Kaethe

Nov 18, 2000

***

Jan 29, 2014

Definitely a good book to suit my mood. Not many novels focus on the aftermath of death, the technical details of funerals, and executing wills, and all that business, so bonus points to Pilcher.

The reason this isn't one of my very favorite books is that the time frame feels much too compressed to me. I prefer the sweep of years one finds in The Shell Seekers and Coming Home to the compression of September and Winter Solstice. Of course, it still has all the marvelous food, and the detailed descriptions of real estate that I love.

***

 Dec 6, 2016
The strength of the book, the comfort of it, is the idea that one can get beyond grief, and disappointment, and unhappiness. All of these things get better with time, sure, but also with help from others, with acts of kindness, with making an effort on one’s own behalf. And then there is the house which I adore, and snow, and very traditional winter associations. It is the coziest of books.

Contrast that with the inherent classism. The good people, the upper class people, they’re all tall, and thin, and attractive, and kind (well, mostly). The working classes are represented by shorter, stouter, endlessly robust people, who talk funny. Affordable housing is a huge issue worldwide, but perhaps not best demonstrated with well-off white people who already own houses. Just saying. "Traditional Winter Associations" in the case would mean nothing but white people in Burberrys and Land Rovers. My mother and I both loved Pilcher books together, so there's a lot of nostalgia in a re-read now. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone without embarrassment, but I love it like an L L Bean Christmas catalog puppy.

personal copy.