Smilla's Sense of Snow

Smilla's Sense of Snow

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3.69 of 5 stars 3.69  ·  rating details  ·  16,475 ratings  ·  1,038 reviews
She thinks more highly of snow and ice than she does of love.She lives in a world of numbers, science and memories--a dark, exotic stranger in a strange land.And now Smilla Jaspersen is convinced she has uncovered a shattering crime...

It happened in the Copenhagen snow.A six-year-old boy, a Greenlander like Smilla, fell to his death from the top of his apartment building.W...more
Paperback, 469 pages
Published October 1st 1995 by Delta (first published 1992)
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Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)
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Paul
Miss Smilla and her cast of characters were so quirky that after 100 pages I found all this quirk over the front of my shirt, all over the dining table (well, I call it a dining table) and stuck between the keys on my keyboard. Had to get it out with a Swiss Army knife, once it had dried. Sent a sample off to the lab and the results came back "two parts David Lynch, three parts frankly unbelievable heroine, three parts uninvolving plot which moves at the speed of an exhausted glacier". As I thou...more
Carolina
Aug 05, 2007 Carolina rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: glaciologists. or anybody who likes an intriguing, well-written story.
Smilla is, I think, my hands-down favourite fictional character. Which makes it easy for me to keep returning to this book. It's a translation from Danish (by Tiina Nunnally) and beautiful and technical and never sentimental, and it touches on issues I find particularly interesting such as European culture versus aboriginal culture (in this case Danish vs. Greenlandic) and the related issues of language and identity. Peter Hoeg has a mind that is both scientific and whimsical and I find that par...more
Larissa
It took me two months to finish this book and not until the last three weeks and 150 pages of that endeavor did I realize that it is actually quite terrible. It's been quite awhile since I've felt so cheated, nay--betrayed--by a novel. Because when you begin this book it is primarily concerned with the slow unfolding of character. You are tied to the titular Miss Smilla and her cynical absolutist world view. It doesn't take long to figure out that she has no interest in providing you with a fair...more
Tynan Power
I picked up this book for free, because it was a title I knew I'd heard. Once I started reading it, I was initially put off by the narrator/protagonist, Smilla, whose tone is aloof, cool, self-absorbed. I was also put off by realizing it is a mystery that borders on "thriller"...not my usual preferred genre.

However, I found myself drawn back to the book until I became engrossed in the story. About halfway through the book, I started underlining passages, turns of phrase that I liked, observation...more
emily
I feel like everyone I know (even my doctor, who spotted it poking out of my bag) loved this book. And I just don't get it.

Smilla makes me think of Lisbeth Salander, who was the reason I hated "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," and I think the two books have a lot in common. They're both, at their cores, books which say "this woman is real weird and kind of unpleasant and seems like she might not bathe frequently, but everyone who meets her thinks, 'damn, you's one cool chick.'" Why do they thin...more
Josh
After an initially over-enthusiastic 5 stars (which prompted consternation from some parties!) and then a too-sober 3 stars, I'm settling on four stars for this intelligent, brooding, minutely researched, acutely observed thriller. I think I wanted to give it five stars for two reasons: I read some negative reviews on this very webpage, and, finding them idiotic, wanted to vindicate this novel. I also cannot get out of my head the image of the Swiss German cook Urs using a freshly baked, burning...more
Stanka
Jan 28, 2008 Stanka rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Women who like to read about tough women
I first saw the film. You couldn't find it in the video store under "Smilla" because it was translated (into Serbian) as "Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow." No, this is not Serbian originality: the British translation is the one with "feeling", the US one is "sensible." But it's the same book.
I guess I never knew that Greenland was a Danish province, or shall we say, a colony. So here is a book that draws together a number of interesting threads: murder mystery, post-colonialism, immigration, scie...more
Sean
Jun 26, 2007 Sean rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who wonder what it's like to have a feeling for snow and ice
Smilla, half Kalaallit, half Dane, is taciturn and withdrawn—a wounded child grown into a dark, silent, often bitter woman. But she opens her heart to Isaiah, a young boy whom life has also wounded. When Isaiah dies, falling several stories from the snow-covered roof of a warehouse, she is forced out of her comfortable isolation to ask questions. Why had he climbed the scaffolding to play on the warehouse roof when he was terrified of heights? Why do his tracks go straight off the edge if he was...more
Raselius
This is one of my favourite exciting stories to read. Once you get in to it it is hard to stop reading. Everytime I read it I discover something new. It starts out with just a small event in Denmark - a boy have died in an accident. But one of the neighbours, Smilla from Greenland refuses to buy the police explanation and sets out on a quest to find the truth about her friend. Because Smilla is from Greenland she knows all these things about snow that the police and most of the rest of us don't...more
Lori (Hellian)
This book came up on my status update, and I noticed I had given it 3 stars. I'm raising it to 4, because even tho I read it so long ago, I remember Smilla. And all the different types of snow, altho I couldn't tell you the exact words. (Here in the US there's only the word snow, whereas Inuits have many different words to specify the type of snow. I found that fascinating.)

