Season of Ice by Diane Les Becquets

Season of Ice Reviews

• 
  Cheryl

  Well-written YA novel about dealing with loss. Sad, but with a hopeful ending.
• 
  Jenny Brown

  Nice job Diane
• 
  Lisa

  Jade recommended this book to me, she checked out several books from the library and I mentioned I was looking for something to read. She excitedly told me "Pixies in a Vice!" which I thought was an odd title, until I discovered she was actually saying "Pick 'Season of Ice'". LOL. I still think of Pixies when I hear the title.
  
  The book had nothing to do with Pixies however, it was about a young girl whose father goes missing and is presumed dead and the journey that her grief takes her through. It was heartbreaking, inspiring and I feel better for having read it and think Jade will too.
  
  
• 
  Jill

  
  Season of Ice moves slowly, especially the first part. The journey of a teenage girl through a difficult winter is believable, but the delivery is more ponderous than many teen fiction stories. Except for the catalyst of the plot, events that drive the narrative are mundane. The ending is equally lacking in drama, although it is a fitting conclusion.
  
  This book contains occasional swearing and teenage drinking.
• 
  Nancy O'Toole

  In late fall, Genesis's father heads out to Moosehead Lake and vanishes. A frantic search takes place with no results, and it is determined that he has perished beneath the frozen waters of the lake. Recovery is delayed until spring, and Genesis and her family must go on living without any concrete answers. But when she hears a rumor that her father is still alive, and has run away with another women, Genesis begins to ask more questions about her father's disappearance.
  
  Season of Ice is a realistic work of young adult fiction that takes place in Maine. One of the things that impressed me the most about the novel is how accurate Les Becquets captures life in rural Maine. It's obvious from the small details she provides, from plastic on the windows in winter to front yards filled with broken down cars, that that author has a real life connection to the place. As someone who lives in Maine, I could make real life connections with a lot of details she provides. Another thing I really liked about this novel is it's protagonist Genesis. I admired her maturity, but also feel sympathetic towards her plight. Genesis has to grow up too fast due to events in her life. While reading, I often found myself wishing that she had more time just to be a seventeen-year-old girl. On occasion, the writing is surprisingly lovely. I found myself pausing to reread over certain passages several times.
  
  Admittedly, there are a few issues I had with Season of Ice, but I'm willing to admit that this had a lot to do with my own expectations coming into the novel. One is due to the poor way in which the jacket blurb advertises the book. The blurb talks about how Genesis and her family must struggle in poverty as a result of not receiving any insurance money when her father's body is not recovered. I was a little disappointed when I discovered that this isn't really what the book is about. Instead it focuses on Genesis's quest to determine the truth behind her father's disappearance. Another thing that dragged my enjoyment down at times is the pacing. Season of Ice is a novel that emphasizes setting and characterization over plot, resulting in a book that is surprisingly slow paced for a young adult novel. Once I grew used to it, I found I enjoyed the calm pacing. I grew to love this story which, despite it's sad premise, feels very grounded in reality, and is free of any cheap thrills or melodrama.
  
  Season of Ice was not what I expected, but I found that I grew to appreciate Genesis and her story. This beautifully written story should hold appeal to more patient young adults, and should appeal to adult readers as well.
• 
  Christie K

  I am going to read more of Diane Les Becquets. This book ends with mostly expository story telling which made for essentially a long epilogue and takes the punch out of the excellent first 3/4 of the book. I really enjoyed Les Becquets craft, her descriptions, Gen's character, and except the part at the end, the narrative voice.
• 
  Linda

  I like this book however while reading it I felt like something else was going to happen and really,really wrap me up into the story...but the story I was yearhing for didn't exactly unfold. I still think the story has merit. Especially for teens who've recently lost a parent.
• 
  Paula

  I love reading books set in Maine and knowing the settings and landmarks being described. This is the story of 17 year old Genesis, whose father goes out on a cold November day to repair a dock at a camp on Moosehead lake, and doesn't return. She alerts the sheriff's office and a search is on, but all they find is his empty boat with the lifejacket still inside. The search and recovery is called off when the lake begins to freeze over and Genesis, her stepmother, and twin brothers are left to wait and wonder without their breadwinner all winter. Not going to lie, this is a tough story but the author manages to weave some hope into this devastating tragedy, and I am filled with more compassion after sharing this situation with the family. A quick read on a dreary weekend, makes me yearn for spring.
• 
  Diane Burnett

  Season of Ice by Diane Les Becquets is about a girl who deals with living in a small town in Maine and a tragedy that changes her life over the course of a year. It is well written as one can relate to the feelings of the family and the events. There is the right amount of tension in the story to keep you reading.
• 
  Roxanna Usticke

  The first half was very slow. I think I would have liked this as a short story. Overall I enjoyed this book.
• 
  Laurie

  Well written novel of a girl growing up, mourning her father, and racing cars on ice (!).
• 
  Aaron

  Gen Sommer lives in Moosehead Lake, a very rural town in northern Maine, not far from the Canadian border. The logging industry plays a major role in the local economy, and many of the residents love attending car races on the local frozen lakes. Everyone works hard, but they seem to enjoy the lives they have built in a world with a slow pace.
  
