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In the Deep Midwinter
In 1949, Americans were poised on the edge of a golden age of seeming prosperity and peace. Everyone had a job, the middle class was expanding, television brought wonders into living rooms, and every night at 5 o'clock, cocktails tinkled in their glasses. But Robert Clark uncovers the reality behind the illusion, as the MacEwan family, in the depth of winter, realizes how fragile that prosperity and the ties that hold family together are, acknowledging the moral ambiguities of American culture. First-time novelist Robert Clark has a Cheeveresque penchant for dialogue and detail, rendering this family's dissolution with care.
- GenresFiction
Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
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About the author
Robert Clark
16 books35 followersRobert Clark is a novelist and writer of nonfiction. He received the Edgar Award for his novel Mr. White's Confession in 1999. A native of St. Paul, Minneapolis, he lives in Seattle with his wife and two children.
Clark's books touch on several genres but often return to questions centered in God: "Is there a God? Does he love us? Is he even paying attention?"
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Robert^^^Clark
Clark's books touch on several genres but often return to questions centered in God: "Is there a God? Does he love us? Is he even paying attention?"
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Robert^^^Clark
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
July 15, 2009
On the first page of this book, I thought I was in for one of those over-literary, pretentious novels in which the writer imagines he is a poet. Metaphors and similes flew like snowflakes. The world is a wound, he writes, and cold lies over it "coagulating its waters like blood under air." Soon the snow would "shroud it like a bandage." The moon was a "shard of mirror" in the sky. In a cornfield, withered stalks lay among the furrows like "battle dead." The train windows are "amber as oil."
AND THAT'S JUST THE FIRST PARAGRAPH.
God help me, I thought, facing 278 pages of this.
But the author settles down and starts telling his story. Set in Minnesota in 1949, the novel introduces us to Richard MacEwen, a stolid, conventional lawyer, his wife Sarah, his daughter Anna and her boyfriend Charles. At the beginning of the book, Richard has come to North Dakota to retrieve the body of his younger brother James, killed in a hunting accident. Going through his dead brother's things, Richard discovers a letter suggesting that James may have been having an affair with his wife.
Richard is a repressed man living in a repressed age and Clark paints the period detail with impressive authority. The men and women smoking all the time, the clubby atmosphere of upscale Midwestern society, the immensely complex undergarments women have to wear, the very first days of TV -- and the great stigma attached to an unwanted, premarital pregnancy, which is the fix Anna gets herself into. Anyone who is anti-abortion should read these painful pages.
At the end, the author suggests, there's not much we leave behind in this world when our lives are over. So we should at least live them honestly while we are here.
I recommend this book. It is humane and human and compassionate toward its characters, once the author gets over his excess of wordiness.
AND THAT'S JUST THE FIRST PARAGRAPH.
God help me, I thought, facing 278 pages of this.
But the author settles down and starts telling his story. Set in Minnesota in 1949, the novel introduces us to Richard MacEwen, a stolid, conventional lawyer, his wife Sarah, his daughter Anna and her boyfriend Charles. At the beginning of the book, Richard has come to North Dakota to retrieve the body of his younger brother James, killed in a hunting accident. Going through his dead brother's things, Richard discovers a letter suggesting that James may have been having an affair with his wife.
Richard is a repressed man living in a repressed age and Clark paints the period detail with impressive authority. The men and women smoking all the time, the clubby atmosphere of upscale Midwestern society, the immensely complex undergarments women have to wear, the very first days of TV -- and the great stigma attached to an unwanted, premarital pregnancy, which is the fix Anna gets herself into. Anyone who is anti-abortion should read these painful pages.
At the end, the author suggests, there's not much we leave behind in this world when our lives are over. So we should at least live them honestly while we are here.
I recommend this book. It is humane and human and compassionate toward its characters, once the author gets over his excess of wordiness.
March 6, 2019
A tragic family story set in the late 1940's. It is a portrait the lives of I would consider upper middle class people. The men work as lawyers and doctors. The women have housekeepers and spend their days in leisurely pursuits (by today's standard for most working women). Their evenings are spent at The Club socializing with others like themselves. When Richard MacEwan's brother is accidently killed, secrets are revealed. Anna, the MacEwan's divorced daughter finds herself in a tenuous relationship with a man unsure of his feelings the family comes together to face or bury their secrets about love and faith.
