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    After the Snow
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    After the Snow
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    After the Snow
    Ebook279 pages5 hours

    After the Snow

    By S. D. Crockett

    3/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    The oceans stopped working before Willo was born, so the world of ice and snow is all he's ever known. He lives with his family deep in the wilderness, far from the government's controlling grasp. Willo's survival skills are put to the test when he arrives home one day to find his family gone. It could be the government; it could be scavengers--all Willo knows is he has to find refuge and his family. It is a journey that will take him into the city he's always avoided, with a girl who needs his help more than he knows.

    S.D. Crockett on narrative voice and an especially cold winter:

    What was your inspiration for After the Snow?
    Well, apart from the unbelievably cold winter during which I was writing—in an unheated house, chopping logs and digging my car out of the snow; I think much of the inspiration for the settings in After the Snow came from my various travels.

    In my twenties I worked as a timber buyer in the Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia, and that work led to travels in Eastern Europe and Armenia. As soon as I step off the plane in those places it smells like home.

    It may sound strange to say, when After the Snow is set in Wales, but really the practical dilemmas in the book come directly from places I've been, people I've lived with, and the hardships I've seen endured with grace and capability. I was in Russia not long after the Soviet Union collapsed and I've seen society in freefall. Without realizing it at the time I think those experiences led me to dive into After the Snow with real passion.

    What would western civilization look like with a few tumbles under its belt? What would happen if the things we took for granted disappeared? I wanted to write a gripping story about that scenario, but hardly felt that I was straying into fantasy in the detail.

    What do you want readers to most remember about After the Snow?
    We all have the capacity to survive, but in what manner? What do we turn to in those times of trouble? Those are the questions I would like people to contemplate after reading After the Snow.

    How did Willo's unique voice come to you?
    Willo's voice appeared in those crucial first few paragraphs. After that it just grew along with his world and the terrible situations that arise. I think his voice is in all of us. We don't understand, we try to make good—maybe we find ourselves.

    How did you stay warm while writing this novel?
    I banked up the fire—and was warmed by hopes of spring.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateMar 27, 2012
    ISBN9781466816053
    Unavailable
    After the Snow
    Author

    S. D. Crockett

    Sophie Crockett divides her time between Portobello Road, London, and the beech forests of the Montagne Noire of Southern France. She speaks Russian and French (both rather badly) and her experiences in far-flung places inform much of her writing. AFTER THE SNOW is her first novel.

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    Reviews for After the Snow

    3/5

    56 ratings18 reviews

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    • 4/5
      The climate has changed, and Europe is in a new ice age. People are huddled together in poverty striken cities and shantytowns, slaving for the government in coal mines and power plants. A few live out in the wilds. Known as stragglers they live as the pioneers did. When the government comes to clear them out, Willo was out snaring hares. he came home to an empty house. He sets out to find refuge, and finds a girl, also alone.
    • 3/5
      teen fiction; post-apocalypse/survival starring raised-in-the-woods boy. Story is a bit lacking and there isn't that pull to keep reading, but the narrative style is decent. Kind of interesting to read the bits about sewing/tailoring when making the fur coats (slashing the sleeves and what not). Ending is left open for poss. sequels but I don't think it quite did well enough. Use of the f* word when they get to the city.
    • 4/5
      This book lies in the borderland between post-apocalyptic and dystopian, but it owes more to The Knife of Never Letting Go than it does to The Hunger Games. (I was also reminded of Blood Red Road, both because of the setting–they’re opposites!–and because of the narration.) It’s a skilful, troubling story, but I had a hard time finding an emotional connection to it.
    • 2/5
      Someone else who reviewed this book said the writing style was bizarre, and it was, which is what made it difficult to follow. Some parts were predictable.
    • 5/5
      While reading this book I didn't love it but now that I've finished I realize, I love it.
      What makes it tough to get into this book is the unique voice that Crockett gives to Willo, her main character but this is what also makes the story so engaging. Willo's interior mental world is just as strange and alien as the outside world where, maybe climate change, maybe something else has caused a constant winter in the UK. Willo has learned to hunt, forge and live in the wild, isolated with his family and few others who also chose this lifestyle.
      It would be easy to call this dystopian or post-apocalyptic but I feel the world Crockett creates is more realistic and less fantasy which is a welcome change. It reminded me of Children of Men which I loved.
      pg 96. "And kneeling there with out cold hands together brings a feeling that wash over me like a warm wind. I forgot I been hungry and tired and alone with this pesky girl. I reckon that feeling gonna stay written on my heart forever, I really do."
      pg.255 "But I do call. I call out to the mountain. And the fear got so strong I lose myself. Just like a dead cold stone lying there alone. And when I wake up, I still been alive and the mountain sighing and whispering to me. I'm only a mountain. I'm only a lump of rock. It's your thoughts you've been scared of.
    • 1/5
      After the Snow reads like Huck Finn meets dystopia. Unfortunately, I really don't like Huckleberry Finn. Why? Because, even at the very best of times, books written in dialect are a struggle for me. For one thing, dialect tends to equal poor grammar, which always makes me shudder. I did a lot of shuddering in this book. It also slows down my reading, both because I don't like it, and because I'm reading it all out loud to myself in my head (if that makes sense).

