Midwinter Break Review: Problematic characters, but sweet
Ever since the story first caught my attention, I was intrigued by Midwinter Break because I didn't really know what to expect beyond a long-married retired couple taking a vacation to Amsterdam. Going into Bernard MacLaverty’s novel relatively blind, I was quite curious to see how this quiet setup would unfold. Did this literary journey hook me as much as the premise promised? That's what I, Brighton Nelson, will be discussing in today's review for Brighton's Bookshelf.
The majority of Midwinter Break essentially loops through the same pattern: the wife exploring her faith and contemplating a life of religious retreat while the husband continuously sneaks off to buy alcohol. By condensing a highly complicated, multi-decade relationship down to just these two repetitive problems, the narrative starts to feel oversimplified.
I simply didn't really care about this couple anymore by the end. While I felt bad for the lady that her husband had a drinking problem and that he didn't care about her Catholicism, the man is simply not anywhere near cruel enough for me to feel so bad for her that I want to read a whole book about it. After all, if it bothered her so much, she probably should've been bugging him about it a lot more, or trying to get him into some sort of rehab program. I just felt like she was being similarly toxic with no good explanation and not really trying to urge her husband to be any better, making the conflict feel rather unrealistic.
They spend a massive chunk of an expensive vacation simply avoiding each other, wasting time in a beautiful city, and refusing to actually communicate. I found it incredibly difficult to connect with or find inspiration in these characters. When you value a relationship that has energy, growth, and real partnership, watching a couple content to just actively shut down and do nothing with each other doesn't feel tragic—it just feels frustrating. It left me thinking, I can't imagine ever letting a relationship get to this point.
I'm not saying this type of story doesn't work, but there's a difference in my mind between interesting flaws and people just being crotchety old people who can't communicate to any degree. I know the book was supposed to be subdued and not melodramatic, more focused on micro-aggressions in marriage, but I've seen marriages that are starting to fall apart or be on the decline, and I feel there's a far more captivating angle to take this.
I also was a little disappointed with the setting. MacLaverty isolates the couple, gives them a beautiful city to explore, and they just sit around in the same three places the whole time. Maybe it's just me, but it didn't feel very realistic to go on vacation just to be in the same few places. The couple is not senile or bedridden, after all.
By the time I got to the end of the book, I felt that the resolution wasn't quite worth the wait. It wasn't bad at all, it just was so subdued and simple that I felt like I just read a book about pettiness and nothing really changed from the beginning to the end. Slice-of-life stories are really hard to do well because, sometimes, there's not much of a place to go from start to finish. I think this book crumbled under that weight.
However, none of this is to say that MacLaverty is a poor writer. I love his writing. The prose is wonderful and reflective in a magnificent way. I can absolutely see what he was going for here. The book's narrative may feel like a first draft in a way, but the writing is absolutely on point. I hate being all negative with any novel review, but honesty is key, and I hope people know that I want them to be honest once my debut releases as well! Constructive criticsm is how we get better! Anyway, I'm honestly quite excited to check out what else MacLaverty has in store! This is the first book of his that I've read, and I'm quite interested to see how his writing prowess will lend itself better to a better story.
The Brighton's Bookshelf Verdict
Brighton's Bookshelf Score: 4/10
Letter Score: C-
Midwinter Break features elegant prose and a highly realistic window into the heavy silence of a failing marriage. However, because the main characters are tough to view as inspirational or deeply compelling people to spend time with, the narrative is a bit frustrating to read. If you are a massive fan of Bernard MacLaverty, the incredible writing may carry you through, but, for me, the weak plot makes me struggle to recommend this novel.
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