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The Heart in Winter
The Heart in Winter
Author: Kevin Barry
October 1891. A hard winter approaches across the Rocky Mountains. The city of Butte, Montana is rich on copper mines and rampant with vice and debauchery among a hard-living crowd of immigrant Irish workers. Here we find Tom Rourke, a young poet and ballad-maker of the town, but also a doper, a drinker, and a fearsome degenerate. Just as he fee...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780385550598
ISBN-10: 0385550596
Publication Date: 7/9/2024
Pages: 256
Rating:
  • Currently 5/5 Stars.
 1

5 stars, based on 1 rating
Publisher: Doubleday
Book Type: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 26
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review
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Ichabod avatar reviewed The Heart in Winter on + 140 more book reviews
At This Moment His Heart Turned

"A western, with Irish accents," is how Kevin Barry described his new novel, "The Heart in Winter." In tone and setting, you can think the HBO series "Deadwood," although told from a pair of young lovers' hearts rather than saloon owners or lawmen. This is 1891 wild west Butte, Montana, a town where 10,000 men have immigrated from Cork, Ireland to find work in the copper mines. Tough and gritty times.

A rough young degenerate poet, Tom Rourke, is spending his days drenched in alcohol and opium, unsure whether to leave town or just end things altogether. He is earning a few bucks assisting a photographer when a newly married couple come in for a portrait. Tom is floored by the bride, Polly Gillespie, and the world pinwheeled.

â...she got a portrait done and that boy was looking at her so hard it was like he just discovered eyes.â

Instantly in love, there is nothing to do but cast their fate to the wind. Tom robs a brothel, sets fire to it to cover his tracks, and the two of them journey headlong into Montana's wilderness with only the vaguest of notions how to survive a trek to San Francisco.

Kevin Barry writes like no one else. Paragraphs may be pages long, but it flows smoothly as the poetry, the dialogue, and the humor are just the slightest bit off expectations--it all blends together and creates an odd but authentic world. Tom and Polly are unforgettable characters, too-- naive lovers who have gone all in-- shrugging off the knowledge that there will probably be consequences to their blind faith. They speak of death often-- more of its inevitability than its threat.

I mentioned the TV series "Deadwood." That is probably a good barometer if you are unsure if this is your type of reading. The violence, raw humor, and multisyllabic array of curse words will be triggers to some. "The Heart in Winter" also shares many of that show's treasures, as well.

While approaching this book with some optimism, I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. Ready for a western adventure, I was enchanted by the prose and the world Kevin Barry conjured. I was probably most impressed with how Tom Rourke began as such an unlikeable stain, only to develop into such a fascinating character over the course of time.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.


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