The Elegant Gathering of White Snows [Paperback]

Kris Radish (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 10, 2003

Eight Women on a Journey That Will Change Their Lives as Lovers, Wives, Mothers, Daughters, Friends

Just after midnight in a small town in Wisconsin, eight women begin walking together down a rural highway. Career women, housewives, mothers, divorcées, and one ex prom queen, they are close friends who have been meeting every Thursday night for years, sharing food, wine, and their deepest secrets. But on this particular Thursday, Susan, Alice, Chris, Sandy, Gail, Mary, Joanne, and Janice decide to disappear from their own lives.

Their spontaneous pilgrimage attracts national attention and inspires other women from all across the country. As the miles fall away and the women forge ahead on their backroads odyssey leaving small miracles in their wake each of their histories unfolds, tales of shattered dreams and unexpected renewal, of thwarted love affairs and precious second chances.In luminous, heartwarming prose, Kris Radish deftly interweaves the women s intimate confessions into the story of their brave, history-making walk.

A breathtaking achievement, The Elegant Gathering of White Snows tells an incomparable tale of friendship and love, loss and liberation.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

When eight women in rural Wisconsin take off in the middle of the night for a journey of the heart, it touches women everywhere. The walking women are different ages and of diverse backgrounds, yet their friendship and unwavering mutual support have forged an immutable bond. They start their walk as support for Susan, who is facing an unwanted pregnancy, but all are walking for their own lost loves and lost dreams. As they walk, they talk about their lives, and the pain of the past is shed. The media picks up the news of their perambulation, and soon they become a national sensation that starts other women thinking about their lives, resulting in positive changes all over the country. The women are unaware of their influence, and their small community protects their privacy, so they can proceed without the intrusion of the outside world. A rallying cry for the empowerment of women, Radish's novel is also a celebration of the strong bond that exists between female friends. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Inside Flap

Eight Women on a Journey That Will Change Their Lives as Lovers, Wives, Mothers, Daughters, Friends

Just after midnight in a small town in Wisconsin, eight women begin walking together down a rural highway. Career women, housewives, mothers, divorcées, and one ex?prom queen, they are close friends who have been meeting every Thursday night for years, sharing food, wine, and their deepest secrets. But on this particular Thursday, Susan, Alice, Chris, Sandy, Gail, Mary, Joanne, and Janice decide to disappear from their own lives.

Their spontaneous pilgrimage attracts national attention and inspires other women from all across the country. As the miles fall away and the women forge ahead on their backroads odyssey--leaving small miracles in their wake--each of their histories unfolds, tales of shattered dreams and unexpected renewal, of thwarted love affairs and precious second chances.In luminous, heartwarming prose, Kris Radish deftly interweaves the women?s intimate confessions into the story of their brave, history-making walk.

A breathtaking achievement, The Elegant Gathering of White Snows tells an incomparable tale of friendship and love, loss and liberation.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 321 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (June 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553382411
• ISBN-13: 978-0553382419
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (102 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #172,056 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kris Radish grew up dreaming about living a Nancy Drew-like life and always held her own passion for writing very close to her heart. A former journalist, nationally syndicated columnist, magazine writer and university instructor, Radish also loves to tell stories about the times she picked nighcrawlers, served beer to cowboys, worked on a tomato farm and hung out of the side of a fast moving helicoper.

Radish is now the bestselling author of eight novels and has captured the hearts of legions of fans with her heartwarming, real, passionate and often hilarious novels. Her stories focus on the important bonds of female friendship and celebrate the common feelings, heartaches, loves, and struggles that all women share. She loves to call her work "true fiction" because she addresses the real emotions that women live and share every day.

She is also the author of two non-fiction books, writes poetry, is the mother of two young and very feisty adults, is known for her wild laugh and wilder hair, and is working on her ninth and tenth novels. Radish is also co-owner of The Wine Madonna - a wine lounge in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida where she hosts book groups from around the country

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

100 of 115 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Good Idea - BAD Writing January 25, 2005

By Margaret L. Lee

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Ms. Radish has a wonderful message, but her writing is so amateur that all you can't see the message for the soap box.

My book club picked this book and that's the only reason I'm still plodding through it. We picked it because of the premise of the book: women bonding, overcoming pain and loss etc., etc. But it's one of the most poorly written books I've read in a long time. Every page screams: "Where was the EDITOR of this thing??".

