Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully written novel.
Review: Compelling narrative with interesting characters, fantastic descriptions, and lessons about the human spirit. The book slowly unfolds, but you won't be in a hurry.
Rating: 
Summary: Very poorly written
Review: This novel had no style and very little substance. From its "It was a dark and stormy night beginning" to its too-straightforward account of the trial, it did not capture my imagination.
Rating: 
Summary: if you expect a thriller you'll be disappointed
Review: i opened this book based on somebody's recommendation that it was a terrific court room thriller. not true! snow falling may be exceptional in some respects (nicely written, very vivid sense of place and time) but thrilling it is not. john grisham would have told this story in about 100 pages.
Rating: 
Summary: Is this book like watching snow fall on cedars?
Review: For portions of this novel, you tend to trail off and think of when it is going to get more interesting. However, this story is a compelling tale, with intertwining character stories and plots. For most of the book, it definitely keeps you involved. However, like I said before, sometimes it is like watching snow fall on cedars, or watching paint dry. If you like a good murder mystery with an underlying love story, you might want to pick this one up.
Rating:
Summary: snow falling on cedars
Review: Unfortunately, this book reads more like a screenplay than a novel. Other than the romantic scenes in the book, the author gives the reader little intimacy with the characters in the book and does more descriptive writing than absorbing character creation. Since the author did have wonderful plot and storyline, it was disappointing that it was written with little reward for the reader. There was a lack of consistency regarding the view of how the plot and underlying prejudice of society was to be portrayed. If the author would have created the story from one character's perspective, it may have been a better read.
Rating:
Summary: Author's First Novel Hits the Mark
Review: Reviewer's Disclaimer: I grew up in the Puget Sound area and worked a couple of summers picking strawberries on farms owned by Japanese-American farmers. Snow Falling on Cedars was an absorbing, thoroughly enjoyable read. At times an interracial romance, a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and a fictionalized chronicle of the World War II internment of Japanese-Americans, this book pulls the reader into an accurate rendering of life on an island in Puget Sound. The disparate aspects of the novel are seamlessly interwoven into a narrative that allows the reader to embrace the plot, the characters, and the dead-on descriptions of the physical characteristics of the novel's setting. The novel is narrated by Ismael Chambers, the publisher of the only newspaper on San Piedro Island, the fictional stand-in for Bainbridge Island, Washington. The islanders are, with few exceptions, either strawberry farmers or Salmon fishermen. When a white fisherman dies under suspicious circumstances, the evidence points towards a Japanese-American fisherman who was the last person to see the dead man alive. Ishmael's boyhood romance with Hatsue, the girl that later becomes the accused man's wife, provides fertile material for interesting flashbacks to the early 1940s, when virtually all of the island's Japanese-American population was carted off to internment camps soon after the bombing of Pearl Harbour. I have always believed that one of the true marks of a great novelist is his/her ability to create believable characters of the opposite sex. Many well-respected writers fail at this task. In this novel, David Guterson's portrayal of Hatsue rings as true as any reader could hope for. If you have seen the film based on the novel, please don't let its substantial shortcomings steer you away from this book, which is a must read for anyone who enjoys contemporary fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Very Moving
Review: I read the book "Snow Falling on Cedars" for my 8th grade literature class in which we had to choose to read a historical fiction novel. I got into it, and soon enough, I was almost finished! It was a very powerful story which deals with the discrimination of the Japanese during and after the second World War. A Japanese man is on trial for the murder of an American man, and a very interesting case comes into play. One by one, you learn about the characters' pasts and how they are all connected to someone else's: sometimes in more ways than one. The connections aren't always good ones, and it shows you how some events really do come back to haunt you. David Guterson really kept me in this book, and his enticing storyline really gave me a lot to think about. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn a little about life and about the past during a time when all men weren't thought to be created equal.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent novel
Review: I initially picked up this book after noticing it by my mother's nightstand and after beginning to read it, I was unable to put it down. I had never read anything by David Guterson before, and this book made me a huge fan of his work. He has a unique talent in which he deftly manipulates his readers' imaginations and creates some of the most intriguing and excellent imagery I have yet experienced. The novel's plot was excellent and paced well; I didn't put the book down until I finished it, and I wasn't able to go two weeks before reading it a second time. In this work, Guterson has displayed an awe-inspiring inteligence and creativity, and I highly recommend the book. A movie, starring Ethan Hawke, is now available on videocassette that is based on the story. However, I strongly recommend that you read this book before viewing it; it is much better, and I feel that you would enjoy the book far more if you did so (the movie is only so-so).
Rating:
Summary: An okay read
Review: I read this book after hearing about the movie coming out with the same title. I connected with the characters, and this connection carried me through the several slow moving parts of the story. The descriptive writing was a little too much for my taste, but it served it's purpose well in several scenes, mainly where the characters were actively involved with each other. All in all, I was a little dissapointed, but also entertained.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful novel
Review: Snow Falling on Cedars is one of the most beautful books I have ever read. The imagery used paints a picture so clearly you can smell and taste every detail. It is beautifully written, and is a must read, more for the way it is written if not for the plot. I am 16 years old, and I loved this book. It is put together amazingly well.
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