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The Snow Child

Eowyn Ivey (Goodreads Author)

3.97 · Rating details · 121,528 ratings · 15,419 reviews

Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart - he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone - but they ...more

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Hardcover, 386 pages

Published February 1st 2012 by Reagan Arthur Books

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Jan 13, 2012 karen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, free-from-work

when i was about one hundred pages from the end of this book, i tugged on greg's sleeve at work, and said, "is this gonna end sad??"

and he refused to answer.

i think that was a good impulse.

because i almost don't wanna review this. this book was such a beautiful journey, and taking place as it does over a number of years, there are naturally high and low points, emotionally.

but i'm not going to tell you how it ends up.

i will tell you that i VERY NEARLY CRIED early on. like page 42-early.i misted ...more

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Jan 16, 2012 Emily May rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, fairy-tales

I put off reading The Snow Child because it wasn't something I would have chosen for myself without the extremely positive reviews of other goodreads members. If it is not obvious to you from the description alone, then this book is not mostly plot-driven. It's charm is upheld by the characters, the relationships, and the sad, cold mood that seems to permeate the entire novel from open to close. It is the kind of novel that I sometimes have trouble with, the kind not concerned with action or drama, but more subdued and subtle. However, I was fortunate in that the characters held my attention throughout and the relationship between Mabel and Jack carried something simultaneously heart-warming and bittersweet that really spoke to me.

Mabel and Jack are an aging couple that have escaped from their previous reality into the Alaskan wilderness. They struggle to get by with Jack trying desperately to turn the old farm where they live into something that can support them through the harsh winters. But they are also struggling with something that runs much deeper: their childlessness and the memory of the stillborn baby that continues to drive them apart. I loved the relationship between the pair, the way they often felt distanced from one another but still relied on each other for support. It was heart-breaking to picture them sat at their table feeling the absence of a child and unable to discuss it.

There's something about this novel that is just plain sad. Even when nothing particularly sad seems to be happening. It's a tone that the story never shakes and perhaps it is something to do with the description of the freezing and isolated environment that made me feel like I should prepare to burst into tears at any second. I can't say for sure whether this book was supposed to be a lesson in how you cannot run away from your problems, or how bottling things up and shutting people out never works, but I can say that I took a little bit of all of this from the story.

Onto the snow child herself. It could have been an intentional move on the author's part, but I felt constantly distanced from her character; I felt perhaps she was a tool by which the main players' (Mabel and Jack) could be analysed and allowed to grow and develop. This is not so much a criticism as an observation. If you aren't aware of the basic plot outline, Mabel and Jack create a child out of the snow on a winter's night and discover the creation gone the next morning with a single trail of footsteps leading away from where it had stood. Then suddenly they start to spot a young girl roaming the woods, one who is identical to their snow sculpture and they see it as an opportunity to maybe finally have the child they always wanted.

I had been all set to give this book five stars, I really had. The writing is beautiful, the characters interesting, and the relationships touching... but the ending was disappointing. For me, it seemed like an unsatisfactory "is that it, then?" kind of ending that left me expecting some kind of twist from the epilogue that wasn't forthcoming. It wasn't enough to make me change my mind about the rest of the story and I would still highly recommend this book, but it was quite a large fault in an otherwise near-perfect novel. ...more

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Feb 11, 2017 Amalia Gkavea rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: american-literature, magical-realism, myths-legends, fairy-tales, favorites, mystery

''There once was an old man and woman who loved each other very much and were content with their lot in life except for one great sadness- they had no children of their own.''

I've often read that it is difficult to write a review about books that left you indifferent, distant. I agree, but for me, writing a review about a novel that left me speechless with its beauty is equally hard. Where do words stop? Where should we stop analyzing and dissecting a work of literature and let the power of ''There once was an old man and woman who loved each other very much and were content with their lot in life except for one great sadness- they had no children of their own.''

I've often read that it is difficult to write a review about books that left you indifferent, distant. I agree, but for me, writing a review about a novel that left me speechless with its beauty is equally hard. Where do words stop? Where should we stop analyzing and dissecting a work of literature and let the power of the story speak for itself?

Jack and Mabel is a couple that love each other unconditionally and yet, their life together is tarnished by the absence of a child. Their decision to move to Alaska, in a remote area of the Last Frontier, is their final attempt to start anew, on virgin ground, away from their relatives' gossips and silent pity. A tough place to begin again, one may say, but I believe that we are often in need of a shock, in need of a drastic change of environment, to look upon our lives under a new light, to attempt to correct our wrongs or chase our fears away. It is not easy. Far from it. And it is not easy for our protagonists either.

''November was here, and it frightened her because she knew what it brought- cold upon the valley like a coming death, glacial wind through the cracks between the cabin logs. But most of all, darkness. Darkness so complete even the pale-lit hours would be chocked.''

