Winkie - Book Review

Winkie is about a teddy bear of the same name that is accused of terrorism. As the book opens, Winkie is all alone, having lost his child, in the lonely cabin of a now-dead professor. But one night, a swat team visits the cabin, takes him into custody, and arrests him on over nine thousand charges including terrorism, treason, “corrupting the youth of Athens,” teaching evolution, and being a witch.

As the novel progresses, the reader goes through the daily indignities that Winkie suffers such as a corrupt prison system and cruel jailers. On the way Winkie meets friends such as Francoise, a lesbian Muslim cleaning woman and his stuttering lawyer, Charles Unwin. The book also delves deeply into Winkie's past; his life living with the many generations of the Chase family (including Clifford, the author of the novel) and finally gaining sentience and moving out on his own into the wild.

Needless to say, a book about a teddy bear who comes to life and is arrested for horrible crimes that he may, or may not, have committed is definitely one of the strangest novels I have ever read. As kids, we have all pretended that inanimate objects were real and had personalities and were able to interact with us. Clifford Chase takes this to another level and creates an entire history for his bear, complete with emotions and thoughts about various events throughout the bear's life. On top of that, he puts the seemingly innocent bear in the position of being arrested and sent to jail while going through a trial for thousands of crimes that he is accused of committing.

After reading the synopsis of the book, it sounded very strange, but also appealing as I figured it would be full of action and imagination. However, it was mostly pretty boring. The majority of the book focused on Winkie's mundane life while sitting on a shelf, hoping to be picked up and played with or hugged - not a real page turner. When the trial started, I figured the action would pick up, but it didn't. It ended just like it started - slow and full of strange events that were never really explained. Overall, I liked the concept and originality of the book, but it was relatively mundane in its execution.


Rating: 2 of 5 stars
Would I read it again: No

Winkie
by Clifford Chase
Hardcover: 236 pages
Released: 2006