Winter Garden in Crazy Challenge Connection

Dec 05, 2010 Tien rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, chick-lit, snakes-ladders

So, I'm writing this review with slightly swollen eyes... Yes, I've shed lots of tears for this story - in fact, I came very close to sobbing out loud...

Just after the first chapter, I really wasn't sure if I was in the mood to read this type of story. A story, that is, guaranteed to be full of pain but hopefully with a hopeful conclusion. So, I looked around a bit more about what others say and one said, it gets better in the second half.

It did get better, a little bit sooner, I think. For me, ...more

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Jan 14, 2013 ilovebakedgoods (Teresa) rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2013, killeen-library-paper, women, contemporary-fiction, sisters, family

The ending (view spoiler)

I really wanted to like this book because I do enjoy family dramas, especially those involving sisters but gah, Meredith... And the nicknames - Meredoodle? Really? As another reviewer mentioned, that isn't even a time-saver! And the nickname "Neens" grated on my nerves but so did Neener Been The ending (view spoiler)

I really wanted to like this book because I do enjoy family dramas, especially those involving sisters but gah, Meredith... And the nicknames - Meredoodle? Really? As another reviewer mentioned, that isn't even a time-saver! And the nickname "Neens" grated on my nerves but so did Neener Beener or whatever it was. Yes, this one brought out the crab in me.

I want to love Kristin Hannah because I think she has good ideas for stories, and I have enjoyed a few of hers in the past, but I just don't think her writing is solid or strong enough for me to overlook certain aspects of the story that annoy me. With a better author - say, Nora Roberts or Lisa Kleypas - I could handle it but Kristin's writing just doesn't flow that seamlessly for me to get lost in the writing. Every character felt like a cardboard cutout of cliche. Type-A control freak older sister, cold and distant mother, flighty younger sister, then of course the father who was supposedly the glue that held the mess together dies (it's no secret that he dies near the beginning, setting off the bulk of the story) so we're stuck with these grown women who don't know how to communicate with anyone, not even their spouse/long-term boyfriend. I know, I know, the mom was cold for a "reason" and I do understand that, and of course she's the catalyst for why the two sisters have trouble in the communication department but I guess it just didn't work for me in this book. I've read better-written stories about cold mothers and sisters with issues.

Meredith drove me nuts, with her constant fussing over the fact that her mother liked to sit in the winter garden, on a bench, staring into space. SO WHAT?! Let the woman have her solitude! It's cold out, big deal. She's a grown woman, 80-something-years-old, let her do what brings her comfort! Meredith acted like her mother was crazy for sitting there, doing nothing, the horrors! Control freak!

And I'm really sorry to say, the whole Russian "fairy tale" didn't even pull on my heartstrings and it should have. I mean, it did at the end, but most of it just bored me, it was so dull and dry (the way it was written/told, not so much the plot of the story). I found myself wanting to skim to the end of the 'fairy tale' just to get it over with, and that kind of makes me sad because it could have been a beautiful, heart-wrenching tale in another author's voice.

I know a lot of other people really loved this book, especially the 'fairy tale', but it just didn't pull me in like I'd hoped. The most positive thing I can say is that this was a very quick read and I am glad that Meredith and Nina both grew as people by the end, and that their mother came to terms with certain aspects of her life. ...more

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Feb 09, 2012 Susan rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction

Even halfway through this book, I was thinking of it as rather ho-hum, and was expecting to give it only 3 stars. I liked the characters, especially sisters Meredith and Nina, but it didn't feel like it was going anywhere. And the mother character seemed so extreme that it strained credulity.

Then suddenly it turned into so much more. I think the last part of the book is as powerful as anything I've read. It' not that it was shocking or surprising, but that the emotional impact simply kept buildi ...more

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Apr 26, 2011 Suzanne rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-i-own, library-overdrive-audiobook, tower-teams-read-2013, read-in-2014, goodreads-choice-award-2010

Oh my gosh, this book was so sad... it reminded me of Sophie's Choice only it had a better ending. ...more

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Jun 08, 2012 mussolet rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: language-english, 2021-sorted, 2024-shelf-challenge, rating-5stars-fiction-nf

When reading my way around the world, I usually try to avoid books about a place that are written by an author from a totally different place. Every now and again however, I stumble upon a hidden gem that takes its obligations very seriously and aims for a realistic view of a different place or time. "Winter Garden" is such a book.

As usual, Kristin Hannah deals with a lot of different themes within one big story. There is the middle-aged woman looking for her true place in life. There is the wom When reading my way around the world, I usually try to avoid books about a place that are written by an author from a totally different place. Every now and again however, I stumble upon a hidden gem that takes its obligations very seriously and aims for a realistic view of a different place or time. "Winter Garden" is such a book.

As usual, Kristin Hannah deals with a lot of different themes within one big story. There is the middle-aged woman looking for her true place in life. There is the woman that needs to rediscover her sense of home. There are two very different sisters that need to find a way to each other again. There is the loss of a father.
And then there is the relationship between mother and daughter, the central piece of this novel.
How does that relationship define the daughter? What should a mother be like? How much of her and her experiences lives on in her child? How much do you want to know about your parents' past?

Kristin Hannah uses the story of a Russian immigrant to make her character observations, but this is not the important thing. Mother Anya tells her two girls about her childhood. She uses the form of a fairytale, and she hardly ever relies on cold hard facts, but instead she shows the underlying emotion, creating a connection with her daughters and a very emotional response in the reader. Even when Anya is telling her difficult story, she is communicating first and foremost to her daughters, and that communication is more important than the rather exotic topic of conversation.

There is something to be said about the writing of those memory scenes however.
I know that everyone forms their own places in their head, but for the first time, it felt like the Russia in my head while I was reading it. It is interesting that, with all the war writing out there, the first time this has happened to me was during a "Chick Lit"-read of an author who I'd previously only known writing about the beautiful state of Washington.

In the end the book was very moving, well-written and I learned something about Russia. What a great combination!

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Review can also be found at 238 books in 238 days. ...more

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Feb 24, 2014 Chris rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, fiction, war, europe

A book that was better than expected, which is always a nice surprise. Two grown sisters have spent their lives wondering why their mother didn't love them. Each has dealt with it in her own way. It is only as their beloved father lies dying that he elicits a promise from each of them to find out the mother's real story. Slowly she begins to tell them a fairy tale that slowly transforms into the horror of World War II Leningrad, and the women begin to have a better understanding of each other. I ...more

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Oct 05, 2013 Carol rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, snow-challeng, winter-snow, winter-snow-book-list

This book is the unabridged version, a total of 14 hours and 43 minutes. This is an epic love story and an intimate portrait of women poised at the crossroads of their lives. I thought it was great to see how they took care of their loved ones.

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Jun 24, 2019 Kim rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, wartime, war, housing, sisters, authors-i-ve-read-5-or-more-books, 1000books, chick-lit, family, contemporary

Another powerful book by Kristin Hannah.
Summer Reading Challenge - July 4. Winter Wonderland ❄️ Read a book from one of these winter reading lists: ⛄️ Best books to read when the snow is falling

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