Rating: 
Summary: ode to a poetry of violence...
Review: This book is written in a style that, in a amazingly
quiet and loving tone, tells a tale that reveals a
cold and ugly hatred that has developed within afailed marriage and family.
Through vague scenes of escapism and beauty, Grisley
contrasts the scenes of fear and ugliness of family
violence that has occurred. Throughout, the strange
quietness of the narration has created a vague effect
that seems to paint a picture as vivid as reality outof the blur.
Although this story starts out with a boring (IMO) and
confusing start, the fear lying in the children are
apparent when there are references to the father.
Tension is often apparent in the first part of the novel, ominous as it is, particularly in the disturbingly quiet settings.
By the end of the story, a bloody occasion occurred by
the Circle House-- a ring of doors from bedroom to
bedroom to kitchen to bedroom. Perhaps this room is a
symbol of the relationship between mother and father
and children as all of them know there is no way to
escape, and perhaps the violence and dreamy
withdrawals would continue for as long as their fatherwas around.
This is a very good book, considering the gentle
narration and the way it builds up to the dynamics
with nothing left out in between (when something is left out, it implies enough). Although told from
the viewpoint of an eight-year-old, the mature reader
will be able to understand. It covers the issues of
gender discrimination and family violence, at the sametime showing us the revelation of the underlying motives behind these misdoings.
(My theory is that Grisley intended for it to be told
by an adult Danny to the child Danny... Which is an interesting theory.)
Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully melancholy
Review: This book, a cringing, nightmarish, too-violent-to-not-be-real heart wrencher, is nevertheless beautiful and extremely transfixing. The story is told in an eerie second-person narrative by Danny Crell, one of five children in a family with an unbelievably abusive alcoholic father. At the beginning of the book after meeting Danny's brothers (one of whom is a hemophiliac like himself), the reader is also introduced to Danny's fantasy world near the river adjacent to the family home (dubbed "the circle house" due to its spherical path of doors). Danny has imagined for himself a kind and attentive father he calls The River Man, who is described to appear somewhat like bigfoot. As the stories of abuse begin in flashback form, we see very little of Danny's River Man, yet it sometimes feels as though the story is being told by him: "Even with a new baby she watched you every minute, Danny, and you never stepped out of the house without her warning you to be careful." The novel culminates on Thanksgiving Day with unimaginable horror and a final act no one would suspect. The resolution I was hoping for never arrived, perhaps making the work even more realistic. A devastating book, but one worth reading. I look forward to reading Jim Grimsley's other novels.
Rating:
Summary: very, very grim
Review: This book, a cringing, nightmarish, too-violent-to-not-be-real heart wrencher, is nevertheless beautiful and extremely transfixing. The story is told in an eerie second-person narrative by Danny Crell, one of five children in a family with an unbelievably abusive alcoholic father. At the beginning of the book after meeting Danny's brothers (one of whom is a hemophiliac like himself), the reader is also introduced to Danny's fantasy world near the river adjacent to the family home (dubbed "the circle house" due to its spherical path of doors). Danny has imagined for himself a kind and attentive father he calls The River Man, who is described to appear somewhat like bigfoot. As the stories of abuse begin in flashback form, we see very little of Danny's River Man, yet it sometimes feels as though the story is being told by him: "Even with a new baby she watched you every minute, Danny, and you never stepped out of the house without her warning you to be careful." The novel culminates on Thanksgiving Day with unimaginable horror and a final act no one would suspect. The resolution I was hoping for never arrived, perhaps making the work even more realistic. A devastating book, but one worth reading. I look forward to reading Jim Grimsley's other novels.
Rating:
Summary: Want to Cry?
Review: This was as frightening a story as I have ever read. It had me almost wanting to die in place of these boys. It reminded me a little of Dream Boy, which I loved. Terrorizing young boys seems to be a theme with Grimsley. The book was very well written, hence the 5 star rating, but I was scared and disappointed by the theme. I did not think after reading Dream Boy, that I would be reading a horror story about child abuse.
Rating:
Summary: Want to Cry?
Review: This was as frightening a story as I have ever read. It had me almost wanting to die in place of these boys. It reminded me a little of Dream Boy, which I loved. Terrorizing young boys seems to be a theme with Grimsley. The book was very well written, hence the 5 star rating, but I was scared and disappointed by the theme. I did not think after reading Dream Boy, that I would be reading a horror story about child abuse.
Rating: 
Summary: This book had a long strange journey to publication.
Review: This was the first book I wrote, and for a lot of reasons publishers were slow to respond to it. I finished the book in 1984 and sent it out to publishers and agents for a very long time. Finally in 1992 the book was published by a German publisher in translation, and I had the unusual sensation of having my first novel in my hands even though I couldn't read a word of it beyond the names. My German publisher then took the book on as a mission and found first a French publisher and then a publisher in the United States in 1994. Most of the people I sent the book to in this country were wary of the difficult family material, the violence of the father, and the unrelieved sadness of the situation. I was lucky that books like Dorothy Allison's Bastard out of Carolina changed people's minds about this kind of story.
Rating:
Summary: A Powerful Portrait of love, contempt, and despair.
Review: _Winter Birds_ is a disturbing look at the dysfunctional family life of a hemophiliac boy named Danny. Written in second person, Grimsley's vivid writing calls the reader to a truly emotional attachment to the main character and an equally emotional contempt for his father. The story chronicled in _Winter Birds_ is gripping, the book is riveting
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