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Wind Tails
At a roadside diner on a mountain pass, during one extraordinary, windy day in 1977, the paths of an odd assortment of travelers cross. The stories of each circle around points of departure: what sets one on one’s journey. These interconnected stories involve strange twists, turns and the kinds of chance encounters that change the way we see the world. There is the old woman who, told she has just weeks to live, tells everyone exactly what she thinks of them – and then doesn’t die; the water witcher who comes to terms with his gift instead of drowning in it; the woman who never leaves her own town but travels vicariously through the tales of the hitchhikers she picks up; a trucker with a kind heart; and the proprietor, Cass, and the story that haunts her. Central to this remarkable day is Pink, traveling in whatever direction the wind takes him, and Jo, a young waitress whose own life twists – family betrayal, and the birth and adoption of a baby – have left her anchorless. For Jo, Cass’s Roadside Café is a waystation, holding her until a series of interactions with strangers give her permission to find her own point of departure, and embark upon her own journey.
Hardcover
First published August 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 9, 2018
Took me a bit to get into. Liked the middle, didn't care for the ending. I probably wouldn't have read this if it hadn't gotten passed on to me
May 31, 2009
What is it that makes people think broad statements about life are wiser when packaged in gruff, short sentences? If you ever need to sound wise, just drop all the articles from your sentences--apparently it works.
I'm not sure why I picked up this book from the shelf, as I seemed pre-disposed toward disliking it from the moment I read the jacket copy. Much to my surprise, it grew on me--not at first, but toward the end of the book. Nevertheless, while Wind Tails is at times interesting, once or twice endearing, and overall entertaining, it still suffers from the unfortunate desire to be profound....
Anne Degrace manufactures a microcosm in which all of her characters are interconnected in one way or another, passing through Cass's Roadside Café and picking up a hitchhiker named Pink. Everybody has a story. And telling these stories becomes a story itself; storytelling is supposed to heal wounds and bridge gaps in history and personality. Some of the stories are interesting. Others, not so much. I didn't care for Eunice or Evelyn, personally, but found Jo an intriguing main character. I wish we learned what happened to her beyond the frustratingly postmodern ending.
The one character I could not stand was Cass, owner of the eponymous diner, and resident Know-It-All. Cass embodies the flaw of Wind Tails and, indeed, any other book that attempts to thrust profundity upon the reader like a sugar-coated pill. While I love books that have a deep message and leave me, long after I've finished them, thinking, I also want my books to entertain me. Instead, I'm forced to listen to Cass talk about how life is like a box of roadside diners and every once and a while you need to watch a soap opera, take a day off. Perhaps this is just me being a cynical product of my generation, but this sort of "uplifting" literary fiction seems far less profound than a David Eddings fantasy novel.
To its credit, Wind Tails wasn't as bad as I feared. I finished it. And other people may like it better than me. It falls short of what it should hope to accomplish, however, and it didn't leave me feeling very different from when I began the book.
I'm not sure why I picked up this book from the shelf, as I seemed pre-disposed toward disliking it from the moment I read the jacket copy. Much to my surprise, it grew on me--not at first, but toward the end of the book. Nevertheless, while Wind Tails is at times interesting, once or twice endearing, and overall entertaining, it still suffers from the unfortunate desire to be profound....
Anne Degrace manufactures a microcosm in which all of her characters are interconnected in one way or another, passing through Cass's Roadside Café and picking up a hitchhiker named Pink. Everybody has a story. And telling these stories becomes a story itself; storytelling is supposed to heal wounds and bridge gaps in history and personality. Some of the stories are interesting. Others, not so much. I didn't care for Eunice or Evelyn, personally, but found Jo an intriguing main character. I wish we learned what happened to her beyond the frustratingly postmodern ending.
The one character I could not stand was Cass, owner of the eponymous diner, and resident Know-It-All. Cass embodies the flaw of Wind Tails and, indeed, any other book that attempts to thrust profundity upon the reader like a sugar-coated pill. While I love books that have a deep message and leave me, long after I've finished them, thinking, I also want my books to entertain me. Instead, I'm forced to listen to Cass talk about how life is like a box of roadside diners and every once and a while you need to watch a soap opera, take a day off. Perhaps this is just me being a cynical product of my generation, but this sort of "uplifting" literary fiction seems far less profound than a David Eddings fantasy novel.
To its credit, Wind Tails wasn't as bad as I feared. I finished it. And other people may like it better than me. It falls short of what it should hope to accomplish, however, and it didn't leave me feeling very different from when I began the book.
January 5, 2017
This book sat in my bed-side book stack for a good year after I picked it up off a Chapters sale table. I finally started reading it when the pile was just about done.... and I wish I had of picked it up earlier! It's an easy read with line-up of interesting characters. I enjoyed reading about the different lives-lived and how main characters turned into peripheral characters in someone else's story. Isn't that what life is really like? We get caught up in our own story, while the stories of our friends, family, and acquaintances filter through and around the edges. This novel allows us to be voyeurs in the lives of what could be ordinary people in an invisible community. I did a bit of thinking while reading this .... #1 - about the lives of people whose lives overlap mine and whose stories I may not know.... and #2 - about all those little highway towns we often drive through with little thought about who lives in them and what their stories might be.
February 15, 2016
i wanted to like this book & there were a few nice pieces of descriptive phrasing but i mostly found it a poor read: it moved along quickly enough but the constant insertion of new characters with new tales to tell seemed so random, the characters themselves were kind of hoaky & the story often predictable.
October 3, 2011
"A people without history is like the wind on the buffalo grass." This Sioux saying captures the theme of this book, which sees each character telling his own history as they encounter each other and their stories intertwine
March 12, 2022
Everyone has stories, some to share and some they keep hidden. Really like the way the book portrayed strangers who meet for only minutes, but how their stories can resonate with us. The language, the politics, the thought processes reflect the setting of 1977
August 7, 2011
Really enjoyed this book..all the different characters and how some of their paths x-ed ...kept wanting to find out more...loved it!!
February 5, 2012
I liked the story and think the author has potential so i may read other stuff by her in the future, but this isn't the one i'm recommending to others to read at this point.
July 6, 2012
In interesting tale of a number of lives that intermingle and give each other direction
January 15, 2015
I read this because I really loved Treading Water by this author. This one was still a decent read, but it didn't captivate me the same way as her earlier book did.
April 2, 2015
Another Anne Degrace novel that doesn't dissapoint. It was a very good read with the interconnected characters, and the twists the novel took. I liked the way it ended.
January 9, 2020
Light-hearted, delightful, fun and well written.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews