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The Heart in Winter
The Heart in Winter: A Novel | Kevin Barry
6 posts | 6 read | 5 to read
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK Award-winning writer Kevin Barrys first novel set in America, a savagely funny and achingly romantic tale of young lovers on the lam in 1890s Montana. 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 feels his life is heading nowhere fast, Polly Gillespie arrives in town as the new bride of the extremely devout mine captain Long Anthony Harrington. A thunderbolt love affair takes spark between Tom and Polly and they strike out west on a stolen horse, moving through the badlands of Montana and Idaho, and briefly an idyll of wild romance perfects itself. But a posse of deranged Cornish gunmen are soon in hot pursuit and closing in fast. With everything to lose and the safety and anonymity of San Francisco still a distant speck on their horizon, the choices they make will haunt them for the rest of their lives. In this love story for the ageslyrical, profane and propulsiveKevin Barry has once again demonstrated himself to be a master stylist, an unrivalled humourist, and a true poet of the human heart.
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review
Suet624
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Pickpick

I see this only received a 33% rating on Litsy. I completely understand that people may not like it but upon finishing this book I immediately fell into a deep dive into all it had/still has raised within me. A love story, an escape into the deep woods of Montana, the writing, I was hearing the cadence of long lost relatives, the story-quick & to the point-has all the makings of a Western but it's completely Irish. Tom and Polly. The 10,000 (cont)

Suet624 Irish who left Ireland to work in the mines in Butte, the mystical connection Tom has access to.. something about this book and its lyrical writing has opened a portal to the past for me. Just shows that just because folks don't like a book doesn't mean you won't like it. :). A 5 star for me. (edited) 1d
Suet624 If you'd like to hear him read some of the book, I enjoyed this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5agriAsyYo 1d
Tamra I‘ll see if I can check out the audio. 😄 1d
LeahBergen I‘m happy to read this good review as I bought it as a Xmas gift for a “literary western” loving friend! 1d
Suet624 @LeahBergen I hope they appreciate it as much as I did. It was the Irish aspect of it that I really enjoyed. 1d
46 likes2 stack adds5 comments
review
Hooked_on_books
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Bailedbailed

This is my second attempt with Barry and I have to conclude that he‘s not for me. I read 30 pages and it‘s choppy and nonsensical and I have no desire to continue.

#TOBlonglist

Anna40 I bailed on this one too 3w
BkClubCare Oh. I am now realizing that I was thinking this was Kevin Wilson. Ooops 3w
BarbaraBB @BkClubCare I prefer Wilson to Barry too 😀 3w
See All 9 Comments
squirrelbrain I finished it but that‘s only because it was short and I struggle to bail. 🙄 I really disliked it. 3w
Hooked_on_books @squirrelbrain I actually find that validating. I‘m even happier now that I bailed! I used to be how you‘re describing (and can still be), but I‘ve gotten better about admitting to myself when a book isn‘t working for me. It‘s hard! 3w
squirrelbrain Thank you Holly. ☺️ I found it choppy too but also rather distasteful and unpleasant. I was reading it with a face like I could smell something bad. 😬 3w
Hooked_on_books @squirrelbrain 😂 That‘s hilarious! I‘ve learned to try to read my facial expressions to help me bail. If I have the face you describe or if I‘m rolling my eyes a lot I tell myself it‘s time. It doesn‘t always work, but it often does. 3w
Megabooks Good to know!! 2w
38 likes9 comments
review
MeganAnn
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Mehso-so

It might be a “it‘s not you it‘s me” thing but I didn‘t really like this one. Based on the premise, I thought I was getting a western with doomed lovers set in the Montana winter 1891. What I got technically followed the description but I never really felt like I was reading any of those things. Lovely lyrical writing but surface level with no sense of place. I never truly felt like I understood the characters & they could have been anywhere. ⬇️

MeganAnn I didn‘t hate it and I wanted to keep reading to the ending, but I didn‘t really enjoy it either. Someone else might love it… it‘s just not for me. 3⭐️ for the lyrical writing style and interjections of humor. (edited) 3mo
squirrelbrain I just read this too and I feel exactly the same way that you did. 🤷‍♀️ 3mo
40 likes2 comments
review
Chiperskee
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Pickpick

Hard to put down once the love story kicks in.

blurb
shawnmooney
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https://youtu.be/UwbYj6BKLxI?si=rWnMia1wQo-DxIzR

Introduction

A couple milestones

Mystery guest

Week in review

The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Archibald Colquhoun (Translator)

The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry

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shawnmooney
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