It was an interesting portrait of life in the Midwest during those times for that class of people. There were an excess of similes and metaphors in the writing but otherwise it was a fair read.
It was an interesting portrait of life in the Midwest during those times for that class of people. There were an excess of similes and metaphors in the writing but otherwise it was a fair read.
December 31, 2008
Quite well written, I found it hard to get into because I didn't particularly care for any of the characters. It was kind of interesting to see the fragility, strength and superficial qualities of relationships portrayed throughout the plot. Also how morals and faith are often assumed out of habit and tradition, not adopted by deliberate, individual choice.
It was a book with a lot to say and the author used some beautiful language, effective descriptions and believable characters in the process. Really, it was worth reading.
It was a book with a lot to say and the author used some beautiful language, effective descriptions and believable characters in the process. Really, it was worth reading.
May 18, 2008
Clark evokes the late 1940s perfectly with telling details of cigarettes, items of clothing, and radio shows in a novel that explores the inner lives of an upper middle class family in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
December 25, 2011
Just finished In the Deep Midwinter by Robert Clark this morning. It...wasn't bad. And a pretty quick read, even with the most stereotypical title that simply had no relationship to the text that I could see beyond pretentiousness. Let's talk about it not as in a literary review, but as I would any genre book or online fic.
It takes place in the late forties, and cyclically follows the story of a family. Richard [Somebody] is off to identify the body of his brother James, who was shot during a hunting expedition. He cleans and sorts his brother's things, finding porn and a mysterious letter from the fancy hotel where his brother and Mrs. [Somebody] whose name begins with "S" were over-charged for a room. But his brother didn't have a wife. Richard's wife, however, is named *gasp* Sarah. Then we switch to Richard and Sarah's daughter, Anna, who currently is divorced and dating an only-almost-divorced man named Charles. Anna also has a toddler son named Douglas, who eventually grows up to have stringy hair and be creepy--but that isn't really relevant to the story.
Back to Richard, who found a letter in his brother's things, addressed in his wife's hand. Then he goes home to said wife, and obsesses over what he doesn't know (because he won't read the letter). Sarah notices his distraction, and angsts. She notices this even though they still, like all decent people, have separate beds--which I admit I never believed happened, but apparently in those days decency and procreation trumped comfort--and this is a subject actually clarified in-text.
Oh, and in looking for any "S" who is not his wife, Richard goes looking for his brother's old girlfriends and finds a Susan. Yay! Only not, because she's a forty-year-old graduate student, she knew better than to stay with James, who was a flake. Richard, of course, finds himself lusting after her, because he wasn't disturbed enough by the idea of his wife's contemplation of infidelity.
Charles and Anna meanwhile are so in love, even though according to Anna's mother it's practically infidelity. Charles gets word from his boss it's a good idea to get married, but Anna just stopped her period. These are not the days or classes for shotgun weddings so there's panic, and not so much love. Anna wants Charles to take care of it.
*Spoilers!*
Charles finds Anna an abortionist in the back of a taxi from a Catholic driver on the advice of feckless Henry, poor James' hanger-on. She goes to the poor old man who has to work in the chiropractor's office and is oh so comforting even though her fetus is a little old for this procedure, but let's do it anyway. And then he gives her pills. Charles takes her home--and leaves her alone, because he's a social-climbing jerk, and gets stuck in a snowdrift and looses his power and can't make it back until Anna is in the hospital. Where it gets all philosophical, and I'll talk about later. Anna thinks she died, and that's a metaphor.
The second half of the novel ties everything up pretty much how you'd expect: Anna is too principled to stay with Charles, and he's still a jerk; Sarah really did know what was going on this whole time, including the abortion that all the men thought she'd be too spastic to handle (because she had her own, and this is her only plot line I liked) and she didn't go to the hotel with James? (I turned the book in this afternoon and have forgotten); Richard didn't actually sleep with Susan because coming close freaked him out and left him discombobulated for hours, and I wish it was that easy to articulate everyone's thoughts in such heightened emotions (Richard: my favorite character by so very far); and by the way, everyone's entire life is summarized in the epilogue, like after an ensemble true-story movie when they tell you what happens to each character in a freeze-frame on their face as the credits go by. Before I forget--Sarah's mother had dementia, so Anna has it in 2000 or so. I'm not sure why.
