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    Mind of Winter
    Mind of Winter
    Mind of Winter
    Audiobook6 hours

    Mind of Winter

    Written by Laura Kasischke

    Narrated by Justine Eyre

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Laura Kasischke, the critically acclaimed and nationally bestselling poet and author of The Raising, returns Mind of Winter, a dark and chilling thriller that combines domestic drama with elements of psychological suspense and horror—an addictive tale of denial and guilt that is part Joyce Carol Oates and part Chris Bohjalian.

    On a snowy Christmas morning, Holly Judge awakens with the fragments of a nightmare floating on the edge of her consciousness. Something followed them from Russia. Thirteen years ago, she and her husband Eric adopted baby Tatty, their pretty, black-haired Rapunzel, from the Pokrovka Orphanage #2. Now, at fifteen, Tatiana is more beautiful than ever—and disturbingly erratic.

    As a blizzard rages outside, Holly and Tatiana are alone. With each passing hour, Tatiana’s mood darkens, and her behavior becomes increasingly frightening . . . until Holly finds she no longer recognizes her daughter.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateMar 25, 2014
    ISBN9780062327062
    Mind of Winter
    Author

    Laura Kasischke

    Laura Kasischke teaches in the MFA program at the University of Michigan. A winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry, she has published eight collections of poetry and ten novels, three of which have been made into films, including The Life Before Her Eyes.

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    Reviews for Mind of Winter

    3.5/5

    117 ratings19 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Ok...well that ending was f*cked up . Wow no words lol
    • 5/5
      Very chilling short novel. The mother-daughter relationship is well explored. Kasischke uses beautiful, poetic imagery. I still perfer Boy Heaven, by the same author. But this one was very good as well. I was so engrossed in it that i finished it in 1.5 days. The audio version is agreeable. Would recommand !
    • 5/5
      Great book!!!
    • 3/5
      Meh. Adopted daughter from Russia acts weird when she and mom are left alone in the house on Christmas.
    • 4/5
      Mind of Winter is one of those novels that creeps up on you, page by page, the story building, the layers being pulled off very precisely, one at a time. The novel is subtle in its intensity, especially in the beginning, making it all the more a worthwhile read

      Holly Judge and her husband Eric adopted a Russian girl thirteen years ago. They fell in love with her the moment they saw her on that Christmas Day long ago. It was not an easy process. Adoption never is. And when adoption in another country brings with it its own challenges.

      Waking up from a fitful night's sleep, still groggy from a not so good dream, Holly begins her day. Her husband rushes off to pick his parents up from the airport and Holly goes to see what is keeping her teenage daughter, Tatiana (Tatty), in bed so late. Haunted still from her nightmare, "Something followed them from Russia," Holly begins to really question events from the past: the seemingly innocent accidents, the growth on her husband's hand, the fate of Sally the chicken, the scratched CD's, and her daughter's ever growing dark mood.

      What follows is a day in the life type story, set in the middle of a blizzard on Christmas Day. Although written in third person, the story is told strictly from the perspective of Holly, as she remembers the past--the adoption process--and as she goes through the motions of the present day. The entire book is told in one long narrative. There are no chapters, with only the occasional section break.

      When I think back to reading this novel, I find myself amazed at how well-crafted the story is, how every little detail was carefully placed, and, yet, it wasn't something I noticed so much as I read. It was in hindsight I could see it most. And aren't those among the best books?

      I admit I wasn't overly fond of Holly. I actually felt bad at times for her daughter because of Holly's constant questioning of Tatty and felt some of the mother's anger at her daughter was overblown or misplaced. It was in part because of this I was not sure I would like the book initially, and yet something about the story kept me reading. Perhaps it was the sense of foreboding that something bad was about to happen. By the end of the novel, I felt a wide range of emotions. The ending is what made the book for me.

      This is very much a book about grief, regret, failures. It is one of denial and fear. Mind of Winter is so much more than it seems at first. Picture a small crack in a car's windshield. If left unfixed, that crack will spread out, splintering off into various other fractures. That is much how Mind of Winter plays out.
    • 4/5
      While reading this book, I kept thinking of "The Yellow Wallpaper". Probably because I could just tell the narrator was unstable from the very first pages, with her obsessive thoughts about how "something had followed them from Russia" and her attributing everything bad that had happened to her/her family lately was because of that.