While Jack retains his contact with the ''outside'' world, Mabel stays home waiting, reading, baking pies, slowly letting herself become a vulnerable prey to her sadness. Then, one cold, beautiful, snowy evening, she and Jack decide to let themselves become children again, and a miracle happens. A beautiful child starts visiting them.

No more about the plot, we are treading on thin ice here. Let us turn our focus to the characters. The way Ivey has created the relationship between Jack and Mabel is astonishing. It is a love that is realistic. earthy, devoted and full of equal trust. Jack is like a rock that supports Mabel in her every step, Mabel is tenderness, determination and the sole reason he keeps on going. Actually, they are each other's reason to persevere and tame the wild, formidable nature and make it their home. Mabel adds to the ambiguity of the narration. There is an intense feeling of uncertainty, especially in the first half of the story. Is she a reliable narrator? What is this young girl that seems to appear out of nowhere? Is she a forest child spirit? A creature of winter? Or is she a human child of flesh and blood with an unquenched, primeval instict of survival? The characters that move in the periphery of the action are quite interesting in their own merit. Aside from Faina, Esther and Garrett occupy much of the plot. Esther is a solid character, a strong woman, as strong as the harsh landscape. I'm sure that most of us would like to have her as our close friend. Garrett takes on quite a distinctive role during the second half of the novel.

Ivey writes her tale in a language of impeccable beauty, creating immediate images in the mind of a reader, with a vividness that takes you away, carrying you into the heart of the story. The characters jump out of the page, you are able to smell and feel the wintry air on your face, the aroma of the cold and the fur trees. You can feel the softness of the snow, the crispiness of a newly - formed snowball, the heat from the woodstove and its cozy light around the wooden cabin. There is a nightly ice - skating sequence that is, possibly, one of the finest, most beautiful, heartwarming passages I've ever read.

''We never know what is going to happen, do we? Life is always throwing us this way and that. That's where the adventure is.''

Based on a Russian fairy-tale, this story resembles every bit of the beauty of the Russian folk tales. It is sad, hopeful and sensitive, its characters are people like us. It is an example of how exciting can the mixture of realism and magic realism become when done right. It is a creation of love, nature, darkness and light. A creation of persistance and strength, of all those elements we encounter in our daily lives, those we adopt and the dark ones that we try to scare away. The way I see it, these are the ingredients of a beautiful, classic story. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey is certain to become one. So forget all pretentious ''philosophies'' about the ''deeper meaning the author wanted to convey'', and allow yourselves to become children, playing with the snow on a starry night. Escape to a snowy plain in Alaska and let magic in. You will not be disappointed... ...more

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Jan 18, 2016 Elyse Walters rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Thank you to the Goodreads community and my friends -- for the comments of inspiration while I was reading this book.

When "The Snow Child" was first released in 2012,
other that adoring the books cover, I was sure this book wasn't for me.
I'm not sure why or what I thought it was -I just 'passed-it-over'. Well, for what's it's worth...I am more than pleasantly surprised to discover how MUCH I LIKE THIS BOOK.
I don't seem to remember 'anyone' telling me it was a page turner.

The blend of myth and ...more

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Apr 20, 2012 Nataliya rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-reads

Once upon a time there lived a childless old couple...

This is not an uncommon beginning to folk tales, a simple introductory line which can (and in Eowyn Ivey's The Snow Child does) condense into a few simple words the years of pain, sadness, and intense longing for something that nature refused to give despite desperate desire.

"Where else in life, Mabel wondered, could a woman love so openly and with such abandon?"

This is where I saw the strengths of The Snow Child - not in the imagery of
Once upon a time there lived a childless old couple...

This is not an uncommon beginning to folk tales, a simple introductory line which can (and in Eowyn Ivey's The Snow Child does) condense into a few simple words the years of pain, sadness, and intense longing for something that nature refused to give despite desperate desire.

"Where else in life, Mabel wondered, could a woman love so openly and with such abandon?"

This is where I saw the strengths of The Snow Child - not in the imagery of Alaskan wilderness through the prism of magical realism, not in the enigmatic nature of the titular snow child, but in the depiction of quiet, desperate sadness and alienation that plagues a deeply unhappy couple, torn apart by the weight of grief, struggling under the burden of their perceived failures.

"Was that why they had come north— to build a life? Or did fear drive her? Fear of the gray, not just in the strands of her hair and her wilting cheeks, but the gray that ran deeper, to the bone, so that she thought she might turn into a fine dust and simply sift away in the wind."

Jack and Mabel are an aging couple who left their old life and moved to Alaska seemingly to start a homestead but really to escape the weight of their loss that, turns out, they were not able to leave behind with their old lives. More than anything, Mabel desired to have a child, defining herself through the view of motherhood - but all she and Jack have is the memory of a tiny deformed stillborn, the one that Mabel hasn't even had a chance to say goodbye to as Jack (with the best intentions, sadly) quickly took it away for a silent nighttime burial.

