In the bleak midwinter...
930318
From the beginning of this beautifully written novella we know that it will end in tragedy, as we see the middle-aged Ethan Frome, half-crippled and withdrawn, and looking older than his years. We are told his injuries date back to his 'smash-up' twenty-four years ago. The book then takes us back to that time, when Ethan was a young man in his prime, but struggling to scratch a living from a failing farm and shackled to a sickly wife he couldn't love. The only happiness in his life comes from his growing love for Mattie, cousin to Ethan's wife Zeena - a young girl left on her own in the world and reliant on Zeena's cold charity.

The tone of the book is uncompromisingly tragic with no humour or joy or feeling of hope to lighten it. The story takes place over a few short days in the depths of winter and Wharton uses the frozen icy landscape to great effect, both symbolically and actually, as Ethan struggles to find a way out of the trap of his life. Because we know that we are heading towards the smash-up, and because we know that Ethan is still in the town years later, the tension comes from not knowing exactly what form the tragedy takes.

Looked at coldly, none of the three main characters is particularly admirable. Ethan is a weak man, who has married out of fear of being alone and now resents his wife for indulging in an illness in which he doesn't quite believe. Zeena is shown as cold and selfish - too lazy to give Ethan the help and support he needs. And simple, pure little Mattie is so weak and alone, so desperate to be loved. But our narrator only learned the story many years later and much of it from Ethan himself, so how much faith can we put in these pictures of Zeena and Mattie? Is Zeena's illness real or imagined - physical or psychological? How much is she affected by the solitude and drudgery of the farm, and by the lack of love she finds there? Is Mattie really the helpless little thing we see, or is Ethan's view of her distorted by his own passion?

I freely admit it - I sobbed for most of the last quarter of the book. As we approached ever nearer to the tragedy, Wharton's emotional writing managed to make me feel a sympathy for Ethan that temporarily suppressed my desire to tell him to stop whinging and blaming other people for the misery of his life. Little Mattie didn't get quite as much of my sympathy, I confess - I really wanted to tell her that if she worked as hard at making herself likeable to Zeena as she did making herself irresistible to Ethan, then the three of them might have managed to rub along together pretty well. And as for Zeena - well, I'm still not sure how I feel about her, to be honest. She's the enigma at the heart of the story - though she's overtly portrayed as cruel and selfish, it is also quite possible to see her as a victim fighting to hold on to her place in a world where women are still restricted to the domestic sphere and defined by marriage. And it's the enigma of Zeena that makes this just a little more than a bleak and tragic love story. Well written and interesting, with great use of descriptive writing to build atmosphere and with something to say about the society in which it's set, this novella has left me intrigued to read more of Wharton's work.
377560
Each chapter starts with the time of day and how much snow is falling. Sometimes, during a Michigan winter, this is all that's important. This is a deep world, the one where every neighbor knows all of your intimate business and the business of every member of your family. Except of course for the dark unmentioned things, the horrors and the groups that have organized around such horrors. It's a quick read, of course. It'll barely keep you up a whole night. But that night should be cold and deep with Midwestern snow. I could quibble about the loose threads, the details that plead for further elaboration. But with any luck or hope, David Peak will write more about the dark secrets of Ardor, MI.
1255647
This product will not work well in cold temperatures. I found that when it is cold, less then 25 degrees it will short out and display a steady light with a constant flicker. This might be an isolated issue with my unit though. I would love to continue to use it, if only...
4160593
It's kind of dark so far. I'm having a problem getting interested in it. I'll hang in there a while longer and maybe it will get better.
3043281
It is winter. It was a gift. It looks good. We will see how it works in the summer. Thanks.
1817120
Rainy cold day in Beijing. A great read for this kind of day..
Thank you Hugh H and the Kindle app!
1630518
Still working on getting my two dogs trained.  Is mainly bad weather interfering.  Am sure when warm weather finally gets here will work just fine, but for now have not been able to spend enough time due to rain and cold.
125700
I'm a big fan of stories featuring occult goings on and ghosts etc. and I expected a lot of this novel. Alas, my expectations were not to be fulfilled. The story begins quite promisingly against the backdrop of a gloomy, foggy pre-war London in which lives our intrepid protagonist, one Jack Miller, a physics graduate, who has been invited, by several would be chums, because of his ability with communications equipment, to join an expedition to the frozen north to study weather patterns glaciation and other such stuff. He is down in the dumps because he is poor and wants, desperately, to go and play with the rich kids on their romp to the arctic. The problem is, he resents, bitterly, the lot that life has dumped on him and never misses an opportunity to whinge and let the reader know what an unfortunate fellow he truly is. Thus, he almost declines the offer but the sight of a body washed up on the Thames shoreline, for some reason, convinces him that this is just the opportunity he has been waiting for to leave his humdrum job and avoid, potentially, decades of boring middle class existence.