      But this book isn't like "The Yellow Wallpaper" at all, actually. It's more like Gregory Maguire's "Lost", in which you can tell the narrator has repressed SOMETHING and the guilt behind it is eating away at her and causing her to become unstable. (Both books also involve snowstorms, albeit in very different ways.) What I loved was the way the layers were peeled back slowly, with every flashback, and yet you're still left wondering what really happened (and what's really going on) until the very last page.

      I sort of on and off suspected I had an idea of what might be happening, but I would have never of expected the full extent of the book's twist. Which was fantastic. Personally, I loved this book, because I love claustrophobic, creepy atmospheres and I live for unreliable narrators.
    • 3/5
      Book has poetic feel, but not very interesting.
    • 5/5
      On a snowy Christmas morning, Holly Judge awakens with the fragments of a nightmare floating on the edge of her consciousness. Something followed them from Russia. Thirteen years ago, she and her husband Eric adopted baby Tatty, their pretty, black-haired Rapunzel, from the Pokrovka Orphanage #2. Now, at fifteen, Tatiana is more beautiful than ever—and disturbingly erratic.
      As a blizzard rages outside, Holly and Tatiana are alone. With each passing hour, Tatiana’s mood darkens, and her behaviour becomes increasingly frightening . . . until Holly finds she no longer recognizes her daughter.


      Read this in one session late into the night, unable to stop a growing sense of dread. Something is wrong, very wrong here but you cannot even begin to guess. You can tell the author is a poet by the repeated rhythms and phrases especially "something followed them home from Russia". The rambling, obsessive inner dialogue of Holly the mother is broken up by the increasingly strange behaviour of Tatty the daughter. It may be slow and repetitive but stick with it and you will be rewarded with an ending that will haunt you for a long time to come.