Years later, neither Mabel nor Jack have overcome their grief and loneliness. Instead of reaching out to each other, instead of finding ways to cope they seem to have retreated deep into each own self, allowing tiny cracks to appear in their marriage, withdrawing behind invisible doors, isolating themselves from the world filled with life and children and constant reminders of their loss and (at least in their perception) failure. In this state of mind, leaving everything behind and trying to start a brand-new life in Alaska seemed like a promise of a new better life - or so Mabel had hoped.

"Mabel had known there would be silence. That was the point, after all. No infants cooing or wailing. No neighbor children playfully hollering down the lane. No pad of small feet on wooden stairs worn smooth by generations, or clackety-clack of toys along the kitchen floor. All those sounds of her failure and regret would be left behind, and in their place there would be silence."

But little has changed in the new place - the sadness that rules their lives, enveloped in silence and things-not-quite-said refused to be left behind. And here they are, in Alaska, still grieving, still drifting apart, Mabel suicidal in her depression, Jack preoccupied with simply trying to provide sustenance to his family, and things have never looked bleaker for the two of them.

"Was that why they had come north — to build a life? Or did fear drive her? Fear of the gray, not just in the strands of her hair and her wilting cheeks, but the gray that ran deeper, to the bone, so that she thought she might turn into a fine dust and simply sift away in the wind."

These parts of quiet desperation in which Jack and Mabel existed - because at this point it was mere existence and not quite life - were the parts that emotionally connected with me. There is that elusive *something* in the pervasive melancholy superimposed onto the landscape beautiful but cold and severe that touches the soul and pulls on the heartstrings, and even though you know that it's calculated to precisely do just that to your poor vulnerable heartstrings you cannot help but feeling for this miserable couple deeply and sincerely.

My heart ached for Mabel even though I cannot quite relate to her plight. But, unlike her, I can imagine a world where not having children can be a choice instead of a curse, where being a mother is not the sole expectation for a woman, where it is okay to admit to the lack of allure of maternity. For me, such a world is part of our reality. For Mabel, on the other hand, not having children has been out of question - and her not having them was merely unnatural in the America of the 1920s.

"If you said you didn’t have children, it sounded like a choice, and what kind of craziness would that be? If you said you couldn’t, the conversation turned awkward while they contemplated your manliness or your wife’s health."

And then, just as everything seems to be hopeless, the Snow Child appears - a strange and ethereal Faina, a little girl who appears on the night Jack and Mabel in a giddy trance make a snow sculpture in their yard, a child who only is seen in winter and seems one with the snow-covered stern world of Alaska. To Mabel, something about her reminds of a Russian children's story about a snow maiden that graced the lives of an old childless couple; and as far as Mabel remembers, the story does not have a happy ending.

Mabel's Snow Maiden is very familiar to any Russian child. Snegurochka, a tragic young maiden made of snow, doomed to demise by the fire/spring/love in the many versions of the fairytale (beautifully depicted by the famous painter Vasnetsov below), who through the last couple of centuries came to fill the role of the granddaughter of Father Frost, the ubiquitous presence at any kindergarten New Year's Day party, the inspiration for the many children's New Year's outfits (see baby Nataliya below as a very special snowflake/Snegurochka):

Faina, unfortunately, is the weak link in the melancholic fragile magic that is the sadness of this book. Is she real or fantastical? A snow child or an abandoned little girl? seems to be the question that plagues her adoptive parents; her vulnerable fragility masked by the exterior of strength and stubbornness is touching, indeed. But it's precisely this mysteriousness, further underscored by the quotation-mark-less dialogue every time Faina makes her appearance was what for me prevented the formation of any meaningful connection with her. Faina's appearances, right down to the 'what just happened here?' last one I found instead frustrating, jarring and interrupting the tone of the book.

Mabel's friend Esther, basically the embodiment of life energy that Mabel appears to lack, a breath of vitality in the slow melancholic existence. Unfortunately, this stark contrast again breaks the mood of this book that hinges on quiet sadness.

Overall, I found this book to be a lovely story, even if far from perfect. It's captivating in its own quiet way when it focuses on its strength - the fragile yet tender relationship between two aging lonely people in the cold and cruel but beautiful world. 3.5 stars and a respectful nod to Eowyn Ivey for a rather strong debut work.

"But he knelt at her feet, put his head in her lap, and they held each other and shared the sorrow of an old man and an old woman who have lost their only child."

...more

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Mar 07, 2017 Norma rated it really liked it

Shelves: sister-reads

A magical & classic fairytale story for adults! (bringing back memories of our childhood)
Sister Read Review by Norma & Brenda

THE SNOW CHILD by EOWYN IVEY is a wonderful, heartwarming, sad, and beautifully told bewitching tale based on a Russian fairytale titled "Snegurochka", The Snow Maiden a girl who is believed to be half-human and half made of snow. This enchanting story had us both asking ourselves was there something magical happening here or not? Oh, but for us, there definitely was so ...more

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Sep 16, 2012 Karen rated it it was amazing

I loved this sweet story! So much heart and a little magic!

