Cold Spell eBook Deb Vanasse
Download As PDF : Cold Spell eBook Deb Vanasse 
Torn from a magazine, a photo of a glacier ignites an obsession in Ruth, a self-sacrificing Midwestern mother. Her fascination with ice culminates in an impulsive decision to make a fresh start by moving her family to Alaska with her new boyfriend, Kenny. This rash plan horrifies sixteen-year-old Sylvie, who hides a secret attraction to Kenny.
The realities of the wilderness and tensions within the tiny Alaskan community of Resurrection Valley test Ruth’s resolve. As Kenny’s attention shifts to baiting bears and building an eight-wheeled all-terrain vehicle, she feels diminished, and no matter how she tries to conform, she can’t please Kenny’s strong-willed, religious mother. Ruth also worries over Sylvie, who spends hours staring at the ice, and ten-year-old Anna, who shows a little too much enthusiasm for becoming a Glory Girl at Lena’s church.
As their individual longings braid and cross, the exposed secrets of mother and daughter test their love. In precise and evocative prose, Cold Spell tells the parallel stories of a mother who risks everything to start over and a daughter whose longings threaten to undo them.
“Grabs you from the opening line and never lets go” ~ Publishers Weekly
“Cold Spell is Greek tragedy. From the very first pages, these lives are out of control. You’ll care for Sylvie, and also her mother Ruth, and you’ll want them not to hurt each other, but of course they will.” ~ David Vann, author of Legend of a Suicide and Goat Mountain
"In subtle, careful prose, Vanasse explores what lures the so-called newbie to Alaska—from the myth to the very real magic of the wild—and, at the same time, creates a sensitive portrait of a family on the verge of falling apart. Poignant and compelling." ~ Leigh Newman, author of Still Points North
Cold Spell eBook Deb Vanasse
"Cold Spell" is a rich story with depth and heart.Perhaps the most important aspect of a novel is for the reader to be able to identify (preferably in major ways) with one or more characters. This book did that for me in ways that were sometimes uncomfortable. But then, identifying with a character often means that the story has drawn out parts of ourselves we'd rather not embrace or remember. I identified with both Ruth and Sylvie, primarily with Sylvie (though not every aspect of her).
My mother and step-father moved me and my two youngest brothers from Spokane, WA to Portland, OR when I was a few weeks shy of my 14th birthday. Spokane was my birthplace and the only place I'd ever lived and, in the 60s, it was fairly "small town" compared to Portland. So in some small ways, the culture shock of the move was as hard on me as it was for Sylvie to move from Minnesota to the small community of Resurrection, AK. That seems like a lifetime ago, but I fully recall similar dynamics between me and my mother and me and my step-father as Sylvie had between her mother, Ruth and Ruth's boyfriend, Kenny. I was sad, lonely and felt betrayed not to have been consulted about the move just like Sylvie was. And I had conflicting feelings about my step-dad just like Sylvie did about Kenny, minus the sexual attraction, however subtle Vanasse wrote about it.
The writing was evocative yet subtle in doing so. There was never any clear statement or discussion about Sylvie having an attraction to Kenny, yet one feels mildly electric when the two of them forge their secret bond as Sylvie helps Kenny with a building project that's very important to him. It's actually quite refreshing, in this day of "50 Shades of Gray," to read a well-written novel that can still enable the reader to leave something to the imagination about the nature of these characters' relationship. In fact, the few other descriptions about Sylvie's coming-of-age relationships are also subtle so that one need not guess at whether this is a story about people trying to make a new life in a beautiful, rugged and often unforgiving territory much different from any place they've ever lived -- or whether it's about the sexual maturing of a teenager. It's clearly about the former.
The writing is also beautiful and incredibly descriptive. I lost count of how many times while reading I thought of this author as a master of the analogy. If you've never been to Alaska or any other beautiful place where etching out a living is hard, then the language of the author can sort of transport you there with analogies about what the cold, the wind, the wildlife and the people are like. And the analogies can actually make an inanimate object -- the glacier in this wilderness environment -- take on human characteristics. In fact, the glacier is from the beginning a character of the novel in its own right.
What strikes me most about the writing is how much knowledge the author had to have acquired about glaciers, the wilderness of Alaska, small Alaskan communities and even about the Bible and Christianity. As to the latter, I was struck and in fact, appreciative of the fact that Vanasse wrote so well about the Bible and small Bible-believing communities without either proselytizing or condemning the beliefs these people hold. Two sentences were written so beautifully and spoke deeply to my heart: "Our secrets, you see, are the greatest rebellion from God. The roots of the weeds that crowd out all the good God has in store." Who can't learn something from that?!
I have only one criticism of Vanasse's book, which is something very important to me: It lacked humor. The story was deep and evocative, but it wasn't a tragedy in any sense of the word. And even if it had been, every life has humor in it regardless of how tragic it might be. I think of "Steel Magnolias" at the end of the funeral of the primary character who died too young as a result of complications from diabetes. The four remaining women of the group are leaving the gravesite when the decedent's mother begins ranting about how her daughter didn't have to die so young -- and all because she had to have babies! She says in utter anger that she "just feels like slapping someone." And the tension is shortly broken when one of her friends pulls another in front of her by the shoulders ("Weezer") and says, "Go ahead, slap her!" This is a long example of how humor fits even into the deepest of stories and I think that Vanasse's writing could only get better if she worked to add humor to her future work.
