The Warmest December

by Bernice L. McFadden

Book Overview

"McFadden's reissued second novel takes an unflinching look at the corrosive nature of alcoholism . . . This is not a story of easy redemption . . . McFadden writes candidly about the treacherous hold... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525945644
• ISBN13: 9780525945642
• Release Date: February 2001
• Publisher: Dutton Books
• Length: 239 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.7" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

What a disaster

Reading this book was like watching spill milk . It was all over the place and a hot mess. I read the author's work "Sugar" and it was good so I thought I would be safe reading this but this was disappointing. The problem with this read was the format. It kept going back and forward and I found myself sometimes wondering where the heck it was. It should have been told in chronological order. She spends so much time reminiscing about the horrible life with her parents and never did the story ever breath. I would have like to know more about Malcolm. The way she described his death was so embarrassing and unfair. She wasted too much time talking about HY-Lo. She never talked about her journey to alcoholism and how Della changed her life. I could not understand how she managed to live in poverty since she had a good education. Even though the book was not long, it felt like forever getting to the end. It is obvious that this was truly a dysfunctional family that was doomed for failure so early in life

Heartbreaking and Gut-wrenching, Powerful story...

I just recently completed Bernice McFadden's second novel, The Warmest December. What a compelling, heartbreaking, gut-wrenching story, that's sure to pull at your heart strings. Page after page, I couldn't imagine what would happen next. My heart ached for the Kenize and Malcolm Lowe and the pain they had to endure from their abusive father Hy-Lo(Hyman Lowe)There were times when I thought how could anyone be that cold-hearted and mean-spirited and then you meet Gywenth Lowe, his mother and their grandmother,who passed the genocidal traits down to her sons. What enraged me even more was that their mother Della, had the opportunities time and time again to save her children and herself as well but, sacrifices it all for what she values. Her own mother couldn't convince her, she was playing with fire. Her confession at the end of the book, was truly a shocker but, gave me some type of understanding as to why they endured so much pain and heartache at the hands of a mad-man. I found that even in those situations of domestic abuse, women try to convince themselves and others that, they're loved, well-cared for, etc. This story gives insight into the lives of abused children and all they suffer as children and possibily adults. You see the toll that it takes on other family members and friends of the family as well. Berince did a beauitful job bringing such a touchy subject to light and giving Kenize Lowe the strenght to share her story with the reader. Bravo!! Bravo!! Bravo!!

No Sugar Coating Here

The Warmest December by Bernice McFadden deals with the detrimental effects of alcoholism... how the disease and its negative effects on the human spirit spread from one generation to the next. I appreciate the fact that Bernice McFadden did not sugarcoat the associated physical and mental abuse that alcoholism caused for Kenzie Lowe (the main character) and her family. At the tender age of 5, Kenzie wished death upon the book's alcoholic culprit. As an adult, before her childhood wish is granted, Kenzie realizes the causes of the culprit's disease, which lead to her own.We all know or have had to deal first-hand with people who suffer from alcoholism and, in many cases, have been negatively effected by their disease. After reading this book, the pain, hurt, guilt, and shame that the disease has imposed can be released, allowing one to move forward.

