Vinegar Hill

A. Manette Ansay

1994 • 256 pages

Ratings14

Average rating2.7

In a stark, troubling, yet ultimately triumphant celebration of self-determination, award-winning author A. Manette Ansay re-creates a stifling world of guilty and pain, and the tormented souls who inhabit it. It is 1972 when circumstance carries Ellen Grier and her family back to Holly's Field, Wisconsin. Dutifully accompanying her newly unemployed husband, Ellen has brought her two children into the home of her in-laws on Vinegar Hill--a loveless house suffused with the settling dust of bitterness and routine--where calculated cruelty is a way of life preserved and perpetuated in the service of a rigid, exacting and angry God. Behind a facade of false piety, there are sins and secrets in this place that could crush a vibrant young woman's passionate spirit. And here Ellen must find the straight to endure, change, and grow in the all-pervading darkness that threatens to destroy everything she is and everyone she loves.

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Popular Reviews

Reviews with the most likes.

Deb Nance

I liked this book. Except for the ending. Too easy.

January 20, 2000

Amy

I thought the writing style was effective - the present to past tense, intrusive memories. I felt it fit the situation of the main character well, her depression with her past/present and her anxiety and hopelessness about her future. There were some great moments of characterization, but there were some subplots that weren't complete enough for me. Also, I thought the ending was abrupt. I needed more “closure,” maybe? I just thought it ended too quickly.

October 12, 2016

Sarca

Re-read this after many years. I had originally rated it 4 stars...now? 2. It was depressing. The characters were all completely unappealing right down to the children. Very patriarchal and misogynistic. How did I make it through this book back then??

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