This is the story of a love-smitten Charles; his friend Sam, the Phi Beta Kappa and former coat salesman; and Charles' mother, who spends a lot of ...
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reviews
Dec 29, 2010
Caitlin
rated it: 
I found this book underwhelming and just okay. The parts I did find to be of interest also happened to be very depressing, as pretty much every character with the exception of Laura was pitiful and sad. I guess that's a function of the fact that the narrator is one of those classic "disaffected youth" types, where he can't help but see the pathos in everyone he encounters. I could see why reviewers compared it to "Catcher in the Rye," because Charles had that attitude that
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(2 people liked it)
Dec 16, 2009
Gene
rated it: 
This book never feels clever or exciting. It feels like real life.
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Oct 15, 2011
Zadaver
rated it: 
Buen libro. A terminado gustandome bastante. Eso sí, tengo que advertir que al empezar me resultó incomodo. Tendrá que ver con como está escrito y con que generar una sensación de llegar tarde a una fiesta ya comenzada (después me he enterado que eso puede deberse a que la autora "tiró" a la basura las primeras 40 páginas e hizo empezar el libro así, a medias). Una vez superado el inicio, se lee con placer y resulta a tramos muy gracioso (claro que también bastante triste a la vez, es
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Apr 25, 2011
I probably shouldn't read books like this. I know plenty about disenchanted youth. I'm 24 and spend a lot of time in small bars and on lonely buses. And I liked the book, but I liked it in this weird self-indulgent pornographic way. Yes, every conversation rang true, every character was real. But a Raymond Carver or a Grace Paley can take that grit and veritas and turn it into pure transcendence. Beattie's bleak world sings some, but it doesn't transcend.
And this is probably a More...
And this is probably a More...
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Jun 26, 2010
Kim
rated it:
My three-star rating is more an indication of how much I enjoyed this book than whether or not I thought it was well done. It's well written, but geez, it is tedious. I get that that's the point of Beattie's style, capture a certain kind of tediousness (aka, reality), and maybe if I had read this in the 1970s when the book came out, I would have been impressed. Unfortunately, I read it in the twenty-first century, and too many times while I was reading it, I thought, this reminds me of someone's
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Nov 27, 2011
Alison
rated it:
I'm re-reading this for the first time since college, when it was one of the books we studied in Craig Watson's "Contemporary American Novel" course at Monmouth College. I know I liked it back then but I barely remember it.
In the process of moving from Illinois to Iowa over the past several days, I've been going through many a dilemma about keeping/donating/throwing things away. Finally, I have decided that if I'm going to keep *anything*, it has to be for a specific reaso More...
In the process of moving from Illinois to Iowa over the past several days, I've been going through many a dilemma about keeping/donating/throwing things away. Finally, I have decided that if I'm going to keep *anything*, it has to be for a specific reaso More...
Jun 07, 2009
Núria
rated it: 
No hay duda que 'Postales de invierno' es una novela generacional y yo siempre recordaré que la leí en el momento adecuado. No importa que hable de la resaca de los setenta després de la fiesta hippie de los sesenta, para mí siempre hablará de ese mes de mi vida en que abandoné el trabajo y consumí los días repartiendo mi tiempo entre la angustia y la apatía. Que los dos protagonistas tengan exactamente la edad que tengo yo ahora (27) no acaba de hacer nada más que reforzar esta connexión. 'Post
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Feb 25, 2011
Perry
rated it:
Chilly Scenes of Winter is about this 26 year old named Charlie and other youngish people who go about dealing with relationships and other troubles such as ailing mothers and troubled love lives and Charlie's roommate's unemployment and just problems that can affect people.
I had heard about this book, well, I had read Beattie's Falling in Place and that's probably one of my favorite novels just for what it says about life… I remember she had some really good lines in there - not to m More...
I had heard about this book, well, I had read Beattie's Falling in Place and that's probably one of my favorite novels just for what it says about life… I remember she had some really good lines in there - not to m More...
Aug 25, 2011
Jim
rated it:
This is my favorite Ann Beattie book. I wish she wrote happier material. Ann Beattie is very deliberate in her words and descriptions. Often compared to Carver. She doesn't like the tag of being a minimalist.
When Ann Beattie writes about a man she writes it like a man. Most of her stories are nearly the opposite of a love story. The line from Charles goes something like this, "Why Would you chose someone who loves you less over someone who loves you more?"