Want an example? Here you go: Page 5, 3rd paragraph: "As the women talk, they don't see themselves as separate entities even though they are each as different from one another as the proverbial fish is to the bicycle." HUH?????

Also, the book is over-run with unnecessary details that should have been "red penned": Page 140, 4th paragraph: "At the bottom of the bag are two bottles of wine, the same kind they had at Susan's house the day they left." Why do we need to know this?

There are hundreds of examples of what seem to be attempts at colorful language but result in a reaction of "huh?" : page 135, 5th paragraph: "The disgusting echoes of cars roaring past on the highway sounded as if a convoy was stalking the women walkers". DISGUSTING echoes????

With good editing, this book would have been half as long and maybe twice as interesting. Anyone who has ever read Alice Hoffman, Ann Tyler or Kaye Gibbons knows what I'm talking about. Their writing makes you CARE what happens to the characters.

To the reviewer who surmised that the negative reviews of this book were coming from young folks without much life experience: I'm 62 years old and have been around the block a few times, and I'm here to tell you that this book ain't the real world, baby.

I'm willing to suspend belief for a well-written book, but not for one that makes me wish I had a red pen in my hand to "cut and slash" and get to the heart of the matter.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Cringing through cliches February 20, 2006

By J. Becht

Format:Paperback

This is not the type of book I would have chosen to read. I reluctantly bought it when my book club chose it as their next selection. Even though it looked goofy and sentimental, I cautioned myself not to "judge a book by its cover".

Reading this book is excruciating. The cliches are so embarrassing and juvenile, the premise so stupid, the characterization so predictible, and the flashbacks so maudlin, that I would give up if I had not wasted eleven dollars buying this paperback.

There must literally be a dozen cliches to the page. All women are victims. Men are abusive, sex-crazed, needy. Even the physical types of the women are cliched. The tough, hard-working Lenny has to wear cowboy boots and Southwestern silver jewelry. She has long black hair. I could have guessed it all without even reading. The world-weary journalist has to be tall and big-boned, hence ugly. Very feminist, Ms. Radish.

I can scarcely get through a paragraph without groaning in disgust. A father who shrugs off the brutal rape of his daughter, little boys who get off on spying on their mother in her underwear- these anecdotes are so distasteful, so unrealistic, and so hysterical that I am only left to ponder what bizzare issues this author must have.

I have no empathy for the underdeveloped, boozy, dull, whiny, selfish, and stupid protagonists. In fact, I may hate them. Nancy Drew was a more nuanced character.

The prose, like the theme, is insipid. Worse, the writing is so unpolished that I wonder if this author ever took a Comp 101 class. Nearly every sentence contains an awkward redundancy. I feel like I am trudging through quicksand.

I am not sure what the author's purpose is, beyond an unsubtle lecture on "feminism". Probably Ms. Radish is very earnest in her desire to portray women bonding, escaping the patriarchy, and so on, but her writing is frankly awful. I have to wonder if this book went through more than one or two drafts. I also think that a well-written book should appeal to both sexes. I am very dubious that any man could make it through this tortuous and insulting manuscript.

This book is a real embarrassment, from the pretentious title to the facile plot and characterizations. The author displays an astounding superficiality in her treatment of themes and characters. Despite all this, I think the very worst aspect of this book is the author's transparent attempts to "inspire" with her twaddle.

I have never returned a book in my life, and I must have over 10,000 titles in my house. This will be the very first book I have ever brought back to the store. Yes, it's that bad.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Some interesting ideas, but bad writing December 12, 2004

By L. Montgomery

Format:Paperback

I kept notes on my bookmark as I progressed through this book so that I could remember specifically why I disliked it, and report this to my book club which had selected it. Words and phrases I jotted down included, "melodramatic...unconvincing characters and story...don't care about the characters... cliches... unoriginal ideas... similar voices [characters]all the same." If it hadn't been "assigned reading" I would have never spent the time on this book. As I read along, I did search for something redeeming. There were definitely some worthwhile ideas here and there. Too bad they were buried and lost in this book.

Although I think the author was trying to write a very "deep message" book, it came off as superficial, trite and ridiculous.