Road Out of Winter
AuthorAlison Stine
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fiction, post-apocalyptic fiction
PublisherHarperCollins
Publication date
September 1, 2020
Pages315
ISBN978-0778309925

Road Out of Winter is a 2020 science fiction novel by Alison Stine.

Synopsis

After an unusually long winter has led to gradual societal collapse, a young woman named Wil supports herself by selling marijuana but finds this skill more difficult due to climate change. She eventually decides to leave her home in Appalachian Ohio and go to California. Her journey through the post apocalyptic United States is made dangerous by the environmental damage and social decay which has occurred.

Themes

D. Harlan Wilson in the Los Angeles Review of Books praised its portrayal of a dystopic Ohio that was rooted in the present day culture of Appalachia.[1] Mira Harlequin of Library Journal wrote that it included elements of a rural thriller.[2] It was included on the Los Angeles Times list of eight books about the American working class to read instead of Hillbilly Elegy.[3]

The protagonist Wil is placed at odds with the dominant forces in the novel, as a bisexual woman in a patriarchal society, as an herbalist in a wintry landscape.[4][1] Jonah Raskin of the New York Journal of Books described her as "a kind of redneck Wonder Woman".[5]

Wil contends with various forms of patriarchy and oppressive masculinity, which is exemplified by her boyfriend Lobo, a patriarchal cult called The Church, and the violent gangs that inhabit the post apocalyptic country.[6] Violent masculinity is equated with the primal, natural world in the novel.[1] Nature as an antagonistic force is another theme of the novel, with Maria Warren of Nerd Daily writing that "the landscape becomes a villain on its own" in the novel.[4]

Reception

The book received mostly positive reviews from critics,[2][1][5] earning praise for its tense atmosphere and prose.[6][7] It won the 2021 Philip K. Dick Award.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Los Angeles Review of Books". Los Angeles Review of Books. July 17, 2021. Archived from the original on June 25, 2022. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
  2. 1 2 Alison, Stine. "Road Out of Winter". Library Journal. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
  3. ↑ Berry, Lorraine (November 19, 2020). "8 books you should read instead of 'Hillbilly Elegy'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 16, 2022. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
  4. 1 2 read, Marla Warren·Books··3 min (September 27, 2020). "Review: Road Out of Winter by Alison Stine". The Nerd Daily. Archived from the original on January 24, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. 1 2 "a book review by Jonah Raskin: Road Out of Winter: A Novel". www.nyjournalofbooks.com. Archived from the original on October 7, 2022. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
  6. 1 2 "Los Angeles Review of Books". Los Angeles Review of Books. July 17, 2021. Archived from the original on June 25, 2022. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Road Out of Winter by Alison Stine". www.publishersweekly.com. Archived from the original on October 28, 2020. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
  8. ↑ "2021 Philip K. Dick Award Winner Announced". Philip K. Dick Award. Archived from the original on December 3, 2022. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
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