The Warmest December [Hardcover]

Bernice L. McFadden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 2001

"Vivid" hailed the New York Times Book Review of Sugar, Bernice L. McFadden's bestselling debut novel. This beloved new writer returns to the Brooklyn of her childhood in The Warmest December, a triumphant coming-of-age novel.

Childhood can be rough, but for Kenzie growing up in the Lowe home means opening the bottom drawer of her father's dresser to choose which of the three belts coiled, waiting like snakes, she wants to get whipped with; trips to Bee Hive Liquor for her father's vodka; and dreaming of the day she can escape apartment A5. Buoyed by the graceful voice that has become McFadden's trademark, The Warmest December is the incredibly moving story of one family and the alcoholism, that determined years of their lives. Narrated by a young woman reminiscent of Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John, and moving from the Brooklyn of the 1970's to 90's, Kenzie Lowe discovers as she visits her dying father that choices she once thought beyond her control are very much hers to make.

Praise for Bernice L. McFadden's bestselling debut, Sugar:

"She's a writer on the caliber of Toni Morrison. Very rich, very woven, and very layered."-The Dallas Morning News

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Now and then I forget things.... One day last week I forgot that I hated my father... " McFadden's graphic, poignant second novel (following her praised debut, Sugar) charts the resonating legacy that alcoholic parents pass on to their children through the cycle of addiction and domestic violence. Narrator Kenzie Lowe, an African-American woman in her 30s on welfare, has used alcohol to repress the memories of abuse she suffered growing up in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, caught in the physical and emotional grip of her whiskey-swilling father, Hyman Lowe. As Hy-Lo (a name that reflects his erratic mood swings) lies comatose in his hospital bed, dying of liver disease, Kenzie finds herself in the grip of buried memories. Deftly evoking the turbulence of Kenzie's tormented recollections, McFadden builds tension as Kenzie's subconscious releases events from a fearful childhood dominated by Hy-Lo's sadistic punishments. Incidents where he burned a cigarette into her palm, broke her ribs with lashes from his belt, knocked out her mother's teeth and terrorized her brother, effectively causing his death, graphically illustrate a child's powerlessness in the grip of an appallingly abusive parent. Seamless transitions between Kenzie's past and her present life anchored by AA sessions imbue this difficult tale with dramatic suspense. While McFadden's decision to tie up loose ends into a neatly contrived ending may seem facile, its cathartic message of forgiveness and recovery will elicit tears. Agent, James Vines. (Jan. 15)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Kenzie Lowe, a young woman struggling to overcome alcoholism, is compelled to visit her dying father, a pathetic and contemptible character, an alcoholic, and a wife and child abuser. She is compelled by impulses she herself can't explain. Through flashbacks to her violent and miserable youth, Kenzie recalls her family's past: Hy-Lo, the violent abuser; Della, the compliant wife; and Kenzie and Malcolm, the submissive children, until adolescence. She, at least, escaped for a while to boarding school. Her family, however, didn't escape the deterioration until a tragedy breaks the bond between husband and wife. Kenzie has waited practically her whole life for her father to die, but now that the time has come she finds her hate changing to compassion and forgiveness. She learns the secret of her father's childhood, one much like her own, and begins to understand, forgive, and heal her own sickness. This is a sad and touching novel about abuse and alcoholism from the author of Sugar (2000). Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult (January 11, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525945644
• ISBN-13: 978-0525945642
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #568,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am mother, daughter, sister and friend. All I've ever wanted was to be happy. Writing makes me happy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Depressing But A Literary Masterpiece!, January 26, 2001

By 

Yasmin Coleman (PENNSYLVANIA, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Warmest December (Hardcover)

Once again Bernice McFadden is on the scene and takes us to a place which vividly surpasses our wildest imaginations and makes us question whether The Warmest December is fiction or real life. Step Into Kenzie's world, where you discover a childhood lived in fear with an abusive and alcoholic father, Hyman Lowe aka Hy-Lo. Imagine Kenzie's childhood where most days were filled with sadness, pain, anger, harm and too many issues/situations that a child shouldn't have to live with. And then come full circle to One Warm December, where Hy-Lo/the Teflon man lay dying in a County Hospital, very much alone, estranged from family and himself. It starts on one cold winter morning, Kenzie is drawn by some unbeknownst force (maybe it was compassion, maybe it was pity for an old man who could no longer harm her) to take two buses daily to the hospital to be at the bedside of whats left of Hy-Lo. Hard-living had taken its toll on him and he was now a simple shell of the man he used to be: a man who was like Teflon and took to the bottle every day of his life to stifle out any emotions that tried to leak through when he was sober...which wasn't often. He was a man who was so horrible, that at the age of 5, Kenzie would start hating him and everyday of her life she would wish he was dead. A man who was like Teflon because he didnt allow anyone to get close enough to close the hole in his chest or the space near his heart. As Kenzie visits Hy-Lo and sits and waits for death to have its way with her father, she reminisces regarding yesteryears, and the memories of the past are filled with years of pain, hurt, abuse, anger and sorrow brought on by the wrath of Hyman Lowe. The wrath affected all of those who lived in Apt. A5: Della, the timid and scared mother; Malcolm the growing and daring only son; and Kenzie the only girl child. The trials and tribulations that this family experienced were so hauntingly and depressingly realistic that I pondered whether the storyline was fictional or factual. As I read, always lurking in the back of my mind was whether Hy-Lo was abused as a child by an alcoholic parent. I wondered if this was a generational issue and one that would take Malcolm and Kenzie to break the chains that appeared to shackle this family daily24/7, 365 days a year, for more years than I care to remember. The Warmest December is well-written and the subject matter is fierce and intense. The writing is vivid, graphic and yet lyrical; told in a storytelling fashion as only McFadden can do with supreme justice. As I read, oftentimes, I wanted to rush the story and get to the end so that I could quell the pain that I was experiencing. The message/storyline was so powerful that I was unable to read this book in one sitting; incidents would happen which would force me to set the book aside and come back at a later time. I couldnt give up reading this book though and there were times

