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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780679764021
ISBN number: 067976402X
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 460
Printing Date: September 26, 1995
Publishing house: Vintage
Release Date: September 26, 1995
Sale Popularity Level: 10387
Studio: Vintage
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award
American Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award
San Piedro Island, north of Puget Sound, is a place so isolated that no one who lives there can afford to make enemies. But in 1954 a local fisherman is found suspiciously drowned, and a Japanese American named Kabuo Miyamoto is charged with his murder. In the course of the ensuing trial, it becomes clear that what is at stake is more than a man's guilt. For on San Pedro, memory grows as thickly as cedar trees and the fields of ripe strawberries--memories of a charmed love affair between a white boy and the Japanese girl who grew up to become Kabuo's wife; memories of land desired, paid for, and lost. Above all, San Piedro is haunted by the memory of what happened to its Japanese residents during World War II, when an entire community was sent into exile while its neighbors watched. Gripping, tragic, and densely atmospheric, Snow Falling on Cedars is a masterpiece of suspense-- one that leaves us shaken and changed.
'Haunting.... A whodunit complete with courtroom maneuvering and surprising turns of evidence and at the same time a mystery, something altogether richer and deeper.'--Los Angeles Times
'Compelling...heartstopping. Finely wrought, flawlessly written.'--The New York Times Book Review
Amazon.com Review:
This is the kind of book where you can smell and hear and see the fictional world the writer has created, so palpably does the atmosphere come through. Set on an island in the straits north of Puget Sound, in Washington, where everyone is either a fisherman or a berry farmer, the story is nominally about a murder trial. But since it's set in the 1950s, lingering memories of World War II, internment camps and racism helps fuel suspicion of a Japanese-American fisherman, a lifelong resident of the islands. It's a great story, but the primary pleasure of the book is Guterson's renderings of the people and the place.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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What I enjoyed most about this novel was Mr. Guterson's facility with descriptive language. I just loved the snow storm--though I also thought he had his characters moving around in it entirely too much--and I liked his casually elegant way of getting into his characters' heads and hearts to explain their histories.
So why only 3 stars? Because I was ultimately unconvinced by the book. By that, I mean that he wasn't as successful as he should have been in intertwining the book's themes of war, family, and racism (especially the latter). By the time the book ended, I didn't much care about the outcome. That's why I wasn't bothered by its truncated, too easy ending. The event that facilitates the ending was extremely contrived, and even drawn out too much.
Mr. Guterson has some serious talent, though. This book just didn't awe me as much as I thought (based on other reviews) that it would.
Rated by buyers 
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The clearest thing I'll take away from my reading experience of "Snow Falling on Cedars" is simply how fast it took me to race through it. I like to take my time reading books - especially if I find them enjoyable - but I found myself speeding through the chapters of David Guterson's debut novel at an alarming rate. It was nearly impossible to put down thanks to the clear yet sophisticated prose, the intriguing and well-paced "whodunit" aspect of the story and the slow unraveling of both the minds and motivations of the characters, which is exceptionally well done. So yes, I definitely recommend this book!
When the novel very first opens, we are introduced to a range of people living on San Piedro, an isolated island in the Pacific South-West. All somewhat enigmatic at very first - to the reader, as well as each other - we are gradually drawn into their lives, childhoods, relationships and personalities, as the community is drawn together over a particularly controversial murder case. Kabuo Miyamoto is on trial for the murder of the well-respected fisherman and war veteran Carl Heine, due to bad-blood between the two men, and the fact that Miyamoto was (by his own admission) the last man to see Heine alive, out on his fishing boat.
