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The Warmest December
"McFadden's reissued second novel takes an unflinching look at the corrosive nature of alcoholism . . . This is not a story of easy redemption . . . McFadden writes candidly about the treacherous hold of addiction."
-- Publishers Weekly
"Riveting. . . . So nicely avoids the sentimentality that swirls around the subject matter. I am as impressed by its structural strength as by the searing and expertly imagined scenes."
--Toni Morrison, author of Beloved
"The sharpness of the prose and power of the story make it hard to stop reading even the most brutal scenes . . . The story feels real perhaps because it’s familiar . . . Or maybe, as Frey points out, the story is too vivid to be read purely as fiction. But in this Precious -style novel, genre is the least of our concerns."
-- Bust magazine
"This is a story that cuts across all race and social strata in its need to be told."
-- The Dallas Morning News
The Warmest December is the incredibly moving story of one Brooklyn family and the alcoholism that determined years of their lives. Narrated by Kenzie Lowe, a young woman reminiscent of Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John, as she visits her dying father and finds that choices she once thought beyond her control are very much hers to make.
Bernice L. McFadden is the author of seven critically acclaimed novels.
-- Publishers Weekly
"Riveting. . . . So nicely avoids the sentimentality that swirls around the subject matter. I am as impressed by its structural strength as by the searing and expertly imagined scenes."
--Toni Morrison, author of Beloved
"The sharpness of the prose and power of the story make it hard to stop reading even the most brutal scenes . . . The story feels real perhaps because it’s familiar . . . Or maybe, as Frey points out, the story is too vivid to be read purely as fiction. But in this Precious -style novel, genre is the least of our concerns."
-- Bust magazine
"This is a story that cuts across all race and social strata in its need to be told."
-- The Dallas Morning News
The Warmest December is the incredibly moving story of one Brooklyn family and the alcoholism that determined years of their lives. Narrated by Kenzie Lowe, a young woman reminiscent of Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John, as she visits her dying father and finds that choices she once thought beyond her control are very much hers to make.
Bernice L. McFadden is the author of seven critically acclaimed novels.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 15, 2001
113 people are currently reading
3043 people want to read
About the author
Bernice L. McFadden
22 books2,286 followersBERNICE L. McFADDEN is the author of ten critically acclaimed novels including Praise Song for the Butterflies (Long listed for the 2019 Women's Prize in Fiction ) The Book of Harlan (winner of a 2017 American Book Award and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Fiction) Sugar, Loving Donovan, Nowhere Is a Place, The Warmest December, Gathering of Waters (a New York Times Editors’ Choice and one of the 100 Notable Books of 2012) and Glorious . She is a four-time Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist, as well as the recipient of four awards from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA).
McFadden has also penned five novels under the pseudonym: Geneva Holliday
She is a visiting assistant professor of creative writing at Tulane University in New Orleans. She is at work on her sixteenth novel.
McFadden has also penned five novels under the pseudonym: Geneva Holliday
She is a visiting assistant professor of creative writing at Tulane University in New Orleans. She is at work on her sixteenth novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 215 reviews
November 17, 2016
OMG. I can openly say that this is the first book that really had me in my feelings. Never ever have I read a book (and i've read many) that has captured my feelings. Bernice McFadden, my goodness, this book here is the best work i've read from you. I thought the Book of Harlen was my favorite, oh no no no, The Warmest December has topped the list. This book descriptively explored the intersections of alcoholism, domestic violence and child abuse. While reading, I felt as though I were Kenzie. I felt invested in her character and had many questions in why she was sitting at her fathers side in the hospital after learning all that he had done to their family, which kept me wanting to read more to obtain answers to my questions. Rarely do I find books where from the beginning of the story I am asking questions and learn the answers to my questions layer by layer in the books entirety. Like my last questions was answered in the last chapter which again kept me wanting to read more.
I have not heard this book talked about much any where which is strange considering how incredible it is. Bernice, you are definitely a force to be reckon with and I can't wait to continue reading more.
