Winter Eyes: A Novel of Secrets

Winter Eyes tells the Story of Stefan, from a young child through to the age of eighteen. He was born not long after WWII, an only child, his parents Polish émigrés. His father a college professor, harsh and distant, and his mother discontent as a housewife, it is his uncle he warms to, initially through learning to play the piano, his uncle being a music teacher. But all the while he is troubled by the lack of knowledge of his family's past; it is something not to be discussed. His parent's marriage is not a happy one, and is doomed to fail, and Stefan has to cope with their break up through the age of eight to eleven. An intelligent boy, he has difficulty coming to terms with the break up, and becomes quite and introverted. When the slightly older good looking son of his Italian neighbours befriends him he becomes absorbed by their friendship, especially when their amicable wrestling leads to something much more intimate. This relationship puzzles him when later starts he dating girls. When Stefan eventually discovers the terrible secret of his family's history it has a devastating effect on him, making Stefan's already difficult youth almost unbearable. His insular nature combined with the family taboo on open discussion makes it impossible for him to unburden his problems, and he has to cope the only way he knows how, drawing ever tighten within himself. Winter Eyes is a most engaging story, well written it grows in maturity in pace with Stefan; while told in the third person, the opening chapters truly see the world through a child's eyes. One is immediately drawn to Stefan and when he reaches the point of despair one's heart goes out to him; but it is ultimately a heart-warming and rewarding story with a neat twist at the end.

Finding His Way through Unknowns As I saw the number of unread pages dwindling, I was plagued by fear that this engaging novel might just stop rather than really ending, but as I read the conclusion of Winter Eyes at two o?clock in the morning, I lifted both thumbs over my head and said, ?Yes, yes, yes!? The book is a great read with an explosion of an ending, fireworks. Lev Raphael?s Winter Eyes is a richly textured portrait of Stefan Borowski as he grows up in New York with parents who are traumatized by their World War II past in Poland. They do everything possible not to deal with that painful history and to protect Stefan from it. These secrets and his awakening sexual interests create a world of unknowns for him. I always cared about and was sometimes anxious about him as he found his way through family and peer relationships from the first grade through his first year of college. In addition to being excellent reading, Winter Eyes gives new perspectives for thinking about important questions involving families, the past, and sexuality.

I have read many of this author's works. As always I am moved and perhaps a bit dirtied by his canny ability to get me into the web of his story. Winter Eyes took me though New York as I knew it growing up. The people are real, the smells are powerful and the prejudices are grating. Our family use to say you had to speak 6 languages to cross all the territories from home to school. Mr. Raphael doesn't say these things, he shows it in his dialogue, the mystery of couplings working and coming undone and the alliances among family members. These assets make Winter Eyes so poignant to me, particularly when one assumes that surviving the holocaust was so unbelievable that nothing else could harm you. That myth was shattered as the author shows how the survivors are still in prison and their attempts to protect the family become a worse warden. Tough, straight and vivid read.

Anyone who has ever tried to come to terms with himself, to understand himself will identify with this compelling novel and its plot. Keeping secrets--even for supposedly "good" reasons--can be so destructive. This is just part of what Raphael's novel is trying to say. More and more, it seems as though there is a need for so many of us to find some link to our past; often, we find the path to that discovery blocked. Stefan faces just this sort of stumbling block in the novel. As he reaches to unmask the secrets, he is also in a process of self discovery. His growing awareness of himself as a gay young man may now mean that he has secrets of his own to keep. Triumphantly, however, the novel is not ultimately about guilt or shame. It is about discovery; it is about taking the results of discovery and making them your own. Stefan does, in fact, become a better man because of the search he has undertaken. This novel stays with you; its impact and intensity increase in the weeks and even months after it has been completed. I know I will read it again--I can pay no higher compliment to a book or its author.