But it soon becomes clear that there is more to this trial than very first appears: it is the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbour, and there is an unspoken assumption that Miyamoto's Japanese heritage jeopardizes his chances of being acquitted. A large pile of evidence speaks out against Miyamoto, and his stoic demeanor does not help matters either, despite fighting on the side of the Allies in the War. From this starting point, Guterson draws in a wide range of characters related to the case: wives and family members of both the accused and the deceased, lawyers, witnesses, community members and figures from the past. Most prominently is the character of Ismael Chambers, a journalist investigating the case, who has his own particular link to Miyamoto - or rather, Miyamoto's wife Hatsue, a young woman who in her teenage years chose duty to her people and culture over a love affair with Ishmael. Embittered by her rejection and his experiences in the war, Ishmael cuts himself off from the people around him. Yet Ishmael discovers certain facts pertaining to the case that have a tremendous bearing on its outcome - should he choose to share them.
Guterson draws on the racial hysteria against Japanese-Americans during World War II, and the American government's decision to force Japanese citizens into interment camps for the duration of the War as the historical background for this novel. All over the island of San Pierdro runs distrust and suspicion, as well as bitterness in many Japanese families for the lack of support shown by their neighbours during their deportation to the mainland, and the fact that when they returned home, their lands and jobs had been lost. The main irony of the piece is of course that Carl Heine himself is of German descent, and therefore just as worthy (or rather, unworthy) of suspicion and prejudice as any Japanese citizen on the island.
It seems a shame to give away too much of the tapestry of relationships, prejudices and intrigues that go on in the small island community, as most of the enjoyment derived from this novel is discovering and sorting them out by yourself. There's always more than meets the eye to every single character, and no one is entirely faultless, nor entirely innocent during their lifetimes. Most poignantly of all is the theme of `chance versus choice' that runs throughout the story. Whether it be the war, a particularly nasty snow-storm or other impersonal forces, all of the characters are seemingly thrown to the winds of fate. When entities like prejudice and racism become so large that they cloud judgment and become a way of life, what hope do individuals have to overcome them? Guterson attempts to answer this question through the use of the courtroom drama and the personal lives of his protagonists, and manages to make the answer both optimistic and bittersweet, particularly in his final paragraph.
There are only two more things I need to note: very first that San Piedro itself is brought to life through Guterson's poetic-prose, which is as beautiful as you'd expect from a book titled "Snow Falling on Cedars." The island becomes a character in its own right, in all its natural beauty: the scent of the cedar trees, the vast strawberry fields, the markets and enclosed houses - it's all there. Second is the characterization of Hatsue Miyamoto, who is potentially the most intriguing and important figure in the entire book. Guterson has no trouble characterizing a member of the opposite sex, and Hatsue holds a fascinating place within the novel, as a young woman caught between her regard for the white Ishmael and her loyalty to her own culture and upbringing. As a young girl she struggles ... Read More
Rated by buyers -
Compelling and hard to summarize, this book struck me most for its amazing organization and its beautiful prose. Set on a fictitious Island, this book examines post WWII prejudice against Japanese Americans, covers a murder trial, and examines love and passion. The only fault I had with it is that at some times the descriptions of the things going on in the book struck me as a bit perverse.
Rated by buyers -
What amazed me about this book was the way the story was told. It's kind of a courtroom drama, kind of a romance, and very much a commentary on the state of a torn and divided nation after World War II. On the North end of Puget Sound there was a murder and the accused, Kabuo Miyamoto is a friend turned enemy of Carl Heine, now deceased.
The way it's told is the magic, as I alluded to earlier. It's like peeling layers on the silent man, Miyamoto and the entire island of San Piedro. Each person involved in the trial reveals their history and their secrets as uncovered by the narrator, newspaperman Ishmael Chambers. At very first these secrets are far from the murder and the accused, but they throw a wide net and it tightens masterfully as David Guterson weaves a beautiful story. The two families go back, way back. Their stories are difficult and run through Japanese interment camps and bloody battlefields to end up on fishing boats and in strawberry fields.
Besides a tight, intricate plot, the setting is described perfectly - the smells, the tastes, the sounds of the Washington Coast. It's hard to believe that this is a very first novel, it's that good.
- CV Rick, March 2008
Rated by buyers -
A very powerful book, the kind you remember. A fascinating study of the tragedy that is racism. Brilliant.
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