      The main character, Willo, constantly talks to a dead dog that he has made into clothing. He even thinks it answers him, which is freaking creepy! Not only that, there's a 'mad dog' personality and a 'good dog' personality. Really. Willo, in his head, keeps holding conversations with a dead dog with multiple personalities. What the effin' what?

      So yeah, I didn't really like the characters or the writing, but what about the dystopian elements, the world-building? Not so much there either. I don't feel like I really got a handle on what was going on here. I mean, I see that the weather went crazy, and there is a brief comment on how that happens. However, I want to know more about how the society functions and why so many people don't have papers and why everyone's so interested in the mountain men. And what's up with the crazy pseudo-religion, rebellion group? None of this was at all clear, and not in a cool leaving you guessing kind of way.

      I really wish book descriptions for books in dialect were written in dialect. If that summary had been written the way the book was, I would not have read this. Well, maybe I would have, but only because it's a dystopia. Still, the description doesn't really give an accurate picture of what you're going to get. This definitely was not for me.
    • 3/5
      I can see a sequel to this, but I would not be surprised if there weren't one. AND THAT'S OKAY. I'd prefer the ending be left where it is.

      I liked this okay, and I can see definite echos of several other books--most notably Blood Red Road and Knife of Never Letting Go, but those comparisons might just be due to the dialect and search-for-family that gets undertaken. It's almost a survival story, it's almost a conspiracy story, it's almost a love story, it's almost a post-apocalyptic adventure. It's good, and engaging enough, and I can think of at least a few teens who will enjoy it--but it still fell a little short of my hopes for it.
    • 1/5
      Uhhh, yeah giving up on this one.
    • 3/5
      In After The Snow S.D. Crockett presents a world that seems to be frozen, caught in the merciless embrace of snow. One day Willo finds himself all alone, his family taken away, and nothing left to do but trying to find them. And survive.I must confess, this novel was a bit of a mixed bag for me. On the upside, I was immediately taken in by the colloquial narration and the POV which really carried the story. Experiencing this world through Willo's eyes, listening to his thoughts, both raw and clear, perfectly fits the atmosphere of this cruel and cold world. However, I did wish that despite this restricted view, that there would have been more details about why things are the way they are. It takes a while (up until the last third of the book) to get the gist about what has happened in this world, and then everything barrels along much too fast. The author suddenly confronts the reader with several revelations and surprises, missing the previous depth in the narration and adding a whole different, faster pacing. This imbalance is a real shame, especially when you see the potential the plot held. Despite lacking the perfect momentum I conceived the last page as a wonderful ending to a story that mightn't have been perfect, but a worthwhile read nonetheless.Regarding audience I recommend the book to mature YA readers.In short: An enjoyable post-apocalyptic adventure with some flaws!
    • 4/5
      Since the end of the use of fossil fuels, the ocean currents slowed resulting in constant winter on the island of England. Most people have chosen to stay in the cities where marshal law prevails and gangs rule. A few people chose to make their own way in nearby mountains as is the case of Willo's family. They hunt and trap and trade their pelts for food as they struggle to survive and stay together in a small isolated house. One day, however, Willo comes home and finds his family has been taken. He packs up a sled and tries to follow them.This is a survival story of a young boy whose most valuable belonging is his fur coat. He meets people he can trust and those who try to hurt him. Along the way he discovers a secret about his father that may mean survival for many people. Guided by an inner voice (that is strangely more literate than his own) Willo discovers his strength and self-reliance, and of course, love.
    • 3/5