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Dec 20, 2020 Julie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reading-road-trip-2020, baked-alaska

Reading Road Trip 2020

Current location: Alaska

Alaska gave up nothing easily. It was lean and wild and indifferent to a man's struggle. . .

I don't know how old Eowyn Ivey was when she started this debut novel, The Snow Child, but I'm going to guess she was relatively young. It's filled with many rookie mistakes I made in my own first novel: a strong primary protagonist surrounded by several lesser formed characters, the action of the story reduced to one primary setting, and a few loose plot poi ...more

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Dec 12, 2015 Reading Corner rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites

So this story was beautiful with so many cute and heartbreaking moments. One of the best things in the book is the character development and the developing relationships throughout the story. From the start of the book, I nearly started crying because there was just scenes that were so heart wrenching especially at the end which completely broke my heart.

All the characters are perfect in this novel, they all have their faults but just as many strengths and the unexpected romance towards the end ...more

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Nov 28, 2020 Jess the Shelf-Declared Bibliophile rated it really liked it · review of another edition

What a whirlwind of emotion this was! The fantastical yet realistic world the author created was the perfect blend. Sometimes it felt like a good novel, sometimes like a fairy tale, and the beautiful contrast and uncertainty was captivating. There are so many elements that you aren't sure what is real yet unlikely, or perhaps could be true magic. The plot throughout and ultimately the ending were unexpected, and I never guessed what was coming. Along with the stunning story, the author gives the ...more

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Feb 03, 2018 Matt rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, favourites, equinox-book-challenge

With her sensational debut novel, Eowyn Ivey offers readers a healthy dose of rural Alaskan life balanced with a story that pulls on the heartstrings. Mabel and Jack have come to settle on the Alaskan home-front in the 1920s, having left behind the busy Pennsylvania lifestyle to which they had become accustomed. Childless and in their 50s, Jack and Mabel are forced to forge their own way and subsist on whatever they can accumulate. While Jack toils away on their land, Mabel’s idle time is spent With her sensational debut novel, Eowyn Ivey offers readers a healthy dose of rural Alaskan life balanced with a story that pulls on the heartstrings. Mabel and Jack have come to settle on the Alaskan home-front in the 1920s, having left behind the busy Pennsylvania lifestyle to which they had become accustomed. Childless and in their 50s, Jack and Mabel are forced to forge their own way and subsist on whatever they can accumulate. While Jack toils away on their land, Mabel’s idle time is spent remembering the child they lost and how devastating it was for her, having always yearned to be a mother. On the evening of the first snowfall of the season, Jack and Mabel venture out to build a little snow girl, adding all the accoutrements they can create, before turning in for the night. Mabel wakes the next morning to find the snow girl gone, likely destroyed by an animal. However, she is sure she’s seen something in the woods, when she leaves the safety of her home. Unable to convince anyone, Mabel wonders if a story from her childhood has influenced her. When Jack finally meets the girls in the woods, sure that this is no longer an apparition that Mabel has concocted. Jack soon makes a discovery about which he tells to no one and invites the young girl to come live with them. The as-to-now nameless girl soon admits to being called Faina, a unique name that both Mabel and Jack adopt with ease. While Faina is happy to live with her new parental figures, she also enjoys her independence and disappears on occasion, off into the woods, where she once made her home. Mabel soon receives a package from her sister, one that includes the story read to her as a child. The piece explores the life of an older couple and their connection to a snow girl, though, like most fairy tales, the story takes a turn for the worse and has an ending that is anything but happy. Guarded with the knowledge of what might cause Faina to leave forever (or disintegrate before their eyes), Mabel and Jack become protective of the child they always wanted but never could have. As the years progress, Faina develops into a young woman with new issues that must be addressed, adding new layers of concern on the Alaskan home-front. Ivey’s story is both captivating and chilling to the core as the reader sees just how precarious life can be and the fragility of familial bonds. Recommended for anyone with a penchant for slow evolving stories that find their action and suspense in the smallest developments.

I had heard much about this book before I got my hands on it, with mixed reviews. I liked the premise and could not help but enjoy how the story evolved in the rural Alaskan communities. I felt a connection to the story and characters, not distracted with busy city life or blazing gunfights. The characters are well-crafted, mixing backstory with development throughout this piece. Ivey does well the flesh-out the Jack and Mabel characters from the outset, balancing their current lifestyle against the reasons they fled Pennsylvania and everything they knew. The rough lifestyle contrasts nicely with the love they show one another and, eventually, Faina, who is equally interesting a character. Developed from the Russian fairytale that Mabel knows so well, the reader develops an somewhat deep seeded expectation of how Faina will act and what will become of her, though being touch by love in human form (as opposed to animal) changes her perspective on things. The story, though not as fast paced as some would like, flows nicely and offers numerous symbols throughout. I cannot express how pleased I was to see the slow development never falter and how Ivey kept the reader enthralled, even if things did not happen at breakneck speed. As a very brief aside, it is addressed throughout parts of the novel that fairytales, while geared for children, tend to have strong negative outcomes (at least until Disney morphs them) and horrid happenings. Many of the tales Neo and I have read together are gore-filled and nothing I would want to present to a child, as is The Snow Girl in reference to the story Mabel read as a child. Brilliantly developed for a debut novel and I am pleased I did not listen to those who panned this book quite heavily.

