{"id":1613651,"date":"2023-05-13T14:07:46","date_gmt":"2023-05-13T18:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/divine.ca\/?p=1613651"},"modified":"2023-05-13T14:07:46","modified_gmt":"2023-05-13T18:07:46","slug":"divine-reads-last-winter-by-carrie-mac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/divine.ca\/en\/divine-reads-last-winter-by-carrie-mac\/","title":{"rendered":"DIVINE Reads: Last Winter by Carrie Mac"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Winter<\/em>: About the Book<\/h2>\n

\u201cLast Winter\u201d<\/a> is the story of a child who might not survive the heartbreak of her father\u2019s death and a mother who struggles to both parent and manage her grief in the grips of a Bipolar crisis*.<\/p>\n

Fiona and Gus\u2019s marriage has veered off course. Fiona\u2019s mental health is shaky at best, and is now further strained under the weight of a transgression that she would like to both forget and repeat. Gus, a pro snowboarder turned backcountry guide, is exhausted by Fiona\u2019s mood swings and her ambivalence about their relationship, but mostly by the impact of her erratic behaviour on their eight-year-old daughter, Ruby. Ruby loves them both, but has a much closer relationship with her father, and has stopped talking in the face of the tensions between her parents.<\/p>\n

In the midst of this marital crisis, Gus takes Ruby\u2019s class on an overnight trip into the wilderness, where Ruby is one of only two children to survive the avalanche that kills the others, including her beloved father. While Fiona\u2019s mental health is unravelled further by grief, Ruby is flattened by Gus\u2019s loss. After the search ends with no sign of her father, Ruby is determined to find him herself, using the survival skills he taught her and believing that he must still be alive. Her trek back into the snow sets off events that stretches her own resourcefulness and her mother\u2019s fragile coping skills to the breaking point.<\/p>\n

Atmospheric and deftly told with an economy of words and a finely tuned gaze on the small moments that build up to an inexorable and shocking end, Last Winter is a contemporary drama that will grip readers both for the story and for the vibrant portrayal of the complexities of family life.<\/p>\n

The Review<\/a><\/h2>\n

\u201cLast Winter\u201d by Carrie Mac<\/a> has been compared to other books, but I found Mac\u2019s writing and storytelling abilities to be incomparable. In Mac\u2019s own words:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis story is for the reader who wants to meet a smart, complicated woman where she is at \u2014 which is in the middle of a very messy Bipolar crisis\u2014, and watch her story unravel from there, in the midst of a tragedy that devastates the town and in a landscape that both captivates and threatens\u2026If you are mindful of content warnings\u2014assume \u201cLast Winter\u201d has absolutely all of them and please move along to read something better suited to you right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you do move along though, you will be missing out on a masterful story. \u201cLast Winter\u201d was a #1 best seller, and it is easy to see why. This is a skillfully written book sharing the before, during and aftermath of a tragic avalanche. It is told from Ruby and Fiona\u2019s points of view. While you will be amazed by Ruby\u2019s observations and your heart will break for her, Fiona is a character that you will simultaneously feel compassion for and dislike.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mac writes both characters equally well. She has an understanding of mental illness, living with Bipolar 1, and brings it into the story. It is hard to stomach Ruby\u2019s neglect, by both of her parents, acting as a caregiver to her mother even though she is just 8 years old herself. As a reader, you want Fiona to become redeemable, and the challenge is that she isn\u2019t. That is true to life \u2013 not all people are redeemable, and not all stories have a happy ending, \u201cLast Winter\u201d included, but that doesn\u2019t mean that it is not worth reading.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Again, the author admits that this book is not for everyone. This book is a list of trigger warnings for some \u2013 containing mental illness, suicide attempts, child neglect and death, alcoholism, bereavement to name just a few, but if you can get past the triggers, the book is excellent and may even be cathartic for some readers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Winter: About the Book \u201cLast Winter\u201d is the story of a child who might not survive the heartbreak of her father\u2019s death and a mother who struggles to both…<\/div>\n
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