      The last page is like a slap in the face.....
    • 5/5
      Actual chills ... To the bone.
    • 4/5
      This book was a trip. MIND OF WINTER is a psychological thriller about a mother and her 15-year old adopted daughter who are stranded at home on Christmas during a blizzard. The mother, Holly, wakes up that day with the terrible feeling that "something" had followed them home from the Siberian orphanage 13 years earlier. Throughout their day alone, her daughter Tatty's behavior becomes more moody, unpredictable, and downright disturbing, making Holly fearful of what's going on.The story is told from Holly's point of view, and it alternates between present day (Christmas) and the past, mainly when she and her husband Eric were in Russia for the adoption. I had a difficult time getting into this book, and at about the halfway mark, I cheated and read the ending. (I know! Bad reader!) It's just that both Holly and Tatty were insufferable characters, and it took a while before the creepiness set in. So, I jumped ahead, read the ending, had a huge OMG moment, then had to go back and read the rest to see how it all played out. Holly was an awful parent, and considering what she went through as a young woman, I can't believe how irresponsible she was. Ugh. I think if you have patience with this book, it ends up being eerie, unsettling psychological suspense with some very surprising turn of events along the way.
    • 5/5
      Mind of Winter arrived free via AmazonVine at my request. What a deliciously creepy and mysterious story Mind of Winter was. And the ending, oh what an ending! It was like being splashed in the face with cold water that ending was. I was stunned and left speechless. I finished reading Mind of Winter outside of Starbucks while enjoying a cup of hot chocolate, and when I got to the last page, I wanted to jump up and scream "Oh my God!". But I refrained myself because I didn't want to look like a crazy woman.The story starts off on a snowy Christmas morning. Holly is having family over but she sleeps in late, oddly enough, and she has a strange thought in her head that "something had followed them home from Russia". Her husband Eric, who also slept late, bolts out of bed and hurries off to pick his parents up at the airport. Holly is left home alone with her fifteen year old daughter, Tatiana, whom they adopted from Russia thirteen years ago. Tatiana has always been beautiful, and different with very pale skin and dark hair and eyes.Now that Holly is home alone with her daughter, she can't help but continue to reflect on all the oddities and the bad luck from over over the last thirteen years. As the story flows, Holly has flashbacks, of her life before and after Tatiana. She has several flashbacks of the orphanage in Russia where she adopted Tatiana.She also begins to notice her daughter's increasingly odd behavior, to the point where she is becoming fearful. As the storm rages outside and becomes a full blown blizzard leaving the mother and daughter stranded at home, Holly grows increasingly unsettled and somewhat unhinged. She keeps thinking "something had followed them home from Russia". Holly is also a writer and has an almost nervous anxiousness about wanting to get pen and paper so that she can write, but she can't seem to find a spare moment.I felt like author Laura Kasischke did a fantastic job at setting the mood and at slowly drawing me in and making me think something was not quite right about Tatiana, while also wondering whether Holly was sane or not. Holly's paranoia and inner ramblings reminded me of the woman in Perkins' story The Yellow Wallpaper.I find characters who are insane, but functioning in every day lives, to be more terrifying than monsters under the bed or ghosts in the attic.I found Mind of Winter to be fantastically creepy, wonderfully atmospheric and a great book to curl up with on cool Autumn evenings. This one kept me guessing until the very end. Highly recommended. I could not read this one fast enough, yet I did not want it to end. I need to read more by this author.disclaimer:This review is my honest opinion. I did not receive any type of compensation for reading and reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers and authors, such as this one, I am under no obligation to write a positive review.
    • 2/5
      Okay, so I think Laura Kasischke and I are breaking up. I read "The Raising" and raged for days after, but I gave her another try because I'm nothing if not a glutton for punishment.Holly Judge wakes up Christmas morning to find that she's overslept. But that's not all. She's convinced something has followed them home from Russia. Although it's been thirteen years since they were in Russia to adopt their daughter Tatiana. Her husband is out picking up his parents from the airport, and a blizzard has kept all their Christmas day guests from arriving. In the meantime, Tatiana has suddenly become a teenager. Like, overnight. Or something. Because this sudden back and forth of attitude and sullenness and door slamming is made as if to appear from out of nowhere.At the same time we are getting flashes of the adoption in Siberia and random happenings over the years since that cause Holly to repeat, over and over and over and ... "Something followed us home from Russia," and she's convinced if she could just find time to sit down and write she could get it all figured out.And I know that this is all supposed to build up tension for the big ending, but mostly it just feels repetitive and disjointed.You know how it goes: Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice ... Yeah, well shame on me. I should have learned my lesson after the fiasco that was The Raising.
    • 5/5
