Come Winter

Come Winter is the sequel to Hunter's earlier book, Last Summer. It follows much the same format, with many parallel occurrences. The locale has changed, from an island resort community to a ski lodge. The unit of three (David, Sandy and narrator Peter) return. Rhoda, the foil from the previous novel, appears only in a cameo when Sandy relates seeing her in a store as Rhoda plans to go to Paris. We aren't sure if Sandy is telling the truth, and that is what is striking about this later work. Last Summer was a very serious coming of age novel, an end of the innocence. Now that the innocence is gone, however, can we really trust the characters? Part of the story is told in the form of Peter's sessions with his psychotherapist, who is trying to convince him to leave his association with David and Sandy (the pop psych "co dependency" term had not been invented yet or it surely would have been used here). In these sessions, Peter repeatedly denies that they raped Rhoda in the previous work, and we aren't sure if he himself believes it or not. Rhoda's replacement in Come Winter is Mary Margaret, who is somewhat physically similar to Rhoda. Behaviorally, however, she is no Rhoda. In fact, she might even be a match for Sandy in callousness, bordering on sociopathy (if not crossing the line). Mary Margaret is portrayed as an anti-semite, and is not a character who draws sympathy from the reader, as Rhoda had. When the inevitable clash between Sandy and Mary Margaret comes to its climax, we see that little has changed from Last Summer. Peter and David and Sandy have grown older, and harder, and life simply goes on. Don't expect any moral epiphanies on the part of any of the main characters, which may be what Hunter was trying to tell us. Perhaps this is not the work that Last Summer was, but it is an engaging read nonetheless and a must for the many fans of Last Summer (and the excellent movie version).

Come Winter is a continuation of Last Summer. I read them in the wrong order but I believe this has made Come Winter's impact greater. The story of how twisted people amuse themselves is captivating in the self-perceived innocence of the characters and the suffering they inflict on others. I could not put the book down. One of Hunter's best works.