Of all things, I would say it was very--lyrically sterile. The language was beautiful, but it left me cold. To a certain extent that may have been the point. But mostly, I don't really care. The different threads of the story and character intersections simply felt too scattered for me to connect to the themes. Which were: 1) abortion should be legal and 2) and 3) were (distantly) generations and secrets, etc.
Mostly, the first bothered me. Not because of the subject or political stance, but because, unlike the others, it was simply overwrought. As soon as the issue came up the 'characters' spouted the most over the top philosophy and metaphors I simply had to stop skimming. It wasn't all bad though. In the aftermath of the illegal abortion (which was of course awful) the reactions of the parents, the doctor initially , and even Charles were all sincere and moving. Then Charles starts thinking "oh gosh I can't love her anymore" blah blah, but philosophizing being a misogynist, and totally over the top. And then at the end he tells Anna he got his dream job, and she resents him for not asking her to go with him, though she hasn't liked him since the abortion--fair enough. And anyway, he's punished by his son dying in a car accident and his daughter not speaking to him. Anna apparently, could never land another man (which was all I could think after all the monologuing going on about her throwing herself into love earlier).
Richard! Richard was so awesome. In a reminiscence, his wife calls him a "shy moon-calf" paraphrased, and he was sort of like that. The upright, old-fashioned, affectionate father-figure type--appropriate--and I loved when he conspired with Anna and gives her advice, which is all pretty good. And he's a worrier, and he actually goes to see his brother's body in the morgue because he worked as an ambulance driver in WW1 (not really creepy actually, it worked). and he cries going through his brother's things, and he holds it all together, and he has vague ideas of killing the doctor who hurt his baby even though he's never understood the inclination to murder at all before, and really, overall, he's just a sweet old man (odd conclusion after that last bit, I imagine, but, you'd have to read it--and think like me).
But James' whole story felt odd to me, because it's right at the beginning, and then it does eventually come up again, but only somuchas Henry can tell Richard it was really suicide. So-yeah. In between, Anna's and Charles' relationship was so entwined and unified that by the time it came up again I really didn't care, and didn't know what do do with it.
To back up a little bit, the abortion bit drove me up the wall for wordiness and soapboxing (well, okay, compared to *bad* fiction, it, well, wasn't bad. But it felt very over-the-top and there really wasn't a lot of room for subtly. Even the generations thing tended to be blatant--though I thought Sarah's abortion was handled much more deftly than her daughter's, and in comparison to the dementia thing that was more like, really? I liked the thread of secrets though. It felt much more natural that they talked around the secrets, didn't really think of them until there was a catalyst, but their lives were affected nonetheless. And the secrets weren't just spilled all at once, and there weren't wrenching confessions, and things weren't necessarily changed--very nicely handled, and mostly felt real.
Not a bad book of fiction all-in-all, it's 'literature'. I don't know that it was a classic, but I did enjoy most of the reading, and it didn't take too long. Wordy, maybe, but great atmosphere. There isn't one of my friends I'd actually recommend it to, but only because their reading lists are all entirely too long for anything but the next Greatest Thing Ever.
From my blog.
It takes place in the late forties, and cyclically follows the story of a family. Richard [Somebody] is off to identify the body of his brother James, who was shot during a hunting expedition. He cleans and sorts his brother's things, finding porn and a mysterious letter from the fancy hotel where his brother and Mrs. [Somebody] whose name begins with "S" were over-charged for a room. But his brother didn't have a wife. Richard's wife, however, is named *gasp* Sarah. Then we switch to Richard and Sarah's daughter, Anna, who currently is divorced and dating an only-almost-divorced man named Charles. Anna also has a toddler son named Douglas, who eventually grows up to have stringy hair and be creepy--but that isn't really relevant to the story.
Back to Richard, who found a letter in his brother's things, addressed in his wife's hand. Then he goes home to said wife, and obsesses over what he doesn't know (because he won't read the letter). Sarah notices his distraction, and angsts. She notices this even though they still, like all decent people, have separate beds--which I admit I never believed happened, but apparently in those days decency and procreation trumped comfort--and this is a subject actually clarified in-text.
