Snow Falling on Cedars : A Novel

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Summary: How internationonal students may think about Snow Falling...
Review: "Snow falling on Cedars" had a great influnce on me. It was the first American novel I have ever read, and I really enjoyed it. As an international student, I found it hard to understand the whole book because this book included a lot of vocabulary that were unknown to me. I was just looking for the main points in the story by which I could understand the novel. The way the story was told was really fabulous. It combined past events with some present ones.The character development was also great, and it made the story easier to understand.

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Summary: Snow Falling On Cedars!
Review: David Guterson turned a simple murder story into a fantastic novel introducing themes of love, justice, racism, community, and conscience. Many issues are bought to the surface in the way we look at the world of the text and the way we see our own world. The way Guterson wrote the novel, always going into flashback lets our views of the themes and issues discussed be questioned. Also, because he [Guterson] introduces so many different characters we see all the different view points from so many people. If Etta Heine for example had not been put on trial we would not have known how prejudice against japs she was. We would not also have known the true facts of what happened so many years ago getting her and her husband's views. This book in writen in such a specialized way that we get many different novels in one!

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Summary: The Justice of Love
Review: The book Snow Falling on Cedars, was an okay story. The "plot" wasn't really there. It was supposed to be about a man on trial for a "murder" and instead it focused more on a long lost love story. I didn't really enjoy the book that much. It seems to drag on, the flashbacks between Ishmael and Hatsue some were relevant and others could have been left out. For example, the flashback of them on beach as children and they kissed for the first time. The high points in the book were the trial scenes in the book. The lawyer characters that David Gutterson made them out to be made the court scenes seem real.For example, Nells Kabuo's lawyer was well portrayed when he had Hatsue on the stand and was making her contradict herself on stand. The way he wrote it seemed as though the end was going to be wonderful, and the ending was sort of a flop, too predictable. As a whole the book, didn't appeal to me and it could have been written differently, the author was just trying to put too many plots and twists into one story when he should have focused on one of them. The flashbacks did add insight to the characters minds. As a whole I didn't really enjoy it, could have been done differently.

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Summary: The Search for Justice and the Lustful Passions of Love
Review: Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson is a well written, finely drafted novel incorporating two distinctive themes into one tightly woven plot. The issues of justice and the passions of love are explored and contrased in explicit detail. Though the plot is well-thought out and written with calculated precision the general ideals, can at times, seem overwhelming and even superflous. Often the reader is pummlled with a single concept, though an important one, to the point where he or she rapidly loses interest in continuing further. The reader is placed into a position where he or she must continue read, as dreadful as this may be, in order to access and throughly understand more appealing portions of the text. The novel is written in such a manner as to offer the reader extraordinary insight into the past relationships of the characters, which is essential to the plot. At times, the sheer number of flashbacks well exceeds any reasonable threshhold of tolerable redundancy. If the reader manages to circumvent these unsavory flashbacks while retaining a sound understanding of the plot, his or her chances of deriving pleasure from reading the novel are vastly improved. In all, Guterson has authored a rather worthy piece of literature, even after recognizing it's many shortcomings. One such notable shortcoming is the ending which fails to provide the reader with an adaquate sense of resolution. After sifting through so much preliminary hype this is a major and entirely unnecessay disappointment. As far as novels go Snow Falling on Cedars is unlikely to be deemed classic in either its content or its style, however it remains well worth reading. If nothing else it will expose the reader to a fantastic tale fo love, passion, and condemption that he or she is unlikely to be introduced to anywhere else.

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Summary: forbidden love, unfair trial
Review: I read the story, Snow Falling on Cedars, and the book was okay. My favorite part of the story was the trial scenes. The way the author would introduce new evidence into the trial keeps the reader interested in the case and gets the reader into the mood to try and figure out how it really happened. I found myself constantly trying to figure out what was going to happen and what the verdict would be. One aspect of the story that I didn't care for was all the flashbacks the author included. It made the story more of a romance novel instead of being about the trial. Some of the flashbacks had no relevance to the present time. For example, when the author did flashbacks about Ishmael and Hatsue "hanging-out" together, they were unnecessary and irrelevant to the story. Some of the flshbacks were important to their present relationship but had nothing to do with the trial. Although I didn't fully enjoy the book, I thought it was good. If you are the type of person who likes to read romance novels, then this book is good for you. The author developed the characters well by their actions. For example, Ishmael. His character was developed as a persistant man by showing his endless love for Hatsue. He was a caring person, especially towards his mother. The story flowed well but the transition from past to present or, vise-versa, wasn't clear. Overall, the book was okay, for a person with the acquired taste for this style of writing.

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Summary: Boring
Review: Although the writing is beautiful and one can picture the landscape perfectly, I thought that Snow Falling on Cedars was pretty boring and quite predictable. I often enjoy courtroom drama, but nothing really happened in this whole story.

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Summary: I can't wait to see the film!
Review: Wow! I just finished SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS, and I was mostly impressed with it. The tale was truly unique, and Guterson describes his character's with a very intense yet appropriate passion. I loved the location of the novel, San Piedro island, because it makes a nice setting for the story, that fits the emotional balance of the characters. I must say, that I was more interested in the relationship between Hatsue and Ishmael than the Carl Heine murder mystery. In this novel, we are introduced to at least 20-30 different characters, making it a bit confusing as to who each of them are. All in all, David Guterson did a splendid job, and I hope the movie is the same :)

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Summary: Actually probably 4 1/2 stars
Review: This is one of the few books in which I didn't mind the overly long passages describing the scenery and the particulars about the characters. The book really came to life for me, and the themes of innocence lost, and past prejudices were eloquently intertwined in the plot. Although the end was a little too pat and sudden (and, thus, the deduction of a half star), it was a decent mystery and a fine essay on the human spirit. I can't imagine the movie doing the book justice, but, then, I am just a rambling accountant.......

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Summary: Surprisingly, a masterpiece!
Review: I must admit that after reading the first 20-30 pages of this book, I wanted to quit; in fact, I did stop reading the book until months later, when I finally decided I needed to read something. Boy, am I glad I finally did trudge through the beginning, because what follows is a masterpiece. Every character has a story, and every story allows the reader to identify with the character in question, even when the character is so far removed from everything you know that you wouldn't think it possible to indentify with such a person. Perhaps this is just what I felt, though. Near the end of the work, I sat up straight, tugging at my hair, not because the suspense was high or something scary was happening, but because of the conflicting emotions of the main character. I highly recommend this book to anyone, whether he or she reads romance novels, war-related material, courtroom dramas-- you name it. It is well worth your time, and if you are like me, you will think about it long after you have finished the final page.

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Summary: Stunning
Review: Snow Falling on Cedars is a beautifully written story of the trial of a Japanese-American man charged with murder in the death of a white fisherman. The story is not just a simple whodunit with a few twists and turns, but the rich history of a small town on Puget Sound and what happened to it when their Japanese citizens were sent away to internment camps during World War II. This is a story of love and loss, racism, bigotry and finally forgiveness that will leave you breathless. The characters are beautifully drawn and the scenes so vivid, you become part of the novel. A story that is both tragic and uplifting at the same time. A monument to the written word, David Guterson deserved all the awards his book won.