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N/A

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ISBN:
978-0-986-62898-3-5

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Paperback

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BLINK ONCE TO SPREAD SNOW

By James Christie

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IR Rating:
4.0
Rich in historical detail, BLINK ONCE TO SPREAD SNOW by James Christie provides a deep, measured sense of reading pleasure likely to remain long after the last page has been savored.
IR Approved

As centuries pass and eras shift from one generation’s sense of reality to the next, it can be challenging to viscerally portray what life was like long ago to readers living in the world as it exists today, yet BLINK ONCE TO SPREAD SNOW by James Christie does so with aplomb. In the present, elderly Cal Brenneman lies in a hospital bed in the process of passing on, so much of the story is told via his recollections as he slips in and out of consciousness. There are stories from childhood, stories of first falling in love, tales of his time in the war. And what tales they are, opening with Cal’s version of the day both his sisters fell through the ice at Wolf Creek, and he was only able to save one of them from drowning. Though even that moment of goodness is a moment his brother Randall took credit for; a lie both of them choose to let stand for decades. This significantly affects the bond between them; a sibling relationship already contentious by the time Cal is 12.

As the novel unfolds, such primal wounds lay beneath other emotionally raw events, including the boy’s parents losing the family house while trying to keep the rest of their clan alive during the merciless Depression. There are points in the book where the plot unfortunately falls prey to being offered more through summarized ‘telling’ rather than effectively ‘showing,’ but mostly the events meander along in an intriguing way at an unhurried, reminiscing pace that’s far more typical of those who know in their bones what it was like to have to wind up alarm clocks and regularly fill in cracks of a home’s rough-hewn boards in order to keep out winter snow, as opposed to today’s harried pace that has people devoting hours to multiple electronic devices. Life, death, love, betrayal, heroism, guilt–getting to know Cal along with his family members and other connections as each individual grows up and, in some cases, matures is pure joy.

Rich in historical detail, BLINK ONCE TO SPREAD SNOW by James Christie provides a deep, measured sense of reading pleasure likely to remain long after the last page has been savored.

~C.S. Holmes for IndieReader

Publisher:
N/A

Publication Date:
N/A

Copyright Date:
N/A

ISBN:
978-0-986-62898-3-5

Binding:
Paperback

U.S. SRP:
N/A

BLINK ONCE TO SPREAD SNOW

By James Christie

BLINK ONCE TO SPREAD SNOW by James Christie is a fictional family saga of generational wounds and redemption. At the center of the book are brothers Cal and Randall Brenneman, who share a fierce bond, but also a tempestuous past. Younger brother Cal looks back on his life’s adventures starting on their father’s farm during the Great Depression and World War II, through current day. A sweeping and engaging American tale of familial love, betrayal, secrets and healing.