      To begin with, I chose this book from the wonderful Raincoast Books because it reminded me of one of my sister's favourite series: the Chaos Walking Series by Patrick Ness. And guess what? The first page seemed like a twin copy of the plot from the Chaos Walking Series. The main character is a guy with a dog. The book is written in slang/weird dialect. The dog talks to him like Patrick Ness' book. But this dog was a formless dog. It never really been described. Its thought just come into Willo's mind. The only time it was described as a real dog was when the family first found it, when it was a broken and mangy.Format:The slang and the intentional grammar errors will not sit well with everyone. But without it, the character really don't have a feel to it. With the slang, it seemed like there is something tangible with the characters.Setting:The setting reminded me a lot of a scene from the TV mini series Pillars of the Earth, where the family is walking in the frozen forest. At least that is what I thought of it. And as the novel went on, it kind of reminded me of the Relic Master Series by Catherine Fisher. I don't know why it reminded me of it but I just had the same feelings that I had with Catherine's series.Audience:It was very disturbing to see that a fourteen year old girl has a baby with a old man but I guess that is the whole point of dystopian. Plus all around the world, stuff like this happen. Very disturbing! There was gory stuff in the novel. And it did feel more of a boy-ish type read (which I love).Plot:I started to like the book more and more as I read on. The suspense was amazing. I wasn't breathing because I was scared that I would change that fate of the characters.The government in the novel was very secretive. The author painted a vivid and imaginary picture of the government and it seemed very dystopian and very interesting. I couldn't wait to learn more about the government. For most of the book, I wish Willo could just hurry into the city and told me more about the government.I did enjoy how the novel did not focus mainly on romance. In fact I don't think there was 5% of it in the book.I do like fairly short chapters but the thing is that the story moved too slow. In the beginning, I felt the magic here and there but it didn't spark me. The reason I read on was that I wanted to see what the government was like. If the author cut the first 40% of the book down to 10%, we got ourselves a good book. I mean the beginning of a book is VERY important. Most people would give up a few chapters in. I say the fun starts on pages 100 and onward. And the thing is that most people give up a book on page 100 or lower. But when you hit part 2, that's when the fun started to party :)And as part 3 hits, "OH MY GOD! Please readers! Don't give up on this book! There are some great actions, some great secrets, some great unexpected things in this book. I am SOOOO glad that I didn't gave up on this book." Yup that was what I typed frantically on my iPod as notes when I read into part 3.Final thoughts:This book is not like the nowadays YA dystopian, it is like 1984 dystopian, but of course for YA. there is no guys fighting for a girl. It is refreshing and kind of bring me back the love I had for 1984.I HIGHLY recommend this book to lovers of the Chaos Walking Series by Patrick Ness and boy-ish book lovers out there. Just bare with the story a little in the beginning, and when you get to part 2 and 3, you won't regret reading the book.So since the book wasn't perfect, I am going to give this book a 3 fire babies out of 5.
    • 4/5
      The book opens with 15 year old Willo, just returned from a hunting trip, looking down at his home, a remote homestead in the wilds of Snowdonia, and wondering where everyone has gone. Alone, and unprepared for survival in the wilds, Willo sets off to find out what happened to them. This is a book about survival in harsh conditions, self-reliance and self-discovery, adventure and friendship. It is written from a teenage point of view, and will definitely appeal to this age range, but it also has enough quality of writing and depth of concept to keep the adult reader fully engaged.Highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      I would categorize this as a bit of "The Road" for YA: dystopian society caused by environmental factors, still unravelling a few generations after the event.
    • 4/5
      In a post-apocalyptic world plunged into an ice age after a period of dramatically shifting climate society is coming unglued. On the outskirts of this society, independent and surviving on their own, lives Willo and his family. They eke out an existence in a world turned cold by hunting, trapping and working what little farm land there is in the very brief spring and summer. Willo has gone half-savage in many ways. He wears the skull of a dog on his head, doesn’t read very much or very well, and spends most of his days out setting traps in the freezing, driving snow with an instinct for hunting honed from growing up in the midst of an ice age. It’s the only world he has ever known.One day his family is taken by men in trucks while Willo is gone and he comes back to find that he is now all alone in this