4.8k reviews for:

La Fille de l'hiver

Eowyn Ivey

4.0 AVERAGE

sirohub's review against another edition

3.0

mysterious sad slow-paced

carolyngierer's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Beautiful 

alyssahathorn's review against another edition

4.0

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Really intriguing writing in this novel. Just enough detailed description to make you feel like you are there, but not too much as to lose interest. Sad, happy, magical, curious story with some fairy tale feel. I would love to know what came to be with Faina, but as most good stories end, it is up to your imagination. I can't say I loved or did not expect the ending, but loved the book nonetheless.

cmklaft's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

em_reads94's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

kris10b's review against another edition

4.0

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Lovely, poignant, a little cold. The Alaskan landscape ... flora and fauna ... is its own character.

tine47's review against another edition

3.5

emotional hopeful mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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A Russian fairy tale re written, set in Alaska. Apparently a snow girl has turned into a real little girl who appears and then goes away again  apparently at will. Is she real? What happens when she falls in love with a human? Find out by reading this slightly strange novel.

jisungie_reads's review against another edition

4.75

emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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 "In my old age, I see that life itself is often more fantastic and terrible than the stories we believed as children, and that perhaps there is no harm in finding magic among the trees."

A very interesting read. My first initial thoughts made me feel a bit disappointed, as the twists and turns along the way made me feel like, "ah, this book isn't really turning out the way I thought it would, nor in a way that I particularly enjoy", but after some thinking and research, I feel like this book has elevated itself moreso outside of its first impression!

Particularly the ending and of the Snow Child's existence.

I think the wrestling between if Faina is a real girl or an illusion is not the angle we were suppose to take, although it is easy and normal to get into and to try and decipher. But after remembering that this is magical realism, I think a much more sound approach is to think of Faina's existence and intention to be more of an abstract idea rather than a realistic one.

 

 

Faina was definitely something in between a real girl with magical elements to her (she seemed literally apart of the snowy woods, but also could be seen by multiple humans and be communicated with). But as she started to be forced to live more and more like a human and less like a feral child apart of the snow (starting around Mabel projecting her grief and trauma of losing her child on Faina and treating her like her own child, to Jack projecting his difficult struggle of wanting to be dependable and having normalcy and a steady and grounded way of living that made sense to him which makes him want to treat Faina as a real girl and deny her magical existence, to Garrett pursuing a domestic and romantic life with Faina despite her belonging to the woods), she started to actually behave and interact with the world around her as if she was just a normal woman. For example, she used to literally melt in Mabel and Jack's cabin if they didn't leave the door open. Now as a woman, she could stay in the heat for hours during her wedding, just sweating at a human-like just like the rest of the human characters. From the parental doting and raising from Mabel and Jack, to her growing young love and marriage to Garrett, to becoming pregnant and having a human birth ultimately changed Faina's existence, like sucking the magical-realism out of her.

I saw someone say (alongside with my own added flowery touch lol) that she was like a flower - beautiful and enticing, but plucked from a meadow and placed in a human's home in a vase. Given everything to survive - water in the vase, food, sunlight, and love. And yet, the flower still eventually slowly wilts and dies.

The only thing keeping this book from a stellar 5/5 for me was the pacing near the beginning compared to the ending. The start before getting to the meat of the story took a bit to get through, but the pacing found itself near the 60% mark, then had a bit of a rush for the ending. But nothing that would've made me consider putting it down! In fact, it is a strong contender for a reread! :)

klekamp's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

megumphrey's review against another edition

4.5

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No