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3.27 AVERAGE
3.27 AVERAGE
Winter Town has my favourite cover of 2012; I love it and it alone is what made me excited to read the book. However, as soon as I read the above synopsis, with the line "it's an indie movie in a book", my excitement significantly deflated. We all have prejudices against some genres and that description made me think Winter Town was going to be smirky and self-satisfied and full of obscure references to things that were too cool for me to get.
I can say that Winter Town wasn't like that. OK, the characters make lots of references to things from manga and indie music, but I got at least two-thirds of them. Unfortunately though, my assumption that this book wouldn't really be for me was proved correct and I didn't really like it.
A big problem for me was the writing - it was very simple and plain, so much so that it seemed childish to me. This may have been compounded by the fact that the book I read before Winter Town was Chime by Franny Billingsley and it was a mistake to follow the former with the latter - Winter Town seemed very bland to me after Chime's weird, poetic and strangely beautiful prose.
I also couldn't like or connect with the characters. The whole story is told in third person restricted, with the first half being in Evan's head and the second half switching to Lucy's. I didn't like or dislike Evan, I just found him boring, with some real first world problems ("I'm brilliant at everything! Which amazing talent should I follow?"). Lucy, I did dislike. Lucy's insistence that there was something wrong with Evan being a good kid and that he needed to go off the rails and do dumb, illegal stuff to truly live, bugged me considerably. I did feel sorry for Lucy's situation, but it's very cliché 'problem teen' stuff (hating mum's new boyfriend, falling in with the wrong crowd). I felt like I'd read stories like that so many times because, well, I have.
Why didn't I DNF? Well, the simple writing I complained about does make Winter Town very easy to read and I finished it quickly. And I did like the comic strips that start every chapter. I didn't think they had a whole lot of relevance to the main story, but they were cute and funny. Stephen Emond also writes a comic book series, Emo Boy, and I think I might possibly enjoy that more. Winter Town, as I've said, just wasn't the book for me.
I can say that Winter Town wasn't like that. OK, the characters make lots of references to things from manga and indie music, but I got at least two-thirds of them. Unfortunately though, my assumption that this book wouldn't really be for me was proved correct and I didn't really like it.
A big problem for me was the writing - it was very simple and plain, so much so that it seemed childish to me. This may have been compounded by the fact that the book I read before Winter Town was Chime by Franny Billingsley and it was a mistake to follow the former with the latter - Winter Town seemed very bland to me after Chime's weird, poetic and strangely beautiful prose.
I also couldn't like or connect with the characters. The whole story is told in third person restricted, with the first half being in Evan's head and the second half switching to Lucy's. I didn't like or dislike Evan, I just found him boring, with some real first world problems ("I'm brilliant at everything! Which amazing talent should I follow?"). Lucy, I did dislike. Lucy's insistence that there was something wrong with Evan being a good kid and that he needed to go off the rails and do dumb, illegal stuff to truly live, bugged me considerably. I did feel sorry for Lucy's situation, but it's very cliché 'problem teen' stuff (hating mum's new boyfriend, falling in with the wrong crowd). I felt like I'd read stories like that so many times because, well, I have.
Why didn't I DNF? Well, the simple writing I complained about does make Winter Town very easy to read and I finished it quickly. And I did like the comic strips that start every chapter. I didn't think they had a whole lot of relevance to the main story, but they were cute and funny. Stephen Emond also writes a comic book series, Emo Boy, and I think I might possibly enjoy that more. Winter Town, as I've said, just wasn't the book for me.
There is something inherently sad about this exquisitely wonderful book. Maybe it's the use of the third person. Maybe it's the inclusion of the illustrations. Maybe it's the two voices - so different, yet so clearly meant to be together. Maybe it's just me.
I liked that we heard all of Evan's side of the story before we heard Lucy's voice. I liked how the cartoons enhanced the narrative and offered a metaphorical and reflective subtext. I loved Gram and Doug, and Tim and Marshall, and I hated Bill and Dawn.
Such passion. And it's such a quiet book. A precise book.
I liked that we heard all of Evan's side of the story before we heard Lucy's voice. I liked how the cartoons enhanced the narrative and offered a metaphorical and reflective subtext. I loved Gram and Doug, and Tim and Marshall, and I hated Bill and Dawn.
Such passion. And it's such a quiet book. A precise book.
If there's one thing better than a great book, it's a great book with pictures, which Wintertown just happens to be. It lacked a certain "oomph" that would make me scream its praises from every available website, but I still really enjoyed it.
