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emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
reflective
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
Ali Smith is so good at writing books!! Loved this. I gave it a slightly higher rating than ‘Autumn’, which I also loved, because this one got a bit more political and really centred you in the time and place that the book was set. I loved the characters and the relationship between the two sisters. Such clever observations about life and people.
Refreshing to read a novel that feels so energetically modern. The timeless problems of family, relationship, and loneliness, are woven poetically and inseparably into the fabric of modernity and of the lives we find ourselves living now, in the age of Google and Trump.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
See my review here:
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2020/01/07/review-1458-winter/
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2020/01/07/review-1458-winter/
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I didn’t enjoy Winter as much as Autumn, and I think the main reason for that was that I kept trying to figure out the link between the two and failing. The atmosphere fit very well with the feeling of winter and the holidays but ultimately, the story left me longing for a bit more. Perhaps it was also due to the fact that a lot of the political subtleties went over my head. I loved Lux’ character and would have loved to learn a bit more about her!
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Believing in the parallels between hardcore brexiteers and the maga gang allows this American (me) to find solace and commiseration in this British tale, the inhumanity of what we have just lived through in the last 5-6 years and continue to live through in exacerbated disorientation and chaos in 2021. I read this novel too late. The horrors of 2017, filtered through these wonderful characters’ reactions/passivity, feels distant and even nostalgic while now in the throes of COVID. But in 2017, there was an ongoing refugee crisis, a high rise apartment burning in London, an obstinate Brexit train careening toward “sovereignty”. This is in the background of Smith’s characters’ surreal Christmastime, amidst hallucinations, unwitting interventions, posturing, hiding and finally a faint glimmer of reconciliation, as if to say, after it all, perhaps we can hope.