Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Winter's Tale
Book Review: Dissapointing
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm a fan of Helprin's, based on having read and enjoyed "Refiner's Fire" and "A Soldier Of The Great War". I found "Winters Tale", however, to be a big dissapointment. There's a fine story contained in its 700- plus pages, but its buried in so much unecessary and flowery prose that the interesting parts are like islands separated by an ocean of words. Like the two books cited above, Helprin makes use of magic realism here, but while it was used to good effect in smaller doses in those works, "Winters Tale" chokes on it. Helprin seems to be showing off here, and the writing sounds self-indulgent and calculated to impress the literati, rather than entertain the average reader. A word to the wise: if you haven't yet read "Winters Tale", try "Refiner's Fire" or "A Soldier Of The Great War" instead. You'll be justly rewarded, and come away with a much more flattering impression of this author.Book Review: GET THIS BOOK
Summary: 5 Stars
Do you like mystery? Intrigue? Cat-burglars? Magical realism a la Gabriel Garcia Marques? If you do, this book's for you. It is one of my all time favorites, and I've given many copies to friends. They're still friends too, so that must be a good sign....Book Review: Highly imaginative... but I couldn't get through it
Summary: 3 Stars
***1/2
A Soldier of the Great War is one of my favorite books, and I was ready to fall in love with this novel after the delightful first two chapters, set in a fantastical version of New York City circa 1900. Helprin is a talented descriptive writer, with a storyteller's natural flair, but, alas, his focus on sweeping, fairytale-like scenes takes too much of a front seat to character development and a cohesive plot. Not that he doesn't have some interesting characters, but the book shifts decades and viewpoints at odd moments, which kept me from becoming very invested in any of their lives. Though Helprin has always had a penchant for dreamlike flights of fancy, they overwhelm the writing here, like too much vaseline on a camera lens, or too much frosting on a cake -- at least for my taste.
That said, I know people who loved this book, so if you're a Helprin fan, it's more than worth checking out. Winter's Tale does contain some impressive writing.
Perhaps I will give it another try at a future date, when I'm feeling just a little more patient.
Book Review: I realize I am out of step here, but . . .
Summary: 1 Stars
I simply did not enjoy this book. I found it too disjointed in plot and character development to hold my interest and make me read on. I literally forced myself to finish because other readers whose opinion I respect think so highly of this book. What I thought was intended to be funny was not funny to me and I simply wasn't overcome by the plot, the themes, the atmosphere, the language (except for limited and brief excerpts) or the characters. I do intend to read Soldier of the Great War which I am told may appeal more to my tastes. I could not decide as I was reading whether I was holding a fantasy, a historical novel or some other genre. As I was reading, I was asking myself why I should care about finishing this book (and I hardly ever fail to read a book to the end.)Book Review: If you liked this one...
Summary: 5 Stars
Perhaps 30 years ago I was entranced by this book (age 18?). Many years later, in a conversation with a friend, the author's name came up and my friend recommended "A Soldier of the Great War". I finally bought it at a used bookstore some 20 years later and tried two or three times "to get into it" and put it aside.
Finally, persisting past the first few chapters, I read it in perhaps 3 days, and it remains one of my favorite non-fiction books. Several of my close friends (and my father, who lived though it) had a similar difficulty beginning the book, but once they finally read it, they agreed with my assessment.Recently I purchased another of Helprin's books "Ellis Island and Other Stories" (a collection of short stories). Obviously I am biased, but this author is a master of his art and I highly recommend both of the afore mentioned novels.