The description is dead-on with its comparison to an indie movie, which is probably one of the reasons I like this book so much and why others may want to throw it against a wall. It walks the fine line between endearingly quirky and just plain twee, but I personally always found it to be the former. The focus is definitely on the relationship between Evan and Lucy, and it's thus not the most exciting or action-packed book ever, but the two have such a complex friendship that it's always an interesting read nonetheless. Because the pair are so close, they have such frequent and wonderful adventures that it's a fun read, but because the changes both of them go through, especially Lucy, are so large and unfounded to one another they have plenty to angst over too. The balance between their shenanigans and emotion makes for an consistently compelling read, and with the cute added artwork and illustrations, my enjoyment grew even further.
A few things I'm less of a fan of, though. Despite the complexity of the relationship between Evan and Lucy, the rest of the characters suffer from the emphasis on the protagonists. Like, I love Evan's friends Marshall and Tim, as well as the added emotional tension added by his father, but the cast appears in such a limited variety of scenery that I never really got the feeling that they were fully developed characters. Another thing that I'm not a big fan of is that there's a strange shift in point-of-view halfway through the book-- although the entire thing is in third person, it mainly follows Evan in the first half but Lucy in the second. I liked being able to see events play out from both their perspectives because of the insight into their characters it allowed, but the switch was so random that I was initially thrown off.
A little more character development would have made me love it entirely, but I still found Wintertown to be an endearingly quirky and emotional read.
The description is dead-on with its comparison to an indie movie, which is probably one of the reasons I like this book so much and why others may want to throw it against a wall. It walks the fine line between endearingly quirky and just plain twee, but I personally always found it to be the former. The focus is definitely on the relationship between Evan and Lucy, and it's thus not the most exciting or action-packed book ever, but the two have such a complex friendship that it's always an interesting read nonetheless. Because the pair are so close, they have such frequent and wonderful adventures that it's a fun read, but because the changes both of them go through, especially Lucy, are so large and unfounded to one another they have plenty to angst over too. The balance between their shenanigans and emotion makes for an consistently compelling read, and with the cute added artwork and illustrations, my enjoyment grew even further.
A few things I'm less of a fan of, though. Despite the complexity of the relationship between Evan and Lucy, the rest of the characters suffer from the emphasis on the protagonists. Like, I love Evan's friends Marshall and Tim, as well as the added emotional tension added by his father, but the cast appears in such a limited variety of scenery that I never really got the feeling that they were fully developed characters. Another thing that I'm not a big fan of is that there's a strange shift in point-of-view halfway through the book-- although the entire thing is in third person, it mainly follows Evan in the first half but Lucy in the second. I liked being able to see events play out from both their perspectives because of the insight into their characters it allowed, but the switch was so random that I was initially thrown off.
A little more character development would have made me love it entirely, but I still found Wintertown to be an endearingly quirky and emotional read.
I ended up enjoying Winter Town more than I thought I would. I found it full of wit; very funny and cute.
I really grew to like Evan. He was smart and funny. Dorky, but in a cute way. Even I was a bit put off by his obsession with Lucy, I still found his loyalty to her and finder her old self again charming. And I loved how he was with his family, or more specifically, his Gran. Very cute. In the beginning, Evan was trying to please everyone, especially his father. But in the end of the book, I felt that he had grown into himself.
I wasn't a huge fan of Lucy. She just didn't seem like a good fit for sweet Evan. But as I learned more about her, I was able to understand her more.
I loved the illustrations. I thought they were charming and added to the story. I would love to see more of this, when appropriate, in YA books.
Even though it's not my favorite, I liked the charm and wit of Winter Town. A very cute, fun read.
I really grew to like Evan. He was smart and funny. Dorky, but in a cute way. Even I was a bit put off by his obsession with Lucy, I still found his loyalty to her and finder her old self again charming. And I loved how he was with his family, or more specifically, his Gran. Very cute. In the beginning, Evan was trying to please everyone, especially his father. But in the end of the book, I felt that he had grown into himself.
I wasn't a huge fan of Lucy. She just didn't seem like a good fit for sweet Evan. But as I learned more about her, I was able to understand her more.
I loved the illustrations. I thought they were charming and added to the story. I would love to see more of this, when appropriate, in YA books.
Even though it's not my favorite, I liked the charm and wit of Winter Town. A very cute, fun read.
Meh. It was just alright for me. It was no Dash and Lily...and I think the girl wanted to be Margo Roth Spieglman. I'm so biased when it comes to books like this, since it was very close to Paper Towns. (I mean, even the name was similiar...)
The art was cool, though.
The art was cool, though.
I was intrigued by this book because of the mix with the novel and graphic novel aspects. Plus, I thought that storyline sounded good. Two people who have been friends since young childhood find themselves growing up and questioning their feelings for one another, all while having to face the difficult decisions of what to do with their lives. I really always like a love story like this.
