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Summary: A real nice story- a must for everyone
Review: I read this book for English project. It's one of the best books I've read in my life. I highly recommend this book for everyone.
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Summary: A pot-boiler disguised as serious social commentary
Review: Ishmael's lusting after Hatsue was the core of this book, and a rotten core it was. I didn't believe a word of it. Regarding the mystery of who killed the fisherman, the only suspense was whether Ishmael was going to come clean and share the facts that would prove Tabuo's innocence, or whether he was so jealous over losing Hatsue that he would let Tabuo take the rap. This book was a clumsy attempt to manipulate the reader by throwing in Japanese-American relations and survivor's guilt. Definitely overrated.
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Summary: It's not a book, its a screenplay...
Review: Overall, pretty interesting character development, well researched plot and some original plot devices (I DID appreciate having a tense courtroom drama set in frigid, snowy Washington rather than the tired old "oppressive heat in the courthouse" scenario set in racially-charged Alabama.) But Guterson has too many topics to really explore with any depth: Is it a murder mystery? a WWII battle memoir? an accurate accouting of the internment of Japanese Americans? a tale of forbidden interracial love? a parable about the philosophical differerences between East and West? a tale of man's descent into bitterness and isolation? I caught a little of all of these themes, but only with cursory attention by the writer. I didn't get a real understanding of life inside the internment camps -- just that, well, they're a tough place to try to smuggle love-letters into. The most annoying device that Guterson uses is the good-old, TV-ready "flashback." Lots of them! I coudn't stop thinking "Gee, I guess we'll be seeing the movie version soon! I wonder who will play Hatsue?" He also wraps things up a bit too quickly at the end. It's a shame that so many issues and sub-plots involving the characters' respective "pasts" are glossed over. Guterson shows an appealing writing style when he takes the time to explore an issue. His descriptions are lush and engage the imagination. I wish him well on his next effort.
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Summary: A Must Read
Review: I have just finished this book and have been telling everone to read it. I found this book to so well written, that I not only got a sense that I really understood the main characters and what they were living through, but I was able to look at similar situations in my life which were similar. Though the book focuses on a small fishing village in the Nortwest and focuses on a time I was not around for, I found myself not only interested and understanding it, but able to look at today's social issues, relationships, and values and make numerous connections. This is one of the few book that moved me on so many levels and there are so few books that have effect. If you want a book that makes you think, cry, feel, and explore yourself this is the book to read. It was a love story, mystery, history, social commentary, and great work of fiction all rolled into one.
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Summary: A good, solid rewarding read
Review: Yes, there are some slow parts and some rough spots. But nowadays if the book isn't stupid or deathly boring or just plain silly we're all extremely grateful to the author. Snow Falling On Cedars turns out to be a pretty good read with fresh realistic characters, a pleasant prose style, and a nice blend of message and theme and drama. I plugged away at the slow stuff and took my time around the best stuff. Realistic, surprising, and satisfying--it may not be the best book I've read lately but I'll say this: It was worth the twelve bucks, I'm glad I purchased it rather than going to the library. A keeper.
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Summary: superb book let down by climax
Review: most books i read fade at about the two-thirds stage, but this wsa the exception, powering its way through until almost the very end without once dropping the pace. such a shame, therefore, for the whole mystery to be cleared up in a scene which would have been rejected from a walt disney cartoon, the hoary old idea that "if we go back and examine the evidence we may somehow pick up on something the professionals missed". an awful ending for such a great book
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Summary: Let it Snow!
Review: Guterson's SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS led me back to so many wonderful pieces of literature. From the troubadour poetry of William IX, Duke of Aquitaine, to the pain and heartbreak of so many of F. Scott Fitzgerald's characters, the culmination of which was, of course, Jay Gatsby, and now, finally to Ishmael Chambers -- all of them pursuers of unrequited love. And yet, THIS book goes far beyond a love story as it delves into the history of what some may refer to as WW II, others the period in which Japanese were placed in internment camps, and which I say is part of our (America's) often ignored, or even buried past. Guterson's descriptions are powerfully sensitive in their brutally realistic delivery. This is a book, though painful and uncomfortable at times, is ultimately thought-provoking and liberating!
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Summary: Call him Ishmael
Review: When reading a particularly involving, fascinating story, I sometimes feel compelled to read more slowly as the ending nears, to draw out my presence in the world into which I have been drawn. This desire to linger has never been more intense than while reading "Snow Falling On Cedars". This was not merely a consequence of Guterson's ability to lead us deep into the souls of his characters. It was also the fear of the seemingly inevitable miscarriage of justice that prevented me from turning the pages more quickly - or perhaps the hope that so long as the reader has not reached the pronouncement of the verdict, it has not truly been pronounced. But even more impressive is Guterson's ability to weave fiction with social commentary: to hopefully make each and every reader think long and think hard about the ability of juries to come to impartial verdicts. This novel provides a gripping portrait of a system where one's chances of being convicted or absolved appear to have ever less to do with the evidence and ever more with a defendant's personal appeal, with his or her ability to sell themselves as "one of us". Perhaps it is inevitable that laypeople will tend to view people most like themselves as being somehow less guilty, that they will be less able to imagine that someone so similar to themselves has been capable of committing a heinous crime. More worrying, and at the root of this novel, is the converse and also very human tendency to be more able and perhaps more willing to find guilt in those different - be they of different ethnicity or social background or race. Perhaps it is simply less painful to find those deepest darkest corners of human souls - those parts that lie and steal and murder - in places which seem more removed from us, in souls which we think have little relation to our own. So that by finding evil in them, we do not need to contemplate what lurks in our own hearts.
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Summary: In lovely Puget Sound... a spa vacation for your conscience
Review: I was taken in by the hype and bought this book. Don't do it. The writing is OK and the whodunit is fair to good, but overall this book is a dog. The characters are all wooden stereotypes: the crusty reporter with a painful past; the prim German-American housewife who's a secret sex fiend; the heroic, hardworking Japanese-Americans. This would be OK as camp, but the book takes itself very seriously. The treatment of interracial love is especially hamfisted. The love scenes were so embarrassingly voyeuristic I could hardly get through them, and I'm not usually squeamish. So save your money, unless you are a suburban matron who still doesn't know about the tragedy of Japanese internment during WWII. In that case, you will get to wallow pleasantly in guilt (keep your mind on the scenery!) and have it all washed away in the end, in less than 500 pages.
Rating: 
Summary: ZZZ....
Review: What? Huh? Oh I just woke up. I was reading Snow Falling on Cedars and must have fallen asleep. I thought it would be a great book. Also, because it was set in a place where I grew up, I was very excited to have it brought to national attention. However, this book was slow from the very beginning, and it never got better. I kept reading thinking "it has to get better", but it never did. The whole premise of race relations was lost in the long winded character descriptions and flashbacks. I did enjoy the "solving of the mystery", but I certainly wasn't convinced about character relations. I need to visualize a character in order to get into a book, and despite my best attempts, I never could visualize or get into any of the characters in the book. If you want something to put you to sleep, this book and a cup of warm milk should do it!
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