freezing wilderness. What follows is his journey to survive in the cold while finding answers for where his family has gone. What he discovers is ultimately almost more than he can understand, but is chilling for the reader that understands all too well.This is another novel that uses phonetic spelling in speech to convey how Willo communicates and relates to the world. His thoughts are also simply arranged and laid out. This did not bother me in After the Snow as much as it did in Blood Red Road. I think, in that case, the punctuation was a deal breaker for me. In After the Snow the quote marks were left intact so it increased the readability for me and as I was able to enjoy the spelling for its original purpose, gaining more insight into the speaker by being able to read not just what they said but how they said it.We see things from Willo’s point of view throughout and his point of view is pretty limited since he grew up outside of main stream society. He is left in the dark a lot about what is really going on and further more often doesn’t care because so much of what happened to bring about the ice age and society’s collapse is just completely outside of his circle of things he cares about. Willo is very practical, they are in an ice age now and that’s what needs to be dealt with, he’s concerned with survival not politics. That being said there is a lot of politics between the lines that is sailing right over Willo’s head but is there for the reader to understand and piece together. The final picture will leave you cold.After the Snow was written in response to Snowmageddon back in 2009, when the U.K. found itself buried alive and London simply shut down for a few days. What if it kept on snowing? What if winter never ended? What would modern society do, and how would it function and survive, in the midst of an ice age? You’ll have to read the book yourself to find out.I received this book for free to review.
    • 4/5
      The climate has changed, and Europe is in a new ice age. People are huddled together in poverty striken cities and shantytowns, slaving for the government in coal mines and power plants. A few live out in the wilds. Known as stragglers they live as the pioneers did. When the government comes to clear them out, Willo was out snaring hares. he came home to an empty house. He sets out to find refuge, and finds a girl, also alone.
    • 1/5
      Review Courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: After the Snow is difficult to get in to because of the narration style and the reason for what is happening is never fully developed.Opening Sentence: I’m gonna sit here in my place on the hill behind the house. Waiting. And watching.The Review:After the Snow starts when Willo sees his family being taken away in trucks, and he runs off to hide in a cave until they leave. The time period is never clearly stated, but we find out that this takes place in Europe after the weather drastically changed, leaving the world blanketed in endless snow. Willo lives out in the woods away from civilization with his father, step-mother, and lots of kids. He never feels like he fits in well, so he spends most of his time hunting and praying to his dog skull to inherit some of the dog’s qualities. The dog often speaks to him and gives him advice on what he should do. He takes the dog’s advice sometimes, but ignores it when he disagrees.He knows he is alone now, so Willo sets out for the closest homestead where he thinks he will find answers about why his family is missing. Unfortunately, he never makes it there. Instead, Willo comes across two abandoned children in an empty house along the way. The dog tells Willo to leave them, but he comes back the next day, and takes the only living girl, Mary, with him. The world is a harsh and brutal one, but Willo knows how to hold his own against nature. When it comes to people and towns, he has no clue how to act. Willo and Mary are picked up by a caravan heading to the nearest city. The two get separated in the city, but both manage to survive for a while until they are brought back together through unusual means.It is not until almost to the end of the book that we find out anything about the political situation going on. The town seems to be under some sort of marshal law, and the citizens are terrified. A certain book by John Blovyn that urged people to live freely in nature instead of cities has been banned, and anyone with a copy is treated like a criminal. The book with the revolutionary status is not unknown to Willo, but he never really sees the importance of it. Honestly, this portion of the book did not seem well executed. I still do not really know why the Blovyn’s book was a killing offence to own. This may be because it came through Willo’s point of view, and he did not care