Snow Falling on Cedars : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A Exellent Courtroom Drama
Review: Snow Falling on Cedars is a powerfully written novel that aims for the heart and hits the bulls-eye. The novel is set on a small island off the coast of Washington state (San Piedro), and tells the story of a murder trial involving the death of a local fisherman, Carl Heine. The novel shows the difficulty caused by prejudice when the defendant (Kabuo Miyamoto) is singled out because of his Japanese heritage. Were other courtroom dramas grab the reader by having an astounding turn-of-events near the end of the book, Snow Falling on Cedars relies purely on the depth of its characters. With every witness that takes the stand, we get a to see their complexity and their humanity. Guterson gives every character such intricacies that you would almost expect to see them walking down the street.
If you are looking for a whodunit murder mystery, you might want to look else ware. Guterson doesn't leave out the little details that make up the case but he doesn't make a game out of trying to figure out the killer, either. Also younger readers might want to stay away from this book because of its more explicit material. In the end, Snow Falling on Cedars is an excellent book that will put a small fisherman's town and its inhabitances' lives at your fingertips.


Rating:
Summary: Is Kabuo really the killer??
Review: David Guterson's Snow Falling on Cedars was perhaps the most appealing novel I have read. Throughout the book, Guterson intertwines love and romance in with World War II. Snow Falling on Cedars begins by Kabuo Miyamoto being placed on trial for the murder of Carl Heine. Carl was found lying dead in his gill net the morning of September 15. The novel has frequent flashbacks of Hatsue, a Japanese woman, as she was in her youth. She and Ishmeal Chambers had a childhood romance. Often, the two would spend their time together in a hollow cedar tree. There they could get away from the world and be content holding each other. During the trial, Hatsue and her husband, Kabuo, work through this. This novel also approaches the subject of racism. This is not your everyday novel, in that reading this, you have to focus on what is being said. Some events are very subtle, and you have to read between the lines. Although this novel may have been to follow at times, it was very well written.