One heartbreak after another. Wes is fifteen years old. This writer in her first book makes the reader feel for Wes. His mother drowns, his father leaves him with his grandparents. They are not your typical grandparents. I shed many tears reading this book. I recommend reading this book. I know you are going to want to give Wes a hug.

Finally got to this one and I'm pissed at myself for waiting so long. Wes ballot was an awesome character and the setting and story line was great. Great book

2,5 stars

It's a sad book about a boy who is abandoned by his father after his mother dies. Its well-written but unfortunately on the boring side. In the end, it was just okay.

This is one of those books that is best described as being literary fiction. Not just regular fiction or mass-market fiction; but the kind of fiction that requires you to pay attention, has a lyrical sense to it and (of course) doesn't really end well for most characters in the story. These are what I call "Oscar" books. Great stories that are written specifically for the purpose of winning high-end literary awards. The same way you can watch a movie and immediately know it's an "Oscar" movie; this work with books too.

Beautiful & Descriptive
The writing in Winter Loon is such that it is beautiful while still being very descriptive. I always felt like I was in the setting and could sometimes even smell the description (if you will) that Susan Bernhard was presenting. This made for a very immersive book experience. But it also means this is a tough book to read in line-ups at the bank or Starbucks. There's nothing wrong with that of course; it's just good to know going in if you're like me and read multiple books at a time with certain types being 'dedicated time reading' books and others being 'read anytime' books. This is definitely a book you can get lost in and will fill your dedicated reading time with emotionally charged scenes.

Somber, Sad & Depressing
As with most Oscar movies, Winter Loon is a downer. Our lead boy is essentially abandoned by his father, has lost his mother (before his very eyes in the opening chapter) and is shipped off to a crappy town to live with his crappy grandparents. Ugh. The teenage experience is not really much fun for most in general; never mind when you drop a teen into a depressing setting such as this. The hardest parts of this book, ironically, for me are not the moments when someone dies but actually those moments when our lead boy is hungry and without resources (money) or anyone to care that he hasn't eaten all day. There's very little that is encouraging in Winter Loon. If you are looking for an uplifting, overcoming the odds story then look elsewhere.

Overall
This is a really good book. It's dense at times and in some instances the prose can go on and on. But for the most part it's a good read. I'm not sure who to recommend it for because it is really sad and a bit of a tough read. Unlike some of the sad tough novels I normally read this one is not historical so there isn't really anything to directly 'learn' from Winter Loon the way might be in historical settings. That said there are certainly lessons that can be derived from Bernhard's story. The least of which is likely that your life isn't as bad as you thought.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

This book is going to haunt me, I can feel it. I almost quit a couple times, not because I didn't like it, but because it was heavy and sad, and I thought I couldn't take anymore. And it hits a little close to home for me, so I had to take breaks. But ultimately it was so worth sticking with, it's a gorgeous story. The writing is atmospheric, the imagery so vivid, I often felt the cold dampness being described.

This is the story of Wes Ballott, age 15, who is abandoned by his father after his mother's sudden death. Wes isn't welcomed by his grandparents, and shows amazing resilience by trying to figure things out, and make his way on his own. It's difficult to sum up what this novel is about: family, loss, grief, and trauma certainly. Yet it's also hopeful. Wes finds love and support in unique places.

I really loved this book and felt for the little boy that loses everything from the beginning. Wes Ballot is the product of a mother and father that live on the outskirts of the world and that put their wants and needs first. When his mother drowns below the ice, his father takes off and leaves him to live with his mother's parents. They blame him for what happened and are abusive to him. This book is a coming of age of sorts and Wes is trying to find where he belongs in the world and what happened to his father when he promised to come back. There was a lot of emotion and heart in this book and I would definitely be interested in reading more from this author in the future. Thanks for the ARC, Net Galley. I will be recommending this book to others.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this early copy!

This was a well-done Literary Fiction that I would recommend to any readers. It has a great coming of age story and is beautifully written.