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Cold Spell eBook Deb Vanasse Reviews
I'm nearly obsessed with Alaska so I really wanted to love this book but the writing was so disheveled, I could barely make heads or tails of the plot line. It moves quite slow and I had a very difficult time relating to any of the characters.
I stopped reading mid way thru, just couldn't get into it. You may enjoy it more than I did, give it a chance.
The writing was very uneven, and the point of the story and eluded me. I would not recommend this book to anyone.
The premise of the book sounded interesting. I thought it held promise of an interesting read in the beginning of the book. As the story continued it went from entertaining to boring every day issues.
Descriptions come to life. The glaciers unforgiving power sets the tone for a mother and her adolescent daughters struggle. I wish I had the right words to describe this very fine book. It grips like a suspense novel but holds with a power beyond plot.
The glacier, ice in its most menacing state, is the central character of this compelling novel about finding love. Its presence entices and threatens to overwhelm anyone who dares to gaze upon it. Near or far, through a window or even in a photograph, the glacier dominates and draws each of the inhabitants of the northern community to it with a powerful, irresistible and magnetic force, and it casts its cold, hypnotic spell on the reader as well.
I know Deb as the co-founder of the 49 Writers, a literary writers group in Anchorage, Alaska. This is the second I've read of hers. While this book's protagonist is a middle aged single woman, the book is aimed at young adults as the young adult daughter gets the most coverage. This is not my normal reading genre so I have no way of accurately comparing it to other works. However, it is well written. The descriptions of ice, weather, place are wonderful and accurate. I found no misspellings or other editing errors found in many books today. I was disappointed that the book did not list her other writings and maybe that is the way of a University Press. It was jammed on the page with narrow margins all around like the publisher wanted to keep the page count down and maximize the space. They did that. But the reading was great, the writing was great, and if you like family stress with happy endings you'll eat it up. Grand literary novel for young adults.
"Cold Spell" is a rich story with depth and heart.
Perhaps the most important aspect of a novel is for the reader to be able to identify (preferably in major ways) with one or more characters. This book did that for me in ways that were sometimes uncomfortable. But then, identifying with a character often means that the story has drawn out parts of ourselves we'd rather not embrace or remember. I identified with both Ruth and Sylvie, primarily with Sylvie (though not every aspect of her).
My mother and step-father moved me and my two youngest brothers from Spokane, WA to Portland, OR when I was a few weeks shy of my 14th birthday. Spokane was my birthplace and the only place I'd ever lived and, in the 60s, it was fairly "small town" compared to Portland. So in some small ways, the culture shock of the move was as hard on me as it was for Sylvie to move from Minnesota to the small community of Resurrection, AK. That seems like a lifetime ago, but I fully recall similar dynamics between me and my mother and me and my step-father as Sylvie had between her mother, Ruth and Ruth's boyfriend, Kenny. I was sad, lonely and felt betrayed not to have been consulted about the move just like Sylvie was. And I had conflicting feelings about my step-dad just like Sylvie did about Kenny, minus the sexual attraction, however subtle Vanasse wrote about it.
The writing was evocative yet subtle in doing so. There was never any clear statement or discussion about Sylvie having an attraction to Kenny, yet one feels mildly electric when the two of them forge their secret bond as Sylvie helps Kenny with a building project that's very important to him. It's actually quite refreshing, in this day of "50 Shades of Gray," to read a well-written novel that can still enable the reader to leave something to the imagination about the nature of these characters' relationship. In fact, the few other descriptions about Sylvie's coming-of-age relationships are also subtle so that one need not guess at whether this is a story about people trying to make a new life in a beautiful, rugged and often unforgiving territory much different from any place they've ever lived -- or whether it's about the sexual maturing of a teenager. It's clearly about the former.
The writing is also beautiful and incredibly descriptive. I lost count of how many times while reading I thought of this author as a master of the analogy. If you've never been to Alaska or any other beautiful place where etching out a living is hard, then the language of the author can sort of transport you there with analogies about what the cold, the wind, the wildlife and the people are like. And the analogies can actually make an inanimate object -- the glacier in this wilderness environment -- take on human characteristics. In fact, the glacier is from the beginning a character of the novel in its own right.
What strikes me most about the writing is how much knowledge the author had to have acquired about glaciers, the wilderness of Alaska, small Alaskan communities and even about the Bible and Christianity. As to the latter, I was struck and in fact, appreciative of the fact that Vanasse wrote so well about the Bible and small Bible-believing communities without either proselytizing or condemning the beliefs these people hold. Two sentences were written so beautifully and spoke deeply to my heart "Our secrets, you see, are the greatest rebellion from God. The roots of the weeds that crowd out all the good God has in store." Who can't learn something from that?!
I have only one criticism of Vanasse's book, which is something very important to me It lacked humor. The story was deep and evocative, but it wasn't a tragedy in any sense of the word. And even if it had been, every life has humor in it regardless of how tragic it might be. I think of "Steel Magnolias" at the end of the funeral of the primary character who died too young as a result of complications from diabetes. The four remaining women of the group are leaving the gravesite when the decedent's mother begins ranting about how her daughter didn't have to die so young -- and all because she had to have babies! She says in utter anger that she "just feels like slapping someone." And the tension is shortly broken when one of her friends pulls another in front of her by the shoulders ("Weezer") and says, "Go ahead, slap her!" This is a long example of how humor fits even into the deepest of stories and I think that Vanasse's writing could only get better if she worked to add humor to her future work.
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