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Light on Snow
Light on Snow by Shreve,Anita. [2005] Paperback
336 pages, Paperback
First published October 7, 2004
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8216 people want to read
About the author
Anita Shreve
108 books4,569 followersAnita Hale Shreve was an American writer, chiefly known for her novels. One of her first published stories, Past the Island, Drifting (published 1975), was awarded an O. Henry Prize in 1976.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,383 reviews
July 16, 2012
I am glad I didn't base whether to read this book on the reviews here because I think a lot of people didn't "get it," and maybe that's Shreve's failing, but I've observed that, by and large, people don't really understand grief until they experience it first hand, unfortunately. I know that I did not. So I think that people who have experienced the kind of grief that keeps you from getting out of bed will really appreciate this book, and those who have had blissfully uneventful lives will miss a lot of the subtlety in it.
On the second page of the story, the narrator, Nicky, tells us she's 30 but the events she's relating occur when she is 12. Telling the story in the present tense rather than the past affirms that the Nicky is, at core, the same person she was back when, and yet the events brought on momentous change in her life.
The cover copy tells us the main kernel of the story---Nicky and her dad, who live on the outskirts of a small New Hampshire town, find an abandoned baby in the woods. They rescue her and a couple of weeks later the mother shows up at their house to deal with what happened. We read that Nicky wonders what makes a family. What the cover copy doesn't go into is that the Nicky and her father are walking wounded, like the mother of the abandoned baby. They had lost half their family---Nicky's mother and her baby sister---two years prior to finding the abandoned baby. She and her father are coexisting in an emotionally frozen state, but she is just beginning her life and cannot stay frozen. Finding the baby awakens a fire within both of them because they have control over making something right, after having experienced the total chaos of unexpectedly losing half their family and being hurled into the unknown.
The title of the book is an apt symbol of the main characters' situations. Light causes snow to melt or evaporate, eventually. The light is refracted and the energy spreads through the snow, warming and melting it. Light on snow can also blind you. You can be blinded by grief, too. But it's the snow, not the light, that's blinding. Our own frozen emotional states can cause us to see things harshly and keep us isolated from life-affirming experiences. But the light of truth makes everything right, eventually. Light on snow signals that the bad weather will eventually end. You need to persevere; things work out as they should, and though sometimes the process is more painful than you think you can stand, the spring and summer will come.
Nicky, although grieving the loss of her mother and baby sister, is clearly ready to move on with her twelve-year-old life. We don't know where the father is at; we can only guess from the Nicky's observations, wherein she herself acknowledges there's a lot about her father she doesn't know. Connecting with the baby and the mother stirs a sense of family within her. She becomes an antagonist to her father and challenges his frozen way of seeing the world.
I love how Shreve captured the mysteriousness of womanhood and childbirth to a prepubescent girl. How many of us women remember that state before our hormones took over and we were blissfully ignorant of the power within our bodies? Right at the threshold of her own womanhood, Nicky is imprinted with this woman's story of an unplanned pregnancy. At 12 years old, we are very morally black-and-white (often Nicky has fits about what's right or wrong), and yet Nicky was more ready than her father to consider the idea the mother might not have been at fault for the baby's abandonment, and to show the mother compassion as she tries to face her bad choices. Nicky's need to love and understand her world brings the mother's story to light where the wounds of injustice can begin to heal.
Although I could see where the story was going, it didn't stop me from reading, or dull my pleasure, because Shreve went beyond the story line and captured the moment when grief changes, along with a girl's coming of age in an imperfect world. If I had a daughter, I'd make this required reading for her. It's a book I wish I could have read when I was a teenager.
On the second page of the story, the narrator, Nicky, tells us she's 30 but the events she's relating occur when she is 12. Telling the story in the present tense rather than the past affirms that the Nicky is, at core, the same person she was back when, and yet the events brought on momentous change in her life.
The cover copy tells us the main kernel of the story---Nicky and her dad, who live on the outskirts of a small New Hampshire town, find an abandoned baby in the woods. They rescue her and a couple of weeks later the mother shows up at their house to deal with what happened. We read that Nicky wonders what makes a family. What the cover copy doesn't go into is that the Nicky and her father are walking wounded, like the mother of the abandoned baby. They had lost half their family---Nicky's mother and her baby sister---two years prior to finding the abandoned baby. She and her father are coexisting in an emotionally frozen state, but she is just beginning her life and cannot stay frozen. Finding the baby awakens a fire within both of them because they have control over making something right, after having experienced the total chaos of unexpectedly losing half their family and being hurled into the unknown.
The title of the book is an apt symbol of the main characters' situations. Light causes snow to melt or evaporate, eventually. The light is refracted and the energy spreads through the snow, warming and melting it. Light on snow can also blind you. You can be blinded by grief, too. But it's the snow, not the light, that's blinding. Our own frozen emotional states can cause us to see things harshly and keep us isolated from life-affirming experiences. But the light of truth makes everything right, eventually. Light on snow signals that the bad weather will eventually end. You need to persevere; things work out as they should, and though sometimes the process is more painful than you think you can stand, the spring and summer will come.
Nicky, although grieving the loss of her mother and baby sister, is clearly ready to move on with her twelve-year-old life. We don't know where the father is at; we can only guess from the Nicky's observations, wherein she herself acknowledges there's a lot about her father she doesn't know. Connecting with the baby and the mother stirs a sense of family within her. She becomes an antagonist to her father and challenges his frozen way of seeing the world.