Broke my heart. We all deserve wonderful, loving parents who give us childhoods that prepare us for success. Unfortunately, Wes doesn't have those parents. He has a mentally ill mother who kills herself on a frozen lake and a father who abandons him into the care of the very parents who screwed up his wife. Wes' life with his grandparents is emotionally tough and all he wants is for his father to return. But in the meantime, he meets Jolene, a girl with her own heartbreak who helps Wes find his was though his, especially when he learns some of the horrors his mother endured in her parents' home. amazingly beautiful writing and Wes is just a spectacular character. Loved it.

Susan Bernhard’s Winter Loon is a coming-of-age story that will break your heart and then slowly put the pieces back together in a way that pulls hope from the bleakest surroundings.

The novel opens with 15-year-old Wes, alone on a frozen lake, desperately reaching for his mother, who has fallen through the ice and drowned.

The utter bleakness of this initial scene sets the tone for the events that follow. Abandoned by his drifter father, Wes ends up living with Gip and Ruby, his maternal grandparents, and sleeping in his mother’s old bedroom, surrounded by her trinkets and memories. The two are a bitterly vile pair who blame their grandson for his mother’s death. When Wes asks if God allowed his mother to die, Ruby responds, “God wasn’t there, Wes…you were.”

As the wait for his father stretches into months, a local girl, whose own mother died a brutal death, captures his heart, giving Wes fresh hope in the suffocating small town. Spending time with Jolene and her relatives makes him imagine being part of a real family.

From his grandparents, Wes uncovers repressed family secrets so horrendous the passages are difficult to read. With his grandparents on the brink of eviction, Wes sets out to find his missing father, following bread crumbs of his dad’s life with no idea what he may find.

Bernhard’s Winter Loon is crafted with evocative, descriptive prose that transports the reader into every scene. To anyone who has dealt with the painful reality of overcoming the consequences of a toxic, dysfunctional family, this story is a journey that will make you cringe, cry and wholeheartedly root for young Wes, who struggles to deal with rejection, sexual awakening, and finding love where he didn’t expect it.

The book will leave you thinking about what it means to be connected to others, by blood, by love, even by coincidence. It explores the adolescent struggle to understand our parents, in all of their flawed humanity. Winter Loon asks us to think about the hard questions. Why do people fall disastrously in love, only to end up inflicting pain? Can we emerge from the heartaches and hardships in life, and learn to endure and find our happiness from inside?

The novel is heart-wrenching, gritty, and at times troubling. But above all, this is a book about overcoming the past, finding beauty in the muck of life’s ugliness, and healing.

Wes Ballot is a 15 year old boy living in Minnesota with his parents when his mother goes out walking on the ice of a nearby lake. Wes is with her when she suddenly falls through the ice and drowns. Wes's father takes off and leaves Wes in the care of his grandparents who he has had little contact with over the years as his mother did not get along with them.

Although this is a heartbreaking tale, it is told with heart thus avoiding falling into over-sentimentality. The writing is wonderful and I was immediately transported to this place and time. Bernhard consistently invokes all the senses in her descriptions and beautifully realises a tried and true plot formula without making it obvious at all.

As Wes learns about how trauma and its effects can be multi-generational, he also learns to become a compassionate human being with the help of his girlfriend's native American family. The book is rich in exploring coming of age themes that shape us into who we become. In short I loved this book. I loved being taken away to a different place embodied by people I would be unlikely to ever meet but profoundly moved by their struggles in life.

Eleven months in a teen's life with flashbacks to his younger years. His mother drowns, his father abandons him and his grandparents are nothing to write home about. Beautifully written, the book is certainly not a joyful tome, but t well-=done. . I really couldn't put it done. It certainly is worth reading.

