Tony Burgess, whose psychedelic, careening novel Pontypool Changes Everything prompted the Toronto Star to call him a “dark genius”, has written a new book that will further entrench him as a conjuror of disturbing and imaginative tales.Idaho Winter is about a ninth-grade boy who attracts abuse like manure draws flies. His father makes him eat roadkill for breakfast, his classmates beat him every day while neighbors look on with approval, and one town resident even raises vicious pit bulls speci...

This is what "St. Elsewhere" could have been if the TV show had dinosaurs and pop-punk musicians (note to author, if Lint or the other guy in Rancid who was also in Operation Ivy had gotten eaten by a dinosaur I would have given up the fifth star (Tim Armstrong because, well look at him; and whatever that other guy's name who plays bass because he got angry!!! at me and threatened to hang up on me while we were doing an interview. I just had questions, jeez)), and had been meta-created by a very...

Now this was a quick read. I think less than two hours in an airport lobby. I was excited to read some Tony Burgess after seeing Pontypool, the film based upon his later book, which I liked quite a lot. Given the film, it wasn't too surprising that this book has a novel, if not gimmicky, premise, but whereas the film excelled in execution, this book is stymied by nonsensical transitions and what felt like an incredibly rushed ending (the oh-shit-it's-due-tomorrow syndrome). The premise is intere...

An interesting book hampered by its concept.This is a short and interesting bit of meta-fiction, and I wanted to like it more than I did. The cover and blurb present this a "boy's-own" sort of children's book with a hint of something sinister. That's a pretty accurate description, until it gets really strange.I can't not give too much away. Suffice to say, this is a poorly written kid's book wherein the none-too-talented author somehow gets trapped into his own fiction and beholden to the adoles...

Pretty much the epitome of a mind-screw of a book. No one likes Idaho Winter. This includes the crossing guard who wants to make sure he crosses the street when a car is coming, his classmates who want to beat him up, and even the school janitor who has saved a couple of hatchets for just the right time to knock him off. Doesn't really matter why no one likes Idaho. It's just the way it goes.Then one day Madison decides she's going to be nice to him so he doesn't feel alone any more. Except, thi...

i didn't really like the Green Day stuff (maybe if he had chosen a good band i wouldn't have minde but Green Day just fucking sucks) but other than that i dug it

Pretty sure I’ve just finished reading my new favourite book. Tony Burgess’s Idaho Winter. How to describe this book. Characters recognize that they are characters in a book, the author/writer soon loses the ability to control the story and becomes a character himself. Dinosaurs, weird creatures called Mom-Bats, a crossing-guard who turns into something else. The book is a blend of multiple genre: YA-fiction, fantasy, horror, misery-memoir, and my favourite - ‘Choose your own adventure!’Idaho Wi...

This starts so well, the premise is so intriguing but then it just gets really weird.

...“It's strange to sleep. Sleep is a mysterious thing even in the simplest of people. When you're sleepy, you seem to be getting sick, losing energy, losing clear thought, lying down out of weakness. Then you succumb to the weakness and what happens next resembles death. And then you dream. You abide in a world whose rules are hidden even from you ¬¬– you who create it.”...Have you ever woken up from a crazy fun dream that you quickly discovered was inexplicable? In fact, upon trying to explain...

I got this book from the library because I wasn't sure whether it would be interestingly experimental, or too-clever-by-half experimental. It turned out to be kind of awesome, and I will probably buy a copy, because I think I might like to read it again sometime.It's a metafictional novel about a boy named Idaho Winter who lives an unspeakably terrible life. Then he discovers that he's a character in a novel, and that he has the power to make the world into anything he wants it to be. I'll leave...

Hands down the most bizarre book I’ve ever read. It’s like taking one of your dreams and trying to make it into a novel. Except instead of filling in the blanks, you just tell it like it is. Even the bits that make no sense at all. It’s brilliant and I really enjoyed it! Go read it, because there’s no way I can accurately describe it.

Something in me wanted desperately to put this book down after chapter three. I was angry about the way the Idaho was treated. Wrapping a main character in tarpaper so that his skin fuses with it in the sun's heat is just wrong, and Tony, I wanted to punch you in the balls at this point. Because, look, you wrote this: "'Okay, my dear. I know it's hard for you to understand. You have such little experience with people. But the Potato is treated badly for a reason.' Madison shakes her ringlet fr

Tony Burgess is a madman. A lovely madman, fun to talk to, kind and gentle, but a madman nonetheless, capable of unnerving a reader in a few short sentences. And Idaho Winter is unnerving for many reasons, not the least for being the most unhinged novel written for young adults since Lewis Carroll unleashed his fantasies on poor little Alice. Yet what else could you hope to expect from the author of Pontypool Changes Everything, the definitive Canadian zombie novel (and one freaky great film to

I cannot even BEGIN to describe this book.... but I'll try. Ever wondered what would happen if Lemony Snickett met Clive Barker and they took acid together inside Salvador Dali's brain? Me either, but I suspect the result would be something similar to this short novel. It's dark, surreal and humorous, and the sudden bizarre twists are guaranteed to take you by surprise, no matter how well prepared you think you are. My only criticisms of this books would be that it gets slightly too self conscio...

CARIS CARIS CARIS CARISi am recommending this book to you. it is so meta and insane, you are sure to love it. for the rest of you, i don't know what to say. it starts out telling the story of a boy named idaho winter, hated by all. people can't even help themselves when he is around, they need to hurt him both physically and emotionally. his parents make him eat the carcass of a raccoon the dog dragged home, his schoolmates beat him up before school to try to prevent him ever making it there, th...

Reading this book made me feel the same way I felt when my kids were younger and invented all these horrible scenarios that put their SIMS in danger just so they could make them into ghosts. Like, I understand that these characters aren't REAL, but jeez . . . what if they WERE??So Idaho Winter is this poor, luckless kid, hated -- for seemingly no reason -- by virtually everyone in his town, even his parents, who dress him in tar paper and feed him roadkill for breakfast. The kindly crossing guar...

What a sad, strange little story.

Idaho Winter is one of those books that is going to mess with your mind. The cover makes it seem like it’s a reprint of a book published in the 40s or 50s. The opening scene is reminiscent of Harry Potter, in that Idaho is the boy cramped in a tiny room and unloved by his family, and Back to the Future, where McFly is bullied by Biff. Like Harry Potter, the reader learns what’s happening at the same as Harry does. In this case, the reader learns what’s happening at the same time as the author, w...

Started off very interesting but quickly unraveled into mediocrity.