Book Review – Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

Lately, I’ve read several historical fiction books about Europe during Nazi and Stalin times. I’m not sure why, but each book has pulled me into the sorrowful past and I’ve thought about the many lives lost under extremist rule.

My recent historical journey was Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah. I never read a book by Kristin before, but she certainly made me a fan with this book.

Book Genre: Historical Fiction

Paperback: 448 Pages

Synopsis from Amazon:

Can a woman ever really know herself if she doesn’t know her mother?

“Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, Meredith and Nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters. As children, the only connection between them was the Russian fairy tale Anya sometimes told the girls at night. On his deathbed, their father extracts a promise from the women in his life: the fairy tale will be told one last time—and all the way to the end. Thus begins an unexpected journey into the truth of Anya’s life in war-torn Leningrad, more than five decades ago. Alternating between the past and present, Meredith and Nina will finally hear the singular, harrowing story of their mother’s life, and what they learn is a secret so terrible and terrifying that it will shake the very foundation of their family and change who they believe they are.”

What made me want to read this book?

I can’t pinpoint exactly what made me want to read this book. I recently read a few YA historical fiction, Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys because it was compared to The Book Thief. Here’s the link to my review of that book -

http://skippingstonememories.blogspot.de/2012/11/a-book-that-opened-my-eyes.html. I enjoyed both these books, so I figured I would enjoy the Winter Garden, too.

Winter Garden is about a mother’s fairy tale of love and survival in Leningrad, Russia during the war. There is a great overwhelming emotion I feel when I think about how people struggled to survive in Europe during Stalin and Hitler rule. Although fiction, these books about the tyranny and hatred these two leaders carried in their hearts and commanded can’t be expressed in history books ... and from my memory, I don’t recall learning about them. So, I’ve been interested in reading about what happened in Europe during the war, and how so many suffered and died without even being put in a Potter’s Field.

My Review

Kristin Hannah accomplished one very difficult task as a writer, and that is progressive character change. From the start, her characters are flawed and lost, but as the story progresses, the characters gradually change … and the mother, Anya, changes a lot. It’s incredible to read and experience a writer creating flawed characters, one to the point of dislike, and then seeing them transform to the point of liking them.  

Meredith and Nina’s mother, Anya, was never really a mother to them. She was cold and distant, but the one thing that brought them together as children was Anya telling her fairy tale. On his deathbed, their beloved father, Evan, made his wife promise to tell the entire fairy tale to his daughters, and asked his daughters to truly listen to the story. As Anya begins to tell the fairy tale, and her erratic behavior diminishes, Meredith and Nina realize the fairy tale isn’t really a fairy tale, but about their mother’s life in Leningrad, Russia.

Along with dimensional characters and learning about suffering, Kristin’s writing adds to the beauty of the story. Below are a few examples of her writing style:

“Words were like pennies, fallen into corners and down the cracks, not worth the effort of collecting” (pg. 52)

“Grief had become her silent sidekick.” (pg. 81)

“She hears a squawking sound coming through a speaker and the word—Attention—thrown like a knife into wood.” (pg. 254)

A few things I didn’t like about the book were the ending and the mothers’ relationship with the father. The ending seemed rushed and everything wrapped up too nicely. I also wondered how Meredith and Nina felt knowing their mother’s heart belonged to another, and also why their father married such a woman.

Because of these flaws, I give this book a 4.25-star out of 5.

Fairy tales and Love,

Bea

Could you look into it?

I was thinking on getting away for the July 4^th weekend—cheaply—so the best place to look for such flights is Southwest Airlines. Hmm…what happened to the $49.00 one-way flights? And no, I’m not talking about flying from Chicago to Cleveland. Southwest was the savior of the skies for budget seekers, and now they seem to be flying at the same cost as other airlines. I feel like the American people can’t catch a break at the gas pump, grocery store, and now getaways. We NEED mental health weekends and Southwest used to be our answer.  

During my months in Europe, we were able to experience different places because of the budget airline, Ryanair. I was able to buy two round trip tickets to Bologna, Italy from Dusseldorf, Germany for 28 Euros, approximately $35.00. If it wasn’t for Ryanair, I wouldn’t have been able to go and enjoy different countries in Europe.   

Why can’t Southwest or another airline look into what makes Ryanair successful? Americans should be able to fly to Boston or California at reasonable costs. We can’t even blame flight increases on gas costs because Europe’s average gas prices are anywhere from $6.00 to $11.00 a gallon. 

Nowadays there are more people relocating to other states, which mean low cost fares would help them see family from time to time. People aren’t utilizing their full vacation time for the “what if’s” and “costs”. If an airline started providing low, reasonable fares, they’d be constantly booked because more people would fly. And if more people fly, it would boost the economy allowing them to spend more during their travels. It’s a win/win situation.

Could you look into it? I mean, it would be awesome to fly to California (round-trip) at a cost far less than flying to Europe.

Whatcha thinkin'?

Lover’s Lock

Lately I’ve been missing Europe a lot and all the things we did and didn’t do while living there. Before we left Germany to return to Chicago, we went back to Cologne. Cologne is one of the largest cities in North Rhine Westphalia—the name of the area where we lived. It was one of my favorite cities, probably because I ate every pastry imaginable and enjoyed my first wiener schnitzel there. But we made the trip back for a reason. At the time, I didn't know the reason. It was my Love's idea—a romantic.

There is bridge that runs across the Rhine River that sparkles in the sunlight. It isn’t until you venture along the walkway of the bridge that you realize what makes it sparkle. Locks. 

Lots of locks—there were thousands of colorful locks reflecting the sun and sentiments about how someone felt about another person. When I read the locks, I tried to imagine the people and what was going on in their life. Some probably were professing their love to someone they married, someone now long gone in their life, or someone who died. I really didn’t know. What I did know is that someone was important to them—they wanted to share with the world in color, chrome or silver, what their life meant to them at the time. 

Along the way, we found a place for our lock. Our names locked to a bridge in Cologne with many others. I may not make it back there, but I’ll always know we have a lock of love glistening in the sun. I smile when I think about it, and loved the idea so much that you’ll find a poem in my poetry ebook called Locks of Love.

Did you ever do something different to express your love? I’d love to hear about it.