Status
Available
Call number
Call number
FIC DIM
Collection
Description
Winifred has lived in the apartment above the cemetery office with her father, who works in the crematorium, all her life, close to her mother's grave. With her sixteenth birthday only days away, Winifred has settled into a lazy summer schedule, lugging her obese Chihuahua around the grounds in a squeaky red wagon to visit the neglected gravesides and nursing a serious crush on her best friend, Jack. Her habit of wandering the graveyard at all hours has started a rumor that Winterson Cemetery might be haunted. It's welcome news since the crematorium is on the verge of closure and her father's job being outsourced. Now that the ghost tours have started, Winifred just might be able to save her father's job and the only home she's ever known, not to mention being able to stay close to where her mother is buried. All she has to do is get help from her con-artist cousin to keep up the ruse and somehow manage to stop her father from believing his wife has returned from the grave. But when Phil, an actual ghost of a teen girl who lived and died in the ravine next to the cemetery, starts showing up, Winifred begins to question everything she believes about life, love and death. Especially lov… (more)
Genres
Publication
Tundra Books (2023), 280 pages
Original publication date
2023-04-04
Original language
English
Language
User reviews
LibraryThing member sennebec
While it took a bit, this grew on me and I found myself invested in three of the characters. Winnifred is one, as is Phil. Win's late aunt also was very likable, even though she died before the story began. Her father is more like overcooked spaghetti, her cousin just plain nasty, and Jack comes
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across as a typical teenage jerk. You might think that such a cast would lead to a difficult read, but this is anything but. The author's ethnic heritage can be sensed throughout the story and if you're aware of it, you get a much richer reading experience. I really felt for Phil. She never had a chance to spread her wings and died under horrible circumstances. I hope she found a better place to spend eternity. Show Less
LibraryThing member reader1009
* reviewed from free copy courtesy of publisher
Teen/adult fiction - lonely 16 y.o. meets a ghost in the Toronto cemetery where she lives with the ashes of a Metis mother she never knew and her ever-grieving father. (CW/TW: homelessness, drug/substance use and addiction, rape of inebriated teen
A satisfying, dark story with lovely, lonely characters and a funny (very old) dog. More, please!
Teen/adult fiction - lonely 16 y.o. meets a ghost in the Toronto cemetery where she lives with the ashes of a Metis mother she never knew and her ever-grieving father. (CW/TW: homelessness, drug/substance use and addiction, rape of inebriated teen
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girls, self-cutting)A satisfying, dark story with lovely, lonely characters and a funny (very old) dog. More, please!
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LibraryThing member SJGirl
3.5 Stars. I really liked Winifred, I liked that she’s an outcast, I liked her curiosity about sex since that’s still more often a curiosity depicted in boys than in girls and I felt for her throughout, her loneliness is palpable.
It wasn’t just Winifred that was such a well drawn, affecting
The plot seemed a bit stagnant at times, maybe even slightly undetectable until closer to the end when Winifred had an urgency to act, to protect someone.
I thought Winifred and Phil had chemistry more so than either shared with their other options in the story, but overall their relationship felt kind of underdeveloped, particularly in the early stages, it seemed like much of those early meetings we’re more told of than really shown, we go from Winifred afraid of the ghost to being at ease and I just wanted more of those moments in between where they were earning each other’s trust, rather than have it kind of be glossed over and so immediately normalized when you’d think for both person and ghost the situation would take more getting used to each other. I felt similarly about some other parts of Phil’s story as well, where I really wished it had gotten into some things a bit more as there were some transitions in her life, some choices that she makes that again were somewhat glossed over where I wanted more of an understanding of how she got there.
It’s been a while since I was this torn over how to rate a book, it’s also been a while since I felt like a book could have stood to be a bit longer rather than shorter, there were some areas of this that I wanted more from yet other times like the closing scenes that I thought really worked emotionally and left me with the desire to try more of this author’s work. It isn’t every three and half star book that I can honestly say I’m glad I read it and aspects of it will stay with me in a good way, but this is certainly one of those.
I received this book through a giveaway.
