Wintering

 Book 49 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from June 16 - 24

Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times

by Katherine May

published 2020

Summary (via Goodreads)

Sometimes you slip through the cracks: unforeseen circumstances like an abrupt illness, the death of a loved one, a break up, or a job loss can derail a life. These periods of dislocation can be lonely and unexpected. For May, her husband fell ill, her son stopped attending school, and her own medical issues led her to leave a demanding job. Wintering explores how she not only endured this painful time, but embraced the singular opportunities it offered.

A moving personal narrative shot through with lessons from literature, mythology, and the natural world, May’s story offers instruction on the transformative power of rest and retreat. Illumination emerges from many sources: solstice celebrations and dormice hibernation, C.S. Lewis and Sylvia Plath, swimming in icy waters and sailing arctic seas.

Ultimately Wintering invites us to change how we relate to our own fallow times. May models an active acceptance of sadness and finds nourishment in deep retreat, joy in the hushed beauty of winter, and encouragement in understanding life as cyclical, not linear. A secular mystic, May forms a guiding philosophy for transforming the hardships that arise before the ushering in of a new season.

My Opinion

2 stars

I checked this out from the library after seeing it in Bookpage.  I'm disappointed because the title and concept seemed like such a good one.  As I started to read, I realize it wasn't global clinical information mixed with personal narrative.  That was my misunderstanding but I adjusted and continued reading.  But the personal narrative wasn't really there either.  For example, she starts with an illness of her husband's but by the end, I'm not even sure they're still together (he's no longer mentioned and isn't thanked in her acknowledgements).  If that's the case, wouldn't that be a major example of a difficult time to winter through?  The reader isn't owed more than the author feels comfortable sharing but also...if the author is choosing to write a book about difficult times and personal struggles of her husband, son, and herself, wouldn't some sort of conclusion about wintering and if it was effective would be a reasonable expectation?  I think so.

There were threads of concepts there but nothing fully formed I felt I could grab onto.