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Chilly Scenes of Winter
Ann Beattie Book Review

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Plot Summary of Chilly Scenes of Winter
"A modern Catcher in the Rye tale of an alienated, underpaid youth struggling with family (i.e., a mother who spends much of her depressed days in a bathtub and a semipathetic step-father who makes corny but well-meaning attempts to salvage family relations), love (i.e., the longing, paranoia, obsession and pain hauntingly familiar to anyone who has experienced a realtionship in their twenties) and life (i.e., subtle details and hilarious truths).
   "

Madame belletrosis, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of Chilly Scenes of Winter
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - thoughtful
Time/era of story - 1960's-1970's
Kids growing up/acting up? Yes
Family, struggle with Yes
Struggle with: - Mother (or standin)
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Parents/lack of parents problem? - rebelling against parent's expectations

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - secretary
Age: - 20's-30's
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - society

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 5 (an average amount)
United States Yes
City? Yes
Small town? Yes

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Unusual Style: - a lot of flashback and forwards - a lot of stream of consciousness
Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog
Most similar books to Chilly Scenes of Winter
The Good People of New York by Thisbe Nissen
Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? by Lorrie Moore
The Great Teen Fruit War, A 1960's Novel by Jay Dubya
Acts of Faith by Erich Segal
Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout


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