I have not heard this book talked about much any where which is strange considering how incredible it is. Bernice, you are definitely a force to be reckon with and I can't wait to continue reading more.
December 29, 2008
This was a painful and heartbreaking story to read. Kenzie Lowe is a grown woman who is holding a bedside vigil for her dying father. Her father had been an alcoholic for his entire life. And when Hy-Lo drank, he became dangerous and violent, preying on Kenzie, her mother and her younger brother. Eventually, Kenzie and her mother both start drinking as a means to cope with the pain and Kenzie finds herself struggling for much of her adult life with alcoholism, holding down a steady job and blaming herself and her father for doing this to her.
****some spoilers past this point****
As each chapter unfolds, the story of the abuse Kenzie grew up in becomes grittier and more graphic. The first time I cried was during one painfully raw scene that ended in Hy-Lo killing Kenzie’s cat with a hammer. And I was in tears for most of the last few chapters when the story of Hy-Lo’s own abusive childhood is revealed and how Kenzie is finally able to let go of the past and learn how to forgive both her father and herself. I finished this story in the wee hours of the early morning a couple days ago and am still thinking about the characters. They felt so real.
I enjoyed McFadden’s writing style and am curious to read something else she has written.
****some spoilers past this point****
As each chapter unfolds, the story of the abuse Kenzie grew up in becomes grittier and more graphic. The first time I cried was during one painfully raw scene that ended in Hy-Lo killing Kenzie’s cat with a hammer. And I was in tears for most of the last few chapters when the story of Hy-Lo’s own abusive childhood is revealed and how Kenzie is finally able to let go of the past and learn how to forgive both her father and herself. I finished this story in the wee hours of the early morning a couple days ago and am still thinking about the characters. They felt so real.
I enjoyed McFadden’s writing style and am curious to read something else she has written.
June 6, 2016
A review may come later, but I will need to get some distance from The Warmest December. Time and distance. It is Ms. McFadden at her best. Each reader had best be prepared for how powerful Mcfadden's best is.
September 23, 2019
My 4th book by Bernice McFadden and this one has left me a bit uneasy. Uneasy because I was getting used to the family heartache and the feeling of holding onto her stories for so long but there was always something close to a happy ending. I realized I wasn’t looking for happy endings in books until I started reading Bernice’s work and it’s like she took that away from me lol.
The Warmest December is so patient in how it unravels that as a reader, my emotions carried on for pages. This book stayed stuck in misery and after awhile, you weren’t expecting anything else. To be abused and to understand your abuser. Kenzie is a woman who’s father is on his deathbed and yet, she is his only visitor. While waiting for her biggest enemy to stop causing her so much fear and anger, she revisits her childhood and shows how the pain of parents trickle down the family line. Kenzi’s story deals with alcoholism, domestic violence, child abuse, puberty, and healing.
The Warmest December is so patient in how it unravels that as a reader, my emotions carried on for pages. This book stayed stuck in misery and after awhile, you weren’t expecting anything else. To be abused and to understand your abuser. Kenzie is a woman who’s father is on his deathbed and yet, she is his only visitor. While waiting for her biggest enemy to stop causing her so much fear and anger, she revisits her childhood and shows how the pain of parents trickle down the family line. Kenzi’s story deals with alcoholism, domestic violence, child abuse, puberty, and healing.
October 12, 2020
I had to shed a few tears on this one.
As Hy-Lo lies in the hospital, his sole visitor, his daughter - Kenzie Lowe - confronts the raw memories of how alcoholism impacted the collective and individual lives of their family. The story is tense, tender, terrible, and wise; but also redemptive. Bernice L. McFadden's storytelling is gripping and urgent, yet merciful.
As Hy-Lo lies in the hospital, his sole visitor, his daughter - Kenzie Lowe - confronts the raw memories of how alcoholism impacted the collective and individual lives of their family. The story is tense, tender, terrible, and wise; but also redemptive. Bernice L. McFadden's storytelling is gripping and urgent, yet merciful.
May 17, 2012
Amazing. AMAZING. AMAZZZING!! (I'm still in a bit of a shock over this one. Yes, it was amazing.
----
Originally post on my blog guiltless reading
The choice to forgive is yours.
The book in one sentence: A young woman strives to make sense of a life touched by alcoholism and abuse.
My two cents: This is one of those books that you don't really know what to expect ... and come away feeling that you got more than you bargained for. In an astounding way. I have never read any of McFadden's work, I have never heard of her period. So I didn't come in with any expectations. But I was blown away by both the story and the writing.
This is a story of a young black woman, Kenzie, who is inexplicably drawn to the deathbed of her father. In her head she didn't want to be there, filled with hate after having suffered -- with her martyred mother and her brother Malcolm -- a childhood of consistent abuse in his perennial alcoholic haze. The story alternates between past and present as she tries to make sense of her life, her relationships with her mother and her father, and the impacts on her life.
She witnessed how her mother had fallen to the addiction in a bid to assuage the pain; Kenzie too was not spared by the grip of alcoholism. Getting into Kenzie's head is painful -- Kenzie's voice is loud and strong, as she struggles with her anger and resentment, so she struggles with the pain and that "hole in her heart."
Now and then I forget things, small things that would not otherwise alter my life. Things like milk in my coffee, setting my alarm clock, or Oprah at four. Tiny things.
One day last week I forgot I hated my father, forgot that I had even thought of him as a monster, forgot the blows he'd dealt over the years [...]- p. 16, The Warmest December by Bernice L. McFadden
What I needed was to get to the meeting and share the pain; distribute it among the others, thinning it until it disappeared. What I wanted was a drink. I could pour the liquid down my throat and let it filter into the hole and extinguish the pain that lived there.
- p. 56, The Warmest December by Bernice L. McFadden
But rather than succumbing to the victim mentality, Kenzie is allowed insight into her father's own painful childhood and she comes to the realization that forgiveness and her healing are within her reach -- if she so chooses. An otherwise vicious cycle that can be simply be allowed to perpetuate can be stopped: this is the heart of McFadden's message. This is captured in the latter part of the novel -- which I re-read not once but twice, and with each reading, I kept thinking if I had the strength of character to totally forgive someone who has caused so much pain.
♥
Bernice McFadden's writing style is simple yet powerful ... because she herself lived it. Writing the truth speaks volumes more than the most flowery prose. She describes the process of writing thus:
I suppose, The Warmest December came out of my need to understand and forgive. It was probably the most difficult and most freeing thing I've ever written. If bloodletting could be translated into words - for me The Warmest December would be just that.
- via the author's blog on Goodreads
♥
Verdict:
If your life has been touched by alcoholism, this book will speak to (nay scream at) you. If not, it will shed a very personal light on this societal problem that many merely dismiss as a statistic. I can only express my gratitude for McFadden's courage to write about alcoholism at its ugliest and forgiveness at its finest.
First line: Now and then I forget things, small things that would not otherwise alter my life.
Last line: "I'm sorry for both of us," I said and looked out into the warm December day.
----
Originally post on my blog guiltless reading
The choice to forgive is yours.
The book in one sentence: A young woman strives to make sense of a life touched by alcoholism and abuse.
My two cents: This is one of those books that you don't really know what to expect ... and come away feeling that you got more than you bargained for. In an astounding way. I have never read any of McFadden's work, I have never heard of her period. So I didn't come in with any expectations. But I was blown away by both the story and the writing.
This is a story of a young black woman, Kenzie, who is inexplicably drawn to the deathbed of her father. In her head she didn't want to be there, filled with hate after having suffered -- with her martyred mother and her brother Malcolm -- a childhood of consistent abuse in his perennial alcoholic haze. The story alternates between past and present as she tries to make sense of her life, her relationships with her mother and her father, and the impacts on her life.
She witnessed how her mother had fallen to the addiction in a bid to assuage the pain; Kenzie too was not spared by the grip of alcoholism. Getting into Kenzie's head is painful -- Kenzie's voice is loud and strong, as she struggles with her anger and resentment, so she struggles with the pain and that "hole in her heart."