Kudos, Madam Ivey, for this debut success. I will be reading your second novel and hope it packs as much punch as this one did for me.

This novel fulfils Topic #6 (A Book About the Current Equinox) in the Equinox #2 Reading Challenge

Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... ...more

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Jun 26, 2018 PattyMacDotComma rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction-adult, award-win-listed, fantasy-folk-myth-super-magic, favourites-adult

5★
“It was beautiful, Mabel knew, but it was a beauty that ripped you open and scoured you clean so that you were left helpless and exposed, if you lived at all.
. . .

Jack had always scoffed at the superstitious and mystical. Alone in the depths of the wilderness, however, in the fading winter light, he had discovered in himself an animal-like fear.”

A debut, a Pulitzer Prize nominee, and a wonderful story I’m happy to add to my list of favourites. I used to read myths and fairy tales, so I’m a pe ...more

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Jul 13, 2011 Nathan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: uk-edition, arc, read-in-2011, favorites

It's truly gratifying to come across a book that evokes the senses to such a degree that its flavor is brought to the palate. Such is the case with Eowyn Ivey's debut novel, The Snow Child. Infused with aspects of pine boughs, mountain herbs, woolen mittens and inspired by happenstance, it breathes new life into an old Russian children's tale Ivey stumbled upon in her bookstore.

We come to know of aging Jack and Mabel through their childless sorrows, playful intense love and survivalist fortitude ...more

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Jan 16, 2016 Tabetha rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

"'There,' he said. He stepped back. Sculpted in the white snow were perfect, lovely eyes, a nose, and small, white lips. She even thought she could see cheekbones and a little chin...How could she speak her surprise? Such delicate features. formed by his calloused hands, a glimpse at his longing. Surely, he too, had wanted children...they believed that someday their Christmas mornings would reel with running children and squeals of delight. She sewed a small stocking of their firstborn and he "'There,' he said. He stepped back. Sculpted in the white snow were perfect, lovely eyes, a nose, and small, white lips. She even thought she could see cheekbones and a little chin...How could she speak her surprise? Such delicate features. formed by his calloused hands, a glimpse at his longing. Surely, he too, had wanted children...they believed that someday their Christmas mornings would reel with running children and squeals of delight. She sewed a small stocking of their firstborn and he sketched plans for a rocking horse he would build. Maybe the first would be a girl, or would be a boy? How could they have known that twenty years later they would still be childless, just an old man and an old woman alone in the wildnerness?"

A fairytale retelling of the Russian fairytale, "Snegurochka" ("The Snow Maiden"), this quietly intense book captured my heart from the very beginning, and would not let go. Jack and Mabel live in 1920 in the harsh reality that is the wilderness of Alpine, Alaska, with its unbearable summer heat, then all too quickly, with its freezing bitter winter cold, snow and ice, the lack of visibility, the isolation and loneliness. Most of all, they face the fear of not being able to survive the brutal winter, they watch and wait each year for the first signs of spring. They are childless, and not by choice. Jack and Mabel hold their grief close, weighted down, buried deep within their hearts. But one night, they let go of their grief and create a beautiful child out of snow...and in that moment, their lives will change forever, hope and light will replace despair and depression.

Eowyn Ivey writes so vividly that I felt I was in the middle of the snow and then a full blown snow storm, and during the summer scenes, I felt the heat of the hot sun, the mosquitoes swarming. This story is such a beautiful example of magical realism, the fantastical, the imagined, combined and layered into the every day real life. And such a life that this couple experienced in the Alaskan wilderness where nothing is taken for granted, where preparing for the upcoming winter is paramount all spring and all summer. I recommend this story to anyone that values the beauty and selflessness of true friendship, who has ever dealt with love and loss in their life, or to those who are parents, as this book speaks to the nature of giving, caring, nurturing, but eventually, having to let go...

And then, the wonder of the miraculous snow child appears out of nowhere...
"The girl appeared and disappeared without warning and it unnerved Jack. There was something otherworldly in her manners and appearance, her frosty lashes and cool blue stare, the way she materialized out of the forest. In ways she was clearly just a little girl, with her small frame and rare, stifled giggles, but in others she seemed composed and wise, as if she moved through the world with knowledge beyond anything Jack had encountered."

...more

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Feb 18, 2017 Lindsay - Traveling Sisters Book Reviews rated it really liked it

4 stars! I truly enjoyed the experience of reading this beautifully written book! The author, Eowyn Ivey, has an unbelievably unique and astounding way with words. She paints such a clear picture that draws the reader right into the snow filled fields of the Alaskan homestead.