      Christmas morning, Holly Judge comes to with a startling message from a foggy dream she's just awaken from: something had followed them home from Russia.Something had followed them home from Russia! These words, in the context of her daughter, Tatiana's adoption from Pokrovka Orphanage #2 in Siberia 13 years ago, should send chills up your spine. As Holly deals with the domestic mishaps of stressful Christmas dinner preparations, readers tap into the reflective, wistful dusty corners of Holly's mind. Her thoughts drift from her troubled childhood, to her hardest battles, to Baby Tatty's excruciating but worthwhile adoption, to Tatiana's adolescence; these flashbacks are what make up the secure, nostalgic portion of the book.In the present, however, Holly must face something far more frightening than her personal tragedies and memories: her daughter. The frustration of motherhood is really well captured through Holly's third person narrative. She's excessively sensitive—paranoid, easily startled, a bit overbearing—but her egocentric way of thought is forgiven solely because of how relatable she is, how easy to sympathize with.Tatiana and Holly's relationship is slightly morbid, a bit eerie to begin with. There's something lurkingly alarming about Holly being trapped inside the house in a snowstorm with a daughter that isn't acting like herself anymore, and although their interactions only occur within a span of eight hours (or so), they take up the entire novel, which should be an indication of just how scrutinizingly—just how comprehensively—Holly's life story unravels.No matter how much you reflect, the past will always catch up with you, Holly realizes when her reminiscences culminate with a jarring, unexpected revelation that tilts her perspective, sense, and reality a several degrees. The ending of the book—which I won't give away—will make your mind reel and have you rethinking the virtues of destiny, sanity, and delusion of perfection.Laura Kasischke is a clear poet, with smooth and imaginative style that sets a perfectly chilling and increasingly distressing mood. I noticed a lot of readers on Goodreads complaining about the repetition of certain lines and the exaggerated alarm with which Holly perceives the world, but—hello?—that's the entire POINT of her writing style! Kasischke's merit isn't quite literary, but it's sensuous, it's poetic, and it needs to be read like a movie script would: dramatically, frenetically.I know the cover is really creepy, and while I can definitely vouch for a disturbing quality to this novel, I also have to say it isn't all blood and guts and gore; I wouldn't call this a horror novel, exactly. It's more about horror of the mind; Mind of Winter is a shadowy psychological thriller that won't only have your heart leaping up in your chest, but will also make you consider the limitations of a solitary perspective, and what it means to truly understand a story.Pros: Completely absorbing... it was hard for me to stop reading! // Mind-blowing turn of events // Structurally and stylistically bizarre, but that much more impressive // Nothing violent or explicit, but as a trigger warning, there is definitely some emotionally disturbing content // Poetic, repetitive flow to Kasischke's voice // Vivid, detailed style // Introspective // Presents accurate remarks about the joys and dangers of what's inside of us // One of those books that will make you double-take and think hardCons: No chapters or clear structure to the book, which I understand is intentional, but it made it hard to find stopping points while reading (not that I wanted to stop reading) // Creeped out the living sh!t out of me (which is actually pretty cool, now that I think about it)Verdict: Tranquilly dark, hauntingly portrayed, and ultimately, completely mind-bending, Laura Kasischke's latest novel is a hair-raising glimpse at not only a repressive household's mother-daughter relationship, but also into the scariest place possible: the human mind. While not explicit or particularly horrific, Mind of Winter has some disturbing content that keeps me from recommending it to the average Jane. However, if, like me, you can stomach that kind of psychological manipulation from the author, and if you're a fan of unreliable narrators, macabre portraits of repression and denial, and characters that come with no baggage or legacy, then this is your next must-read. Buy yourself a copy now.Rating: 9 out of 10 hearts (5 stars): Loved it! This book has a spot on my favorites shelf.Source: Complimentary copy provided by publisher via tour publicist in exchange for an honest and unbiased review (thank you, Harper Collins and TLC!).
    • 4/5
      Not quite a domestic thriller and not in the same class as Gone Girl or Defending Jacob, but an enjoyable mystery. The plot involves a mysterious adopted child from a Siberian orphanage and her baggage-ridden adoptive mother. Admittedly, Thanksgiving Day and night have never been so creepy. The denouement is not a total shock - we've heard this one before, but I did rush through to get there.
    • 4/5
      This book really grabbed a hold of me and didn't let go until the finish. Not usually a fan of first person narration, but I. this case except for some repetitive passages, it really worked. Private musings and inner thought, remembrances and fears, all belonging to a mom named Holly, who had adopted a young toddler from an orphanage in Siberia. Not saying anymore about the plot because this is one book that the less the reader knows before hand the better. Just know it is insidiously creepy and the ending was a total surprise. The blizzard background certainly added to the tension in the plot.ARC from publisher.
    • 4/5
