Reviews

Annabel by Kathleen Winter

threegoodrats's review against another edition

4.0

Review is here.

rsutton06's review against another edition

5.0

This book is about a child born with both sexes (hermaphrodite) and raised on the coast of Labrador. The prose is precise and beautifully formed. The treatment of the characters and the topic, tender and heroic.

ovenbird_reads's review against another edition

4.0

I always worry that books revolving around some sort of unusual physical issue will be gimicky, but I was pleasantly surprised with Annabel--a book about a hermaphrodite who is raised as a boy. This isn't really a book about biological oddity, it's about the duality that we all carry within us. Within each person, Winter argues through her protagonist Wayne, is another person, a secret person who represents our deepest desires and our biggest dreams. That person is frequently repressed by others or by circumstance and we spend our lives trying to assimilate the hidden part of ourselves into our external world. You can relate in a profound way to Wayne because he represents the lost parts of all of us, the parts that aren't nurtured or recognized as they should be.

philippakmoore's review against another edition

3.0

I am a bit ambivalent about the book - in the end I gave it three stars because while it was beautifully written in parts, it wasn't always very absorbing. I liked how Treadway, Wayne's father, becomes a lot softer and kinder in the end. I found the scenes when Wayne is a child and Treadway does some rather cruel things so sad, but I loved how he was redeemed.

secanno's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

ginabyeg's review against another edition

2.0

This book had so much potential, and then... It was a long, slow trod through the first two thirds. And in the last third, the author created these would-be powerful events and dialogue, had the first two thirds held more substance to them. I felt as if the first two thirds was an emotionless narration of the main characters' daily events and circumstances. There was not a lot of expression of emotion and experience behind what should have held some Big Thoughts and Big Feelings. I was disappointed with the way this book progressed; it could have been so much more.

rodneywilhite's review against another edition

3.0

DNFing this, although it breaks my heart to do so.

I don't really know how to review it without TMI (I am not intersex myself for what that's worth), but there are at least fifty pages of this book that seem to have been lifted directly from my own life, and it was an uncomfortable mirror to stare into. I love these early chapters so much I ache just thinking about them.

However, about halfway through it takes a disappointingly melodramatic turn, and I won't relay a certain plot twist that happened at three-quarters, but it was garish in a way that felt kind of like a betrayal of the plausible world Winter had created.

I've never loved a book so much and also turned against it.

bibliobaggins_'s review

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I read this book as a book club selection, and I'll admit I wasn't excited by the choice. 

Well I'm glad it was chosen and that I managed to sit down with it for a while. This is a heartbreaking novel on identity, family dynamics, and things left unsaid. I am so glad the narrative moved between characters so each one became alive and so much more nuanced than they would have from just Wayne/Annabel's perspective. 

I'd recommend it to anyone who has struggled with small town expectations or family that doesn't know how to express themselves. 

smalltownbookmom's review against another edition

5.0

My choice for Canada reads 2014 so far... still 3 more to read yet. But this book is really captivating.

blueloris's review against another edition

3.0

So I gave this book three stars, but I have to say I found it to be pretty disappointing.

Spoiler

The first section of the book is all about the parents deciding to identify their hermaphroditic child as a boy, and then worrying Wayne is acting too girly. I kept anticipating the fallout when Wayne discovered the truth about himself, expecting anger, confusion, betrayal or even on the opposite end of the spectrum, maybe a feeling of "oh, now it all makes sense." Instead, there is nothing. Wayne asks a few questions, shows basically no feelings about anything and then.... we jump ahead to Wayne graduating high school! What? I can't believe there was nothing interesting to write about in Wayne's life from puberty to graduation.

So now Wayne is 17 and moving away from home, and finally he has that identity crisis. Which basically consists of a decision he makes on a whim to stop taking the meds that make him more masculine, an abortive attempt at wearing women's clothes, and a few really awful things happening to him (to which, again he basically has no reaction). And then, all of a sudden, he goes to college where he's finally happy not having to make any choices about himself (because hey it's college and anything goes!), leaving questions about gender identity and sexuality not just unanswered, but basically unasked.

It's great that Wayne is ok with being androgynous, but the problem is he's never shown making that choice, or really questioning who he is, and it's hard to believe someone would be that blase in this situation.

And so really, what is the point of this book?