At first blush, this is a pretty shmaltzy romance that seems so common as to be boring. In places, it confirms that view. In fact, long-term marriages, although becoming rarer, still don’t seem all that uncommon. However, when one considers what makes them work, things can become intriguing. As Tolstoy put it: “…each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Evison’s granular examination of the marriage of Abe and Ruth Winter is a case in point. Evison turns what should be a routine romance into something with literary heft by examining the details. At bottom, this is basically the portrait of a lifelong relationship between two characters who never should have found each other very appealing. If one can distill a single word that most characterizes their unlikely success, it would probably be stubbornness. Each seems to have the capacity to adapt to the blizzard of challenges that Evison throws at them and to just keep on trucking. Abe and Ruth are likeable people approaching the end of their lives. They narrate their stories in a conversational format while comfortably switching back and forth between the present and past. Abe is the more flawed of the two. He is set in his ways, deeply practical and conservative about just about everything. Evison sums up Abe with the phrase: he was “born middle-aged.” At its core, insurance is a hedge against disaster, and Abe was really good at selling that idea to his clients. Ruth, on the other hand, is a dreamer quick to embrace chance. Before settling down to raise a family on rural Bainbridge Island, she saw herself as a poet living in Paris. Interestingly, Evison gives two of their four children traits reminiscent of their parents. Kyle is steady, while Maddie seems a little flighty. The other two are marked by their differences from the family. Anne marries a guy who resembles Abe in many ways, but, unlike Ruth, she just can’t make it work. Karen, on the other hand, represents a more extreme case of family rejection. Evison sets an unsentimental mood throughout. He risks melodrama by raising so many obstacles for the couple to overcome but always manages to pull back from that abyss. His forte seems to be skillful character and scene development. In the final analysis, this is an empathetic exploration of the realities of long-term relationships and family dynamics with a particular emphasis on the challenges all of us will face in late life. (read less)

At first blush, this is a pretty shmaltzy romance that seems so common as to be boring. In places, it confirms that view. In fact, long-term marriages, although becoming rarer, still don’t seem all that uncommon. However, when one considers what makes them work, things can become intriguing. As Tolstoy put it: “…each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Evison’s granular examination (read more)

If you pick up Jonathan Evison’s latest novel, The Heart of Winter, be prepared for some gut-wrenching truths about growing old, illness, marriage, and family. Like life, though, Evison also includes some of the joys and a lot of the everyday activities that combine to make that life whole. Abe and Ruth Winter have been married almost 70 years when Ruth’s cancer diagnosis throws their quiet life on their Bainbridge Island farm into turmoil. The novel proceeds with flashbacks of their years together and the present difficulties as they struggle to make the right choices. Anyone experiencing old age — either personally or through their parents — will recognize the challenges displayed by Abe and Ruth, and Evison does a good job of making it feel believable. Readers who enjoy family novels and are not afraid of some real-life pains and sorrows will enjoy The Heart of Winter. (read less)

If you pick up Jonathan Evison’s latest novel, The Heart of Winter, be prepared for some gut-wrenching truths about growing old, illness, marriage, and family. Like life, though, Evison also includes some of the joys and a lot of the everyday activities that combine to make that life whole. Abe and Ruth Winter have been married almost 70 years when Ruth’s cancer diagnosis throws their (read more)