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Summary: I agree with "book queen"'s review...
Review: ...and I'd like to add, especially for those reviewers who gave "Winter's Tale" 1 star because they didn't get it, that it's allegorical. Meaning, if you read it and try to take it literally, it wil be lost to you. Which I feel would be a terrible loss, because this a book that is just too beautiful to miss. Read it knowing the meaning will reveal itself not literally, but metaphorically and symbolically. This is not the kind of tired tripe you find on the bestseller list where 30 pages in you've already figured out the rest of the book. This is an intricate, fantastic tale you have to let sublimely wash over your brain. A reviewer mentioned they read this on the subway. You simply should not do that-there are way too many distractions. No, this is a book you should read right before bed, when it's quiet. And you can go to sleep and let your dreams unfold it's meaning to you.
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Summary: Rich, Complex and Beautiful: An Amazing New York Story
Review: From the first pages - "There was a white horse" one is seized by word painting that burns its imagery into the mind. In "Winter's Tale" Helprin spins a tale as big, beautiful and amazing as the City of New York itself.
This was my introduction to Mark Helprin's writing some 20 years ago and no author I can today think of writes as beautifully and rich as he. (Note: Helprin would go on to write my favorite book of all time - "A Soldier of the Great War.")
Check this out!
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Summary: Disappointing
Review: I really liked A Soldier of the Great War and looked forward to reading Winter's Tale. What struck me as odd was that he seemed to change his story at page 193. He got so far, didn't know where to go and took a huge leap in another direction. With his time, climate, geography, and history shifting there was no place to plant your feet. Deus ex machina took over and we went wherever Helprin's imagination wished to take us. So we lost the reason why. We lost a sense of why this and not that. Even a good fantasy gives us rules that cannot be broken, some sense of perimeters that cannot be crossed. Yet Helprin captures some moments beautifully.
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Summary: This book is a dear, old friend ...
Review: I remember spending a magical winter month with this novel some twenty years ago. It was my introduction to adult fantasy literature, and it remains representative of a pleasingly high standard. For the genre in particular and descriptive narrative in general. I'm planning to read it again - as soon as the snow starts flying. This is a beautiful, finely imagined story.
Having said that, I feel compelled to add this:
In a recent review, titled "A note to Mark Helprin (and his editor, if he has one)," the reviewer - who claims to be a fiction editor, himself - complains both tediously and condescendingly about the narrative voice and language choices in the text.
If I were to review this anonymous reviewer's review, I'd probably limit myself to pointing out the obvious. This fiction editor strikes me as being sadly in need of an editor ... or - better yet - a grade-school English teacher with a red pen.
I certainly hope he's kidding about his job ...
Helprin's language is evocative and his careful turns of phrase lead the reader out of complacency and into a fuller engagement with the text. A devoted and seasoned reader will blush before stooping to criticize what are really very minor grammatical issues.
And any editor worth his salt will be a little more circumspect with his comments when addressing a text that has been reviewed many times over the last two decades.
Just my thoughts on the matter ...
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Summary: New York City magically transformed
Review: I spent last winter in New York City, helping my mother who had developed cancer. I was in the City alone, spending the days in the hospital, her apartment, in restaurants or walking around Manhattan. I asked a salesman in the bookstore near the hospital for a recommendation, and he pulled "Winter's Tale" from the shelf. As it happens, the winter of '96 has gone down in history for the record blizzard which closed Manhattan to traffic and transformed the City into something akin to what Mark Helprin describes in his magnificent book. This was the perfect setting for me to escape into the fantastical world that he created in this most wonderful book, so perhaps that is why I was so swept away by this novel...but I rather doubt it. I think that the spellbinding narrative, poetic language, moral unifying theme and vivid imagery which are the products of Helprin's wildly creative imaginattion would have drawn me in no matter where I was.I had never read any of Helprin's other work, although I confess, a copy of "Soldier of the Great War" was given to me years before but remained unopened. Following "Winter's Tale" I was hooked. I have now read all of his work. In my opinion, "Winter's Tale" is his best. My only criticism of the book is that the otherwise well paced, well organized narrative fell apart at the end. It seemed to me that the author grew tired (this is one long book!) and desperately drew together an ending which would culminate his epic story. This is not too much of a problem for me, however, since I still consider "Winter's Tale" to be my favorite book
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Summary: So Well Written but Sort of Dissapointing...
