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3.32 AVERAGE
3.32 AVERAGE
Couldn't get past the whole child/adult relationship thing
Winter's Tale takes place in a mythical New York City, and although everything I read about beforehand said (rightly) that it is an amazing, magical novel about Peter Lake's quest to stop time, achieve justice, bring back the dead, destiny, fate, etc. to me it is more about the city. About loving and hating a city, and being both excited and disappointed by it all of the time. Winter's Tale captured the push/pull spirit of this city better than any novel I have ever read. I loved that about it, and because of that aspect I will always remember it fondly.
But, the plot is a challenge, and there are many characters introduced that never seem to drive the plot or resolve their own presence in the story. (One example: Hardesty and the salver? Was that such a big deal? Why did we spend so much time with him in his journey across the country? What happened with the evil brother?) Everything in Winter's Tale jumps around a lot, and keeping up certainly exercises the reader's brain.
This book is difficult to describe. I read it in two parts, separated by a few months. It is complex and fantastic, and I needed a little break after Part II when Peter Lake and Athansor the white horse rose up into the sky after fighting the Short Tails on the bridge.
See how crazy I just sounded there? That is what this book is like. Wild things happen, and the story is exhilarating and frustrating. Some questions are never answered. But, as insane as it is, I recommend it for any reader who loves and hates New York, and would be fascinated by someone else's dream-like version of it. That part is truly wonderful.
Also, I recommend Googling the New York Times Book Review from 1983, which says things like, "Winter's Tale" is a great gift at an hour of great need."
But, the plot is a challenge, and there are many characters introduced that never seem to drive the plot or resolve their own presence in the story. (One example: Hardesty and the salver? Was that such a big deal? Why did we spend so much time with him in his journey across the country? What happened with the evil brother?) Everything in Winter's Tale jumps around a lot, and keeping up certainly exercises the reader's brain.
This book is difficult to describe. I read it in two parts, separated by a few months. It is complex and fantastic, and I needed a little break after Part II when Peter Lake and Athansor the white horse rose up into the sky after fighting the Short Tails on the bridge.
See how crazy I just sounded there? That is what this book is like. Wild things happen, and the story is exhilarating and frustrating. Some questions are never answered. But, as insane as it is, I recommend it for any reader who loves and hates New York, and would be fascinated by someone else's dream-like version of it. That part is truly wonderful.
Also, I recommend Googling the New York Times Book Review from 1983, which says things like, "Winter's Tale" is a great gift at an hour of great need."
I read it on a long train ride to pass the time. To be fair, I'm the last person to appreciate religious allegory and of course, his portrayal of women is ridiculous to me (the whole thing was ridiculous to me)
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
a stunning, vividly enchanting story. The English language is woven together in a way I had never before experienced in a book.
There is so much rich language to digest with this book. I recommend taking it in strides over a longer period of time than you might normally read a book. While it was written three decades ago, there are so many things about it that continue to resonate, particularly post-millenium. There's something prophetic about its depictions of newspapers. If you love New York City, it's definitely worth your time, as it really is a love letter to the big apple, past and present. My favorite cameo character is the mountaineer Jesse Honey, with his rainbow suspenders and purple and blue knee socks. This book has also left me with a craving to see Grand Central Station with new eyes.
I can't even fathom how this will be a film. I suspect that the film will be some exceptionally stripped and sliced mess. We'll see.
I can't even fathom how this will be a film. I suspect that the film will be some exceptionally stripped and sliced mess. We'll see.
Winter's Tale is a very long (more than 700 pages) love-letter to New York City. And it makes you fall in love not only with the city but with harsh, snowy winters too. (I really dislike winter but longed for it when I read this book). There are so many passages describing the city as a being that is alive and constantly in motion, so beautifully and with so much love, reverence and clarity - that it's hard to pick one as my favorite.
But here is one that I liked a lot:
"This was the first city he had ever seen that immediately spoke for itself, as if it had no people and were a system of empty canyons cutting across the desert in the west. The overwhelming mass of its architecture, in which time crossed and mixed, dis not ask for attention shyly, like Paris or Copenhagen, but demanded it like a centurion barking orders....he knew right off that an unseen force was breathing under all the gray, that the events and miracles of the city were simply the effect of this force as it turned in its sleep, that it saturated everything, and that it had sculpted the city before it had even opened its eyes...It was perhaps the grayest, coldest, most dangerous city in the world. He understood why young people from all over came to pit themselves against it."
