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A review of Snow Falling On Cedars

by David Guterson

You can taste the saltwater in the air, in this compelling story that is so much more than a murder-mystery

Reviewed by: Helen Harvey
About Helen Harvey

Snow Falling On Cedars Winner of the 1995 PEN Faulkner Award for Fiction, David Guterson's first novel transports the reader back to the 1950's, where sinister jealousy, bitterness, and racism conspire in a plot that sees a dignified Japanese-American, Kabuo Miyamoto, standing trial for the murder of a fisherman. Set on San Piedro, a rugged, yet beautiful, island in Puget Sound, the courtroom drama is woven delicately together with flashbacks detailing a love story, and social commentary of the injustices faced by some members of the community in the shadow of the atrocities of WWII.

As this undeniably slow, but graceful, novel unfolds the harsh environment and violent snowstorm are echoed within the walls of the courtroom as evidence conflicts and consciences aroused. As one reads, it can be argued that some details are irrelevant and unnecessary, and that the story strays too far from the trial. Yet, it is only upon finishing the book that you realize that everything was entirely necessary, and added to the overall beauty and poignancy of the tale, which kept you reading until the very end for the verdict.

Was there a moral to the story? Perhaps, the raw portrayal of the painful subject of the treatment of Japanese Americans was really what this book was all about, as ill-conceived prejudice threatened to ensure that justice was not done.

Click here to buy this book, or read more about it at Amazon.com: Snow Falling On Cedars

Copyright © by Helen Harvey, 2002

Reviewed by Helen Harvey:
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