Review: I was intrigued by the descrption of the book that I picked it up and deceided to read it. I liked it, as you see I gave it for stars, and on my scale that means Excellent. I was a little dissapointed and I will tell you why below. But first I must say this man knows his language. The words he used, the discrptions...WOW! It was amazing at times. Very well written.Now I was a little dissapointed with where the story took me. I assumed it would be mostly about Peter Lake, his love with the dying girl, and his quest to "shatter time and bring back the dead" as it is put. But the story eventually leaves Mr. Lake and focuses on other people I wasn't really interested in reading about. It was, however, a good story with what he gave us. And I was also dissapointed with the ending Peter Lake. Did he "shatter time and bring back the dead?" We will never know because of the tacked on "look in your heart and decide for yourself" ending. No, I want YOU to make an ending. Sure, in my heart he does. But I want to read a story about that and what happens afterwards. Essentially i'm not mad about the time it took reading it. It was a good book. others might like it more or less than I did. But that's for you to find out.
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Summary: Enchanting, memorable, one of my favorites
Review: It's been several years since I've read this book, but now that winter is setting in, I'm looking forward to sitting down with it again. I love this book. Helprin's use of the English language is almost overwhelming. His prose is so amazing, so intense, and so unlike any other that I've read. However, Winter's Tale is not a fast read, even if you consider yourself a fast reader. Case in point; I read the last Harry Potter book in two long evenings, because a book like that lends itself to that sort of reading. Winter's Tale took me weeks to read, and I had to pick it up a couple of times to start over again before I really committed to it. This is not an easy read; it unfolds gradually. You may even feel bored at times. It's essential to give it time, though, and trust that it will unfold, because it truly does, in the most magical, satisfying way imaginable. Another recent favorite of mine: Tigana, by Guy Gavriel Kay.
Rating: 
Summary: Most Disappointing Book in Some Time
Review: This book is fantasy or possibly science fiction depending on your view of the distinction. If you enjoy fantasy, this might be the book for you. I haven't read much fantasy for a long time and thought it would be an interesting diversion; but it didn't turn out that way. I enjoyed the book for the first 300 pages. The plot was unique and the writing at times very unique. During the latter half, however, things really fell apart. Things just magically happened that didn't make any sense. I understand that in a fantasy book this can happen, but compared to other books I've read in this genre, I've never felt this puzzled. Oftentimes, characters would perfectly understand what was going on, but I wouldn't have a clue. Dialogue became weird, characters constantly made longwinded, bizarre speeches that made no sense. As for the ending, I'm still not sure what it was suppossed to mean. I like to think that I'm a slow, attentive, and careful reader. Many times though, the flowery prose became just a bit too flowery. I think someone else mentioned eating a whole box of chocolates at the same time.
Based on the many reviews posted here, it seems clear that people are quite polarized on this book. I'd recommend that the reader figure where their individual tastes lie before investing a lot of time reading Winter's Tale. For certain readers, there seems to be something profound and magical here. I regret that I'm not part of that group.
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Summary: Gives wings to all we believe true and good in this world.
Review: This is one of very few books I have read which leaves your head swimming from the power of the prose. It is remarkable to an amateur writer that someone could produce a work of this length, but that all the way through it you have to take a break to savor the words you are reading. This book is a fantasy, a century long painting that uses one of the most amazing backgrounds on earth - 20th century New York - to lovingly, sensuously showcase humans at their essences. Helprin gives wings to our basic wishes, longings, and to those issues at our cores that make us what we are - love, hope, hatred, greed, truth, deceit, despair, and finally courage and joy. Certainly, he caricatures each of these, but in a graceful and humorous way. I wished to go back to the turn of the century - to paddle around the waters of Peter Lake's origin, to fly up the frozen Hudson in a sleigh, to watch those with true courage against fools and cheats. I have re-read this book constantly - like the painting of the golden Gate Bridge - once finished, it's time to start again.
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Summary: Stylistic, Creative and a true piece of Art
Review: Winter's Tale is a modern-day classic. I read this book a while ago and am presently reading it again. It haunts you, it finds a place inside and continues connecting itself long after the last page has been turned. There are numerous analogies to the Bible, and I have begun to think of the "winds from Canada" as not quite so brutal as I remember bits and pieces of the story.
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