Winter Solstice

Rating:
Summary: a delightful trip to the Scottish countryside
Review: A charming, delightful simple story of 5 wholesome characters who grow together and provide invaluable support to each other - just by living their individual lives. I was especially moved by the honesty of Lucy and the unselfish commitment of Carrie and Elfrida. The story was one of love, loyalty, rebirth and joy. It was a relaxing and inspiring read - one I truly enjoyed.

Rating:
Summary: A neat little package all tied up with a bow.
Review: This story was much too neat for me. It just kind of hum drums along, everyone is all sweet and nice to each other, no traumas or ordeals, just a simple start to finish story. Oscar has lost his wife and child in an auto accident, but that is the extent of the excitement in this book. The details of the accident are not given, and Oscar's grief is not elaborated upon enough for the reader to feel strongly for him. The word nauseating came to mind while I read this, but that is too strong a word for what I think was intended to be a simple story after all. It's fairly mindless, and if you have time to waste, it is not a bad choice. It is well written, but dull. The characters do not come to life, the story does not touch your heart, and the ending is predictable and boring. This author ties everything up with a neat little bow, and leaves the reader wondering why you didn't bother to write it yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Pilcher is one of the greats!
Review: This is not Rosamunde Pilcher's best novel, but Pilcher at less than her best still is better than 99% of most other writers. All of Mrs. Pilcher's loyal fans will greet WINTER SOLSTICE like a long lost friend, combining as the book does all of those elements that Rosamunde Pilcher presents so beautifully. There are the endearing characters, the lyrical descriptions of the countryside, the piercing insights. SOLSTICE is, unfortunately, a bit linear on plot, a bit predictable and a bit uncomplicated, but Mrs. Pilcher's writing nonetheless elevates this novel to something special. The largest hole in the story is the fact that when a devastating tragedy strikes one of the characters in the autumn, that character largely recovers and builds an entire new life by Christmas. Tragedy is a classic technique to motivate a story, and Mrs. Pilcher has used such tragedy more successfully in the past. Yet the speed with which the character here regroups simply isn't believable. Still, I will take Mrs. Pilcher at a mediocre level any day over hundreds of other authors at their personal bests.

Rating:
Summary: A good story with one-dimensional characters
Review: Without Rosamunde Pilcher's natural talent to draw the reader into her stories, this piece of work would have been completely silly and unrealistic. Can anyone really believe that only two months after a previously lifelong bachelor lost his wife and child in a gruesome accident that he can be "healed" simply through all the good and charming folks that he is exposed to by the quirky Elfrida? And did anyone else have a problem with Elfrida's immediate sense of entitlement regarding Oscar, his uncle, the uncle's gift of 500 pounds and the Scotland house? Her reference's to "we" regarding she and Oscar and "our house" were offputting to this reader. Had Ms. Pilcher developed a more realistic time frame for Oscar's grieving, Elfrida's overbearing ways would have seemed a little more charmingly endearing as was probably intended. However, with the way the story is written, Elfrida seemed more like a vulture going for the kill and she came off as far more irritating than endearing. As for the rest of the characters, why did everyone have to be either all good or all bad? Come on Ms. Pilcher - human beings are more mutilayed than that. Why did Lucy's mother and Grandmother have to be such stereotyical cold socialites? And why was her Grandfather so wonderful, even though in fourteen years, he had never taken the time to meet her? The character development in this story was lacking. Fortunately, I found the sense of place and mood highly developed and able to retain my interest and curiousity. Had Ms. Pilcher taken more effort to fully form her characters into densly layered and interesting human beings, this could have been a much better book.

Rating:
Summary: Repetitive, predictable
Review: Although I do enjoy Pilcher's writing style, I found the book repetitive and predictable. The chapter's written by Lucy seemed to restate the obvious and even the narrator, Elfrida's descriptions were tedious and repetitive. I would be reading along and often wonder why the editor had not deleted entire pages, even chapters that rambled on without saying anything. For instance, the chapter towards the end of the book where Elfrida goes to visit Tabitha to borrow drinking glasses. There's an entire page written about scraping the ice off the windscreen and getting the car started. Once she finally gets to Tabitha's the conversation between the women does not provide the reader any new information and has no point. It almost seems like dialog was added as an afterthought to thicken the book. So not to be totally critical, I did find the characters believable and enjoyed Pilcher's descriptions of the outdoors.

Rating:
Summary: Poorly written, plodding and predictable. . . .
Review: This is the first book of Ms. Pilcher's I have read, and sadly, it will be the last. While the story was initially engaging, it quickly became plodding and dull. Ms. Pilcher shows a tremendous paucity and redundancy of language, and the story was inconsistent in its details. It has the stereotypic and formulaic quality of a paperback romance novel. The effort to paint quirky characters felt flat, especially when compared to a classic such as Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx. Rather than connecting with the characters, I simply became bored and quit with 100 pages to go. A shame; I truly wanted to enjoy this book.

Rating:
Summary: Are we reading the same book??
Review: Having read The Shell Seekers at least half a dozen times, and having enjoyed Pilcher's other books, I was looking forward to this one. What a disappointment! It's been a long time since I read anything so contrived and predictable. The characters were superficial and one-dimensional, and the plot device of devoting each chapter to a different character simply did not work here -- there was too much repetition. It reminded me very much of one of those "Lifetime original" movies in which one can predict what will happen after half an hour. (Honestly, was anyone surprised to discover where Lucy would be going to school, or where everyone would find Oscar on Christmas Eve?) I was amazed to read so many enthusiastic reviews here.

Rating:
Summary: Audio Version Stinks
Review: The reader of the audio version of this book is awful. Speaking in a stereotypical, high brow British accent, she ruins a sweet and endearing tale. Misread words and poor choices of character accents and inflections abound. Better to read the book on your own in front of a warm fire, in a comfortable chair with a classical CD on rather than listen along to this reader's insufferable mutterings.

Rating:
Summary: A bit predictable but I love her writing anyway
Review: I've gobbled up all her books. I love her non-judgemental approach to a wide variety of charactures, her sweeping vistas, her tidy comfy homes. Makes me want to go do the dishes. Although this was predictable and I felt like I had already read it, I still loved it. Read it now during the winter especially if you reside in a cold climate. This one would make an excellence Merchant-Ivory film. (Keep James Cameron away) Paul Newman as Oscar, Hugh Grant as Sam... To that end, even if it was a little thin as a novel, it made for a rich story. It did leave you hanging a bit as if a sequel was in the works.

Rating:
Summary: Simply Wonderful!!
Review: A very sweet, simple romance for the upcoming holidays! Definitely recommend!