Rating: 
Summary: Page turner
Review: Enjoyable, fast read that teaches you a lot about religion, respect for others, and realistic fears of a child. Even though the book turns mystic at the end, to me it just shows the strength of faith. One of those books recommended to me, and passed on from me to other friends and family. Well worth reading, especially for the strong bond of friendship between the rabbi and the boy.
Rating: 
Summary: Hamill's editor must have been asleep at the wheel.
Review: This book starts out so amazingly promising, the lackluster ending is a huge disappointment. As I read the first half of the book, I actually thought I was reading a new classic -- the kind of book that would be read in junior highs and high schools around the country for years to come. But Hamill loses it about 3/4 the way through. Suddenly, he shifts from a very realistic narrative to fantasy, without batting an eye. Now we've all made writing mistakes and taken inappropriate tangents in our prose. That's the process of writing. But most of the time, we re-read ourselves and/or get good advice from well-meaning friends: "Oops! You slipped off course there." WHERE WAS HAMILL'S EDITOR? This could have been such a great book, with an important lesson for every reader about racism. But with a fantasy ending, nothing carries any weight or teaches any lasting lessons. What a disappointment!
Rating: 
Summary: Stays with you long after the last page has turned.
Review: It has been over a year since I read, "Snow in August", and I still find myself going back to it in my mind and in conversations. A voracious reader, it is not uncommon for me to thoroughly enjoy a good book and want to discuss it with others. Rarely, though, do I find myself bringing it up months later and urging friends to read the book so that they may share in my good fortune. The author's lack of concern over the "formula" was understandably disturbing to many readers (whose reviews I read with interest). Think, though, of the rising interest in matters brought forth by the ending. Not wanting to ruin a good read for anyone, I will forgo a detailed discussion of this issue. Suffice it to say that it opened a whole new chapter for me in my life as a raised-but-not-enrolled-nor-rejecting Roman Catholic. After you have read the book, do think about it. As though you really have a choice...
Rating:
Summary: A disappointment!
Review: "Snow in August" is a big disapointment. Main characters are not fully developed. The reader craves more information of their lives than provided by the book. Tertiary characters are interesting but fade out of the novel without reappearing.Several sequences seem out of place. The ending is unsatisfactory with respect to the plot and the literary device. The novel makes one wonder if was a joke. It was definitely not up to the standard one expects from the author.
Rating:
Summary: Read this to your kids
Review: I enjoyed "Snow in August" so much I read it to my 7-year old son, one chapter at a time, over the course of the last summer. I had to "edit" some violent scenes, most notably the attack on Mr. G and the attempted rape of the lead character's mother. (The narrator is 12, the same age Hamill was in 1947.) It was one of the best experiences we've yet shared. It helped us talk about baseball, about religion, about racism, about New York, and about history. We raced through the last chapters -- it took us 90 minutes -- and we still talk about its subjects, months later. Pete Hamill is a great American writer.
Rating: 
Summary: A good read but a disappointing ending.
Review: I approached this book hesitantly as I have never been a big fan of Hammill's writings in the local newspapers. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it was written and how much I enjoyed it. The book is the tale of post-war Brooklyn and the unlikely friendship between an Irish American boy and a Jewish rabbi. The friendship educates them both as does the parallel saga of Jackie Robinson. I was disappointed however by the ending. I won't give it away but to have a novel so firmly rooted in the gritty reality of the streets end in such a mystical fashion was lost on me.
Rating:
Summary: poignant story
Review: that seems to capture what growing up in brooklyn was all about (before my time!) . . . what impressed me was how author got into the head of the jewish rabbi.
Rating:
Summary: Didn't spark my interest!
Review: Though Hamill's ideas were interesting, the execution of his novel was too simpistic to be an effective story. I would love to see how another author would bring bring this novel's contents (i.e. the richness of the divergent Jewish and Catholic religions, the psychology of gang violence, the nostalgia of 1940's baseball, the mystery of the Kballah) more to life.
Rating:
Summary: Just read it!
Review: This is a riveting book! I couldn't put it down! It was also disturbing, exciting, hopeful, empowering, sad, amazing... Like real life, it was many things all at once! The ending is very surprising, and a little unsatisfying, yet... how else could it end? I don't want to say more because it will spoil the book for you: if you like baseball, Yiddish, stories about Judaism, or just a good read, just read it!
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining - Lots of Nostalgia
Review: This is an entertaining book that brought back lots of memories for me... I was just about Michael's age after WWII and enjoyed the baseball references... A good straightforward plot.. An easy read... Andy Salansky Wappingers Falls, NY
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