Oh, and in looking for any "S" who is not his wife, Richard goes looking for his brother's old girlfriends and finds a Susan. Yay! Only not, because she's a forty-year-old graduate student, she knew better than to stay with James, who was a flake. Richard, of course, finds himself lusting after her, because he wasn't disturbed enough by the idea of his wife's contemplation of infidelity.
Charles and Anna meanwhile are so in love, even though according to Anna's mother it's practically infidelity. Charles gets word from his boss it's a good idea to get married, but Anna just stopped her period. These are not the days or classes for shotgun weddings so there's panic, and not so much love. Anna wants Charles to take care of it.
*Spoilers!*
Charles finds Anna an abortionist in the back of a taxi from a Catholic driver on the advice of feckless Henry, poor James' hanger-on. She goes to the poor old man who has to work in the chiropractor's office and is oh so comforting even though her fetus is a little old for this procedure, but let's do it anyway. And then he gives her pills. Charles takes her home--and leaves her alone, because he's a social-climbing jerk, and gets stuck in a snowdrift and looses his power and can't make it back until Anna is in the hospital. Where it gets all philosophical, and I'll talk about later. Anna thinks she died, and that's a metaphor.
The second half of the novel ties everything up pretty much how you'd expect: Anna is too principled to stay with Charles, and he's still a jerk; Sarah really did know what was going on this whole time, including the abortion that all the men thought she'd be too spastic to handle (because she had her own, and this is her only plot line I liked) and she didn't go to the hotel with James? (I turned the book in this afternoon and have forgotten); Richard didn't actually sleep with Susan because coming close freaked him out and left him discombobulated for hours, and I wish it was that easy to articulate everyone's thoughts in such heightened emotions (Richard: my favorite character by so very far); and by the way, everyone's entire life is summarized in the epilogue, like after an ensemble true-story movie when they tell you what happens to each character in a freeze-frame on their face as the credits go by. Before I forget--Sarah's mother had dementia, so Anna has it in 2000 or so. I'm not sure why.
Of all things, I would say it was very--lyrically sterile. The language was beautiful, but it left me cold. To a certain extent that may have been the point. But mostly, I don't really care. The different threads of the story and character intersections simply felt too scattered for me to connect to the themes. Which were: 1) abortion should be legal and 2) and 3) were (distantly) generations and secrets, etc.
Mostly, the first bothered me. Not because of the subject or political stance, but because, unlike the others, it was simply overwrought. As soon as the issue came up the 'characters' spouted the most over the top philosophy and metaphors I simply had to stop skimming. It wasn't all bad though. In the aftermath of the illegal abortion (which was of course awful) the reactions of the parents, the doctor initially , and even Charles were all sincere and moving. Then Charles starts thinking "oh gosh I can't love her anymore" blah blah, but philosophizing being a misogynist, and totally over the top. And then at the end he tells Anna he got his dream job, and she resents him for not asking her to go with him, though she hasn't liked him since the abortion--fair enough. And anyway, he's punished by his son dying in a car accident and his daughter not speaking to him. Anna apparently, could never land another man (which was all I could think after all the monologuing going on about her throwing herself into love earlier).
Richard! Richard was so awesome. In a reminiscence, his wife calls him a "shy moon-calf" paraphrased, and he was sort of like that. The upright, old-fashioned, affectionate father-figure type--appropriate--and I loved when he conspired with Anna and gives her advice, which is all pretty good. And he's a worrier, and he actually goes to see his brother's body in the morgue because he worked as an ambulance driver in WW1 (not really creepy actually, it worked). and he cries going through his brother's things, and he holds it all together, and he has vague ideas of killing the doctor who hurt his baby even though he's never understood the inclination to murder at all before, and really, overall, he's just a sweet old man (odd conclusion after that last bit, I imagine, but, you'd have to read it--and think like me).
But James' whole story felt odd to me, because it's right at the beginning, and then it does eventually come up again, but only somuchas Henry can tell Richard it was really suicide. So-yeah. In between, Anna's and Charles' relationship was so entwined and unified that by the time it came up again I really didn't care, and didn't know what do do with it.