I remember getting completely engrossed, so between that and the fact that the book still lingers in my mind decades later,...more
Andrew Nixon
Complex characters, dizzying plot, starkly beautiful language, and tremendous psychological insights.
Valerie
Feb 04, 2008 Valerie rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those looking for something unusual.
Recommended to Valerie by: Tanneke
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Frenje
The best thing about this book has got to be its setting (unless you're an Inuit living in Greenland and are already familiar with the landscape) which is such a huge part of the always intriguing but never quite likeable protagonist. (I'm not sure that Høeg has really done that good a job at explaining the driving forces behind how Smilla got to be the way she is though, although he does make several attempts to do so.)

As far as the plot goes, it feels like you're watching an action movie -- th...more
Angel's Mum
The author's writing is at once beautiful and at other times so very technical. He focuses so intently on the subject matter and Smilla's knowledge of Greenland, the Inuits, and ice...especially ice-related technical information to the point that I found myself skimming some of that information because it was just way too detailed for my taste and seemed excessive to me throughout the book. The ending was less than satisfactory for me as well. I would have liked a little more resolution...that's...more
Ruanne
This book was not at all what I expected. Had thought it was just a mainstream detective story with a novice detective + exotic locale. Boy, was I wrong. This was such an amazing book. The protagonist was incredible, and both the prose and the ideas presented were fantastic. I savored it every step of the way, reading almost every paragraph twice. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was because I would hesitate to press it on everyone (5 star books are ones that I think everybody needs to r...more
Giuseppe D
In realt�� tre stelline e mezzo per questo mix tra thriller, romanzo e sci-fi. Tantissimi spunti interessanti dal punto di vista geologico e pseudo-medico. Smilla, improbabile eroina met�� danese e met�� groenlandese, indaga sulla morte di Esajas, un bambino che abita nel suo stesso stabile. Ed �� improbabile non trovarsi avvinti dalle sue avventure che, per��, promettono molto pi�� di quello che uno poi va a scoprire!!
La parte romanzata si sviluppa, invece, attraverso i suoi ricordi di una vita...more
Antof9
I've seen this title in multiple languages on the sidebar of the BookCrossing website so many times, and it's always intrigued me. In speaking with a friend recently, she mentioned a guy who hated it so much that he burned a copy of it, and neither of us could imagine feeling that strongly about a book! Thus, when she got her hands on a copy, she said she'd share it with me too :)

And although I'd have liked a more "concrete" ending, I have to say this book held my attention from the beginning. I...more
A.
An einem bitterkalten Wintertag wird im Kopenhagener Hafenviertel die Leiche eines neunj„hrigen Jungen gefunden. Der Fall scheint klar, er ist vom Dach eines Lagerhauses gefallen. Nur Smilla Jaspersen glaubt nicht an einen Unfall. Auf eigene Faust betreibt sie Nachforschungen und ger„t selbst in Lebensgefahr.

Der Verlag über das Buch
Smilla, eine Grönländerin, glaubt nicht, daß der Sturz des Jungen Jesaja vom Dach eines Lagerhauses ein Unglück war. Mit einem eisernen Willen ausgestattet, sucht Sm...more
Bogdan
странный роман странного автора, главной загадкой которого для меня было вселение автора в душу женщины, наполовину гренландки, наполовину датчанки. сюжетно – детектив, разворачивающийся вокруг смерти ребенка, гренландского мальчика исайи, живущего с матерью-алкоголичкой в копенгагене, находящего подругу в лице смиллы, молодой женщины, которая не получила полного образования, но которая является самым авторитетным специалистом, кода речь идет о снеге. женщина, для которой важнее всего свобода, а...more
Amber N
This book was really hard to read, but so so so rewarding to get through. I think it's difficulty in reading was based partly on the translation (not that it was bad) and the non-English style structure and prose. While quite a stunning literary achievement and a beautifully put together narrative, sometimes the jerky wordsmithing made me reread paragraphs or pages to figure out what was going on. This was a mooched book and several people had signed one of the end pages with similar sentiments:...more
Ken Foreman
I read Peter Høeg's "Smilla's Sense of Snow" after being entranced by Julia Ormond as Smilla Jasperson in the movie. Smilla Jaspersen--half Greenlander, half Dane, an unconventional loner and brilliant scientist who struggles with her conflicted upbringing--is devastated when a young boy she has befriended mysteriously falls to his death from the roof of their apartment building. Unsatisfied that it was an accident, she follows a trail from Copenhagen to the bleak Arctic reaches to solve his mur...more
Quirina Roode-Gutzmer
This book had a great impact on me for various reasons. I chose to read the US English version, because the translator Tiina Nunnally (a well-known known translator from Danish, Norwegian and Swedish) originally translated it into US English. The British edition is essentially an edited version of Nunnally' translation. The English reads so well that one does not notice that one is reading a translation. There were a few elements of style that did not appeal to me, for example, that sentence fra...more
Lysergius
The novel is ostensibly a work of detection and a thriller, although beneath the surface of the novel, Høeg is concerned with rather deeper cultural issues, particularly Denmark's curious post-colonial history, and also the nature of relationships that exist between individuals and the societies in which they are obliged to operate. The protagonist Smilla Qaaviqaaq Jaspersen is a sympathetic and useful vehicle in this respect, her deceased mother being Greenlandic Inuit and her father a rich Dan...more
La Reyne
This is one of those favourites that I go back to every so often. I identify in a number of ways with the lead character...

