Customer Reviews

Face the Winter Naked

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Face The Winter Naked is a poignant tale of a family's plight during the Great Depression. Plagued by traumatic memories of the First World War, Daniel abandons his family, leaving his wife LaDaisy to fend for herself and the children. The narrative alternates between Daniel's life as a hobo seeking work and LaDaisy's struggle to keep her family alive while fighting off the advances of a man with the power to leave her and her children homeless. Turner's engaging writing tells their stories with compassion and insight and vividly brings to life the feel of the era. If you liked Water for Elephants, this is one for you.

I'm a very picky reader and I don't finish books I don't like -- my reading time is too precious to waste. Reading FACE THE WINTER NAKED was a wonderful way to spend my time. It's well-written, vivid, engaging and heart-tugging. I went to sleep at night thinking of Daniel and LaDaisy , the main characters, and woke up in the morning ready to read more. I raced to the end of the book to know what happened but was sorry when I read the last page because my time with the characters was over.

Face The Winter Naked could as well be speculative fiction about the state of our near future as it is about the realities of a dark period in our not so distant past. It is the tale of the Great Depression and the toll it takes on one family. In poignant words, Ms. Turner shows us the heartbreak of desperate men and women trying to survive in a desperate time.

I so enjoyed this book, the characters and struggles they endured are so typical of life during the depression and even today.

Daniel Tomelin and his family are good people who are forced to do whatever it takes to make it, good decisions and bad are shown as are both good and bad people, the story told here reflects the struggles of real life during hard times and while searching for the answers to life's hardest questions Daniel learns the hard way what is really important.

Bonnie Turner, my hat is off to you for an excellent read, Thank You.

The one bad thing I'll say about Face the Winter Naked is that it made me want to know more about Daniel and LaDaisy's lives -- both before the novel's starting point and after its ending point. I realized while reading that I don't know nearly as much as I want to about this time period, and reading Bonnie Turner's period novel makes me want to learn more about the Depression and its very real, very personal effects on individuals and families. Learning the statistics in school is one thing, but zooming a story in to one family, and even to one or two people, puts a fresh face on the fear, the anguish, and the string of mostly bad options left for those who suffered most during the period aptly named the Depression.

Turner does a good job of making both protagonists, Daniel and LaDaisy (whose concurrent stories we see unfold in alternating chapters), believable and not entirely noble. By the satisfying ending, we have seen just how even the best intentions ended up in awkward and frustrating compromises for everyone involved. Neither Daniel nor LaDaisy are saints, but neither are they devils. They're both persuasively human, and we're left to piece together their "happy ending" knowing there will be a lot of rebuilding -- not just for the nation but for Daniel and LaDaisy in particular.

I bought this book when it had nothing but 5 star review. As I began reading, I was pretty bored, though....even considered throwing in the towel at about 30%. But I kept thinking back to all those 5 star reviews, certain that if I just stick it out it'll all be worth it in the end. At around 45% I FINALLY started to get into the story. And by the end, I was teary with emotion. I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters but really appreciated the themes central to the story....survival in the face of turmoil, the importance of family, and knowing when to admit you're wrong.

I must admit that I'm usually disappointed by the books offered cheaply in the Kindle store. I spent the first day that I got my Kindle deleting books that were painfully boring. I wasn't hopeful for this one, either.

But this book is beautifully written and exciting from the very first page. The southern family intrigues are great-- you get sucked in right away. LaDaisy's awful mother Vera is so well-written-- I've known people like her and you know it's good writing when you actually dislike the characters so much that you want something bad to happen to them.

This is an excellent summer reading choice. I'll be looking for more from this author.

First of all, I have to say that I appreciated the lack of typos in this book. I believe it was painstakingly edited and proofed, and to me that is a sign of how much an author values his or her own work. Secondly, I felt the book captures the time period so clearly, it was like walking the streets during the Depression.
Book Summary: Daniel leaves his family due to struggles with PTSD and his inability to find a job. (This might make a reader less sympathetic to him.) He travels around like a vagrant, trying to earn a little money here and there. His wife carries the entire burden of providing for the family back home and her lot in life is not easy.
Analysis: I felt the character development in this book was first-rate. Sometimes readers will criticize character development based solely on whether or not they personally LIKE the character. I doubt many of them realize they are even doing it, but it's unfair to the author. There are a lot of characters in literature that are unsavory, unlikeable, or downright repugnant. It doesn't necessary mean they are not well-developed, however. I had no trouble picturing the characters in this book and grasping their mindset, even if I didn't agree with it. The tone of the book is in keeping with its subject material. The pace of the story was steady and kept me engaged. The writing was skilled, the shifting between POVs deft. I felt the author achieved just the right balance between expository writing and dialogue.
Conclusion: This is a well-written book by a talented author. I would definitely read more books by this writer. As a reader, if the author makes me care about the outcome, even when I don't agree with the characters' choices, I regard that as a successful plot. I am very impressed with this book.

Review by the co-author of Betrayed

My parents lived through the Depression era, (I was born as the country was recovering) and many of the stories they told me were directly depicted in this remarkable book. Daniel never stops thinking of his family and how inadequate he has been in providing for them. LaDaisy wonders if he's ever coming home and how she'll feel if he does. Shifting back and forth between both viewpoints gives a sense of time-lapse to the narrative. It's almost possible to feel the pain in Daniel's feet when his Hoover insoles wear out, and one's heart wrenches when his tin of Cloverine salve, found in a trash bin, is approaching empty since it is somewhat helpful in easing that pain. Daniel's attempts at hygiene when entering the home of his dead army buddy's parents, and his unfailingly polite responses to any and all questioners shows that his time on the road has not destroyed his sense of civility.
LaDaisy is doing her best to shelter her children from the ugliness that surrounds them, and keeps going without self-pity. That she hesitated to use the weapon, even in the face of danger and humiliation parallels Daniel's civility.
These are real people, with real problems, in world they didn't create but did their best to survive, and the author is to be commended for writing an insightful book that could have, but didn't, become maudlin. This book is proof that what doesn't kill us makes us stronger.

I'm not sure if I've ever seen the mild oath "I swan" in a book before, but my late mother used it often.
The language in "Face the Winter Naked" really spoke to me in a familiar tongue.
The story reminded me of stories told by my late parents about the Great Depression.
Mom was about 10 at the beginning of the GD, and said that my grandma would never turn away a hungry mouth showing up at their door.

The alternating chapters, husband/wife, worked very well.
I didn't want a chapter to end, but was anxious to see what was going on with the other spouse.

I truly hope that the reviewers stating that the book is too depressing will never have to live through such a time period, or be haunted by the horrors of war.

Thank you Bonnie for such a fine read.
It will be re-Kindled in the near future!

PS: I'm a 60 plus year old male.