Now and then I forget things, small things that would not otherwise alter my life. Things like milk in my coffee, setting my alarm clock, or Oprah at four. Tiny things.
One day last week I forgot I hated my father, forgot that I had even thought of him as a monster, forgot the blows he'd dealt over the years [...]- p. 16, The Warmest December by Bernice L. McFadden
What I needed was to get to the meeting and share the pain; distribute it among the others, thinning it until it disappeared. What I wanted was a drink. I could pour the liquid down my throat and let it filter into the hole and extinguish the pain that lived there.
- p. 56, The Warmest December by Bernice L. McFadden
But rather than succumbing to the victim mentality, Kenzie is allowed insight into her father's own painful childhood and she comes to the realization that forgiveness and her healing are within her reach -- if she so chooses. An otherwise vicious cycle that can be simply be allowed to perpetuate can be stopped: this is the heart of McFadden's message. This is captured in the latter part of the novel -- which I re-read not once but twice, and with each reading, I kept thinking if I had the strength of character to totally forgive someone who has caused so much pain.
♥
Bernice McFadden's writing style is simple yet powerful ... because she herself lived it. Writing the truth speaks volumes more than the most flowery prose. She describes the process of writing thus:
I suppose, The Warmest December came out of my need to understand and forgive. It was probably the most difficult and most freeing thing I've ever written. If bloodletting could be translated into words - for me The Warmest December would be just that.
- via the author's blog on Goodreads
♥
Verdict:
If your life has been touched by alcoholism, this book will speak to (nay scream at) you. If not, it will shed a very personal light on this societal problem that many merely dismiss as a statistic. I can only express my gratitude for McFadden's courage to write about alcoholism at its ugliest and forgiveness at its finest.
First line: Now and then I forget things, small things that would not otherwise alter my life.
Last line: "I'm sorry for both of us," I said and looked out into the warm December day.
December 15, 2016
Bernice L. McFadden has an undeniable talent. Even though I cannot personally relate to alcoholism and its ability to destroy, not only the body, but the mind and the spirit as well, McFadden has allowed me to be a guest in the homes of childhood friends, distant relatives and people I will never meet. I can testify to the healing properties of forgiveness, of deciding to move beyond the pain to arrive at a place of peace and wholeness. I have always said (and still believe it to be true) that a lot of what we struggle with as adults can be traced back to our childhoods. I'm going to need to read a whole bunch of "fluff" to recover from this novel. Well written, frighteningly real and highly recommended.
September 17, 2016
This was not an easy book to read. I did not enjoy the subject of this book, but the writing is flawless. I had to wait until I calmed down before I could write a review. I needed distance. I am going to find something very silly to read next. I need something funny and witty to lift my spirits.
This is an unrelenting look into the lives of a family that experiences the horrors of drugs, physical and mental abuse, and how it destroyed many families and relationships. There were times I had to close the book and come back. I always came back because poor innocent Kenzie kept calling me. When I came back to it, sometimes it would take an hour, sometimes a day and then at times only some seconds, but I always came back. I would close up the book and leave because I needed to take a breath and thank God for my childhood and my marriage. I thought I got cheated, hmph, I'm damned lucky. I would try to keep reading and then would close it again before getting to the end of the page.
Afraid to keep reading and afraid to stop reading. Not an easy book. This sums up the hard life for Kenzie and her mom Della: afraid to and afraid not to. I felt very bad for Kenzie, her dad and her brother. I felt a little bad for her mom, Della. It may not be fair, and although I blame both parents for putting the kids through all of their horrors, I blame mom more. She knew better, she wasn't raised that way. I believe I'm being a tad bit hard on Della, but these are my honest feelings about her right now. I may soften toward her later and then edit my review.
McFadden is a serious writer, this book was VERY real. McFadden knows how to insert an ugly, real person inside the pages of a novel and let the monster grow. My anger is at Della, the real person that McFadden shined the light on, not a character in a novel. There is a real Della out there and she should be ashamed of herself.