much about books. I would have liked to see the political side developed more. All it did was leave me confused since I didn’t know why so many people were dying.This book is told from Willo’s point of view and in his voice. By that I mean his sentence structure and word choices are very primitive. He knows how to read, but he can hardly form a complete, correct sentence. I have to admit that it was extremely hard to get through the first time I tried to read After the Snow. The second time I tried, I was able to get used to it, but the speech patterns are very jarring and uneven.Notable Scene:“Anybody here?”I got to listen good, cos if someone been upstairs waiting for me, I want to hear them creaking on the floor above.But the only creaking is just the old house moving in the cold.And there aint no answer.I put my hand against the wall and feel my way down the passage. I can feel every lump under the cold plaster, and I know my palm’s gonna be dusty white if I can see it. I come to the coats still hanging on the pegs, the fur all soft. But no one go out without their coat in this weather? I don’t understand why the coats still here and the people aint.I got a funny feeling about being all alone in the house, cos my back’s to the door and it’s dark and I don’t like it with no one here.But like the dog say, Can’t stop to think about that now.I get to the kitchen, the same roundside smells seeping out of the dark. I tap along the beam to find the box of tinder, cos I got none in my pouch–but the box fall to the floor with a bang. It really make me jump, and I got to stay still for a while more. But no one come leaping out the shadows, so I reckon the house is safe for now.The dog worrying me too much. Thing is dogs can’t make fire and stuff, so they got to be more careful than us. That’s the only trouble with wearing the dog skull. The spirit of that dog get right inside me sometimes, and I forget who I am. That’s what my dad say when he make me stay in the house with the others and do my reading with Magda.I say, “Dad I can read enough.”FTC Advisory: Macmillan/Feiwel & Friends provided me with a copy of After the Snow. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
    • 3/5
      Like many survivor stories, After the Snow isn’t exactly fun, per se. It’s gritty and tough; Willo’s life after losing his family is pretty darn hard (and it was that way before he lost them, too). S.D. Crockett isn’t afraid to show her readers blood, gore, and suffering. This can be a good thing, because it increases our emotional reaction to Willo’s struggle, but it’s also tough to read through. I enjoyed the harsh realism to a point, but there were certain parts of the story that were tough to stomach. If you’re sensitive, you might want to be wary of After the Snow.S.D. Crockett’s writing style is a bit reminiscent of Patrick Ness’ in The Knife of Never Letting Go: it’s close to steam-of-consciousness, and it’s written in a dialect that takes some getting used to. This kind of writing really adds to the experience of the novel; it helps us understand a bit more about the culture in which Willo was raised (that is, the groups that survived S.D. Crockett’s imagined apocalypse scenario). This style also gives us a better feel for Willo as a character: we access his inner thoughts and doubts though internal dialects he holds with a dog skull he wears on his head. Aside from this subtle characterization, Willo isn’t the easiest to connect with, but he’s still quite a trouper, and it’s easy to sympathize with him.After the Snow didn’t quite impress me as much as I’d hoped. The story focused more on the struggle of a single boy, rather than on that of a people as a whole. It was interesting, but not gripping. If survival stories are your thing, I think you’ll enjoy S.D. Crockett’s debut.
    • 5/5
      After the Snow is pretty near perfect. The idea of the storyline is unique, the plot rarely drags, and the author's writing is nice and cohesive. I found the writing style and overall content to be more of a middle-grade read than a YA one (minus a bit of profanity towards the end), though it's certainly a great read for either target group.I loved Crockett's idea for the apocalypse/dystopia. It picks up on current issues over global warming, sustainable practices, and ethics, but these are rather muted and a background to the characters' adventures. Every once in a while, the author will delve deeper into the issues running behind everything. Part of what's unique about After the Snow as a dystopia is also the method of resistance, based more on a utopian theory than fighting the oppressors. The novel becomes more about a teenage boy finding himself and understanding the world, unlike other YA sci-fi books where the characters are just trying to bust the system.