Rating: 
Summary: Finding our way...
Review: Jim Grimsley has written an intense experience in endurance and wonder. An 8-year-old hemophiliac tells us his story, in a "second person" narrative, irresistable voice. WINTER BIRDS moves, saddens, chills us. In the end, our hearts belong to Jim Grimsley and his hopeless characters. I've read it three times and love it more with each reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Grim coming-of-age tale in the deep South
Review: Jim Grimsley's spare, polished prose, told in the second person, expertly sets forth the tale of a poor family struggling to survive in the deep South, the twist here being the hemophilia that afflicts two of the siblings. The alcoholic, abusive father and the long-suffering mother trying to shield her children from his wrath--these are figures familiar from other writers who have explored this milieu. Grimsley's economical style, however, consistently avoids excess, even at the harrowing (and, to my taste, implausible) climax, and successfully avoids tipping the narrative into tawdry melodrama. Not easy reading, but not easy to put down either.
Rating:
Summary: Deeply Poetic and Powerful Read
Review: Like his novel Dreamboy, Winter Birds is equally as powerful and provocative. The narrative is as flawless as the fresh white now that covers the Crell's lawn. The imagery is rich with emotion and draws readers into the struggle and survival of the Crell family, drawing us further into the mind of Danny, the young boy at the heart of the novel. For most of us, domestic abuse is something unfathomable, that we know only through TV. Winter Birds paints an honest, yet disturbing, picture of a family enduring such pain and surviving till the next day as winter birds often do.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully melancholy
Review: Readers and reviewers have panned this novel as grim. But it is a celebration of the courage of Danny, a character who reappears (starring) in the novel "Comfort & Joy." We all know abuse happens - especially in situations of poverty. Compound that with the inherent abuse of an ignorant father against his small hemophiliac child and you have a definite "tear-jerker." Defying cliche, again, as he does in all of his novels, Grimsley shows the silent strength of the children who help their mother to dodge the father's brutality. You quickly envision the souls of 40 year olds trapped in the body of toddlers. It is something profoundly emotive. Something to be savored. Grimsley's talent lies in painting a psychological portrait of the characters. This can be a daunting task, but he does so with ease and fluidity. I recommend this book not because of its "tearjerker" plotline, but because of the inherent hope that rises from the strength of its characters. Much like his novel "Comfort and Joy," the writer seeks to ensconce desolation with strength and hope. It's a novel that is not grim; it is a novel that seeks to show the points of light in the pitch black of sadness.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully melancholy
Review: Readers and reviewers have panned this novel as grim. But it is a celebration of the courage of Danny, a character who reappears (starring) in the novel "Comfort & Joy." We all know abuse happens - especially in situations of poverty. Compound that with the inherent abuse of an ignorant father against his small hemophiliac child and you have a definite "tear-jerker." Defying cliche, again, as he does in all of his novels, Grimsley shows the silent strength of the children who help their mother to dodge the father's brutality. You quickly envision the souls of 40 year olds trapped in the body of toddlers. It is something profoundly emotive. Something to be savored. Grimsley's talent lies in painting a psychological portrait of the characters. This can be a daunting task, but he does so with ease and fluidity. I recommend this book not because of its "tearjerker" plotline, but because of the inherent hope that rises from the strength of its characters. Much like his novel "Comfort and Joy," the writer seeks to ensconce desolation with strength and hope. It's a novel that is not grim; it is a novel that seeks to show the points of light in the pitch black of sadness.
Rating:
Summary: Tragic and beautiful
Review: Reading Winter Birds was a heart-rending experience. The story is harsh, stark brutal yet flows like an exquisite poetry. Rarely has a story made me wished the author could be kinder to his characters. The torment suffered by Danny, his mama and his siblings due to his abusive alcoholic papa just tears at my heart. The fact that Danny and his little brother, Groove, were haemophiliacs just made the story bleaker, with no happiness in sight. The ending was not tragic but still leaves a hollowness in my heart. Winter Bird must surely by Grimsley best work.
Rating:
Summary: Too Cold to Fly
Review: There is no doubt that Jim Grimsley is an extremely talented writer. The language of Winter Birds is such that in places it can make you cry. Yet, in spite of this, there is an emotional sterility that pervades this book. I have noticed that many of today's writers equate seriousness of subject matter with seriousness of writing. Is this the [term] that writers fall into?The subject matter of Winter Birds is one that has - thanks to [person's book club]choices - become cliched: family abuse. I do not mean to say that abuse in families does not exist or that it is not serious. I am saying that it has been written about to the extent that there is not much more to say about it. The shock value I found in Before Women Had Wings was emotionally overpowering. By the time I got to Winter Birds there was not anything that could be said or done that I did not expect. As I say, Grimsley's ability to use language in setting a scene is almost equal to that of Lee Smith. But, language alone does not make for great writing. What should be an emotional experience simply becomes an exercise in writing technique. In Winter Birds I felt that Grimsley was an outsider observing what went on in the family he wrote about. Well, it may be that Grimsley has experienced some of what he wrote about. If that is the case, he has not dealt with his experiences or processed them fully. He was too detached, especially when he reached the point in the novel that was supposed to be the most shocking. When I read this part, I just felt that I had been manipulated through a weak effort to shock the reader into caring about and doing something about family abuse. I did not feel the pain the characters should have felt because the emotional link was not there. The book had fallen from the grace of writing to the skill of technique. I own and will read [another book]...
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, Grimsley's best
Review: This book has a voice like no other. I have read all of Grimsley's books and loved them all, but this is my favorite. Grimsley combines present tense and second person to create an utterly unique narrative character, Danny Crell. Neither Danny nor Jim Grimsley flinch away from any event in Danny's life, no matter how horrible or violent. The result is a realistic and terrible story told with unparalleled clarity, simplicity, and detail. Grimsley has such a good grasp of proportion, one almost regards him as a photographer rather than a writer. This is one of those books you fall into as if down a well, and don't emerge from until it's over. . .if then.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, Grimsley's best
Review: This book has a voice like no other. I have read all of Grimsley's books and loved them all, but this is my favorite. Grimsley combines present tense and second person to create an utterly unique narrative character, Danny Crell. Neither Danny nor Jim Grimsley flinch away from any event in Danny's life, no matter how horrible or violent. The result is a realistic and terrible story told with unparalleled clarity, simplicity, and detail. Grimsley has such a good grasp of proportion, one almost regards him as a photographer rather than a writer. This is one of those books you fall into as if down a well, and don't emerge from until it's over. . .if then.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping and Poetic Story of Suffering
Review: This book is deceptively simple in its narrative, told in second person, like the voice of a loving yet impassive God. But the images and dialogue create a lace-work of references that are meaningful and reverberate long after I finished the book, which I couldn't put down. While reading I did find myself impatient with the mother's choices and behavior, and that was the only resistance I had while reading this beautiful book.
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