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A review by pensivepelican
Winterland by Rae Meadows
5.0
Winterland is the story of Anya, a young girl who was selected for the USSR gymnastics program, a grueling assembly line that produced one champion after another. Success as a gymnast would mean leaving family and friends behind, but she had little choice. She witnessed firsthand that those who didn’t fall in line or live up to expectations would be left out in the cold. Sometimes literally.
Anya and her father live in Norilsk, a nickel mining town near Siberia, where it is dark and cold most of the year – often dangerously cold. It’s one of the coldest cities in the world and, today, one of the most polluted. It was also secretive because of the value of the nickel deposits and because many of its residents were sent there as punishment. The city served as a sort of purgatory for those who had fallen out of favor but not severely enough to be imprisoned.
Dissent was treason. Her mother was disappeared when Anya was so young her memories are mostly vague impressions. No one will talk about her mother – in part because they didn’t know what happened and also because they are afraid of being heard. There’s no way of knowing who is a friend and who may report you for perceived disloyalty.
Anya strikes up an unlikely friendship with an elderly neighbor who slowly opens up to her about her experiences in a labor camp and can shed some light on her mother’s fate.
I stayed up way too late reading this, but it was impossible to put down. So many have forgotten what the Cold War era was like or are too young to have lived through it. Russia was instrumental in defeating the Nazis during World War II, but the rise of the Soviet Union brought oppression of its own. Food shortages, poverty, and pressure to show the Motherland as powerful and invincible fostered a sense of paranoia and dread. Author Rae Meadows manages to transmit some of that dread to the reader as you wonder what each turn of the page will bring.
I received this Advanced Reader Copy of Winterland from Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Anya and her father live in Norilsk, a nickel mining town near Siberia, where it is dark and cold most of the year – often dangerously cold. It’s one of the coldest cities in the world and, today, one of the most polluted. It was also secretive because of the value of the nickel deposits and because many of its residents were sent there as punishment. The city served as a sort of purgatory for those who had fallen out of favor but not severely enough to be imprisoned.
Dissent was treason. Her mother was disappeared when Anya was so young her memories are mostly vague impressions. No one will talk about her mother – in part because they didn’t know what happened and also because they are afraid of being heard. There’s no way of knowing who is a friend and who may report you for perceived disloyalty.
Anya strikes up an unlikely friendship with an elderly neighbor who slowly opens up to her about her experiences in a labor camp and can shed some light on her mother’s fate.
I stayed up way too late reading this, but it was impossible to put down. So many have forgotten what the Cold War era was like or are too young to have lived through it. Russia was instrumental in defeating the Nazis during World War II, but the rise of the Soviet Union brought oppression of its own. Food shortages, poverty, and pressure to show the Motherland as powerful and invincible fostered a sense of paranoia and dread. Author Rae Meadows manages to transmit some of that dread to the reader as you wonder what each turn of the page will bring.
I received this Advanced Reader Copy of Winterland from Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.