This story sheds light on how a parent's decisions will affect her children. Ruth is a mother, who develops an unhealthy obsession with a glacier in Alaska, and as a result, clings to her boyfriend Kenny, who takes Ruth and her children to Alaska to live alongside the glacier. Sylvie, a teenager with friends she has to leave back home, is not happy with the decision, but her younger sister, who is more willing to adapt to the new surroundings, feels the opposite. Ruth struggles with whether she has made the right decision for her kids, both having a different outlook on the situation, and whether her relationship with her boyfriend, Kenny, will stand the test of time. This book is a good read, and I can relate to the characters well, being a mother as well as a child that moved around a lot. ( )

I had a hard time getting into this book. It was very well-written, just not my style. Ruth's fascination with the glacier seemed odd and the relationships between the characters felt unnatural to me. The ending felt very unresolved. ( )

I guess because of my age and not having a sixteen year old daughter, but I could not get into the story due to me be only young myself. I do know how a relationship between a daughter and mother can be and I can relate to them on that. ( )

My first impression of this book is that it is beautifully written — ornate in a fashion that each sentence carries weight and literary substance. Cold Spell reads like solemn poetry with a story slipped in.

Vanasse’s knowledge of Alaskan wildlife and of its landscape and glaciers is indeed impressive. At times, the story is stalled by intelligent and detailed depictions of the untamed land. The author runs off in tangents of descriptive prose, bordering close to overload. It did not move the story forward, but instead made me stay still and admire the harsh and beautiful environment of rural Alaska.

The story harbors on universal questions about need and want, and that of unanswered longing, a longing for something as intangible as it is elusive. Unfortunately, along with the beautiful prose, came paragraphs of church gatherings where a barrage of unremembered neighbors spoke of God, and a schematic-like segment on the particulars of the assembly of an all-terrain 8-wheeler, from gear ratios to transaxle automatic transmission. Like speed bumps, these scenes slowed the story and kept it from unfolding. I was unsure why the author was so vested in feeding us this knowledge, but as a writer myself; it is with admiration that I feel the completeness of this story, in all its details.

Vanasse’s woven words are profound and deep, and as a reader, I was forced to be patient and follow her story at its slow, methodical pace. This was a story I had to slow down to read. There is no rushing Cold Spell. For my patience, I was rewarded with a story that is rich and substantial. ( )

This book was very interesting. I was always so sure i knew what was going to happen and then the author would surprise me and lead it a different way. Sylvie reminded me of my daughter in some ways. Wanting her independance in the worst way but still to young to realize what all went with it.

I think the writer did a wonderful job with this book, and its a nice lazy day read. ( )