A review by beadeeh
Winter Wheat by Mildred Walker

3.0

I can't decide if this book is three or four stars. This is longer than usual as book club is three weeks off and I need to remember what I'm thinking. The language is beautiful, but the writing has some substantial problems to me. On one hand, the descriptions of the setting are lovely-- it reminds mw of My Antonia in its love for the landscape, but it's less boring and repetitious. The three main characters are beautifully drawn. But the metaphors are heavy-handed. And I don't know why Ellen loved Gil. He's handsome and has good manners? I grew impatient with her pining for this boy who never really wanted to know her until after the fact. Speaking of impatient: 100+ pages of her agonizing over her obvious misunderstanding of her parents' relationship. The book doesn't work for me and her angst is irritating because her big final revelation I've known all along. I once heard John Green criticize his own work for being too much telling and not enough showing, and that's what I think is going on here.