Winterlong

by Elizabeth Hand

Book Overview

Elizabeth Hand's darkly sensual debut novel took the science fiction and general reading public by storm and now, seven years later, it is available again in a handsome trade paperback edition. Heralded as a considerable stylistic and imaginative accomplishment, as noteworthy in its way as Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale," by People magazine, "Winterlong" explores the disturbing remains of humanity irrevocably altered by genetic engineering...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553287729
• ISBN13: 9780553287721
• Release Date: September 1990
• Publisher: Spectra Books
• Length: 442 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

darkly beautiful

Every once in a while a book comes along that changes the way you look at the world. This was one of those books for me. It's gorgeously written and full of deep symbolism and mythic imagry (don't even try to understand it without 1st looking into the myth of Baal and Anat,) But on many levels, it is, as one reviewer stated, shattering. This is a book for those who are willing to brave dense language, seemingly wandering narative, and difficult imagry (on more levels than one,) but it is worth the work.

Some things make worlds tilt....

I have never read something so completely jarring and overwhelming as this. I initially picked it up in a used bookstore before going on a trip as something to pass the timed and quickly became mired in the words and feelings and depth of this timeless piece of work. The reader feels the characters, the setting, the stories in a way that no other writer I dare say is capable of, with the exception of maybe Thomas Harris. But just like other novelists of her caliber, Elizabeth hand is underrated and forgotten all too quickly. Her writing is timeless, and this novel is the best example.

Dark and Serious Sci-Fi

Words, like shadows in a forest, evade me: they are tangled in the web of thoughts and feelings I felt while reading this masterpiece of post-apocalyptic beauty and horror. This is not light reading; it draws on mythic sources and tranmutes them into a world so darkly beautiful and rich, it's almost tangible. It will draw you in with its seductive, elegiac tone, reminiscent of the best writing from Anne Rice and, dare I say it, Edgar Allen Poe! Your mind will linger in this world long after the story is through, and you will keep the book near you while you read it so that you will be reminded that it is not a dream. Read this book and be forever changed.

Winterlong - a poignant tale of dark beauty

This book impressed me so much that I've read literally every novel published by Ms. Hand since. The story has the feel of a gothic fairy tale. Such elements as a girl with Death in her eyes, ancient prophecies and a world that is, in equal measures, hi-tech wonderland, post-acopalyptic waste and fantastic feudal realm, Hand has transcended many of the standard boundaries around science fiction. In fact, if I were forced to name the genre of this novel, I would call it gothic sci-fi. If you like painfully beautiful, ambisexual, amoral characters, then you should *definitely* check this book out. A must-read for fans of Anne Rice's _Interview With the Vampire_, as this book captures the feel of that novel in a way that Rice hasn't been able to since

Seamlesly blends the sensual, gothic, and gristly.

A gothic sci-fi tale with great depth of character and evocative imagry. Wendy Wanders is an innocent but deadly telepath who explores the darkly sensual post-apocalyptic ruins of Washington, DC. The imagry is truly unique and stunning, and keeps you captive. Strongly reccomended for sci-fi fans who seek truly "other-worldly" imagry within the familiar.