To back up a little bit, the abortion bit drove me up the wall for wordiness and soapboxing (well, okay, compared to *bad* fiction, it, well, wasn't bad. But it felt very over-the-top and there really wasn't a lot of room for subtly. Even the generations thing tended to be blatant--though I thought Sarah's abortion was handled much more deftly than her daughter's, and in comparison to the dementia thing that was more like, really? I liked the thread of secrets though. It felt much more natural that they talked around the secrets, didn't really think of them until there was a catalyst, but their lives were affected nonetheless. And the secrets weren't just spilled all at once, and there weren't wrenching confessions, and things weren't necessarily changed--very nicely handled, and mostly felt real.
Not a bad book of fiction all-in-all, it's 'literature'. I don't know that it was a classic, but I did enjoy most of the reading, and it didn't take too long. Wordy, maybe, but great atmosphere. There isn't one of my friends I'd actually recommend it to, but only because their reading lists are all entirely too long for anything but the next Greatest Thing Ever.
From my blog.
October 18, 2019
This book has been in print for over 20 years, and I'm unsure why there are only a limited number of reviews, but this work of literary fiction is one that somebody should look at in terms of a "Great American Novel". The story is set in the early 1950s in the American Mid-West, and per the title, it always seemed to be cold outside. The family involved in the story - and there are multiple storylines - alternate between serious self-doubt and a lack of awareness of what's going on around them. There's a great deal of pain in this novel - and per some of the current day discussion about a particular medical issue - is quite relevant. If you enjoy character immersion, this is a book for you.
Read
February 5, 2023I gave up around page 50 or so. First, it's really not what I like to read and I had just picked up three new ones from authors I like to read so this just wasn't worth finishing. I think I picked this up after I had already gotten Clark's second book, "Mr. White's Confession" which got good reviews and which will be, hopefully, more the kind of thing I like-a murder mystery. ("In the Deep Midwinter" is just pretty much all about family angst and I coujldn't see where it was going - if anywhere.) The other thing is Clark's style. The first page alone had over a dozen similes and metaphors and it was just tiresome. I'll still checkout "Mr. White's Confession" just to get it off my shelf. Hopefully I'll like it.
January 21, 2025
3.5*
I found the first half slow and lacking in character development. Everyone came across as rather bland and superficial. I don't know if that was by choice, to drive home that sense of "Can we really ever know someone else, even the people closest to us?" that permeates the second half, but I did have a hard time getting into it. I'm glad I stuck with it, as there was some very good writing in the second half that showed more of the characters' personalities. While the themes were neither novel nor presented in any unique way, it was still a decent read that, although set firmly in a specific place and time, touched on some timeless issues.
I found the first half slow and lacking in character development. Everyone came across as rather bland and superficial. I don't know if that was by choice, to drive home that sense of "Can we really ever know someone else, even the people closest to us?" that permeates the second half, but I did have a hard time getting into it. I'm glad I stuck with it, as there was some very good writing in the second half that showed more of the characters' personalities. While the themes were neither novel nor presented in any unique way, it was still a decent read that, although set firmly in a specific place and time, touched on some timeless issues.
May 4, 2024
I got this from a little 'take a book leave a book' community 'library'. For some reason the title drew me in?? It was an interesting story of family dynamics. The social and casual drinking and smoking indicative of the times and class was foreign to me. I enjoyed the writing with many new vocab words which I should have taken advantage of learning from, but did not. Tackled some moral/social issues, I felt refreshingly, without opinion or judgement.
April 16, 2025
I've stopped reviewing on here for several reasons, but this book makes me relent. I'd have given it 5 stars but no one gets a 5. Well written, solid, visible characters who speak plausibly and honestly, and a plot about a family that is understanding, warm, and timely. Some will find it sentimental, perhaps an old style, or too long. But that is part of its charm for me. I remember being there, feeling things back then and since, and I thank Mr. Clark for his gift.
August 19, 2017
It's hard to get into but worth the read The first 70 pages can be skimmed. A lot of description without meaning. It's a good story thereafter and gets addictive, although you really don't have attachment to any of the characters. Kind of written as a fly on the wall
January 15, 2024
Beautifully written to capture the culture of the early 1950s, including abortion in a time before it was legal.
December 7, 2008
This novel takes place in 1949 and 1950, and it's truly in another world...one full of cigarettes, old-fashioned gender roles, cocktail parties, and distance between lovers and family members.
The story opens with Richard going to claim the body of his brother, who died in a hunting accident. He discovers how little he knew his brother, and he also realizes how little he knows his own wife, Sarah. His divorcee daughter, Anna, is in the midst of an affair with a deeply flawed man, Charles, in the midst of his own divorce.
