to follow that ending or not.
The only way that The Steep & Thorny Way missed for me was that I didn’t really get hit with the feels. I know that I should have, but somehow that was missing. That’s why on an emotional level, my favorite Winters book is her adult title, The Uninvited, as it’s the only one that’s really walloped my feels. However, I do think that, as a novel, The Steep & Thorny Way is stronger and more original.
Actual Rating: 4.5*
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
I will have a full review closer to the release date, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I liked that it was built out of the basic premise for Hamlet and that there were references to the play but it was entirely it's own story and one that needed to be told. I think the best part is that it was "accessible" to people because, even if you haven't read Hamlet, you know the general story line so you had a bit of an idea of what was going to happen. However, this story is so much more than just about Hanalee finding her father's killer and I highly recommend this one.
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Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
I will have a full review closer to the release date, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I liked that it was built out of the basic premise for Hamlet and that there were references to the play but it was entirely it's own story and one that needed to be told. I think the best part is that it was "accessible" to people because, even if you haven't read Hamlet, you know the general story line so you had a bit of an idea of what was going to happen. However, this story is so much more than just about Hanalee finding her father's killer and I highly recommend this one.
Books and Ladders | Queen of the Bookshelves | Books Are My Fandom | Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin'
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book was amazing. The portrayal of a biracial main character was so well research and done so well. You can tell that Cat Winters did her research into what life was like in the 1920s in Oregon for black Americans and biracial people. It was super unsettling and disturbing to me that the world was like this before and the KKK existed and basically ran a state. It's quite horrifying what humans will do to each other if they look different or are different from you. This novel was so moving and I think the plot being inspired by Hamlet really worked. I loved the setting, the characters and the writing (it was very powerful).
Definitely recommend. 4.5/5 stars
Definitely recommend. 4.5/5 stars
I really liked the diversity and how the book was about Oregon in the early 1920's. It got dull at times, and some parts seemed pointless to me.