Fisherman and WWII veteran Carl Meine is found dead and tangled up in his fishing net one morning. At first glance it appears to be an accident, but the sheriff looks a little closer and starts to wonder. He soon arrests another fisherman, Kabuo Miyamoto, for murder. Against the backdrop of the murder trial, Guterson explores the roots of the conflict that led to the accusation and the lives of the witnesses in a series of flashbacks. Gorgeous. That's really the best word to describe this book. It's just gorgeous. I normally tear through books pretty quickly, eager to know what happened, but this time I found myself reading slowly, savoring each elegant yet sparse turn of phrase. I still wanted to know what happened, but that was secondary to the beauty of the language.Within this story, San Piedro Island becomes almost as much a character as anyone. The isolation, beauty and harshness of island life has shaped the islanders to become a breed apart. They are often silent, self-reliant, and careful in their interactions with each other. It's hard to avoid someone who becomes an enemy when you both live on an island.Set in 1954, the islanders are still feeling the effects of WWII. A lot of the men are veterans and the Japanese residents were shipped off to an internment camp. Feelings between the communities can occasionally flare up, even nine years after the war's end.The flashbacks to the war and the internment camp were mostly what interested me. I don't know why I love WWII novels, but I do. I was surprised to realize that I had one in my hands with Snow Falling on Cedars. One of the main characters, Ishmael, is a WWII vet who lost his left arm in the war. He finds himself unable to move on and lives in a sort of limbo. Kabuo and his wife, Hatsue, married before Kabuo left to fight for the US in Europe. He came back a changed man, and Hatsue finds herself wondering what their life together would have been like if the war hadn't intervened. The biggest draw of the book for me was the inclusion of the Japanese internment camps. I know vaguely that the US decided to round up our Japanese citizens into a few camps to keep an eye on them, but let's face it, shameful episodes in a country's history tend to be glossed over in history classes and I never learned much about it. I'll be looking for books that go into it in more detail after this. If you'd like to know a little more, check out this Wikipedia article on Manzanar, the camp that the characters in this book were sent to. It's hard to believe we did that in the US.The whole courtroom thing was very secondary to everything else for me, right up until the end. I was so interested in the characters' histories that I wasn't too worried about what was happening in the novel's present day. Then a character reached a crossroads and I was anxiously waiting to see what would happen. That in turn led me to get concerned about the human capacity for prejudice and unfounded hatred and to really start worrying about Kabuo's fate. I finally did start rushing through the last 60 pages or so, hoping for the best and fearing the worst.My one complaint would be about the handful of sexual scenes in the book. It's not that they're graphic or that I'm a prude. It's just that they seemed to come out of nowhere. They didn't feel necessary to the story and they just felt glaringly out of place.If you like your books to travel from point A to point B with no deviation, this isn't going to be the book for you. As dreamy as its gorgeous cover, the novel meanders through a lot of history that doesn't have any immediate bearing on what appears to be the main story. But if you're okay with that, and especially if you're a fan of elegant prose, pick this up and treat yourself. I highly recommend it.
3.5 stars, though it says differently above. Worth reading, and owning, but perhaps I should have bought it on sale. Reviewing this book is taking me a good amount of time after finishing it. There are many things that I think ought to be said about the book, but I am unsure how they all fit together. In addition to this, I have to keep myself unaware of the award-status and the fact that my grandfather was a navyman and a sailor at heart.The language is rough but rhythmic, representative of the typical life he seeks to represent. The vocabulary, though mostly good, does seem - especially in the first quarter - a little overdone, as if he is deliberately trying to use words instead of letting them flow out of his impetus. However, this does not drag the book.What does drag the book, I feel, are three things in particular: two parts objective, one thing entirely subjective. First the subjective: I do not particularly enjoy courtroom novels (as might be seen from my star-reviews of Grisham). Next, the objective: I felt that at times it was languid, that parts were unnecessary, inefficient, unnecessary and eventually functioning as writer's slack in order to keep him thinking for future material. I found myself regularly checking to see how long I had to go for the chapter, and it was regularly 6-7 pages before finish. There were parts that seemed forced, as if he felt he had to come up with something brilliant when such was not required, and thus those times sounded inauthentic from him as an author. The third thing is, frankly, that there are nuances I believe are inconsistent with the background of whole groups of characters; for example, Buddhist tenets are misrepresented, even reversed once, to fit the mindset of the character in question. Perhaps this is on purpose, but if it was to be purported as fact, it was incorrect and took a little of the momentum away.However, there is much about the book that keeps it sleek and enjoyable. One is the character development, that as far as I can tell is quite accurate for the personalities he chooses, and he maintains a sense of mystery about persons, so that one never fully knows any of them - this is accurate, realistic, and appreciable. Again the tone and flow is also well-representative of the setting which he seeks to portray. (Albeit, it is an entirely fictional setting; San Piedro Island cannot be visited, which affords him great leeway in character development as well. This last bit is perhaps a drawback to the full potential of his skill.) In addition to these things, his careful use of language, his ability to shift back and forth to be accurate about completely polar opposite opinions held by the characters, the flow of the storyline and graceful swtiching of the grammatical tenses (which was by far the strongest aspect of the writing - I found myself frequently engrossed in something and then all of sudden wondering how I got there, which means he lost me enough to stop paying attention to his writing ability altogether): all of these make this a book worth reading and keeping.Being awarded the Faulkner is what drew me to it, but it may be the case as well that there was not as much fierce competition as of late. For all of these things, I gave it the rating above. A well-written novel, and worth enjoying. At the very least, being from a distinctly Northwestern voice, it made me crave blueberries and coffee!