  Things change for Gen, her step-mother, and younger twin brothers when her father disappears. Michael had gone out on one of the lakes to repair a dock on a snowy day, but there is no sign what has happened to him. Gem finds his truck, and his boat also turns up on the lake near where he was supposed to be going.
  
  The whole community turns out in force to search for the missing father. Gen holds out hope that Michael will turn up, but as time passes, the search for a survivor turns into a recovery mission for his body. Even then, Gen refuses to give up hope.
  
  A lot of her hope is tied to the fact that she and her father were really close. It is because of him that she got involved with racing cars ... and she is good. They also built strong bonds after her mother ran off when she was just a little kid. As she settles into her new life, she realizes how alone she really is, particularly as she quits school and learns more about her parents.
  
  This is by no means a fast moving book. I would guess it is a lot like the slow pacing of the real communities in northern Maine that model the setting of this book. I was really tempted to give up on the book as I reached page 80, but I was glad I finished it. It is a deeply moving story of a girl who comes to terms with the harshest realities of life as she matures into a woman.
  
  A college boy named Gabe, who she gets to know in the course of the book sums things up quite nicely on page 244: "Nobody is ever happy a hundred percent of the time. That's one of life's biggest disappointments, you know. Falling in love and realizing you can't always be happy. But if you're happy enough, then that's something. The emphasis is mine. I just this quote is so perfect, and people would be happier if they were able to accept it.
  
  I was really moved by Gen's story. In part, I am sure that it is tied a little to my own family history, but I think a lot of people would find themselves interested in this one. Not sure about potential teen interest, though.
• 
  Becky

  In the beginning there was snow.
  
  Season of Ice is a bittersweet novel--more bitter than sweet--about a teen girl, 17 to be exact, Genesis, coming-of-age after her father's tragic accident one winter day. Genesis is a strange-to-me character. She races cars on the ice--the frozen lake near her home. And she's good at it--really good at it. Often if not always beating the men she races against. Her father disappears one day in November. He left her at her Uncle Perry's auto shop. He was going out doing an odd job--a repair job--on the lake. His truck and his boat were found--one that day, one the next--but his body was never found. The search was called to a halt when the ice came, when the lake froze over. Nothing more can be done. Not till the thaw comes. A family's grief becomes frozen in place as well.
  
  Genesis lives with her step mom, Linda, and her half-brothers, Scott and Alex, twins, age 8. Their relationship was tense to begin with, before her father disappeared, before he was presumed dead. Now that he's gone, they're in a holding pattern. Genesis does love her brothers--very much. And they are enough to tie her to this family. But her relationship with Linda is delicate and awkward.
  
  The book is a story (fictional of course) of how she copes with the loss of her father--the grief in all its stages. It's a story of how she reconciles her current life--with all its changes--with her past. She can't go back. Her father is gone. There is no getting that love, that innocence, that happiness back. But she does have to learn to move forward. Somehow. As impossible as that seems. It is a story of her search for acceptance and peace.
  
  © Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
• 
  Jennifer Wardrip

  Reviewed by Ashley B for TeensReadToo.com
  
  Seventeen-year-old Genesis Sommer is living a normal life.
  
  It's late fall in northern Maine. She goes to school and she has a part time job as a waitress at the Lazy Moose, a local restaurant. She has a stepmother and twins as half-brothers. Her father works at a logging camp, where he stays for long periods of time.
  
  One day her father left for work, dropping her off with her uncle Perry to work on her car. That was the last time Genesis saw him.
  
  The police started looking for Mike Sommer right away. They found his boat on the lake. Then the lake froze over. There is no body as evidence that Mike is dead. Genesis won't believe it until there is proof. Her life has changed now.
  
  The winter is neverending. Genesis hears rumors about her father. She begins to search for herself for the truth about the man she thought she knew everything about.
  
  From the start of this book, I was hooked. Though it is not normally the type of book I would read, I loved it none the less.
  
