In the Deep Freeze of Bartholomew Freezeby Alex Williams, the town of Pinrut has been covered in blizzard conditions for at least 20 years: no sunshine, no warmth, no happiness. Residents scrape out a meager existence in the frozen turnip fields of their overlord, the selfish, wealthy bully, Bartholomew Tullock.
Everyone except for the Breeze family, however. Rufus and his sister Madeline, together with their parents Elizabeth and Philip, believe that the sun will one day return and they just have to hold out hope that their fan-inventing family tradition will survive until the summer sun returns. They are, however, the focus of Tullock’s wrath and jealousy, and just when their situation becomes most dire, a strange visitor and his blue dog come along and start a series of events that change everyone’s lives forever.
I have mixed feelings about this book: on the one hand, it’s a nice story about hope and perseverance in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles and the importance of family and the power of dreams to make life better; on the other hand, the way Williams chose to write the story (somewhat disjointed plot sequences, unnecessary characters, narrative tangents) and the affected language and sometimes silly word choices (scrabbled, clambered, gabble – why not just use scramble, jabber) became irritating as the book progressed. In the end, it was fine, but only just.
- Posted by Cori