I really must read more of Hoeg's books. I understand they're all very different. In the way that a small number of film directors make a different film every time (Kubrick? Ridley Scott?) I've heard that Hoeg never repeats himself and attempts different styles and subjects with every novel.

I love this novel for its evocation of the Greenlandic and Danish cultures, both of...more
Walkergeraldine
Wider Erwarten gefiel mir der Roman sehr gut und er ist auch weit mehr als nur ein Krimi. Besonders beeindruckt der komplizierte Charakter der Hauptfigur und das komplizierte Verhältnis zwischen Dänen und Grönländern, über das ich zuvor nie nachgedacht habe, das aber im Roman eine ganz wesentliche Rolle spielt. Smilla wird insbesondere über ihre nach außen gezeigte Gefühlskälte, die mit ihrem „Gespür für Schnee“ korreliert, charakterisiert. Über Einsamkeit sagt sie: „Mir geht es mit der Einsamke...more
Roberta
Diseguale
Il romanzo di Hoeg si divide in tre parti:
* La città
* Il mare
* Il ghiaccio
La prima parte è semplicemente perfetta. Smilla è una donna ormai matura, Inuit da parte di madre, che vive ormai da lungo tempo in Danimarca. Dopo le prime esperienze di emarginazione a causa della sua razza e l'isolamento sperimentato all'interno della famiglia dopo la morte accidentale della madre e il suicidio del fratello, Smilla ha vissuto sempre rinchiusa in una solitudine che, pure essendo balsamo per l'...more
Zara
Der Krimi, der diesem Buch zugrunde liegt, ist sehr spannend und hat mich mitgerissen. Aber nicht von Anfang an. Ich habe gute 100 Seiten gebraucht, um reinzukommen und gut bis zu Hälfte, um mit der Sprache zurecht zu kommen.

Der Roman zieht sich zeitweise sehr in die Länge. Gerade viele Räume, die auf dem Schiff sind, werden mir zu genau beschrieben. Ich konnte mir teilweise nichts darunter vorstellen. Kann aber auch daran liegen, dass ich mich damit nicht auskenne. Das ist der nächste Kritikpun...more
Jigar Brahmbhatt
As far as intellectual or literary thrillers go, Peter Hoeg's book is quite an outsider. It's not out-and-out arcane like 'Da Vinci Code', but far more erudite than that book, full of fascinating details about snow, and heavy on atmosphere. It borrows its structure from the Swedish Crime novels, where whodunit is just a consequence but not the actual goal. Like the works of Mankell, it provides a grim view of society and life in general. That is what makes it all the more entertaining. I have co...more
Katie
I read this book while traveling in Denmark, and it knocked me off my feet. Hoeg´s Smilla is embittered and jaded as far as jaded can go, but she pays attention to every detail, and describes even her own depression in prose so confident and, dare i say it, loving, that I was writing down passages in my journal for the entire trip. The second half of the book returns to crime-thriller form, lessening its grip on poetry and moving to violent, shocking scenes of revelation and assassination attemp...more
Ludmirska
three stars for me growing so tired of too many details, characters, words...

once in a while there would be almost quotable, almost memorable thoughts put there by the writer and though the conditions were right: brief expression and "obvious" content, the two things that make a thought remarkable, still, something was missing. ... for me that is.



at times throughout the story the reader finds out some interesting facts about snow and ice, that have many different names in greenlandic languages...more
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Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow (Paperback)
Miss Smillas Feeling For Snow (Paperback)
Il senso di Smilla per la neve (Paperback)
Smilla's Sense of Snow (Hardcover)
Smilla's Sense of Snow (Mass Market Paperback)

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Peter Høeg was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. Before becoming a writer, he worked variously as a sailor, ballet dancer, and actor. He published his first novel, A History of Danish Dreams (1988), to positive reviews. However, it was Smilla’s Sense of Snow (1992), a million-copy best seller, that earned Høeg immediate and international literary celebrity. His books have been published in more than th...more
More about Peter Høeg...
Borderliners The Quiet Girl The Woman and the Ape The History Of Danish Dreams Tales of the Night

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“To want to understand is an attempt to recapture something we have lost.” 52 people liked it
“Do you know what the mathematical expression is for longing? ... The negative numbers. The formalization of the feeling that you are missing something.” 20 people liked it
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