It wasn’t just Winifred that was such a well drawn, affecting
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character, I felt that way about her lump of a dog, the dad still struggling to let go of his long dead wife, the friend who is such a teenage boy and clueless as to how to handle Winifred wanting more from him, the deceased Aunt who’s the closest thing Winifred had to a mom, and Phil, with her heartbreaking trajectory (and Phil’s mom, too, who wasn’t on the page much but my thoughts went to her knowing of that heartbreaking trajectory). Even the nasty cousin, as much as I disliked her unfounded resentment, she came across as someone you might actually know in life, as did everyone else here, including the ghost, their personalities, their thoughts and troubles, the way they interacted had a realness to it that drew me in and kept the pages turning in ways the plot itself rarely managed. The plot seemed a bit stagnant at times, maybe even slightly undetectable until closer to the end when Winifred had an urgency to act, to protect someone.
I thought Winifred and Phil had chemistry more so than either shared with their other options in the story, but overall their relationship felt kind of underdeveloped, particularly in the early stages, it seemed like much of those early meetings we’re more told of than really shown, we go from Winifred afraid of the ghost to being at ease and I just wanted more of those moments in between where they were earning each other’s trust, rather than have it kind of be glossed over and so immediately normalized when you’d think for both person and ghost the situation would take more getting used to each other. I felt similarly about some other parts of Phil’s story as well, where I really wished it had gotten into some things a bit more as there were some transitions in her life, some choices that she makes that again were somewhat glossed over where I wanted more of an understanding of how she got there.
It’s been a while since I was this torn over how to rate a book, it’s also been a while since I felt like a book could have stood to be a bit longer rather than shorter, there were some areas of this that I wanted more from yet other times like the closing scenes that I thought really worked emotionally and left me with the desire to try more of this author’s work. It isn’t every three and half star book that I can honestly say I’m glad I read it and aspects of it will stay with me in a good way, but this is certainly one of those.
I received this book through a giveaway.
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LibraryThing member glendalea
3/3.5 out of 5 stars
YA coming of age with some ghosts added to the mix, this is the story of Winifred, who lives with her father in an apartment in the local cemetery (he runs the crematorium). Packed into 270 pages, we have a ghost girl named Phil, unrequited love, teen angst, family
YA coming of age with some ghosts added to the mix, this is the story of Winifred, who lives with her father in an apartment in the local cemetery (he runs the crematorium). Packed into 270 pages, we have a ghost girl named Phil, unrequited love, teen angst, family
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dysfunction, cemetery ghost tours...you get the picture. I liked the story overall, but it got to a point where I felt like there were too many subplots/themes being explored and no real resolutions. I did enjoy the author's writing style, and I am looking forward to checking out more of her work in the future. Show Less
LibraryThing member blueviolent
This one was so close to being really really good. For a YA about a motherless teen living in a cemetery, a real ghost in a fake haunting, the bitter cousin, clueless boy, and a whole host of random things going on, it feels a little busy at times and disorganized. It's still got really good
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charismatic characters even when their story isn't fully fleshed out. You want more, you want less but you won't regret this one for sure. Show Less
LibraryThing member LongDogMom
This book was quite different than I expected. I had thought it would be a little quirky and fun, but it was actually quite sad and a little depressing. I was also a little surprised at her sexual curiosity just because I didn't expect it, or sex, to come up as much as it did, although it is a
The story itself revolves around a girl whose mother died when she was born, and whose father is the cremator of a small cemetery. Living where she does is normal for her, but others find her situation, and her by extension, strange, and so he grew into an outcast, obsessing on the strange story of her birth, and spying on visitors to the cemetery, even developing some OCD along the way. Her father and her don't really communicate much, and so she is mostly alone with her thoughts and worries, especially once she hears that the cemetery may be closing down meaning they might have move from the only home she's ever known. After Win's actions accidentally start rumours that the cemetery is haunted, a ghost tour plans to stop there. There is a ghost that Win gets to know named Phil, and an unusual romance begins between the pair.
There are a lot of deep themes and Cherie Dimaline is a very talented writer. At times her wording was just beautiful, and I would stop and read the passage or line to my husband to share because it was just so beautifully phrased. Overall though, I think I was hoping for a somewhat lighter story that didn't make me feel so badly for the main character.
Thank you to Library Thing and the publisher for an Early Reviewers copy for an honest review.
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coming of age story so it's not out of place... although Win is an unusual girl living in an unusual place with an unusual backstory, so it's not quite the usual coming of age story. The story itself revolves around a girl whose mother died when she was born, and whose father is the cremator of a small cemetery. Living where she does is normal for her, but others find her situation, and her by extension, strange, and so he grew into an outcast, obsessing on the strange story of her birth, and spying on visitors to the cemetery, even developing some OCD along the way. Her father and her don't really communicate much, and so she is mostly alone with her thoughts and worries, especially once she hears that the cemetery may be closing down meaning they might have move from the only home she's ever known. After Win's actions accidentally start rumours that the cemetery is haunted, a ghost tour plans to stop there. There is a ghost that Win gets to know named Phil, and an unusual romance begins between the pair.
