Annabel by Kathleen Winter

This thread is for discussion of Annabel.

Cyrel (torontoc), Joyce (Nickelini) and I had an online discussion about this novel, which was published in issue 11 of Belletrista. You can read the conversation here:

Conversations: Annabel by Kathleen Winter

I have to be honest. I hated Middlesex so much that I am a little nervous about reading Annabel.

I haven't read Middlesex but from what I've read - they are very different . I'll write a bit more about it later. Meantime - kidzdoc and Joyce will give you an idea what the book is about. I've got to find your thread, mrstreme.

I agree with vancouverdeb; Middlesex (which I liked better) and Annabel are very different books. I'd also encourage you to read our Belletrista conversation, Jill.

I will (third?) that. I enjoyed both Middlesex and Annabel but for very different reasons. I didn't find them all that similar really, I mean, other than the obvious.

Thank you all for the thoughts and encouragement about this book!

Throwing in my 2 bits worth: I am loving Annabel and I enjoyed Middlesex. But I agree with those saying that they are nothing alike. They only have the one obvious in common. Jill, I do hope you will give it a try, at least.
hugs,
belva

I just finished reading "Conversations: Annabel by Kathleen Winter and must say I found your (all of your) comments very interesting; especially in light of the fact that I have yet about 1/3 of the book to read.
I think it most interesting that even though Darryl, with his medical background found parts of the book implausible for him, the book still seemed to work for him. And all of you had several critiques to make of the book but all in all were satisfied with your reading of it.
Most interesting. Thank you for sharing that issue of Belletrista with us.
belva

>7 rainpebble: - Thanks, Belva! =)

I finished Annabel this morning and while I liked it very much indeed......it seemed to wrap up rather quickly for me. Things were unfinished that bothered me but more at home with the parents than with Wayne/Annabel. Treadway's change was rather remarkable but I knew he was a softy all along, just a rather gruff one. This book just pulls one along and keeps you for the long haul with just a couple of hiccups. I think I would give it a solid 4 stars.

I also gave the book 4 stars, and if it hadn't been for the detour into self fertilization, would have given it 5 stars. The story on top was about Wayne/Annabel's ambiguous sexuality; but in a larger part I thought Winter was talking about the messiness of human life in general and that we all are confronted with ambiguity. While Treadway thought of all men as one man in general, he certainly didn't see himself as one of those men. He perhaps saw his loneliness and wanted to prevent his child from feeling the same. We all want to keep our child from feeling pain. We can't. In a more specific direction, though, the book reminded me of As Nature Made Him, the story of David Reimer who was born a boy but had his penis accidentally burned off in a freak circumcision accident. His parents were convinced by a very narcissistic Johns Hopkins doctor, John Money, to raise David as a girl regardless of David's attempts throughout life to assert his masculine side. I wonder if Kathleen Winter got any of her idea from that book. Wayne/Annabel certainly turned out better than David did.

I enjoyed Annabel very much - it was 4 star read for me, if memory serves. I didn't struggle to much with the exactness of how Wayne/Annabel's ambigous sexuality was handled because I decided that since it happened in 1968 and in the backwoods of Newfoundland/ Labrador - who knew what to expect treatment wise. I must agree with you, Citizen Joyce, the self fertilation was quite out of this world. I had more of a challenge with his mother seemingly giving up on staying involved with his life -and handing it over to the friend. That did not quite ring true to me.

>10 rainpebble: Treadway's change was rather remarkable but I knew he was a softy all along, just a rather gruff one.
>11 Citizenjoyce: He perhaps saw his loneliness and wanted to prevent his child from feeling the same.

By the end, I loved Treadway, but I disagree with Joyce. I think Treadway was not lonely but very comfortable with himself and he wanted his child to have that same acceptance and contentment.
It was strange the way the mother just dropped off, but didn't she and Treadway gain some traction together by the end? But yes, they were left a bit up in the air.

I liked all the symmetrical references, and Wayne's love of bridges. I also liked how there was discussion about gender roles, especially in Labrador where the division of labor is very gender-specific, but then Treadway and Jacinta also blurred those lines. Their friends made comments about how great the other was, mostly because they did jobs or had characteristics that were not on the male/female lines. But Wayne wasn't male or female, he had qualities of both -just a human being. I thought Winter did a great job of making Wayne both male and female but not either extreme, just was a person.

Solid 4/5, and it may move up to 4.5.