Winter Garden

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El que tenga oportunidad que lea este libro, lo disfrute a pesar de las tragedias, porque de ellas, definitivamente también aprendemos. This book fell into the category of those home spin wonders of Eileen Gouge and other women who either watch too much of the wrong TV or read the wrong books or something. This had all the things I could hate about a book - writing like, - she worked hard to be the mother her mother wasn't. And she succeeded. She was best friends with her daughters. The story about the Leningrad siege starts very late in the book (around 50%) and by that time I was already so tired, bored and annoyed that it failed to "touch" me like I "need" in the genre. Honestly i had a hard time rating this. If i could,i would rate the first half 50% 1.5 stars and the second 50% 5 stars.i feel like 3 stars is pretty decent so…The first half was so painfully boring i wanted to dnf it so freaking bad. the only thing that kept me going was that i wanted to know Vera story. And It was worth the suffering 💔 I absolutely LOVE Kristin Hannah. I do not know how she does it. You think you are reading a book about one thing and bam! it becomes so much deeper than that.

Once again, I find myself in awe of the power and beauty of Kristin Hannah’s words. She gives her readers the ability to crawl inside the story and see the world through the eyes of her characters. It’s her stunning gift for capturing the heart wrenching and emotional aspect of every connection that left me completely enamored with this family. Every single one of them. By the time I reached the end of the story, I was nowhere near ready to let them go. Once Anya begins her narration, I found myself riveted by her story. Naturally, her story can put one’s own struggles into perspective and is a horrible reminder of the sacrifices, and sufferings of a complicated war. The story ends with a bittersweet tone- at once sad and triumphant. This novel was a story within a story of so much love and loss that it separated a family, emotionally, for many years. Then the father, the glue of the family, dies and little by little the mom starts revealing her life in Soviet Russia before she met their father. It starts out as a fairy tale but then it takes a more realistic turn. The story within the story, the so-called Fairy Tale, is quite compelling, telling a personal account of the siege of Leningrad in WWII. This is the real meat of this book, but that doesn't get rolling until the second half of the book. I wish the author had just written straight historical fiction of only the Leningrad part and left all the present-day stuff out of it. I did find the ending too implausible to be a tear-jerker. I rolled my eyes when I think I was supposed to cry.I found this novel to be both breathtaking and magnificent, yet exponentially heart-wrenching. It made me feel things I didn't even know I was capable of feeling. This book evoked such emotion in me, I didn't even realize I had tears streaming down my face. There are books that I read and I love.. and then there are those few, inimitable books that change me. That shake me to the core. As children, the only connection between them was the Russian fairy tale Anya sometimes told the girls at night. On his deathbed, their father extracts a promise from the women in his life: the fairy tale will be told one last time—and all the way to the end. Thus begins an unexpected journey into the truth of Anya's life in war-torn Leningrad, more than five decades ago. Alternating between the past and present, Meredith and Nina will finally hear the singular, harrowing story of their mother's life, and what they learn is a secret so terrible and terrifying that it will shake the very foundation of their family and change who they believe they are. I liked the ending, which has a healing touch. I recommend this book to fans of historical fiction and fans of strong woman characters.

I found it absolutely fascinating and captivating watching the way the 'fairy tale' that the mother was telling slowly blended into reality. The transition was so powerful -- there are all these subtle details that if you read carefully, you'll catch and they'll take your breath away. It's a truly stunning piece of writing. The writing is lyrical and great, Hannah knows what she is doing and you can tell that she is a talented author from her prose and the way she writes. The story has a poignant tone and I read it when it was raining outside and almost freezing which was a very good choice in my opinion because this is not a summer beach read!

Meredith and Nina are two sisters that lead very different lives. They grew up with a distant mother and in turn have never been close to one another. Their mother told them a fairytale as children. When their father dies it is his last wish that their mother tell them the whole story.

Aún cuando sus primeras páginas (que no es poco, casi 40% del libro) sientes que no avanzas, que es una historia lenta y que no te atrae para nada, todo cambia repentinamente y ya no sientes apatía, quieres saberlo todo, que se termine "el cuento" para entender el por qué de las cosas. My favorite part of the entire story was the dynamic between the two sisters. Meredith was always the steadfast and responsible one and Nina was the wild and free sister, but they were both strong, just in different ways. Both admired one another for exactly what they regretted the most in themselves and I found that quite interesting. I guess, the grass always seems greener on the other side, right? And of course, the love story junkie in me would be remiss not to mention Danny and Jeff. I was completely smitten with both, they were as different as the sisters, but worthy in their own ways.Ok, before anything, please note the genre of this book is Women's Fiction, and not specifically Romance even though there is indeed a beautiful, powerful, and heart-wrenching love story at the heart of the book. If you're a romance reader (like me), please don't worry though, I promise the ending is amazing. Winter Garden tells the story of Meredith and Nina Whitson and their supposedly heartless mother Anya. For over an extended period we get to know of Anya while she faces tremendous obstacles and disaster, but ends surviving despite all her suffering. It's not a trivial novel; it's not romantic, it is almost an epic. It's repeatedly a struggle. I think it's written to be read on a sunny day, or it might be shattering. That is how I felt from the way it impacted me, as a mother and as a sister. Despite it all, I fully enjoyed it. Hannah tells a breathtaking story, I don't comment on it feebly. It is astonishing and heartbreaking. But in the end there is hope, so all is well after all! Both Nina and Meredith have grown up into adults who are unable to have normal relationships with others. Meredith's marriage is failing, because she shuts her husband out with an emotional wall. Nina is a world famous photographer who runs away from family and commitment by flying off to the latest war/famine/disaster. She refuses to accept a marriage proposal from someone who loves her and she loves because of her stunted emotional growth. What starts as a dysfunctional domestic situation between 2 sisters (American born) and their Russian-born mother ends up being so much more. Grief and a deathbed promise brings these unhappy women reluctantly together, and what seemed like a familial dysfunction becomes an intimate look at the mother of these two sisters who was raised in Russia during the war. Primarily they learn about a side of her they never knew. Her story of war-torn Leningrad, paints a vivid picture of the atrocity of war. One cannot fathom the pain, hunger, starvation and death all around the survivors, the terror of small children being taken by train away from their parents, starving, cold, crying and afraid. Your heart sinks and you feel your throat all choked up. Don't be surprised if your eyes smart a few times and tears cloud your vision as you're reading this emotional rendering. This part of the novel is truly heartbreaking. I found it very moving, and well written.