This is an unrelenting look into the lives of a family that experiences the horrors of drugs, physical and mental abuse, and how it destroyed many families and relationships. There were times I had to close the book and come back. I always came back because poor innocent Kenzie kept calling me. When I came back to it, sometimes it would take an hour, sometimes a day and then at times only some seconds, but I always came back. I would close up the book and leave because I needed to take a breath and thank God for my childhood and my marriage. I thought I got cheated, hmph, I'm damned lucky. I would try to keep reading and then would close it again before getting to the end of the page.
Afraid to keep reading and afraid to stop reading. Not an easy book. This sums up the hard life for Kenzie and her mom Della: afraid to and afraid not to. I felt very bad for Kenzie, her dad and her brother. I felt a little bad for her mom, Della. It may not be fair, and although I blame both parents for putting the kids through all of their horrors, I blame mom more. She knew better, she wasn't raised that way. I believe I'm being a tad bit hard on Della, but these are my honest feelings about her right now. I may soften toward her later and then edit my review.
McFadden is a serious writer, this book was VERY real. McFadden knows how to insert an ugly, real person inside the pages of a novel and let the monster grow. My anger is at Della, the real person that McFadden shined the light on, not a character in a novel. There is a real Della out there and she should be ashamed of herself.
January 11, 2013
You know how there is one trait, or habit, or attitude that we hate about our parents, then we vow to ourselves that we will never be like them? And later on, are you self-conscious enough to recognize your parents in your speech, actions, decisions? When this happens, do you think that you could have done better, having vowed many years ago that you will never be like your mother and/or father.
I had thought this book was a novel about Christmas, but I was so wrong. It relates the story of Kenzie Lowe, a woman who grew up in a family where the father is an alcoholic who gets violent after finishing a bottle. In her early years, she had planted in her mind her hate towards her father; even wishing him to die. As a grown woman, she tried very hard to not fit into the same mould as her father. In the process, she understood and learned to forgive. While a lot of unfathomable things happened at the Lowe household, the book's main theme is all about forgiveness and letting go; about forgetting the pass and moving on; about changing ones life.
The author, Ms. McFadden is a terrific storyteller. She has a natural play with words without trying hard, making it more pleasant to read again and again.
To end, I would like to cite the following passages that I found as very nice and appropriate for the time:
"...as the stories rolled on like meadows after a war, trampled flowers for trees. That's who we were, wartorn meadows on the verge of new growth"
"That's the way life was. Ongoing, ever-changing, with a fresh coat of paints....I found that I needed to sweep away the pain, open up the windowa, and air out the hurt."
I had thought this book was a novel about Christmas, but I was so wrong. It relates the story of Kenzie Lowe, a woman who grew up in a family where the father is an alcoholic who gets violent after finishing a bottle. In her early years, she had planted in her mind her hate towards her father; even wishing him to die. As a grown woman, she tried very hard to not fit into the same mould as her father. In the process, she understood and learned to forgive. While a lot of unfathomable things happened at the Lowe household, the book's main theme is all about forgiveness and letting go; about forgetting the pass and moving on; about changing ones life.
The author, Ms. McFadden is a terrific storyteller. She has a natural play with words without trying hard, making it more pleasant to read again and again.
To end, I would like to cite the following passages that I found as very nice and appropriate for the time:
"...as the stories rolled on like meadows after a war, trampled flowers for trees. That's who we were, wartorn meadows on the verge of new growth"
"That's the way life was. Ongoing, ever-changing, with a fresh coat of paints....I found that I needed to sweep away the pain, open up the windowa, and air out the hurt."
March 9, 2015
Violent alcoholics beget violent alcoholics beget... Pretty much everybody in this beautifully written novel is in agony. They are each perpetrators and victims, the tormentors and the ones suffering from a brutal disease. The cycle appears to be endless, but Kenzie is fighting to break the pattern. This novel, which is told from her point of view, is filled with unfathomable cruelty that it seems nobody would be foolish enough to stick around and take. Surely fleeing for their lives is an option. But instead of running from barbaric cruelty they are each running from their own demons. These demons take on liquid form and exist in bottles obtained from bars and liquor stores. The reader pities them for their hopelessness, urges those being bullied to take a hint and act out of self preservation rather than inexplicable loyalty. But neither Kenzie nor her brother nor her mother listen to the reader, or to friends, or to each other, or to concerned strangers such as policemen sometimes called to the scene of the crime. The jaded officers know in advance that their advice will be ignored, for the story is a sadly common one. The thing about a cycle is that it's extremely difficult to locate an exit point. No matter where you are it looks the same. There are glimpses of small hope, moments of grace, occasions that provide a view of genuine happiness, but eventually the moment to suffer comes back around. As long as Kenzie is consumed with understandable hate, she suffers and requires destructive medication to deal with the pain. She cannot escape by running, but rather, by confronting and figuring out how to forgive. Easier said than done.
March 25, 2014
This one was a hard read in that it was extremely painful, and at times I wanted to stop reading. While this was a work of fiction it felt like I was getting a glimpse into the life of an alcoholic. What also added to the sense of realism, was the setting. The Brooklyn landmarks and neighborhoods intensifies the despair and longing of its characters. It felt as if I were right back on the blocks, avenues, blvds, and streets which were as tough as they were nurturing - nurturers of survivors.
The theme of forgiveness was personified through me, the reader, as I struggled with forgiving these characters who I felt deserved not an ounce of my pity, though I found myself embracing as if they were those family members we love with all the pain anger fails to extinguish. McFadden does a beautiful job in exposing her characters. They are naked and raw, and interestingly enough, they don't ask to be forgiven. Yet, they do demand patience.
We see the Lowe family at their lowest - they wear their name like a melded badge of courage and disgrace, staggering through the life they were dealt. There is lineage and legacy, but not the kind we celebrate or willfully recognize. McFadden's story structure serves the characters extremely well, as we are able to see how time changes, not just our own perceptions, but the expectations we have of others.
What struck me most about this book was the friendship between Kenzie and Glenna. Theirs was a quiet understanding between two women forever trapped in their childhood. This would make for a really good movie. I hope to see it on the big screen someday. I also look forward to reading more of McFadden's work.
The theme of forgiveness was personified through me, the reader, as I struggled with forgiving these characters who I felt deserved not an ounce of my pity, though I found myself embracing as if they were those family members we love with all the pain anger fails to extinguish. McFadden does a beautiful job in exposing her characters. They are naked and raw, and interestingly enough, they don't ask to be forgiven. Yet, they do demand patience.
We see the Lowe family at their lowest - they wear their name like a melded badge of courage and disgrace, staggering through the life they were dealt. There is lineage and legacy, but not the kind we celebrate or willfully recognize. McFadden's story structure serves the characters extremely well, as we are able to see how time changes, not just our own perceptions, but the expectations we have of others.
What struck me most about this book was the friendship between Kenzie and Glenna. Theirs was a quiet understanding between two women forever trapped in their childhood. This would make for a really good movie. I hope to see it on the big screen someday. I also look forward to reading more of McFadden's work.
June 15, 2012
I read this book 10 years ago and I can still remember how my blood boiled hot from anger while reading it. It is a riveting and powerful story about abuse, alcoholism, and the amazing will to forgive your tormentor. In this case Kenzie struggles with the fact that her father who plague her, her mother, and brother with years of abuse--and he is now dying. She has also succumb to alcoholism losing her lover, job, and is on welfare. She sits at his side while remembering the past and all his abuse. The book made me cry and I was so angry with Kenzie's father and her because I struggled to understand her pitying him in his dying days. He disgusted me but I wanted Kenzie to win and gain some dignity because of what she went through with him and how low she was in her current life. She knew she could not go on without closure and forgiving him. She couldn't even sustain her success and keep a man how truly loved her for the fact that her father made her feel unworthy of anything good in life. I will never understand how and why anyone would abuse children or how an adult being abused lets it happen to her children as well. But, please do not shy away from this book it is a must read and you will learn about how much courage and strength it takes to truly forgive someone.
June 7, 2008
Raw and painful - beautiful writing.