when I wanted to; but then I would be drawn back because I wanted to know if my questions would be answered. Turning the pages of The Warmest December was sometimes emotionally hard but it was also hard not to turn the pages. I knew the answers lied deep within and I was determined to read until the very end to find out what made Hy-Lo tick and to discover whether Kenzie could end what appeared to be a vicious cycle. In the end, I discovered that "Some stories start out happy, go bad in the middle, and end up happy at the end. Still others start out bad, get worse, and still end up happy in the end. Hy-Los story started out bad, curdled up and soured in the middle, and ended up worse but for Kenzie there was still hope for change. Kenzie finds what she needs to sweep away the pain, open up the windows, and air out the hurt; letting in some joy and patching up that space near her heart; she learns how to apply a fresh coat of pain and move on with her life." I'm happy that I stuck with the Warmest December because I truly found closure in the midst of the Lowe's Family storm. Seeking wonderful literary reads and fiction that resounds with reality? Then check out The Warmest December and Sugar by Bernice McFadden.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Haunting, depressing tale that some people REALLY LIVE, August 11, 2001

By 

T. Price "T-Wan" (Auburn Hills, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Warmest December (Hardcover)

The Warmest December by Bernice L. McFadden is a very haunting, depressing tale of life in home with an abusive alcoholic father. This is the haunting, depressing tale of a mother who wants her kids to have a better childhood than she did even if it means she has to suffer physical and mental abuse. This is the haunting, depressing tale that some people live with every day of their life.

In The Warmest December, I met Kenzie (our narrator), Della (her timid mother), Malcolm (her younger brother) and Hyman Lowe better known as HyLo (the father, the alcohlic, the tormentor). The story starts out with Kenzie telling us that she almost forgot she hated her father. She forgot how the sound of her mother's crying ate holes inside of her and ripped a space open near her heart. Those words pulled me into the story the way the unknown forced pulled Kenzie to the death bed of HyLo the father she's hated since she was 5...the father she's wished would just die and let everyone be happy. As Kenzie sits and watches her father or at least the shell of the man she has hated for so long she reminisces about her childhood. She tries to remember happy times but all her memories are filled with hurt, pain, abuse, anger, hatred, and sheer sadness that no one should have to deal with. Kenzie remembers the shouting, the bruises, the banging on the walls, the trips to the liquor store for HyLo, and the smell of gin and vodka that was ever present on HyLo's breathe.

I know none of what I've written so far will make you run to the nearest store and pick up this book but I will be the first to tell you that you should do just that. Why would I tell you to go out and buy this book? I'm telling you that because this book contains two lessons that everyone should learn. The first lesson is that alcoholism exists and it's a disease that not only affects the alcoholic but everyone around them in more ways then they could ever know. There are times when alcoholism is passed from one generation to another unknowing to the original alcoholic. The second lesson is that you are responsible for how the story of your life ends. There is a passage in the book that says "some stories start out happy, go bad in the middle and end up happy at the end. Still others start out bad, get worse, and still end up happy at the end." This was not the case for HyLo his story "started out bad, curdled up and soured in the middle, and ended up worse" Well Kenzie didn't want her life story to be that of HyLo but she wasn't sure how to change the writing that already seem to be on the wall. She eventually found a way to erase that writing and part of it was going to visit HyLo. During those visits and after dealing with her own bouts of alcoholism she realizes that she needs to get rid of the pain and let some joy into her life.

I gladly give this book a rating of 5 because the writing is so vivid and real that I actually felt the blows and heard the screams from HyLo and Della...I too hated HyLo and wished he would just die so that everyone could find some happiness in the life that he had thus far ruined...I too sat next to that bed and felt chills go up my spine by just the sight of the man who turned my life upside down...and I too felt that change that came of Kenzie on that warm December day.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Contemporary story with a classic feel, March 8, 2001

By 

Cydney Rax "rmn1994" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Warmest December (Hardcover)

The Warmest December paints a vivid and sorrowful picture of the life of Kenzie, a young woman whose alcoholic father is hospitalized and hovering at death's door. His daughter seemingly does not like her father, doesn't really know him, yet she visits him frequently perhaps to bring some closure to their painful relationship. As a child she endured beatings, humiliations, and other equally tragic events all at the hands of Hy-Lo, her drunken father. Kenzie and her younger brother are forced to observe how Hy-Lo abuses his wife, a woman who seems bound to him not just in name but other inexplicable and invisible reasons.

This was my first Bernice McFadden read and I enjoyed the lyricism and imagery of her writing. McFadden takes an abundance of words to draw, paint, shape, and sketch her characters. Her technique and skill allows the reader to delve deep within the story and feel their sorrow, share their pain. Also there are a lot of characters in this story and some stand out (e.g. Priscilla) and refuse to leave your mind long after the story has ended.

The story's timeframe jumped from past to present without warning and I'll admit this did result in a little confusion on my part. But nevertheless, the story is tightly written, impressive, and may give one a few things to think about - family, pain, misunderstanding, the price of forgiveness, and the struggle of redemption.

Cydney Rax