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Anonymous
Posted March 25, 2003
I love this book more with each re-read
This is my favorite book of all time. Its a long tale so you must be patient when reading- but the story pays off in the long run. I fine myself checking the bookstore shelves to see if Helprin has written anything since! This story is magical and it makes you want to put yourself inside the narrative
19 out of 19 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted July 9, 2001
I think I'm in Love
I don't think anything I could write here could do this novel justice. Winter's Tale is my all time favorite book. I just finished reading it for the second time and am absolutely speechless. Helprin's style of writing is poetic and you feel closely connected emotionally with all his characters. Its fantastic and realistic all at the same time. Its a long book to read, but I think most people will be surprised by how quickly you finish it. Once you're hooked, there's no way to put it down
16 out of 18 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted December 10, 2001
Intimations
At the first breath of Winter, every year since putting the book aside, I find myself once again being aborbed into the mystical city represented in the novel. And when this happens I look for the first snowy day when I could return to lower Manhatten, and in a crowded, brawling kind of a place, find a corner seat where I could lap up grilled oysters over a glass of ale -- and immerse myself in the dream. Over the years this inclination has remained merely a fancy, a simple acknowledgement of the spell this book has cast on me. To be best enjoyed, this book 'should' be read on cold winter days with at least a hint of snow in the air.
10 out of 13 people found this review helpful.
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Atthebeach
Posted December 9, 2010
Totally fantastical, complicated and enthralling....totally Helprin
I love Helprin's books. Once I read "A Soldier of the Great War", I was hooked. And now I have read every one of his books. ("Memoir from Antproof Case" is my favorite!) They're not easy reads, but they are so worth the effort. "A Winter's Tale" seems the most complex, at times hard to follow, over the top fantastical. But it is so worth finishing and knowing you have read this divine work. You simply have to remember that it's fantasy and then just float with it. Yes, the horse flies. Who says they don't? I couldn't begin to describe this story. I think only Mark Helprin could do that.
9 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
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LemonBars
Posted September 14, 2012
One of my favorite books. Fantastical yet grounded in human emot
One of my favorite books. Fantastical yet grounded in human emotions. I've read it repeatedly over the years until the pages are falling out and cover is soft, and each time, I find something new in the story that I didn't perceive or understand before. It is wonderful to be swept along with an author seemingly giddy with storytelling and words.
8 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
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Hilton-Head-Reader
Posted April 8, 2011
Fanciful and Enchanting
This book requires more than one reading. It is a masterful piece of fantasy and a total delight to the senses. The scenes are breathtaking and totally memorable.
8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted September 2, 2003
helprin hangs from a star
Perhaps the thing to be most admired about Winter's Tale is the scope of Mr. Helprin's compassion and humanity. The character's (all flawed, except for Beverly) all achieve a level of dignity and honor that most authors don't have the ability to evoke out of similar narrative styles. When Beverly finally passes, the degree of Peter Lake's grief is sublimely heroic. This book has carried me a few times and it always seems to be in mid-December when I need to be carried the most. Thank You Mr. Helprin
5 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted May 14, 2000
Mesmerizing!
I bought this book at random while looking for a big book that would take me a long time to read - it took me less than 2 weeks! I could not put it down! I usually am not drawn to fantasy-based type stories and at first was a little disappointed when I realized this was that type of story. But the narrative was so poetic and rich I kept reading until I was hooked - I struggled to keep my eyes open long into the night while I read. A beautiful powerful story - highly recommended - let your imagination soar!!!
5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted November 3, 2012
Lovely story, inferior e book
The story is ethereal. I found it difficult to believe that this was written in the early eighties, because in some places Helprin's descriptions of things - a workplace that sounds a lot like Google, for example - are just spot on. The language is almost Baroque at times, and there are clunkers here and there, but the overall effect is magical and timeless.