You More...
When Ann Beattie writes about a man she writes it like a man. Most of her stories are nearly the opposite of a love story. The line from Charles goes something like this, "Why Would you chose someone who loves you less over someone who loves you more?"
You More...
Jul 27, 2009
Kallie
rated it:
I'm probably confusing this with the excellent film starring John Heard, but I think the film stayed pretty close to the book. We can all be so comical when obsessed with someone who is just not in our reach (and these obsessions begin early). I think that is a better way of looking at a person in those circumstances, rather than seeing them as pathetic. So I like what Ann Beattie does with Charles's predictament.
Jan 03, 2009
Leslie
rated it:
this book is the literary equivalent of A Hazy Shade of Winter" by Simon & Garfunkel. Why did I read it? I don't know. All of her books are depressing and cynical. But-I don't forget them either. Maybe the products of my young adulthood have informed my middle adulthood.
Jan 03, 2009
Heidi
rated it: 
Read this probably twenty years ago or more, at the recommendation of a friend who was into modern severe sculpted New Yorker fiction. I found it dull, self involved and chilly. Very self-consciously literary.
Jan 06, 2009
Brendan
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pretty and sad and fun, just a little bit boring. A quick read that really sucks you in and makes you feel like you're best friends with all the main characters.
Sep 03, 2011
Jim
rated it:
Ann Beattie divides her time between York and Key West; her works have very little to do with Maine, perhaps because there’s almost no upper middle class here.
Jul 28, 2011
Allison
rated it:
my favorite of hers, and one of her earliest. sweet, resonant -- an honest portrayal of young unrequited love
Jan 16, 2012
Estex
rated it:
Novela musical. Tristes imágenes. Comidas solitarias. ¿Qué tipo de amor se presenta en la obra?
Feb 15, 2009
Heather
rated it:
I like Ann Beattie...I especially like her essays, but this is really well crafted also.
Dec 23, 2009
Jail
rated it:
minimalist fiction about one person's obsessive life during a very dull winter.
Sep 19, 2009
Colleen
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Jan 01, 2011
S.B.
rated it:
I liked it very much. Actually, I'm looking forward to reading it again later.
Jul 17, 2008
Stephen
rated it:
The three-star rating I'm giving this is probably unfair. It's a fine story. Ann Beattie was my teacher at the Univ of Virginia when this and Distortions were published, and she was nice enough to autograph my (first-edition) copy.
I agree with the reviewer who said this is not clever, it's more like real life. Chaotic real life, alas, but so often that's where we find ourselves.
I suppose in giving this only three stars, I'm recalling that some of her later fiction surpass More...
I agree with the reviewer who said this is not clever, it's more like real life. Chaotic real life, alas, but so often that's where we find ourselves.
I suppose in giving this only three stars, I'm recalling that some of her later fiction surpass More...
Nov 23, 2009
Karen
rated it:
I read this book a long time ago and am re-reading it now. It is funny/sweet/endearing.
May 26, 2010
Kailin
rated it:
this book was disturbingly like real life - with a touch of Mametesque dialogue.
Mar 20, 2008
Julie
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what an excellent piece of fiction. though it's possible that it resonated more with me than it would for others because it explores a difficult relationship with the protagonist's unstable mother (always interesting to me). also the things that pete (the crazy mother's boyfriend) says were so unintentionally hilarious that i laughed out loud on the bus more than once.
Mar 04, 2010
Jeff
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I kept thinking it would get better. I put up with her aggravating style all cuz i saw some blogger rate this book highly and thought the subject matter deserved the story being heard out to conclusion.
Well it doesnt get better. The last 30 pages are great, but the rest of it can go to heck.
Will provide spoilers upon request.
Well it doesnt get better. The last 30 pages are great, but the rest of it can go to heck.
Will provide spoilers upon request.
Dec 16, 2009
lbh.
rated it:
one of my favorite novels of all time. some books are capital-g Great overall and some are more modest product that happen to speak in your specific dialect, right to you. this was one. i don't know that it should be required reading in everyone's american lit class, but i capital-l Love it. it's everything i require in a book, with magic gravy on top.
Feb 25, 2008
Lawrence
rated it:
She's so good. Not a word wasted. And I know those feelings! Hard to believe it was her first. I really got a sense of what it must have been like to be 27 in 1975. The only thing that irked me was that other places were identified, but we were never told where the book took place.