Evan and Lucy have been friends since childhood. They used to spend all their time together. Until about maybe six years ago when Lucy's parents divorced and she wen to live with her mother. Now she only comes home for two weeks at the Christmas holiday. Usually they just pick up where they left off, but this last year Lucy has changed, not only her hair cut / color, but Evan knows there's definitely something wrong. But how does he find out.
This story is told in both Evan and Lucy's point of view with each of them taking half of the book to tell their side of things. Where Evan's side ends Lucy's side picks up the story. I like when we get mulitple perspectives, but I'll admit sometimes it can get confusing. By having each character get 1/2 half of the book, I thought this writing device was successful.
Interspersed throughout the book are Stephen Emond's own comic drawings. I think they just enhanced the story that much more. There would be two pages setting up each chapter and then in the chapters themselves we would get drawings about the most important aspects happening. At the end of each chapter we were given a little comic taking place in teh fictitous world that Evan and Lucy created. The adventure in this comic does loosely mimic what is happening in the story proper. It really shows the way a graphic novel and describe in less pages, with drawings and some conversation bubbles, what a novels takes more time to describe with words. I like the two different medians as a form of storytelling.
I thought that book was a cute, quick read showing us a glimpse of the character's lives at a pivitol moment where they will make the decision of what path to take on their future. This is definitely something I could pick up again (maybe around Christmas) and enjoy reading about the characters and their journey. Until Then!
Evan and Lucy have been friends since childhood. They used to spend all their time together. Until about maybe six years ago when Lucy's parents divorced and she wen to live with her mother. Now she only comes home for two weeks at the Christmas holiday. Usually they just pick up where they left off, but this last year Lucy has changed, not only her hair cut / color, but Evan knows there's definitely something wrong. But how does he find out.
This story is told in both Evan and Lucy's point of view with each of them taking half of the book to tell their side of things. Where Evan's side ends Lucy's side picks up the story. I like when we get mulitple perspectives, but I'll admit sometimes it can get confusing. By having each character get 1/2 half of the book, I thought this writing device was successful.
Interspersed throughout the book are Stephen Emond's own comic drawings. I think they just enhanced the story that much more. There would be two pages setting up each chapter and then in the chapters themselves we would get drawings about the most important aspects happening. At the end of each chapter we were given a little comic taking place in teh fictitous world that Evan and Lucy created. The adventure in this comic does loosely mimic what is happening in the story proper. It really shows the way a graphic novel and describe in less pages, with drawings and some conversation bubbles, what a novels takes more time to describe with words. I like the two different medians as a form of storytelling.
I thought that book was a cute, quick read showing us a glimpse of the character's lives at a pivitol moment where they will make the decision of what path to take on their future. This is definitely something I could pick up again (maybe around Christmas) and enjoy reading about the characters and their journey. Until Then!
This was a really, really good book.
The writing was witty. I especially loved the artwork and how it weaved in with the story. The characters were realistic, which in turn gave a lot more weight to their interactions. It felt like a real relationship.
In a way, Winter Town reminded me of John Green books. I mean, to me John Green is up there and you can't really compare anyone to him quality-wise, but we're talking about the style of this book then it definitely has a John Green quality to it.
Anyway, I read it pretty fast. So I say you should give it a try if you're into contemporary, coming-of-age stories with romance thrown in there.
The writing was witty. I especially loved the artwork and how it weaved in with the story. The characters were realistic, which in turn gave a lot more weight to their interactions. It felt like a real relationship.
In a way, Winter Town reminded me of John Green books. I mean, to me John Green is up there and you can't really compare anyone to him quality-wise, but we're talking about the style of this book then it definitely has a John Green quality to it.
Anyway, I read it pretty fast. So I say you should give it a try if you're into contemporary, coming-of-age stories with romance thrown in there.
http://librarianosnark.blogspot.com/2011/11/review-wintertown.html
3.5 stars rounded down
I have had this book on my TBR for literal years, so when I saw it for nice and cheap at Half Priced Books it felt a little like fate. Overall, I enjoyed the story. It's the kind of book that's really easy to fall into and really quick to get through. Evan and Lucy make for very interesting characters when posed next to each other, and it's fun to see both sides of the story (and not simultaneously, so some of Lucy's mystery is still in tact).
I have had this book on my TBR for literal years, so when I saw it for nice and cheap at Half Priced Books it felt a little like fate. Overall, I enjoyed the story. It's the kind of book that's really easy to fall into and really quick to get through. Evan and Lucy make for very interesting characters when posed next to each other, and it's fun to see both sides of the story (and not simultaneously, so some of Lucy's mystery is still in tact).