Ok, one more:
"..they held tightly to the tails, unable to take their eyes off the city. Ten thousand bolts of lightning struck the high towers, plaiting them with white gold and filling the air with thundercrack after thundercrack that made all fixed objects rattle. It set a hundred fires in the city of the poor, but the rain was so hard that they were extinguished as quickly as they started - which made them look like the slowly disintegrating spheres of airborne fireworks. When the storm was at its height, it seemed as if waves were breaking upon the city from a sea that floated and raged above. But the city neither flinched, nor blinked, nor bent its back for a moment. It tood fully upright like a range of great mountains, and harvested in the bolts. All the time that the storm was pounding, New York remained serene, with its lights aglow, for its ranks of steady towers were built on bedrock."
The only reason I took off one star, maybe half, is because there were many passages I felt were unnecessary and did not add to to the story in the least. A hundred pages could have been removed. He also jumped around from character to character a little too much.
It takes a while to get used to the fact that every sentence in this book is a metaphor or a simile or just has way too many descriptive words, but once you get past that and into the story, it really pulls you in, it captivates you with the imagery and the events and the suspense of when all the pieces will come together. I did not expect the magical realism aspect of the book but it was refreshing to read this genre after a long time.
And now, I just want to move to New York, magical or not. Thanks, Mark Helprin.
But here is one that I liked a lot:
"This was the first city he had ever seen that immediately spoke for itself, as if it had no people and were a system of empty canyons cutting across the desert in the west. The overwhelming mass of its architecture, in which time crossed and mixed, dis not ask for attention shyly, like Paris or Copenhagen, but demanded it like a centurion barking orders....he knew right off that an unseen force was breathing under all the gray, that the events and miracles of the city were simply the effect of this force as it turned in its sleep, that it saturated everything, and that it had sculpted the city before it had even opened its eyes...It was perhaps the grayest, coldest, most dangerous city in the world. He understood why young people from all over came to pit themselves against it."
Ok, one more:
"..they held tightly to the tails, unable to take their eyes off the city. Ten thousand bolts of lightning struck the high towers, plaiting them with white gold and filling the air with thundercrack after thundercrack that made all fixed objects rattle. It set a hundred fires in the city of the poor, but the rain was so hard that they were extinguished as quickly as they started - which made them look like the slowly disintegrating spheres of airborne fireworks. When the storm was at its height, it seemed as if waves were breaking upon the city from a sea that floated and raged above. But the city neither flinched, nor blinked, nor bent its back for a moment. It tood fully upright like a range of great mountains, and harvested in the bolts. All the time that the storm was pounding, New York remained serene, with its lights aglow, for its ranks of steady towers were built on bedrock."
The only reason I took off one star, maybe half, is because there were many passages I felt were unnecessary and did not add to to the story in the least. A hundred pages could have been removed. He also jumped around from character to character a little too much.
It takes a while to get used to the fact that every sentence in this book is a metaphor or a simile or just has way too many descriptive words, but once you get past that and into the story, it really pulls you in, it captivates you with the imagery and the events and the suspense of when all the pieces will come together. I did not expect the magical realism aspect of the book but it was refreshing to read this genre after a long time.
And now, I just want to move to New York, magical or not. Thanks, Mark Helprin.
I understand that description is extremely important in books, but I felt like 90% of what I was reading was just descriptive text and no substance. It just wasn't for me.
dark
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A fantastical, sprawling, allegorical tale. I found the most interesting part was the first half. (It seems that any time there is a time skip and the author introduces new characters, I lose interest) I liked Peter Lake’s characterization and his journey.
I liked how it ended. Very ambitious, otherworldly, and there was probably a bit that went over my head because I was listening on anywhere between 1.7-2.5x speed (that's a new record for me.)
The third quartile left me confused, as the inclusion of Christiana and Ashenby (I guess Prager DePinto was fine, since he was the mayor during that historic winter) felt really… extra, and it took a lot of time to explain their very small parts in the ending.
I liked how it ended. Very ambitious, otherworldly, and there was probably a bit that went over my head because I was listening on anywhere between 1.7-2.5x speed (that's a new record for me.)
The third quartile left me confused, as the inclusion of Christiana and Ashenby (I guess Prager DePinto was fine, since he was the mayor during that historic winter) felt really… extra, and it took a lot of time to explain their very small parts in the ending.