September 7, 2013
On the one hand, I loved this book. One another hand I despised it. The author wrote a work of fiction that reads like a heart wrenching memoir. You want to turn away due to the insane violence that rages through Kenzie's household, but you can't. You want to reach in and collect these children from their dysfuncional-beyond-all-belief home, but again - you can't.
The cycle of alcoholism and abuse is rampant. Bring into it the generational component in which children do what is modeled for them...you have a disaster waiting to happen.
From an educator's perspective, I was angry. Where were the teachers that worked with these children? Why didn't they notice anything? I was surprised at the lack of response by any CPS workers beyond the couple that were referenced. Just infuriated me.
The ending is one I'm still not sure about. There were a couple points that added to the understanding of Dad's behavior, but I'm not sure if I liked the final part. Don't have any ideas on how I think it should have ended either. Just not too sure about what I think.
Fantastic read, if you can stomach reading about abuse of children or spouses. Parts are extremely difficult. Well written FOR SURE!
The cycle of alcoholism and abuse is rampant. Bring into it the generational component in which children do what is modeled for them...you have a disaster waiting to happen.
From an educator's perspective, I was angry. Where were the teachers that worked with these children? Why didn't they notice anything? I was surprised at the lack of response by any CPS workers beyond the couple that were referenced. Just infuriated me.
The ending is one I'm still not sure about. There were a couple points that added to the understanding of Dad's behavior, but I'm not sure if I liked the final part. Don't have any ideas on how I think it should have ended either. Just not too sure about what I think.
Fantastic read, if you can stomach reading about abuse of children or spouses. Parts are extremely difficult. Well written FOR SURE!
June 23, 2011
"The Warmest December" was a book filled with pain. The prevalence of emotional, mental, physical abuse swallowed the plot of this book. The predictable uncertain cycles, living in abuse, bearing down on the victims, is amazingly portrayed in this book. McFadden illustrates how from one generation to the next the abuse keeps going and the bottles keep being the soother of the pain. The surreal pain present makes you feel sorry, makes you cringe, makes you shake your head, makes you want to help, makes you want to intervene, and makes you want to slap some sense into someone. However, the ending of the book proves that the cycle can be broken. Pain comes and goes. Circumstances change. McFadden proves that you don't have to let it control you life. Slowly you can take charge and stop the cycle. This book was phenomenal. My second book to finish by McFadden this week, "The Warmest December" was just too good to put down.
June 18, 2014
This book brought memories back and once again another artist hit it dead on the head about the cycle that some black families experience. This book was about love or drugs. This boo was the story of a little girl who grew up and adopted her dad's drinking habits. Her father was trulyabused but he was repeating what was done tohimby his mother [spoiler]. I only hated that Kenzie didn't express herself when her mother was talking about Kenzie never going without. She went without a safe place to call home. She went without parents that cared about her well being over themselves. She went without a childhood. In the end her mother was angry because she was willing to forgive her dad for his actions....not understanding that the only way she could grow out of the bottle was to close up the gap that caused her to return to the bottle.
August 12, 2012
This was a very difficult read because of the things that happened in apartment 5A. I had to chunk my reading of this because it was sometimes too much to take at one seating. So, I'd read some, put the book away and marinate on what I'd read, and then go back and read more. I also was very upset with Kenzie's mother for staying to deal with the things. But I absolutely love the way Bernice McFadden allowed us to see the unraveling of Kenzie's character and who she became as a result of all she dealt with in her life. She is definitely a tragic character,but she's also someone all readers can identify with because we've either experienced some of those things or we know someone who has. I love this book and plan to read it again.
June 15, 2013
This book is simply amazing, and I am very thankful I stumbled upon it in the library. Its a poignant look inside the lives of a family living with an alcoholic and abusive father, who strikes his children as often as his wife. The writing is beautiful - I could picture Hy-lo's smug grins in my mind perfectly, making my blood boil in anger along with his children and wife's. I hope that more people stumble across this book - very, very good.
