A Boy in Winter

by Maxine Chernoff and Sim Kern

Reminiscent of Russell Banks' The Sweet Hereafter, this dark, haunting, yet ultimately optimistic traces three people who come to accept the burden of living after a tragic accident.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0609605224
• ISBN13: 9780609605226
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 241 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A Poignant Thriller

A friend got me interested in this book. Otherwise, I would never have noticed it. After reading the first page in the bookstore, I bought it, took it home, and kept reading. Like the other reviewers, I enjoyed the relationship between mother and son before, during, and after the accident. I was especially moved by Nancy Harvath and Frank Nova's situation as former lovers, split up by a stupid accident which never should have happened.I empathized with Danny, even though I thought there was some part of him that wanted to kill Edie. The fishing trip was very telling, at least to me. The guilt and remorse over what happened told me that he was a human being and I found myself empathisizing with him the most. Every viewpoint was strong. But I found myself somewhat disappointed by the events leading up to the ending. There should've been more anger on Frank's part against Danny. Some part of him should've wanted to hurt Danny. If that was mentioned, then I missed it. But the gist I got was, Frank went nuts and kidnapped the kid, holed him up inside his brother's house without doing anything to him, only to give the boy up without a fight. Maybe he was too afraid of himself and the situation he was in or perhaps the author recoils from the idea of adults hurting children. I can't blame her.Anyway, I really liked the story and would recommend it to anyone.

Strong Family Bonds

I picked up A BOY IN WINTER and had trouble putting it down. Although I enjoy a good drama as much as the next guy, it was the complexity of the mother/son relationship that Chernoff writes about that really kept me reading. There is no arguing the instant tension Chernoff creates when Nancy Harvath's only son Danny kills his best friend Eddie Nova with a hunting bow. You're viscerally aware that from that moment, life will never be the same for these characters. The stakes are raised even higher when the reader discovers that the parents of both of these children have been carrying on an extra-marital love affair. And if you enjoy beautifully sculpted language and vivid descriptions of scenery--this book will attract you. Still, what most impressed me in this novel was the depth and integrity the author found in exploring the relationship between mother and son. Many of the moments that were most poinant were quiet--away from the hype and drama of the disasterous situation--when the reader is cast deep into the consciousness of a mother who loves her child feverishly. The book is devided into three sections, so the reader is given the opportunity to explore the story from three characters' points-of-view. The middle section is Danny's. In this section, the writer again suceeds at submersing the reader into a character's consciousness. She is able to capture his youth intelligence. Many of the readers assumptions are turned upside-down. Danny, despite his youth--is often able to see his mother with more clarity than she sees herself. In addition to his lamenting his deed, you experience the sad, adult-like consiousness of a child. His loyalty to his mother is exemplified by the fact that his father left them when he was two--and the stuggle he witnessed while she saved to get them out of their apartment into a home.While the subject matter is challenging, and the situation grim--the novel is ultimately redemptive. It was a refreshing change to read a narrative about a family who sticks together through horrendous circumstances. These folks are human. They make mistakes. Huge mistakes. But Chernoff uses sparse, pitch-perfect language and imagry to invite you into the consciousness of her characters--who if you listen--will teach you how to love. I want everyone to read this book. People who have children. People who have parents. Mothers who're raising children on their own. Fathers who have left them behind.

You've never read anything like this

In an incredible narrative feat, Chernoff creates with A BOY IN WINTER an emotional thriller about loss that hits the gut and engages the mind. Instead of leading up to a harrowing event, Chernoff places her story after the tragedy and examines all aspects of the fall-out. The first third gives us Nancy Horvath, whose son has accidently killed another boy, as she tries to make sense of the horrific mishap. In brief, spare chapters as if Nancy is too shell-shocked to give us more, we glimpse the torture of grief, regret, pain this single mother suffers separated from her son in the weeks that follow. The second section gives us Danny's story in his own words, a thrilling act of ventroliquism which, when paired with Nancy's voice, reveals a fascinating and thorough examination of the strange, ethereal connection between a mother and son. But the novel's third section, a collection of third-person points of view, is Chernoff's master stroke. Here, the novel spins into unexpected places; there's danger on every page. There's a kidnapping, a hostage stand-off and, brilliantly, an eloquent exploration of how to live a life gone mad. As Nancy asks, "What trains people for life these days?" What makes the book so unique is Chernoff's crafty method of hooking a reader by sneaking up the events of her story, zeroing in on them, then skidding away into strange, new territory. Her deft handling of narrative time makes the book a must-read all by itself. You'll never read anything like it.

a moving story of love, loss, and survival

Reading A Boy in Winter, by Maxine Chernoff, I really cared. I urgently wanted this sensitive child and the people surrounding him to make it to spring.It's been said before, but this is a book you won't be able to put down. These likable characters and the tragedy they don't deserve will grab you. You'll finish the book in two days.As always with Chernoff's novels, it's beautifully written-witty and wise. Presented through the eyes of the three main characters, this poignant story deals with the many faces of loss: a child's loss of an uninterested parent; a parent's loss of a child; the loss of a spouse who's lost interest in the marriage. There are many other universal themes: a woman¹s dual need for two kinds of love-that of a child and that of an adult; a father's desire to teach his son manly things (which, ironically, robs his son of his manhood); the common illusion that parenting, if done right, can protect children from pain; the guilt a parent feels when a child suffers or causes pain. A Boy in Winter is a captivating book. It deals movingly with loss and fear of loss. Yet, it is upbeat as it reveals the strength of unconditional love.

A Boy in Winter--at once beautiful, mysterious, and profound

Chernoff's latest is delightful and powerful. The world is simultaneously haunted and utterly familiar. The characters are much too complicated be classified as merely heroes or villians. The shifting POV keeps the reader slipping between moments of sympathy, and ultimately works to rid us of the overly simplistic good/bad happy/sad dichotomies we use when we are lazy, (or when we watch too many made-for-tv movies.) The story moves fast, twists effortlessly into surprise. Most interestingly to me is how the voices of these characters gurgle out of interior spaces; we are allowed to listen in on the act of human questioning. Chernoff's deft poetics--her characteristic, almost surreal lightness--make this act art, at once beautiful, mysterious, and profound. (If I could think in sentences that flowed like this...) Genuine literature, and a novel that should be required reading for any of us who ever thought, even for a moment, that we had even some of it figured out.