Ben Guterson got some inspiration… and a strange ending...

First off, Winterhouse has SOOO many Harry Potter/Matilda elements in it (and honestly in a not good way, for me). For one, Elizabeth Somers’s (the main character) parents had supposedly passed away in a firework accident when she was four and she is living with her aunt and uncle. “Supposedly” because she says:

“The fireworks went off the wrong way, right where we were sitting. I was too young to remember it.” She spoke the words as plainly as she could and tried to keep from letting any sadness flood her. It wasn’t quite the case, though, that she had no memory of things—it was just that, in her recollection, there hadn’t been fireworks or a crowd or anything of the sort. Something had happened, something terrible, and she carried with her the awful remembrance of a jarring noise and fire and screams, but it was only because Aunt Purdy had insisted all of this had occurred during a firework show that Elizabeth had resigned herself to that story.

If you’ve read Harry Potter, you probably understand already. But here are two quotes from the first Harry Potter book just in case:

The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead which was shaped like a bolt of lightning. He had had it as long as he could remember and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had got it.

"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said. "And don't ask questions."

He’d lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he’d been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn’t remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead. This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn’t imagine where all the green light came from.

So, looks like we know where Ben Guterson got the “This is how I’ve been told my parents died, but I’m not sure” idea. And that’s not even it. As I mentioned, Elizabeth is living with her aunt and uncle, who are very similar to the Dursleys in the Harry Potter series. Aunt Purdy and Uncle Burlap hate having Elizabeth in their home like the Dursleys do with Harry. Aunt Purdy constantly reminds Elizabeth that she costs them money, just like Harry’s aunt and uncle. Also, like Harry Potter, Elizabeth has special powers that she can’t understand, an ability she calls “the feeling” where she can tell when something strange is about to happen. 

Which brings me to Matilda. Not only can Elizabeth sense when something weird will happen, but a little later in the book (kinda a SPOILER) she also starts to be able to move things with her mind like Matilda does in Roald Dahl’s Matilda. And, Elizabeth is really smart and likes to read and do word puzzles while her aunt and uncle just watch TV, like Matilda and her parents.

Though the book had some very close similarities to Harry Potter and Matilda, I thought it was pretty good—at least until the ending.

So, when the book starts off, Elizabeth is traveling to a hotel called Winterhouse by herself to stay there for Christmas while her aunt and uncle go on a vacation without her. She arrives, meets this strange old white haired guy–the owner of the hotel, Norbridge, who really reminded me of Dumbledore. Also, somehow there happens to be a boy named Freddy staying at the hotel who happens to be Elizabeth’s age who happens to be the only other kid she meets who happens to also love word puzzles. Feels a little unrealistic but okay whatever. The main part of the book is a comfortable, fun story about Elizabeth’s stay at Winterhouse, a hotel that seems kind of old fashioned/castle-y like Hogwarts. 

But then it all went downhill. What started as a fun, comfy story with a bit of magic suddenly turned into a rushed, dark-magic climax that felt like it belonged in another book. The villain appears too late and is taken down wayyy too fast. The character had been mentioned a few times, but when they finally appear near the very end, they’re defeated, without much of a struggle or explanation. It all felt way too fast, especially compared to how much time the book spent setting up the setting and characters.

I think if the ending had been introduced earlier, it would’ve felt more believable and satisfying. Instead, it felt like the book switched genres at the last second, and not in a good way.

Anyway, I guess this was an okay book. I did enjoy the first part and the setting, but I can’t say I recommend it because it felt too copied and I didn't like the ending.

-Janny