I was completely engrossed in Jack and Mabel's love story. The struggles they endured as a couple only made their bond stronger as husband and wife. I had endless sympathy for them as I witnessed their vulnerabilities as s ...more

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Aug 26, 2013 Angela M rated it it was amazing

Is she real or is this just a fairy tale ? It didn't matter - the writing is just so amazing ! I felt the brutal cold , saw the landscape , felt the deep pain of Mabel & Jack and loved Faina . This will stay with me for a long time . ...more

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Mar 28, 2018 Heidi The Reader rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction

A beautiful, magic-tinged tale of an aging couple, the bleak Alaskan wilderness and a child who appears one day in the wood.

Mabel and Jack always wanted a child, but after suffering a miscarriage, they begin to lose hope of ever conceiving. Mabel suffers in female society without a child of her own.

She begs Jack to take her to Alaska for a fresh start. He agrees. But it doesn't work.

The weather is dark and freezing. The ground is hard and takes more effort than Jack can give. They aren't thrivin ...more

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Oct 30, 2012 Debra rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorite-books

What happens when a childless couple, Jack and Mable, build a child out of snow during the season's first snowfall? Magic! That is what happens. The Snow child is based on a Russian fairy tale called Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden). Set in rural Alaska, this book is atmospheric, eerie, hopeful, with an underlying sadness. The writing is beautiful, moving and takes the reader deep into Alaska and into the home of Jack and Mabel, into their lives, the lives of their friends, through the snow and int What happens when a childless couple, Jack and Mable, build a child out of snow during the season's first snowfall? Magic! That is what happens. The Snow child is based on a Russian fairy tale called Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden). Set in rural Alaska, this book is atmospheric, eerie, hopeful, with an underlying sadness. The writing is beautiful, moving and takes the reader deep into Alaska and into the home of Jack and Mabel, into their lives, the lives of their friends, through the snow and into their hearts.

Jack and Mabel have left Pennsylvania behind in search of a better quieter life. They really don't know just how harsh winter can be in Alaska. How hard it will be to grow crops and keep livestock alive. The darkness and cold weigh them down. They feel they are drifting apart. Mabel, at one point, tries to drown herself but the ice has other plans and she returns home to spend the evening with her husband. Both feel distant from each other. Both alone but living under the same roof. How lonely a life they have filled with sadness and longing for a child. They had a stillborn once but have no hopes that they will ever have a child again. I could literally feel the sadness seeping through the pages - drip drip drip. The longing, the loneliness, the sadness, the pain.

Then one night they decide to tuck their loneliness away and venture outside and play as if they were children themselves. For one night they are able to forget their past loss, and be free. They play in the snow and fashion a child out of snow. They dress their "snow child" with a scarf and dress.

The next day they see a little girl running through the woods with a fox as her companion. Could this young girl be their "snow child" They name her Faina. She brings change for both of them. The sadness that has been weighing them down melts away. Could this child, born of "ice and snow" be the answer they have been looking for. They begin to care for her and she them. They become a family. Faina comes and goes as she pleases, often disappearing to who knows where. She brings them gifts of berries and meat. Never really theirs but always a member of their family, Faina becomes their pride and joy. As the climate becomes warmer they begin to see her less and less until one day......

Ivey has a gift for making the snow and weather another character in this book. I could feel the coldness, the silence of the snow and ice seeping through the pages. This book is very atmospheric. It is also heavy on emotion. Sadness is an underlying emotion in this book. Often while reading this book, I wondered "what is real", "what is fantasy" and "does it really matter?"

Beautiful and eloquent, The Snow Child is heavy on atmosphere and emotion. Not all fairy tales have a happy ending. Will this one?

See more of my reviews at www.openbookpost.com ...more

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Mar 25, 2012 Kris rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary, five-stars, fiction

This is a beautifully written book. The Snow Child is inspired by the Russian folktale in which a childless elderly couple make a snowchild that comes to life as a young girl. Ivey's use of the folktale is multilayered and inventive, and works very well in the book's setting of Alaska in the 1920s.

I cared about the characters, but I especially loved the depictions of the Alaskan wilderness throughout the seasons. The novel also pays homage to freedom and individuality, while at the same time cel ...more

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Sep 22, 2018 Silvanna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The Snow Child is wonderful book, so good that you as the reader, despite knowing what will inevitably happen to this extraordinary family, trusts Ivey completely to lead you to it’s inevitable end. A staggering talent.

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Jan 16, 2012 Arah-Lynda rated it really liked it

Recommended to Arah-Lynda by: karen

Shelves: lod, i-said

This incredibly beautiful story was inspired by and tenderly envelopes an Old Russian folktale. One evening an elderly, childless couple build a girl out of snow. Come morning it is missing, leaving faint footprints, from where the snow child once stood.

Set deep in the Alaskan wilderness, the environment is like a mirror on our couple, one that Ivey breathes life into, through the many seasons of this tale. I loved the stark, majestic beauty of the always there and always demanding landscape.