A beautiful, powerful and heartbreaking coming of age story, Winter Loon by Susan Bernhard is often bleak, but this is contrasted by moments of real beauty, and is a truly accomplished and memorable debut novel.
Winter Loon tells the story of Wes Ballot, who at fifteen has grown up seeing his parents fighting and is used to his father walking in and out of his life. In a desperate attempt to make things better, the family moves to a remote lakeside cabin, but tragedy strikes when his mother falls through the ice and drowns, almost taking Wes with her. Unable to cope,his father abandons Wes with his maternal grandparents , where he begins to understand that his mother may have faced traumas of her own. The only ray of light in his life is his budding romance with a local girl with a tragic past of her own. When she encourages him to go find his father ,Wes takes to the road and finds more than he could ever have imagined.
This is a truly emotional read, with tender moments as well as those that will truly break your heart, and it is sure to resonate with readers long after they turn the final page. From the sweetness of first love to the desolation of grief, the author really knows how to put the emotions on the page, a truly impressive feat considering this is her first book.
I read and reviewed a copy courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher,all opinions are my own.

Beautiful and haunting, this well written story of a boy surviving against harsh odds was heartbreaking. I found myself rooting for the characters, however flawed they might be, hoping they would make it to better circumstances. A truly engaging novel..

This was a great but heavy and heart-breaking book. I just recently read The Murmur of Bees and the Winter Loon has a similar heavy feel to it. You can almost feel the coldness and this story deals with heavy topics: alcoholism, abuse, death of a parent, abandonment and growing up.
This would be perfect for a cold and dark winter's night.
I can recommend this book, but you want to read something light and positive afterwards.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book.

This was a book that tugs at your heart strings and makes you want to comfort most of the characters in the book. And also punch some of them in the face. I loved the book though. Beautifully written and heart wrenching with a great, complicated story line that wasn't tough to follow.

3.75* (rounded up)

A Devastatingly Sad Coming of Age Story.

“Winter Loon” left me with a Very Heavy Heart. Wes Ballot is a teenager who has always gotten the short end of the stick. He experiences one sad event after another to the point where I honestly had to wonder at times what the point of the story was. He loses one family member after another and struggles to be strong, and to find himself when all seems lost. Yes, “Winter Loon” is beautifully written and yes the novel includes a lot of emotion but I honestly couldn’t comprehend why the author would make a character go through so much heartache and pain, time and again. I considered quitting a myriad of times, yet in the end I wanted to know how Wes ended up. His strength amazed me. They said that a man is the sum of his parts and Wes was definitely that.

Perhaps a lot of other reviewers would enjoy reading a book with tragedy after tragedy but this book left me feeling bereft even though Wes is such a strong young man. That being said, the writing is superb, the storyline is told in the first person and the characterizations are brilliant. If you can get past the sadness of this story, this book might be for you.

Thank you to NetGalley, Little A, and Susan Bernhard for an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Published on NetGalley and Goodreads on 12.30.18.

I would really like to give this 3.5 stars. This is a really beautifully written story and it's a really sad story. There is a lovely young man who pulls you through this story and all its sadness, that at times I found a bit hard to believe his rigor to endure without some kind of acting out or breakdown. But in the end, this is a beautiful story about love; real true love and those are the best stories to read.

This book was fantastic. It was heartbreaking, left me a crying mess, but it healed me too. This is the kind of book that you get emotionally invested in, one that you hear yourself cheering for the main character.

Wes Ballot is 15 years old when his mother drowns. His alcoholic father sends him to live with his, less than welcoming, grandparents. While there he connects with a young woman who shares the pain of losing a parent.

This story is haunting, yet so beautiful and lyrically written.

4.5/5 stars!

I received this book "Winter Loon" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. Wow this book - boring. I need to rate this as a one star because I did not finish it. I could not keep reading. It was just boring.

Bernhard's story is a harrowing coming-of-age one that focuses on family-ties, loss and forgiveness, the need to discover one's origins, the need to belong and grow, it is a story of two wounded people holding each other up through tough times. Gritty and unflinching, lyrical and sincere, "Winter Loon" confronts child neglect, substance abuse/alcoholism, incest, murder, racism, estrangement and complex family dynamics and still manages to be hopeful and optimistic.