What is notable about this book is that it describes, in agonizing detail, an illegal abortion. The author does an excellent job of painting the difficult circumstances that led to the abortion and making me feel ever more committed to protecting a woman's right to choose. He does not gloss over the pain and anguish Anna feels, and he also does not demonize her.
The characters are not necessarily likable--they are each flawed--but they do not relate to each other very well. I'm not sure if this is meant to be reflective of the era, or if it's just this particular gathering of people. For example, as their daughter lies in a hospital on her deathbed, her parents go home that evening and carry on as if nothing was happening. They do not discuss their feelings. Anna's son stays with a housekeeper the entire two weeks she is in the hospital, and it doesn't seem to occur to the grandparents to take care of the child. When Richard and Anna finally discuss what has happened and express their feelings to each other, it is a huge relief to both of them to finally be able to let it out.
It was a well-crafted, well-written book. I'm giving it three stars because I'm not sure how much I will remember it beyond the descriptive illegal abortion plot detail. I'd be curious to hear what others think of the story.
The story opens with Richard going to claim the body of his brother, who died in a hunting accident. He discovers how little he knew his brother, and he also realizes how little he knows his own wife, Sarah. His divorcee daughter, Anna, is in the midst of an affair with a deeply flawed man, Charles, in the midst of his own divorce.
What is notable about this book is that it describes, in agonizing detail, an illegal abortion. The author does an excellent job of painting the difficult circumstances that led to the abortion and making me feel ever more committed to protecting a woman's right to choose. He does not gloss over the pain and anguish Anna feels, and he also does not demonize her.
The characters are not necessarily likable--they are each flawed--but they do not relate to each other very well. I'm not sure if this is meant to be reflective of the era, or if it's just this particular gathering of people. For example, as their daughter lies in a hospital on her deathbed, her parents go home that evening and carry on as if nothing was happening. They do not discuss their feelings. Anna's son stays with a housekeeper the entire two weeks she is in the hospital, and it doesn't seem to occur to the grandparents to take care of the child. When Richard and Anna finally discuss what has happened and express their feelings to each other, it is a huge relief to both of them to finally be able to let it out.
It was a well-crafted, well-written book. I'm giving it three stars because I'm not sure how much I will remember it beyond the descriptive illegal abortion plot detail. I'd be curious to hear what others think of the story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 18, 2015
This book is elegiac and exquisitely described, as it reaches rare depths of reflection on being human, making mistakes and needing forgiveness, all the elements at the base of existence. The book was written in the 90's in Seattle but is set in the 40's in St. Paul with absolute authenticity. Clark traces the changes in a family surviving several blows, the first of which is the death of a brother in a winter hunting accident. Several stories interweave, with painfully accurate descriptions of family dynamics, reactions to loss and love, and the world of medicine half a century ago. This describes how people work and react so accurately that it reached down into my own thoughts and changed the way I think even though my family situation is very different from the one described. It's that universal. The closest comparison I can make in tone and style is The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, which is a near-classic, so I suppose this must be a near-classic, too. Highly recommended.
June 4, 2012
Phe-nom-i-nal! Thanks to Stephanie for her goodreads review: "I love this book!" Or it might have been "I love this freekin book!" Either works. All I can say is that this books inspires literary analysis! I actually have several thesis ready. Beware: February and March. There were parts where I found I was holding my breath it was so intense. It felt like a horror movie, but nothing was happening except life. It starts off slow, but then, like winter itself, builds to a storm that you can't escape. And the sun finally shines again. I can't believe Oprah has not picked this book. There is no rape, otherwise, it has all the makings of one of her books.
October 5, 2007
I highly recommend this book, which (amazingly) is Robert Clark’s first novel. Besides being a wonderful wintertime read, it brings home to one the fact that, when it comes to human relationships, nothing is purely black or white, wrong or right. I found myself relating easily (for different reasons) to all of Clark’s characters. Clark’s attention to detail – especially in his descriptions of post-World War II fashion for women AND men – made this book especially enveloping & enjoyable for me.