What do You think about Snow Falling On Cedars (1995)?
There is a breath taking story buried in the details of this book. My suggestion is buy the Cliff Notes. This book is written like really early fiction, so filled with detail that you almost miss it when a plot point crops up. I almost quit this book when I had to read a page and a half (I may be exaggerating here) of description of the glimpse of the living room the sheriff gets through the screen door when he is waiting for the lady of the house to answer his knock. He is there to tell her that her husband was found dead. I get that he might be wanting to put his mind on anything but what he is about to tell her but I really don't care what her sofa is like. I kept reading because I liked the story. I was happy when I heard there was a movie made of this book but it is true to the book so dulled with detail and repressed emotion that you don't even care about the story you just want something to happen.
—Kathy Kaylor
This remains my favorite book that I've ever read. It has suspense, romance, heartbreak, injustice, you name it. In addition, the setting is in the pacific northwest where I live and relates the terrible story of how japanese americans were treated in this country during World War II. Guterson's descriptions brought the story into vivid focus. Many of the agricultural references rang true to me, as some of the same practices were in place when I was a boy. Interestingly, I read another of his books and was unimpressed, so I am not sure I would choose any of his other works.
—Cary
I've been so busy I took a long time with this book, however, it is no reflection on how much I like this book, respect the necessity of this book and completely comprehend it's position as a classic book. I now understand why this book is an award winner and found on many syllabus as required reading. I wasn't really sure what to expect upon beginning this book. I just knew I was looking for something good and worth reading. From the very first page the author's skill made it self known. I could tell that this was not going to be a let down and it wasn't in any way. From the writing style, to the content of the story, to the delivery and emotion in the detail.. there was nothing that I was not satisfied with in this read. This is a book about a trial within small town of a Japanese American man in the years following WWII but it's so much more than that. The author delves back in to glimpse the history of the town and it's inhabitants before the war, at the onset of the war and the internment camps, during the war the transformation and after. It is also the story of several characters love, forbidden love, choices, friendship, loyalty, patriotism and racism. This as most know is another classic that producers/directors saw fit to attempt a movie version. I'd known about the movie and may have even watched it very long ago but must not have been impressed because I remembered nothing but the fact that I "may" have seen it on cable possibly. As I neared the half way point in my reading I discovered it again was showing on cable, I recorded it and was looking forward with much anticipation to watching this version and comparing it to the movie. I don't know why because most movie versions fall severely short of their written counterpart that it's almost a waste of time to bother, however, I was interested. Well, after watching the movie I must admit.. my original apprehensions were correct. It fell short. Liberties were taken adding dialog that did not exist or changed the magnificence of the written version. Essential dialogs, characters, scenes were omitted and therefore took away the depth that this wonderful work carries within it. It changed the whole message I believe the author was trying to deliver. I found myself shaking my head and eventually yelling at the screen, "that did not happen!! What are you doing, you're ruining it!" It's so sad that some such wonderful, pivotal works of fiction just can't get their just due in film form. My advice is, if you've seen this movie, forget it, go pick up the book! If you read this book, just forget a movie exists until hopefully Hollywood picks up the topic again (like they did with Gatsby) and hopefully does a better job at it. I give this book all 5 stars because it deserves it. I would love to go back at some later time and re-read this book giving it more time to quote lots of essential lines, dissect characters and contrast and compare the scenes, atmosphere and history and how it applies to us now in the real world. Again, this is an important piece of literature. I recommend to everyone because this is a required reading. It's not a difficult read at all and you will be consumed. It is a serious modern, classic read though, so if you're into comedy, horror, fantasy or chick lit, this isn't for you.
—Debbie
