♥︎ Heather ⚔ (New House-Hiatus)'s Reviews > Winter Garden

“𝓦𝓮 𝔀𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓷 𝓶𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓬𝓱𝓸𝓲𝓬𝓮𝓼 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓼, 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓼𝓮𝓵𝓿𝓮𝓼, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝔀𝓮 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓶𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓼, 𝔀𝓮...𝓫𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔀𝓮 𝓶𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓬𝓱𝓲𝓵𝓭𝓻𝓮𝓷. 𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓬𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓶. 𝓘𝓽 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓱𝓾𝓻𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾; 𝓲𝓽 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓱𝓾𝓻𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓶. 𝓨𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓳𝓸𝓫 𝓲𝓼 𝓽𝓸 𝓱𝓲𝓭𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓽 𝓲𝓼 𝓫𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓭𝓸 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝓷𝓮𝓮𝓭 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓽𝓸 𝓭𝓸.”

Winter Garden is the story of Meredith, Nina, and their distant mother. After their father, who functioned as the heart of the family, dies, the careful balance he created is upset. Nina, who spent her lives seeking the perfect photo, is back and determined to get her mother to finish the story. Meredith is losing herself in work. And Anya, their mother, is acting stranger than usual.

I really enjoyed the second half of this story - but the first half. Literally the whole first half was so frustrating. Like, we get it, the awkward dynamic relationship of the mother and her daughters is obviously alluding to something big towards the ending of the book, but I was just so frustrated reading it. Like, the author is just dragging the awkwardness. We get it…

I spent the first half, yes, again, HALF, of this book absolutely hating the main female characters. I really just wanted to smack them all for their stubbornness, selfishness, and idiocy.

All of this frustration for so much of the book made it seem so much longer than it actually was.

The second half of the book is where this story shines. THIS is the Kristin Hannah I’ve come to love.

She writes about the horrors of the Siege of Leningrad in a way that only she can, and I found myself tearing up multiple times and unable to put the book down.

As we learn more of Vera’s story and witness the atrocities the Soviets permitted on their own people, much less those afflicted by the advancing German army, we see a softening of Anya and her resolve to stay at arm's length of her daughters in the present day.

But then, despite the hopeful and sort of happy ending of the book, I find it annoying that it seems that the ending felt a bit rushed and forced to fulfill that sort happy ending. It’s just too good to be true, and I know how stupid it is to complaint about a forced ending for a fictional work, but I said what I said.

I'm a bit all over the place in this review, and still a little conflicted about my feelings towards it. I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it.

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“𝓣𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓼𝓮 𝔀𝓱𝓸 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮, 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓼𝓮 𝔀𝓱𝓸 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓰𝓸𝓷𝓮, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓼𝓮 𝔀𝓱𝓸 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓵𝓸𝓼𝓽.”

“𝓨𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓰 𝓱𝓪𝓼 𝓷𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓸 𝓭𝓸 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮. 𝓐 𝔀𝓸𝓶𝓪𝓷 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓫𝓮 𝓪 𝓰𝓲𝓻𝓵 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓸𝔀𝓷 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓽.”