December 30, 2013
What gorgeous writing. I truly hate to lay this book down. Taking place in the late 40's and early 50's, it reflects the time of America mourning it's dead soldiers, trying to get along and move upwards in their lives, women in hats and gloves, and 5 o'clock cocktails. Clark deals with the morality of the time, and the guilt and suffering of ordinary people. I read his book, Mr. White's Confession a few years ago, and enjoyed it also. I am nearly done with this one, and hate to see it end. Just finished it; good to the last page!
March 12, 2008
A philosophical fiction with poetic tone to it. It's beautifully crafted and conscience-provoking.
The book has an intriguing beginning, a nice even flow although you may need to skip some graphic parts of the middle section in the book.
When the book marches toward the end, that's when the author effortlessly presses the readers to really think in a deeper level. . . . . .when he aligns the female main character to Mary Magdalene for analogies and comparisons.
The book has an intriguing beginning, a nice even flow although you may need to skip some graphic parts of the middle section in the book.
When the book marches toward the end, that's when the author effortlessly presses the readers to really think in a deeper level. . . . . .when he aligns the female main character to Mary Magdalene for analogies and comparisons.
October 24, 2011
I would like to give this a 3.5.
There was something very sad about this novel. It was very real to me, very compelling but sad. I guess human foibles are...very real characters and situations, well written. Not a subject matter everyone will like, however. Could be for the book club...lot's to discuss.
Setting the story in the late 40's also gave it interest; not sure it would be as interesting set in today's world.
There was something very sad about this novel. It was very real to me, very compelling but sad. I guess human foibles are...very real characters and situations, well written. Not a subject matter everyone will like, however. Could be for the book club...lot's to discuss.
Setting the story in the late 40's also gave it interest; not sure it would be as interesting set in today's world.
June 15, 2016
In the deep midwinter by Robert Clark
Mystery audio book about bonds between people. 1949, st. paul. MIN loses his brother in a hunting accident
Richard finds some secrets come out from the women of the fmaily and he investigates his brothers letters to find out his own wife became involved with another.
Also a niece has led astray also. Details of the abortion and afterward are a bit graphic.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Mystery audio book about bonds between people. 1949, st. paul. MIN loses his brother in a hunting accident
Richard finds some secrets come out from the women of the fmaily and he investigates his brothers letters to find out his own wife became involved with another.
Also a niece has led astray also. Details of the abortion and afterward are a bit graphic.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
August 28, 2007
Is it me or are there a lot of boring books out there?
I kept waiting for something to happen. Nothing really did which is why I call this wannabelit. But what the author doesn't realize is I need more than nice phrases to make me happy. How about some layering. How about some confrontations, real emotional blood-letting?
This guy needs to read Tess.
I kept waiting for something to happen. Nothing really did which is why I call this wannabelit. But what the author doesn't realize is I need more than nice phrases to make me happy. How about some layering. How about some confrontations, real emotional blood-letting?
This guy needs to read Tess.
October 19, 2012
Set in St. Paul MN in post WWII period. A man's brother is killed in a hunting "accident" and this sets off a series of events, each of which reveals secrets about the people he loves and thought he knew. Writing is a little overwrought; Clark can't seem to end a sentence without a simile. But, compelling and wise. His debut.
March 28, 2013
Evocative prose on both the frailty and strength of people we love. Nothing really "happens" in this story but that's the beauty. In life, too, big events are often seen through a series of tender, often painful, observations.
March 25, 2015
A really good read. changing family values;marriage;love;death,this book has it all. The writing is superb, the story is current and the characters are deeply drawn, with love, sadness, great loss and the questions about life and love and faith, a part of each one. A worth reading book.
January 10, 2009
The sex scenes are excruciating. I hate to think of the author writing them.
January 14, 2009
Excellent novel about a family in post World War II years.
August 21, 2015
Clark has powerful command of the language, and the story was interesting and raised thought-provoking questions.
March 16, 2016
Must be my week for family sagas.
No sooner had I finished These
Granite Islands than I began In
the Deep Midwinter. Very powerful
story of family dynamics, family
secrets. Recommended.
No sooner had I finished These
Granite Islands than I began In
the Deep Midwinter. Very powerful
story of family dynamics, family
secrets. Recommended.
Read
September 16, 2023"Sometimes the better part of love is silence."
Read
February 5, 2011Not sure why I'm reading this again. Maybe because it's deep midwinter here. Faulkner it's not.
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