  Genesis was a great, strong character who was easy to relate to. After hearing the rumors Genesis was told about her father, even I had no idea what happened to him. I was happy with the ending, although I would have liked to have known more about what happens later on. Other than that, SEASON OF ICE was a really good story.
  
  If you ever come across it, you should pick it up.
  
  
• 
  pandamans

  As winter draws near, Genesis's father, a timber man, takes on a dock repair job while a storm looms on the horizon. As the hours pass and her father still hasn't returned, Genesis increasingly grows concerned. Her knowledge of her father's habit of not wearing a life jacket, rather tossing it nearby on the boat's deck "just in case" becomes more ominous. The wind has kicked up and the waves have grown choppy on the sea; her father has still not returned. Genesis and her step-mom Linda contact the sheriff and a search party is organized. Eventually the weather forces the sheriff to call off the search. Genesis is numb from both the cold and the recognition that her father is still missing. As the days go by and the ice blankets the sea, she is left to wonder whether her father is entombed below the surface.[return][return]I found the story and the detail wonderfully tied together with the setting. The exterior world of ice and snow matches the interior of Genesis's struggle. She is frozen in uncertainty, waiting for the thaw - and the author does an excellent job of meshing the two. I feel that Season of Ice is a compelling read that was very well written.
• 
  Caroline

  Slow pacing and a richly described setting (Northern Maine in the winter)combine to create a well written story about a girl searching for her father. Genesis is 17 the winter her father goes missing. He ventures out on Moosehead lake and never returns. The lake freezes over before his body is found, and a long season of waiting begins. Without a body to prove his death rumors begin to fly, and Genesis begins to question who her father was and in the process begins to learn more about who she is. Give this to readers to like their stories with a strong sense of place for Maine is as much as a character in the story as Genesis and her family are. Perfect for the season-it begs to be read with a cup of hot chocolate in hand.
• 
  Sydney Kreutzmann

  SPOILER!!
  
  
  In this book, Genesis’ father goes missing after going out to repair someone’s dock. A couple days after the disappearance, the lake freezes over, almost demolishing Genesis’ families hopes of finding him. Throughout the winter there are suspicions of her father leaving his family to go live with a secret girlfriend, Genesis doesn’t want to believe it but her hopes start diminishing. Once the lakes unfreezes, the police find her father’s body, and Genesis, her stepmother, stepbrother’s and grandmother try and find life without him. I thought that this was a pretty good book, but I thought that the ending could’ve been better written. I think that most people would like this book because it has suspense and thrill. Pgs:281
  
• 
  Samantha

  Lupine Winner 2008-2009, MSBA Nominee 2009-2010
  
  It was definitely better than I thought it would be, and different too. Genesis's father goes out on his boat to repair a dock one day, and doesn't return. Before his body can be found, the lake freezes over. I thought the story was going to be more about the financial and insurance complications that would ensue following such an event, but it wasn't. It was more about how the people deal with the situation, which I think made it better. I just think that the description of the book makes it seem different.
• 
  Gary Nilsen

  This story is charmingly told and I had trouble putting it down. Diane Les Becquets draws you completely into the world of a small New England town at the point where a young girl is forced to deal with her fathers disappearance. In the author's hands, the book never sinks into sentimentalism. Instead, she traces the characters journey beyond a seemingly stunning loss and how she confronts the truth in order to emerge as a much stronger and self-reliant individual. We all should possess such inner fortitude.
• 
  Emma

  Incredible! I haven't read a more serious book in quite a while-I too have been struggling to overcome the Meg Cabot light and fruity style-and Season Of Ice couldn't have been a better way to get back on track. Glowing with imagery and emotion, which is overshadowed with a darker tone of sadness, Season Of Ice perfectly captures the grief and misery the befalls a family after the loss of a loved one.
• 
  MJ

  Genesis’s father goes out on his boat in late fall—the boat eventually turns up but her dad is missing and in the frigid waters a Northern Maine lake he must be dead. But is he? We feel for what goes through the mind of this grieving young woman.
• 
  Cassandra Lee

  Very well-written and well-paced novel. Diane LesBecquets was my nonfiction writing professor my freshman year of college, and I can honestly say I have never learned more about writing than I did in her class. A very brilliant woman and writer.
• 
  Lesley

  Does this count as a mystery? Anyway, I thought the author did a remarkable job making the winter into its own character. The cold permeated every element of this story, which was pretty bare bones but full of heart. Really appreciated the somewhat obscure setting and the attention to it.
• 
  Agatha Donkar Lund

  This was absolutely heartbreaking and lovely.