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Laura Amy Schlitz: The Winter of the Dollhouse

 OK, this was our book club book this month. It's another middle grade kind of book.

Tiph is new in town. Her parents (well her dad and step-mom) are occupied with her two younger siblings. While on a walk, Tiph comes across an elderly woman who seems to be struggling to walk her dog. Offering to help, Tiph discovers that the woman is alone and recovering from an operation. Tiph helps her, and finds herself with a job working for the old woman. Tiph loves dolls and has been eyeing one in a shop in the town (incidentally, where she also came across the old woman). The shop owner doesn't like kids much, and Tiph isn't allowed in his shop on account of being suspected of stealing a clock from the shop some months before. When she accompanies her new friend, Néni (Aunt) Szilvia, she steals a doll she has been eyeing for some time. Will this theft change her relationship with everyone?

OK, this summary doesn't really do the book justice. There are a lot of moving parts in the novel including chapters told from the stolen doll's perspective. This is where the "fantasy" element comes in.

I personally didn't hate this book, but I honestly didn't love it either. I rated it four stars because I felt that the last fifty pages or so really redeemed it. Let me try and break down what worked for me and what didn't.

Let's start with characters. Tiph was obnoxious. The entire book. I got really tired of her "woe is me" attitude, and also this sense of entitlement that she seems to have - "Life is hard for me, so I deserve this doll." I think it's probably pretty realistic for an 11 year old, but I didn't love it. Tiph is also extremely blunt and it made me cringe. There's also the theft element. Tiph is 11 and I think old enough to know that stealing is wrong, and she's done it twice. It kind of frustrated me that she stole the doll after stealing the clock and getting in trouble for it.

I also did not like Tiph's parents. Her step mom is this granola mother, and I found her insensitive. I also thought their "silent treatment as punishment" approach to parenting immature and unhelpful.

I like Szilvia for most of the book, but even she was quite grumpy.

This book is really long for a middle grade novel and this was something that came up in our book club discussion. I found it oddly long and very layered. There are a lot of subplots, and then the secondary story of the dolls. I felt that the doll story was unimportant for the most part and didn't add a whole lot to the story. The pacing of the book dragged, and at points in the middle was very repetitive.

The tie up of all of these sub plots was the most satisfying part of the novel. Like I said before, the ending is what I liked the most.

I rated this: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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