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Review of The Heart in Winter
Sep. 1st, 2024 03:52 pmThis novel had an intriguing premise - two lovers riding overland in winter in the wilds of the American West. Unfortunately, it didn't really deliver on that premise for me. First, the most developed character was Tom Rourke, the male of the riding pair. He's not very sympathetic, being a drunk drug addict who steals money and a horse as part of the plan.
His girlfriend, Polly Gillespie, probably has a troubled past as well. We're told that she's an orphan and that at 29 she's hard up enough to agree to be a mail-order bride. However, we don't see much else about her, and she's a very passive person in this tale. I did find myself caring about her fate enough to finish the book, but barely. Her husband, Captain Anthony Harrington, is a caricature of religious zealotry and most of the other characters are straight out of Central Casting.
The book itself is very literary, by which I mean it starts slowly and has a sinuous plot, making it feel longer than the 242 pages in my edition. Overall, I found it merely okay.
His girlfriend, Polly Gillespie, probably has a troubled past as well. We're told that she's an orphan and that at 29 she's hard up enough to agree to be a mail-order bride. However, we don't see much else about her, and she's a very passive person in this tale. I did find myself caring about her fate enough to finish the book, but barely. Her husband, Captain Anthony Harrington, is a caricature of religious zealotry and most of the other characters are straight out of Central Casting.
The book itself is very literary, by which I mean it starts slowly and has a sinuous plot, making it feel longer than the 242 pages in my edition. Overall, I found it merely okay.