A Haunting, depressing tale that some people REALLY LIVE

The Warmest December by Bernice L. McFadden is a very haunting, depressing tale of life in home with an abusive alcoholic father. This is the haunting, depressing tale of a mother who wants her kids to have a better childhood than she did even if it means she has to suffer physical and mental abuse. This is the haunting, depressing tale that some people live with every day of their life. In The Warmest December, I met Kenzie (our narrator), Della (her timid mother), Malcolm (her younger brother) and Hyman Lowe better known as HyLo (the father, the alcohlic, the tormentor). The story starts out with Kenzie telling us that she almost forgot she hated her father. She forgot how the sound of her mother's crying ate holes inside of her and ripped a space open near her heart. Those words pulled me into the story the way the unknown forced pulled Kenzie to the death bed of HyLo the father she's hated since she was 5...the father she's wished would just die and let everyone be happy. As Kenzie sits and watches her father or at least the shell of the man she has hated for so long she reminisces about her childhood. She tries to remember happy times but all her memories are filled with hurt, pain, abuse, anger, hatred, and sheer sadness that no one should have to deal with. Kenzie remembers the shouting, the bruises, the banging on the walls, the trips to the liquor store for HyLo, and the smell of gin and vodka that was ever present on HyLo's breathe. I know none of what I've written so far will make you run to the nearest store and pick up this book but I will be the first to tell you that you should do just that. Why would I tell you to go out and buy this book? I'm telling you that because this book contains two lessons that everyone should learn. The first lesson is that alcoholism exists and it's a disease that not only affects the alcoholic but everyone around them in more ways then they could ever know. There are times when alcoholism is passed from one generation to another unknowing to the original alcoholic. The second lesson is that you are responsible for how the story of your life ends. There is a passage in the book that says "some stories start out happy, go bad in the middle and end up happy at the end. Still others start out bad, get worse, and still end up happy at the end." This was not the case for HyLo his story "started out bad, curdled up and soured in the middle, and ended up worse" Well Kenzie didn't want her life story to be that of HyLo but she wasn't sure how to change the writing that already seem to be on the wall. She eventually found a way to erase that writing and part of it was going to visit HyLo. During those visits and after dealing with her own bouts of alcoholism she realizes that she needs to get rid of the pain and let some joy into her life.I gladly give this book a rating of 5 because the writing is so vivid and real that I actually felt the blows and heard the screams from HyLo and Della...I too

Depressing But A Literary Masterpiece!

Once again Bernice McFadden is on the scene and takes us to a place which vividly surpasses our wildest imaginations and makes us question whether The Warmest December is fiction or real life. Step Into Kenzie's world, where you discover a childhood lived in fear with an abusive and alcoholic father, Hyman Lowe aka Hy-Lo. Imagine Kenzie's childhood where most days were filled with sadness, pain, anger, harm and too many issues/situations that a child shouldn't have to live with. And then come full circle to One Warm December, where Hy-Lo/the Teflon man lay dying in a County Hospital, very much alone, estranged from family and himself. It starts on one cold winter morning, Kenzie is drawn by some unbeknownst force (maybe it was compassion, maybe it was pity for an old man who could no longer harm her) to take two buses daily to the hospital to be at the bedside of whats left of Hy-Lo. Hard-living had taken its toll on him and he was now a simple shell of the man he used to be: a man who was like Teflon and took to the bottle every day of his life to stifle out any emotions that tried to leak through when he was sober...which wasn't often. He was a man who was so horrible, that at the age of 5, Kenzie would start hating him and everyday of her life she would wish he was dead. A man who was like Teflon because he didnt allow anyone to get close enough to close the hole in his chest or the space near his heart. As Kenzie visits Hy-Lo and sits and waits for death to have its way with her father, she reminisces regarding yesteryears, and the memories of the past are filled with years of pain, hurt, abuse, anger and sorrow brought on by the wrath of Hyman Lowe. The wrath affected all of those who lived in Apt. A5: Della, the timid and scared mother; Malcolm the growing and daring only son; and Kenzie the only girl child. The trials and tribulations that this family experienced were so hauntingly and depressingly realistic that I pondered whether the storyline was fictional or factual. As I read, always lurking in the back of my mind was whether Hy-Lo was abused as a child by an alcoholic parent. I wondered if this was a generational issue and one that would take Malcolm and Kenzie to break the chains that appeared to shackle this family daily24/7, 365 days a year, for more years than I care to remember. The Warmest December is well-written and the subject matter is fierce and intense. The writing is vivid, graphic and yet lyrical; told in a storytelling fashion as only McFadden can do with supreme justice. As I read, oftentimes, I wanted to rush the story and get to the end so that I could quell the pain that I was experiencing. The message/storyline was so powerful that I was unable to read this book in one sitting; incidents would happen which would force me to set the book aside and come back at a later time. I couldnt give up reading this book though and there were timeswhen I wanted to; but then I would be drawn back

Excellent Writer

As I expected, The Warmest December is a very gooood book. Bernice McFadden can tell a story. When I started this book, I couldn't put it down until I finished the entire book. The theme reminded me of Gal, by Ruthie Bolton. Can't wait for her next one. Thanks for a well written book.