Ou ...more

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Nov 21, 2016 Nandakishore Varma rated it really liked it

There is a special kind of emptiness in a marriage, when both the partners long for a child without success. Their private moments change from solitude to loneliness: intimate chatter degenerates into monosyllables before ultimately descending into dark silence. The carefree laughter of a child, the picture of a smiling cherubic face, or the pitter-patter of small feet on the road all become exquisite torture - reminders of some esoteric happiness forever out of reach.

I know... I have been there ...more

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Sep 24, 2017 Sara rated it it was amazing

Shelves: retelling, borrowed-from-library, favorites, magical-realism

The Snow Child is based on an ancient Russian fairy tale, and like any good fairy tale, it touches the edges between what is real and what is imagined. Eowyn Ivey commands the language in such a beautiful, moving way, that it would almost not matter if the story was not spectacular. But, never fear, she couples all that almost poetic language with a story that is moving and captivating and mysterious. This is the kind of magical realism I can buy into. It is like good slight of hand, you cannot ...more

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Jun 02, 2012 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Jenny (Reading Envy) by: Sam O'Hara

Shelves: theunreadshelfproject2018, around-the-usa, own, location-usa-alaska, read2018, canada-alaska-2018

Well, I do believe I was wise to wait on reading this one because of the subject matter, but it is beautiful. It is about grief, survival, marriage, magic, and community. I read it while I was in Alaska, which added a lot of atmosphere, thinking about the people who can stick it out and survive such a place, and about this snow child who can't be too far from the ice and snow. It's a marvel to read it in that setting. I think I read the last 300 pages without stopping, the morning after falling ...more

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Feb 21, 2013 Scarlet rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: lush-writing, pulitzer-winners, impressive-debuts, magic-realism

“No warm blood in me doth glow,
Water in my veins doth flow;
Yet I’ll laugh and sing and play
By frosty night and frosty day–
Little daughter of the Snow.

“But whenever I do know
That you love me little, then
I shall melt away again.
Back into the sky I’ll go–
Little daughter of the Snow.”

- An extract from Little Daughter of the Snow by Arthur Ransome.
You can read the short story here.

This book... it's a dream. An unhurried, ethereal, captivating dream - so captivating, that I cleared out my currently-r ...more

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Feb 12, 2012 Dem rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, 5-star, recommended

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey is a wonderful fairytale for adults(and whoever fancies it) set against the harsh backdrop of 1920s Alaska. Sometimes a little of what you fancy does you good ! And so I fancied a fairytale and it did me the world of good!!!

This is the story of Jack and Mabel a childless couple who move to Alaska to farm and to etch a living from the harsh and frozen land. A man and woman set in their ways, Jack the stubborn sort who is too proud to ask for help and Mabel who fears f ...more

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Mar 11, 2017 Brenda - Traveling Sisters Book Reviews rated it really liked it

This was a sister read with Norma. We did the review together and posted it on her reviews.
If you are interested it can also be found on our blog as well

http://www.twogirlslostinacouleereadi... ...more

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Dec 31, 2012 knig rated it liked it

Shelves: 2012

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Poor Eowyn Ivey. Well, not literally. This novel probably secures her pension annuity better than anyone else’s. Its Big (both novel, hence, pension). But if she is the woman I suspect she is, she’s likely twisting and turning at night over how she botched a masterpiece and brought a spectacular turn to heel.

Of course any reference to ‘masterpiece’ is biased. One man’s meat and another’s poison applies. But. There is something, something, about screwing around with childhood folklore, which guar Poor Eowyn Ivey. Well, not literally. This novel probably secures her pension annuity better than anyone else’s. Its Big (both novel, hence, pension). But if she is the woman I suspect she is, she’s likely twisting and turning at night over how she botched a masterpiece and brought a spectacular turn to heel.

Of course any reference to ‘masterpiece’ is biased. One man’s meat and another’s poison applies. But. There is something, something, about screwing around with childhood folklore, which guarantees instant and unconditional empathy. Inasmuch as we are all weaned on the magic of folktale generality, our first foray into making sense of the world, so that any return to it is so sacred an author needs only to wrestle failure out of guaranteed success.

Ivey falls captive to the tale of Snegurochka, and tries her hand. Already she is ahead of the game. Running a bookshop in Alaska, she is no stranger to snow, remoteness, isolation, and the magical synechdoche of man and nature. The woman has a toolkit you and I don’t: so bring it.

And she’s off to a stunning start. An elderly couple in Alaska. A snow maiden. Is she real? Is she a fayrie? A slow tease in exquisite narrative continuo layers realism with phantasia in a blancmange of unfettered expectation: I’m swept along in ephemeral tidings of crenulated reality: a splintering of dimension which rivets and furrows into logica long forgotten and discounted: a resurrection of belief and hope and wondering: a sense of wonder, a surreal wisp.
And then: Ivey reaches a stumbling block: I can picture her frantic tepishorean agony as she searches for a way forward, and....flounders. A half baked incoherent denouement where maiden thrives in heat but melts in cold: huh, huh? A cold mother, a listless entity? Come on, Ivey: what did you do to Snegurochka? Child abandonment? Really?