It's a shame that the ebook version is so poorly rendered though. It seems clear to me that somebody just scanned in the text and never cleaned it up. There seem to be NO apostrophes at all, so that we're appears as were and the possessive appears as the plural. Sometimes random numbers or symbols appear in the text where presumably the scanner failed to recognize the character. This sort of sloppiness is insulting to both author and reader, and if you're going to charge me for a book I expect it to be in better shape than this, B&N.4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted November 20, 2004
Read and read gain and again and again
I first read this book when it first came into paperback and this was my first Mark Helprin book. I have since read it at least five time and enjoyed it even more each time. The characters are magic and real while you know that all the pictorial aspects of this version of New York are totally unreal or realistic. Since then I have read a Soldier of the Great War and Refiners Fire. Both were very impressive but didn't 'speak' to me like Winters Tale. I am a fantasy freak. Buy and Enjoy.
4 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
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RPyle
Posted March 9, 2009
Helprin's Winter's Tale defies description.
Helprin's incredibly layered historical fantasy is a feast for the imagination. The reader is caught up in a whirlwind of imagery that makes a valiant attempt to describe the indescribable city--New York. Characters of fire roam a city of ice and the reader is in awe of the place and it's people. From the first chapter it becomes impossible to look away from the beauty, the horror and the banality of life in the city. The density of Halprin's gorgeous poetic prose makes for a slow read. And don't expect such a complex web of time and space to be neatly tied up in the final chapter. But Winter's Tale is much like a first-time visit to Manhattan--the senses are overwhelmed, time stands still and you know you must return some day for a closer look.
3 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted March 1, 2004
Magical, Lyrical, High Art
The splendid author of A Soldier of the Great War, brings us something different in Winter's Tale. The difference isn't his mastery of prose-poetry. There are few ARTISTS of words as good today as Helprin. The difference is that the hard edges of Soldier are replaced by soft allusiveness here. It's almost as though the author is preening his talent for us - just to demonstrate his range. For anyone who likes beautiful writing, you must buy this book and A Solidier of the Great War too. Once you finish both, you'll know Helprin's working up to a magnum opus of some sort he's going to leave behind one of these days as his legacy to world literature. Unlike most of the beach trash on the shelves today, when you finish reading this, you'll know you're reading someone who'll be read in 100 years. Treat yourself.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted March 10, 2000
Incredible imagery
One of the most beautiful books I have ever read. Helprin's style of writing flows so easily and is very poetic.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted October 22, 2012
A Winter Tale
On page 126. The writing is enchanting and to be savored slowly like a favorite taste. Unfortunately I am interrupted at least once a page by the appaling typing errors.
I have owned one version or another of a Nook since they first became available and was very patient with errors of this type at the beginning. Clearly as the models are "improved" and offer more and more features, and of course cost more, it is past time for these kind of errors to exit at all let alone be so frequent. Its a big problem and brings the reader annoyingly out off the beautiful story time after time!
Time to seriously get with the program B&N!2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted September 14, 2012
Awesome!
My favorite book. I have reread it several times.
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted December 23, 2002
mythical-historical
This book is one of my favorites, and it would be difficult to find a better-written book in any genre. It merges the history of New York City (and state)with a mythical tale of human redemption. This is a perfect companion to Martin Scorsese's new masterpiece "Gangs of New York" (December '02) and will give you real insight into the period.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted March 26, 2002
An enchanting history of NYC!
Although the descriptions were tedious at times I really enjoyed this book. I liked the magic in the story and I really enjoyed the history of NYC. The story continually called me back to find out what would happen!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted December 3, 2001
The best Author of the past century
To say that Helprin is my favorite writer today would be a small understatement. Every month I wander into Barnes and Nobel to find out if anything new has surfaced from this writer, but unfortuantly genius seems to ebb into the publishing world very slowly. A Winters Tale is arguably the best of Helprin's work, combining history, fantasy, and a unparalleled attention to detail that delights and enthralls the reader throughout. The characters speak to you as if they were alive, and you want so desparately to meet them, to console them, to love them.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted June 5, 2001
Mythical
I am sure that I do not understand much of this book today, years after first reading it. The pure beauty of the language is enough to provide a place on your book shelf among your favorites. Anything by Mark Helprin is well worth reading.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous
Posted January 20, 2001
Enchanting over and over
This is one of the few books ever that I could read over and over and never be afraid of knowing the ending. Helprin writes as a bird flies, and makes me lose myself in his world, sad to return to this one.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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