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Winner of the National Book Award: A Novel of Fame, Honor, and Really Bad Weather Paperback – September 9, 2004

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Jincy Willett (Author)
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Jincy Willett (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars 62 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Picador (October 1, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 031242423X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312424237
  • Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #281,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsAmusing sendup of New England values and the literary life.
By Mary Whipple HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER on October 13, 2003
Format: Hardcover
From the opening paragraph, a woman's description of being struck by lightning, the reader of this book learns to expect the unexpected-and gets it. Dorcas Mather, the narrator, is a librarian in Frome, Rhode Island, who quietly catalogues books while a hurricane bears down on the town. Fortified with some scotch she has brought for the occasion, she is bent on cataloguing one particular book, her own personal "hurricane"--entitled In the Driver's Seat: The Abigail Mather Story by her twin sister, Abigail Mather, and a ghostwriter, Hilda DeVilbiss. With delightful mockery of the book publishing process, Dorcas reveals that this book is making her sister into a national heroine for not only surviving her "marital horror" but for doing something about it.
Exaggerated, over-the-top paragraphs from the novel written by Abigail and Hilda alternate with Dorcas's iconoclastic and sometimes cynical tales about the real Abigail, as the dual history of the Mather sisters unfolds. Because the narrative moves back and forth between the events as told in Abigail's book and Dorcas's much later reflections on these events, the plot is not linear. The reader learns in the first twenty-five pages that Abigail has committed a "savage act of assertive self-realization," otherwise known as murder, but it is the circumstances which led to the murder and the divergent views and lifestyles of Abigail and Dorcas which provide the interest and intrigue for the reader. As Dorcas tells us, "Abigail and I divided up the world. Sacred and profane. Spiritual and physical. Mind and body." Abigail, sexually liberated since the age of 14, is, according to Dorcas, an "amoral exhibitionist." Dorcas, by contrast, "knows what it feels like...Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsRhode Island explained
By lvkleydorff on December 4, 2003
Format: Hardcover
This is the story of the twin sisters Abigail and Dorcas Maher. They were born on the last day of 1938 and are, by now, in their forties. They live in Frome, Rhode Island, a state devastated by the sharp comments in this book.
Dorcas is the town librarian and has the prunish character to go with it. Abigail was defiled at the age of 14 by the local football team and apparently enjoyed it. Hilda, a family friend, catalogs in a book all the terrible things that have come to Abigail's mind over the years and that have been executed by her and on her. At present, Abigail is in jail accused of killing her husband, while Dorcas reads through the biography. Her comments and corrections are the subject of this book.
The two sisters loved each other dearly despite their opposite makeup. Sexless Dorcas never envied Abigail and her loose life style. She called her sister the Wife of Bath, with great power and no dignity. She herself would be the reverse.
And then the devil in the disguise of suave Conrad Lowe enters the picture. He tries to seduce Dorcas but settles for the easier Abigail. And here comes the Faustian pact: Abigail must shed all the gross excess weight she carries around or Conrad will dissolve out of her life. Strangely enough, and for the first time in her life, she gives up, submits meekly and looses the required weight. But Conrad does not feel that the pact has been satisfied. He keeps maltraiting Abigail who cracks and kills him.
The story is beautifully told, in full three dimensions and surprise happenings. It is not the belly laugh some commercial reviews promise, but it is full of wonderful little chuckles.. Foremost, it is an absorbing portrait of two women who seem so very strange and yet are so familiar.
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3.0 out of 5 starsThis is supposed to be funny?
By DCArchitect on September 23, 2008
Format: Paperback
"Winner" is a book that suffers from bad advertising. I was promised a black comedy. "Riotous. Hugely funny..." and "The funniest novel I have read, possibly ever" appear right there on the cover.

The book was certainly sarcastic. It was caustic and biting but there was very little in the book that I could laugh at in good conscience. (And honestly, during reading, I wasn't inclined to do so.) In many ways, it was more like a car wreck on the highway - horrific but engrossing - than anything else.

Ms. Willett's main characters, twins Dorcas and Abigail, area a fascinating pair. Each completely embody the part of the human condition that the other lacks. "Winner" is the story of their interactions with each other and the members of a New England literary circle made up arch-typical characters.

Through my entire reading, I was off balance. I kept expecting 'funny' to show up and it never did. That said, "Winner" had other redeeming qualities which kept me reading. Ms. Willet gives Dorcas, the bookish narrator, wonderful recollections and descriptions of the joy of reading. The relationships between the people in a group and between the sisters were exaggerated for effect, but still intriguing.

Other parts of "Winner" were less successful. There were bits of extraneous metaphor and occasional clunky bits. Occasionally certain characters verged on caricatures.

I understand what Ms. Willett was attempting to skewer but in the end, "Winner" falls a bit short. If I had come at "Winner" with different expectations I might have found it more enjoyable, but I never shook the feeling of being a bit cheated by a novel that failed to deliver on its promises
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 starsLoved the title

The book fell short of my expectations. I love Rhode Island and wanted to glimpse it through a dazzling story of polar opposite twins. I didn't get that. Read more

Published 9 months ago by Kindle Customer
3.0 out of 5 starsI thought the book was written by a Nat'l Book ...

I thought the book was written by a Nat'l Book Award winner. Nota Bene: it is about a character who won the award. Cover can be misleading.

Published 9 months ago by rave
2.0 out of 5 starsDo not read. Definitely not a "winner of National Book Award."

So I recently came to the conclusion that I read too many junky, overrated novels and that I need to read something upscale and literary. Read more

Published 11 months ago by C. Hartley
2.0 out of 5 starsWhere in the world did this name come from?

Although this book did keep me reading, there was really no question about what was going to happen. Read more

Published 12 months ago by Janet Huntington
2.0 out of 5 starsho hum. wouldn't suggest it.

ho hum. wouldn't suggest it.

Published 13 months ago by Lois Freas
2.0 out of 5 starsTwo Stars

Depressing.

Published 13 months ago by mark fenzel
5.0 out of 5 starsWhew

I certainly hope you are prepared for this story. I've had my nose in a book every day of my life since I was around nine and I am somehow sixty yet Jincy Willett managed to fill... Read more

Published 14 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsWonderful Jincy Willett!

Really enjoyed this novel. After listening to Amy Falls Down on Audible, I read everything Jincy Willett has published. What a pleasure. Only wish I still had more ahead of me! Read more

Published 15 months ago by mail order girl
2.0 out of 5 starsawkward beginning like you stepped into the middle of the story

awkward beginning like you stepped into the middle of the story. I needed to start over after finishing the book to make sense of the beginning. Read more

Published 16 months ago by Amazon Customer
2.0 out of 5 starsTwo Stars

National Book Award? I don't get it. Maybe you will.

Published 21 months ago by Sheri N. Miller

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