No.

Snegurochka abandons. But only those who are worthy.

Don’t muck with my childhood bread and butter. I really, really, don’t need a 21c Grimm. I’m grim enough as it is.
...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Linda Robinson rated it it was amazing

Amazing talent, beautifully delivered. This is a five sense book, and maybe a sixth and seventh as well. I could hear a bull moose snorting, swan screaming, snow crunching, river ice cracking. I could taste moose meat for the thirtieth and 100th time; smell wet wool and blood, birch fire and moonshine. I could touch the two-man saw, feel the weight of an ax, and the tiny threads of intricate embroidery. And always, always the snow and the earth beneath. I could see rows and rows of crops growing ...more

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Mar 23, 2019 Brian rated it really liked it · review of another edition

“…to take every bit of pleasure from that moment, knowing it might not last.”

“The Snow Child” was a book club selection. I am not sure I would have picked it up on my own.
Without getting into plot points, I will just say that this novel, which begins in 1920 Alaska, is a fine example of magical realism. The author, Eowyn Ivey, does such a nice job jumping between these two elements that when she seamlessly combines them from time to time the reader finds themselves captured, in its grip, and no “…to take every bit of pleasure from that moment, knowing it might not last.”

“The Snow Child” was a book club selection. I am not sure I would have picked it up on my own.
Without getting into plot points, I will just say that this novel, which begins in 1920 Alaska, is a fine example of magical realism. The author, Eowyn Ivey, does such a nice job jumping between these two elements that when she seamlessly combines them from time to time the reader finds themselves captured, in its grip, and not at all sure how they got there.
Jack and Mabel are a couple who really do love each other, but not always doing a good job at it. In other words, they are normal in that regard. They move to Alaska after losing a child, and like any transplant are a fish out of water. They have also not progressed with each other as they have moved past their child’s death. Ms. Ivey captures that sadness in a subtle, and pitch perfect, manner.
The author was inspired by a Russian fairy tale of the same name as this novel, and what she does with it moves along at a rapid clip. I read thru this book quickly. The plot in and of itself was not that interesting to me, which means that the characterization and sense of time and place propelled me through it. And they did! I was engaged in the lives of the characters. Jack and Mabel and the supporting cast are people I came to enjoy knowing. Ms. Ivey does a lot of showing in this book, almost never telling. Especially in regards to the Alaskan setting. The mark of someone with skills!
I have not read a book in a while that I was as emotionally invested in. When the joys came I shared the elation, and the lows felt all too familiar as I journeyed with these people around that wheel of fate and fortune we call life.
I read a review of this text that sums up my feelings perfectly. Kudos to Samantha Nelson who wrote them, “But the moral is that all beautiful things are fleeting and finite, and people who gain joy from experiencing them shouldn’t feel too much sorrow for their passing.”
Reading “The Snow Child” was like a lot of life; an unexpected encounter that I took much happiness from, and then it was over and the next moment begins. ...more

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The Perks Of Bein...: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey - December 2020	35	182	Jan 04, 2021 02:34PM
주소매니아 (무료웹툰) 【 jusomania.com 】오피가이드.오피스타.늑대닷컴.빨간딱지.조선의밤.유흥의민족.우리카지노.샌즈카지노.레볼루션카지노.잇플릭스/	1	1	Nov 26, 2020 05:19AM
Westside Book Gro...: Book Group Reminder	5	8	Nov 23, 2020 07:49PM
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Historical Adventure/Drama fiction. Couple moves north & build a home in Canada. Find a wild girl in a cave in the woods. Eventually she's domesticated & becomes their daughter. Spoiler ahead. [s]	12	49	Sep 19, 2020 10:41AM
East Polk SRP 202...: BOOK #2: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey	1	7	Jun 05, 2020 09:29AM
Tackling the Puli...: The Snow Child (Eowyn Ivey, 2013 finalist)	5	28	May 21, 2020 06:26AM
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About Eowyn Ivey

Eowyn Ivey

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Eowyn Ivey's first novel, The Snow Child, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction and an international bestseller. Her newest novel To the Bright Edge of the World will be released August 2, 2016. Eowyn was raised in Alaska and continues to live there with her husband and two daughters.

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Quotes from The Snow Child

“We never know what is going to happen, do we? Life is always throwing us this way and that. That’s where the adventure is. Not knowing where you’ll end up or how you’ll fare. It’s all a mystery, and when we say any different, we’re just lying to ourselves. Tell me, when have you felt most alive?” — 210 likes

“In my old age, I see that life itself is often more fantastic and terrible than the stories we believed as children, and that perhaps there is no harm in finding magic among the trees.” — 172 likes

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