In due course the expedition sets off on its way north with Jack among its number as said communications expert. Along the way they pick up a pack of huskies, sledges and all the stuff one imagines would be necessary to live safely in such a bleak environment whilst, gradually, Jack begins to notice `feelings' for his handsome expedition leader, Gus.

Paver describes the terrain over which they travel and eventually settle in, Gruhuken, a fictitious long ago deserted mining and trapping region way beyond the Arctic Circle, well. As might be expected, soon after they arrive, strange goings on begin to occur, leading Jack to suspect that something nasty once happened during the time in which the region hadn't been quite so deserted.

However, what spoils the whole thing, aside from the whiny, petulant, sulky protagonist, is the prosaic build up to things that eventually go bump in the long arctic night all told in a slightly `twee' way; possibly reflecting Paver's predominantly, writing for children, experience. Frustratingly, it's a ripping yarn without much rip and I found myself being slightly bored with Jack's plight and instead of rooting for the plucky `hero', really rather hoping that he'd get his ghost inflicted comeuppance by having his stupid head ripped off! In short, you'd be much better entertained by watching the `The Curse of the Claw' a superb episode from Michael Palin's BBC series, Ripping Yarns, which one might be forgiven for thinking, inspired this tepid effort!

But if it's a book you are after and you really do want to be completely unsettled by a true occult masterpiece you could do no better than turn to `The Matrix' by the shamefully neglected Jonathan Aycliffe, a brilliantly written novel set in contemporary Edinburgh, that really will have you scuttling around to make sure every door and window are bolted as securely as they possibly could be before settling in for the night!

(http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Matrix-Jonathan-Aycliffe/dp/000649319X/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1337943784&sr=1-1-spell)
4009598
broke it backing up in snow bank. winter  is  a bitch
3213650
A bit too light, not good to wear for high-winded cold weather. Much suitable for an end-of-fall-coming-into-winter type of weather.
4199538
So far so good.  We're having very cold temperatures here in Brooklyn this winter. Poor little Henri could not bear it.  My sister-in -law said he moved as though walking on broken glass.

It took him a few minutes to get used to his boots but once he had them on for a few minutes, he managed to walk the half block back to his house in comfort after using the loo.

Perhaps we'll get a waterproof pair as well.
2142370
The hand warmers certainly came in handy in this harsh Winter,  especially when snow-blowing and/or shoveling.  It's too bad I ordered a little later in the season, but better late than not.
4539954
The electric goes out and all of a sudden a winter storm like no other hits in the middle of the night. Tom and Abby just moved here and have nowhere to go and when things get a bit scary its time to find a place to hide, but with the storm hitting so hard and heavy it will be a miracle if they get out alive. When they try to escape and find themselves in the midst of an evil that is killing everyone around them what do they do? Good read, do not read it at late night while alone. You may find yourself wondering!!
4550976
In The Madonnas of Leningrad, the author did a wonderful job of describing the desolation and desperation felt by those who remained in Leningrad for that horrible winter.  That's about it though.  The characters lacked depth, the plot left several loose ends, and though the depiction of the treasures from the museum was fascinating, it also went on a little too long.  If you are interested in this particular period of Russian history, I suggest Kristin Hannah's Winter Garden.  The emotions are much more real and the characters more developed.
2821402
Adam Dalgleish is back in this well written, though ultimately depressing and bleak thriller.  Recuperating from a near-death illness, Adam is summoned to a small village by an old friend, a priest named Father Michael.  However, when he gets there, his old friend has died of a heart attack, and Adam finds himself involved with a hospice for the young disabled, i.e., terminally ill patients.  James serves up a host of pathetic, sad creatures and as usual, a cast of mostly unlikeable characters.  Dalgliesh serves more as an observer than a detective, since he is having his own crisis of whether to retire or not, but he nonetheless manages to investigate a series of deaths that may or may not be murder.

James continues her mastery of atmospheric tension and the culprit's identity is expertly hidden until the end.
2851420
Just when the gloom is about to set in, when the world news is set to depress even the most cheerful of us, when one more day at work seems one to many the miracle happens....a new Agatha Raisin book to kick away the clouds, the blues, and raise the spirits. Please Mrs. Beaton, keep them coming. They may not be the most challenging of reads but they are always so satisfying
can't wait for the next one..
3333634
Duh, didn't know the draft from the cold spell in January was coming through the wall sockets! Plug me up, heat me up, baby!  Summer may be cooler too!