From the Bookshelf of Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge…

The Winter People

Jennifer McMahon

Start date: January 1, 2017

Finish date: January 31, 2017

Discussion: 2017 Monthly challenge

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What Members Thought

Jan 15, 2014 steen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

“If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.” - George Bernard Shaw

West Hall, Vermont: a sleepy little town that holds its legends and lore close. Most notably, the story of Sara Harrison Shea haunts the older families and swirls into a bogeyman story amongst the younger generation. It’s said that Sara Harrison Shea could raise the dead, or “sleepers” as she calls them; after losing her beloved daughter Gertie, Sara’s journ “If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.” - George Bernard Shaw

West Hall, Vermont: a sleepy little town that holds its legends and lore close. Most notably, the story of Sara Harrison Shea haunts the older families and swirls into a bogeyman story amongst the younger generation. It’s said that Sara Harrison Shea could raise the dead, or “sleepers” as she calls them; after losing her beloved daughter Gertie, Sara’s journal from 1908 details a desperate attempt to bring Gertie back and the madness that ensues…

Present day. 19 year old Ruthie lives in the famous farmhouse with her mom, Alice, and little sister, Fawn. Life is quiet, peaceful, and simple --- until the girls wake up one morning to discover their mother has disappeared. While looking for clues in their mother’s room, they find a boarded up closet full of meaningless everyday objects and a book in the floorboards, a copy of the diary that belonged to Sara Harrison Shea. Following the clues within, the girls wind up deeply embedded in the secrets of Sara, Gertie, and their mother.

This was a fascinating read for the first ¾ of the book. Who doesn’t love a good creepy house? McMahon expertly weaves her tale using Sara’s diaries, Sara’s husband’s story, and present-day stories from Katherine and Ruthie, all without losing her readers and yet immersing them completely in the mystery surrounding a lonely farmhouse in West Hall.

Truthfully, I didn’t love the end of the story. It felt almost like an M. Night Shyamalan movie in that the shroud of mystery and spookiness is cast off and there isn’t much beneath it except an ending with an awful lot of rushed explaining crammed into it. The very end, the final piece of Katherine’s story, brought back some of the magic of the story and starts her down the same road that Sara traveled decades ago, bringing to mind the quote above from Shaw.

** Copy provided by Netgalley ** ...more

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Mar 15, 2014 Lydia Presley rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, dark-fiction, horror, 2014

I'm going to admit that I'm pretty much over the narration style that involves shifting back to a time in history then jumping forward into the present to connect things. Jennifer McMahon manages to make it a bit better in The Winter People by making some of the historical narrative present itself as diary entries. Still, there was a lot of dates happening at the beginning of various sections in The Winter People and it never fails to confuse me. Not once. I mean, who really pays attention to da ...more

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Feb 24, 2018 Susan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018

A thoroughly enjoyable supernatural thriller, set in the northeast (Vermont, I think? I should check, but lazy), in winter. It flips between 1908 and the present, and both time periods have supernatural, ghostly, elements to them.

It's a fast read, mostly because you want to keep on reading it, to see what happens next. ...more

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Dec 28, 2016 Julianne Dunn rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2017-read-harder

I liked the bouncing back and forth between perspectives and narrative vs diary but I feel like there were pieces missing of the story. That might have been the intent but they stick in the brain craw. Still a good read if someone is considering reading.

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May 16, 2014 Julie rated it liked it

Shelves: paranormal, horror-suspense

Enjoyed the first 3/4 of the book but took kind of a weird, had to suspend reality a little too much, turn towards the last 100 pages. Still, it was a quick, entertaining, and spooky read.

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