      Do you ever decide to read a book solely based on the cover? The cover of Laura Kasischke's newest novel Mind of Winter seemed to promise a deliciously creepy read. And it was. On a snowy Christmas morning Holly Judge awakes.... "and knew: Something had followed them home from Russia." Well, I was hooked. What could this something be? A spirit? A ghost? A demon? Or something of this world - bad luck, misfortune, debts? Kasischke gives Holly free rein as the narrator of Mind of Winter. The entire book is told in a stream of consciousness from Holly. From the opening pages I thought something was 'off' with Holly. Her whirlwind mind sucks the reader into her confusion. And then her Russian adopted daughter Tatiana is introduced and my suspicions shifted. And then shifted again. Holly is able to easily explain away all of her daughter's odd behavior. And we are again left wondering what is truly happening. Interspersed amongst Holly's thoughts are memories. Memories of Holly and Eric's trip to Russia to pick up their adopted daughter. There are clues tucked away into those memories that gave credence to my suspicions. The blizzard that isolates Holly and Tatiana is the perfect backdrop for what may be a descent into either madness or horror. I admit to feeling slightly underwhelmed with the resolution. Still, Mind of Winter was an atmospheric, one sitting under a solitary lamp late at night read.
    • 3/5
      Well, this was quite the psychological thriller. I mean, when people say they are reading a psychological thriller you don't think that they are really reading from the point of view of someone who, in the first few pages alone, comes off as really struggling to get a grasp on reality, but that's definitely how Laura Kasischke starts off Mind of Winter. There is a serious bang - I could almost hear the shot, and the book was off.Read the rest of this review at The Lost Entwife on March 25, 2014.
    • 4/5
      This review is based on a free advance copy received from the publisher.I can't say too much about this book without giving things away. Holly Judge wakes up late on Christmas morning with the phrase "Something followed them home from Russia" gnawing at her, and the thought that she might find the time to write. Throughout the day, as things fall apart, the reader has to puzzle out if there is something supernatural going on, if Holly's daughter Tatiana is suffering from some more mundane breakdown, if Holly's perception cannot be trusted, or if there is some kind of more ordinary teenage drama happening that will explain everything.
    • 4/5
      Book Info: Genre: Suspense Reading Level: AdultRecommended for: fans of heavily character-driven stories and unreliable narratorsBook Available: March 25, 2014 in Hardcover and Kindle formatsTrigger Warnings: child abuse and neglectAnimals: mention is made (although it is not described) that a cat is run over; four hens peck another one to deathMy Thoughts: I am not sure what to make of this book. Is it a slow descent into madness? Is it a ghost story? Is it allegorical or literal? The descriptions of the Siberian orphanage were enough to tear the reader's heart out, but by the end of the book, that will be the least of the traumas to which the reader has been subjected. So much of this speaks to the sorts of nightmares that adoptive parents have, and to their fears and insecurities.I imagine a lot of readers will be put off by the disjointed and repetitive nature of the narrative, but for me it works to show just how frazzled and stretched Holly is. Holly is also a master of ignoring uncomfortable truths, pretending that everything is okay when really it is not.Tatiana's definition of a soul was interesting to me. “The soul was the thing hidden inside the thing, and it made it what it was. You could not be, say, an actual parrot without a parrot soul.” It isn't the most profound, as Tatiana came up with it when she was nine, but it was interesting, and a good example of the sorts of things that she tended to think about. Make no mistake, this entire book is Holly's paean to Tatiana, to the idea of her, to the reality of her. Holly's obsession with her daughter, and her fears for her, are plain to see for all readers.This one hit me right in the feels. As an adopted child myself, I am familiar with the sorts of things that adoptive parents have to deal with. I am familiar with the things that adoptees have to deal with. The synopsis will lead you to believe that this story is about something supernatural, but to me the story was about Holly and her feelings for, about, and surroundings Tatiana. Who—or what—Tatiana is in this book, that is the question you will have to decide for yourself. This is a very haunting book and I think people who enjoy heavily character-driven stories with unreliable narrators will enjoy this book.Disclosure: I received an ARC through the Amazon Vine program in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.Synopsis: On a snowy Christmas morning, Holly Judge awakens, the fragments of a nightmare—something she must write down—floating on the edge of her consciousness.Something followed them from Russia.On another Christmas morning thirteen years ago, she and her husband Eric were in Siberia to meet the sweet, dark-haired Rapunzel they desperately wanted. How they laughed at the nurses of Pokrovka Orphanage #2 with their garlic and their superstitions, and ignored their gentle warnings. After all, their fairy princess Tatiana—baby Tatty—was perfect.As the snow falls, enveloping the world in its white silence, Holly senses that something is not right, has not been right in the years since they brought their daughter—now a dangerously beautiful, petulant, sometimes erratic teenager—home. There is something evil inside this house. Inside themselves. How else to explain the accidents, the seemingly random and banal misfortunes. Trixie, the cat. The growth on Eric's hand. Sally the hen, their favorite, how the other chickens turned on her. The housekeeper, that ice, a bad fall. The CDs scratched, every one.But Holly must not think of these things. She and Tatiana are all alone. Eric is stuck on the roads and none of their guests will be able to make it through the snow. With each passing hour, the blizzard rages and Tatiana's mood darkens, her behavior becoming increasingly disturbing and frightening. Until, in every mother's worst nightmare, Holly finds she no longer recognizes her daughter.