There are a lot of deep themes and Cherie Dimaline is a very talented writer. At times her wording was just beautiful, and I would stop and read the passage or line to my husband to share because it was just so beautifully phrased. Overall though, I think I was hoping for a somewhat lighter story that didn't make me feel so badly for the main character.
Thank you to Library Thing and the publisher for an Early Reviewers copy for an honest review.
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LibraryThing member PaperbackPirate
This was a unique coming-of-age story about a teenage girl who lives in a graveyard with her dad who works there. As we join her on her summer break she grapples with multiple issues: her sexuality, her culture, and maybe surprisingly for someone who lives in a graveyard, life and death. A mystery,
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a supernatural resident, romance, and indigenous values are layered in, making this a book I would recommend to others and that I won't soon forget. Bonus points for the comedic chihuahua sidekick. Show Less
LibraryThing member oldandnewbooksmell
Winifred has lived in the apartment above the cemetery office with her father, who works for the crematorium, all her life. She loves to spend her time wandering around the graveyard, but because she does this at all hours of the day and night, a rumor has started that Winterson Cemetery is
I had a hard time caring about the characters in this one. I understood that Winifred was a loner and didn’t have many friends, but then she had a falling out with a guy who didn’t really seem to be her friend anyway, made it hard for me to care that it happened? And then the random sex talks would throw me off…
The nonlinear writing would get me mixed up as well. I wasn’t sure if it was something happening in the past or the present because scenes were never clearly ended, they would just blend into one another.
Overall, I still liked the story for the family element of it, but it wasn’t something I absolutely loved. It was a coming of age, slow burn (if that makes sense).
*Thank you Tundra Books and LibraryThing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
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haunted. It’s great news, because Winifred’s dad is on the verge of having his job outsourced. Now, Winifred needs to keep the ruse of a haunted cemetery up with the help of her con-artist cousin. But, when Phil, an actual ghost of a teenage girl starts showing up, it makes Winifred question everything.I had a hard time caring about the characters in this one. I understood that Winifred was a loner and didn’t have many friends, but then she had a falling out with a guy who didn’t really seem to be her friend anyway, made it hard for me to care that it happened? And then the random sex talks would throw me off…
The nonlinear writing would get me mixed up as well. I wasn’t sure if it was something happening in the past or the present because scenes were never clearly ended, they would just blend into one another.
Overall, I still liked the story for the family element of it, but it wasn’t something I absolutely loved. It was a coming of age, slow burn (if that makes sense).
*Thank you Tundra Books and LibraryThing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
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LibraryThing member clrichm
Despite the title, something about the book jacket synopsis had me anticipating something much lighter than what the book delivered. Much of the story was very, very dark, and almost none of that had to do with the literal haunting. Winifred, the protagonist, is clearly dealing with mental health
Yes, there is the promised story line in which Winifred being mistaken for a ghost leads to ghost tours and poorly-conceived attempts to save the crematorium from closing. On the whole, though, it's a story about grieving, healing, and letting go. It's not a horror novel at all; the only real moments of dread arise from the characters' attempts to face what they'd rather bury. For what it was, this was very well-done.
(Note: definitely not a book to recommend personally to patrons without offering trigger warnings for sexual assault, drug abuse, overdose, self-harm, and animal death.)
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issues (never explicitly defined but resembling obsessive-compulsive disorder) and neurodivergence; she feels culturally out of touch from her mother's Metis background, and she's suffering intense survivor's guilt from her mother's death due to her Winifred's complicated birth. Winifred's father is still heavily mourning his wife, sixteen years past her death, unable to move on. Phil, the ghost haunting Winifred, experienced massive trauma in her last living years, which is revealed in a first-person narrative unspooled bit by painful bit.Yes, there is the promised story line in which Winifred being mistaken for a ghost leads to ghost tours and poorly-conceived attempts to save the crematorium from closing. On the whole, though, it's a story about grieving, healing, and letting go. It's not a horror novel at all; the only real moments of dread arise from the characters' attempts to face what they'd rather bury. For what it was, this was very well-done.
(Note: definitely not a book to recommend personally to patrons without offering trigger warnings for sexual assault, drug abuse, overdose, self-harm, and animal death.)
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ISBN
0735265631 / 9780735265639