March 6, 2015
This was a great book, it opened my eyes to how hard life can be for family and children. And it challenged me to open my eyes to the trickle effect which occurs in many lives. This is a must read.
December 10, 2017
This one was a hard read. Alcoholism is real and while this story is a work of fiction, I'm sure for someone it can be all too real.
I'm trying to see how I feel about it, jumping between 3 and 4 stars.
I'm trying to see how I feel about it, jumping between 3 and 4 stars.
November 24, 2016
Alcoholism, abuse, love, forgiveness, all captured beautifully by McFadden. I was drawn so deeply into this book I felt as if it were my reality. A difficult read, frightening, heartbreaking, touching. I'm left breathless with tears running down my cheeks. This one will remain with me.
August 1, 2012
It was Touching ! I know so many People Like HyLo very Great Read
March 28, 2015
Spellbinding, Gripping, Emotional, Riveting & Encouraging! A Powerful Story! I Loved It!
January 6, 2016
Rating: 3,5
November 20, 2015
This writer is so talented. So happy I read this book! Niceness!
January 9, 2019
What a great, sad and inspiring story. Bernice McFadden is such an epic story teller and though this book is under fiction this story was/is the lives of so many families. I myself was raised by an alcoholic mother and as this book prevails so much physical abuse my abuse was mostly emotional abuse which is just as bad as physical abuse. Just as Kinsey loved and forgave her father I too found myself loving and forgiving my mother (not sure why or how that happens but I'm glad it happened). This book was very emotional to me but it is a story that needed to be told. For those women and men who are in abusive relationships please get out because it only gets worse and for those who are the abusers get help because your life and your families lives are worth it.
December 25, 2025
I’m speechless. This is my first time reading Bernice L. McFadden’s work, and it definitely won’t be the last. In fact, I will be checking with my local libraries to read all of her work. This book really resonated with me, and I related to it on a very personal note. There are some books that you read, and within a month, the memory of the work begins to fade. I will always remember The Warmest December.
I’d like to share a couple of lines from the book: “Some stories start out happy, go bad in the middle, get worse, and still end up happy in the end. Hy-Lo’s story started out bad, curdled, and soured in the middle, and ended up worse.”
Reading this book was very cathartic. Thank you, Bernice L. McFadden, for writing this amazing piece of literature.
I’d like to share a couple of lines from the book: “Some stories start out happy, go bad in the middle, get worse, and still end up happy in the end. Hy-Lo’s story started out bad, curdled, and soured in the middle, and ended up worse.”
Reading this book was very cathartic. Thank you, Bernice L. McFadden, for writing this amazing piece of literature.
February 6, 2019
4 🌟
Kenize goes down memory lane as she tells her story growing up in a home where her dad is a drunk he beats on her, her brother and mom. Mom sturdy standing there raising her kids in that home.
That set Kenize life to a not so good start even as adulthood she sees herself repeating some of her dad's addictions.
Sad story. But interesting as the truth about her father come to light.
Kenize goes down memory lane as she tells her story growing up in a home where her dad is a drunk he beats on her, her brother and mom. Mom sturdy standing there raising her kids in that home.
That set Kenize life to a not so good start even as adulthood she sees herself repeating some of her dad's addictions.
Sad story. But interesting as the truth about her father come to light.
August 13, 2021
HURT PEOPLE HURT PEOPLE! This book serves as a reminder. Not dealing with childhood trauma often times spill over into adulthood.
Kenzies story is heartbreaking, I was drawn in from the start. McFadden knows how to write suffering. My word! Though it was at times an emotionally draining story its still a necessary one. This book may be very triggering for some. It felt so raw and real i couldnt help but feel for the characters. Ultimately this is a story about a broken family, healing from trauma and learning to forgive in order to be “free.”
Kenzies story is heartbreaking, I was drawn in from the start. McFadden knows how to write suffering. My word! Though it was at times an emotionally draining story its still a necessary one. This book may be very triggering for some. It felt so raw and real i couldnt help but feel for the characters. Ultimately this is a story about a broken family, healing from trauma and learning to forgive in order to be “free.”
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