I love how Shreve captured the mysteriousness of womanhood and childbirth to a prepubescent girl. How many of us women remember that state before our hormones took over and we were blissfully ignorant of the power within our bodies? Right at the threshold of her own womanhood, Nicky is imprinted with this woman's story of an unplanned pregnancy. At 12 years old, we are very morally black-and-white (often Nicky has fits about what's right or wrong), and yet Nicky was more ready than her father to consider the idea the mother might not have been at fault for the baby's abandonment, and to show the mother compassion as she tries to face her bad choices. Nicky's need to love and understand her world brings the mother's story to light where the wounds of injustice can begin to heal.
Although I could see where the story was going, it didn't stop me from reading, or dull my pleasure, because Shreve went beyond the story line and captured the moment when grief changes, along with a girl's coming of age in an imperfect world. If I had a daughter, I'd make this required reading for her. It's a book I wish I could have read when I was a teenager.
August 22, 2017
I found the book in a quaint, but minuscule secondhand bookshop in the middle of nowhere. Since I've read one of the author's books before, I decided to read this one as well. It was such a delight to find in the first place there. It was one of the very few better choices. And I liked the reading experience.
A twelve-year-old girl, Nicky, and her widowed dad, Robert, finds a baby in the snow. The Dillon's secluded life out in the New Hampshire's woods are suddenly not so simple anymore. They saved the baby's life; they were responsible; and brave, but suddenly their lives changed without them being in the driver's seat of their destiny. The follow-up events opens up their hidden feelings which they were unable to share with each other, or the outside world, without them turning the key in the lock of their unspoken private worlds themselves.
It is a book for young adults, I would say, and a really gentle,fast, enjoyable read, but with a deep enough base to have me staying riveted to the story from the beginning to end. The book addresses the different forms of honesty, grief, happiness, love and choices. The young girl observes the events and is introduced into the world of serious issues, bigger than herself, very fast.
A relaxing and feel-good read. The book is also very well written with all the plots coming together perfectly in the end. I would love to read more of the author's books.
A twelve-year-old girl, Nicky, and her widowed dad, Robert, finds a baby in the snow. The Dillon's secluded life out in the New Hampshire's woods are suddenly not so simple anymore. They saved the baby's life; they were responsible; and brave, but suddenly their lives changed without them being in the driver's seat of their destiny. The follow-up events opens up their hidden feelings which they were unable to share with each other, or the outside world, without them turning the key in the lock of their unspoken private worlds themselves.
It is a book for young adults, I would say, and a really gentle,fast, enjoyable read, but with a deep enough base to have me staying riveted to the story from the beginning to end. The book addresses the different forms of honesty, grief, happiness, love and choices. The young girl observes the events and is introduced into the world of serious issues, bigger than herself, very fast.
A relaxing and feel-good read. The book is also very well written with all the plots coming together perfectly in the end. I would love to read more of the author's books.
July 29, 2023
As usual with this talented author Light On Snow does tell a story which is interesting in itself, but this takes second place to the characters, their changing relationships, and just life itself.
When an accident takes the lives of Nicky's mother and baby sister, she and her father move to an isolated home where he withdraws into his grief. After two years of this Nicky is turning twelve and looking for ways to be 'normal.' A discovery she and her father make when walking in the snow turns their lives upside down.
Shreve often wrote her books about broken people who are changed in some way by other characters and life's events. They are honest and true to life and do not necessarily have happy endings. At the same time her characters are very real, she makes the simplest of daily events seem significant, and her writing is beautiful. Even when it is sad it is not depressing. Five stars.
When an accident takes the lives of Nicky's mother and baby sister, she and her father move to an isolated home where he withdraws into his grief. After two years of this Nicky is turning twelve and looking for ways to be 'normal.' A discovery she and her father make when walking in the snow turns their lives upside down.
Shreve often wrote her books about broken people who are changed in some way by other characters and life's events. They are honest and true to life and do not necessarily have happy endings. At the same time her characters are very real, she makes the simplest of daily events seem significant, and her writing is beautiful. Even when it is sad it is not depressing. Five stars.
December 19, 2024
I picked this up off a display table of “wintry books” at the front of my local library. I had never heard of it. Had absolutely no intention of reading it. I just… picked it up. Opened to the first page. When I found myself suddenly at the end of the first chapter, I took it over to a chair in the corner.
I love books that exist on the nebulous line between realism and symbolism. Realistic narratives so symbolically charged as to feel almost fablelike. This book—about a grieving father and daughter who find an abandoned infant in the snow behind their home—feels somehow both implausible and inevitable. It is a coming of age novel, first and foremost—the story of a few days that have taken on such symbolic and emotional resonance for the narrator in the 18 years since they happened, that the truth of them is more or less irrelevant.
There is not enough here to earn five stars. It's too thin, and in a strange way, too easy. But the story is beautifully told. It held me still while I read it; made me feel snowed in myself.
I love books that exist on the nebulous line between realism and symbolism. Realistic narratives so symbolically charged as to feel almost fablelike. This book—about a grieving father and daughter who find an abandoned infant in the snow behind their home—feels somehow both implausible and inevitable. It is a coming of age novel, first and foremost—the story of a few days that have taken on such symbolic and emotional resonance for the narrator in the 18 years since they happened, that the truth of them is more or less irrelevant.
There is not enough here to earn five stars. It's too thin, and in a strange way, too easy. But the story is beautifully told. It held me still while I read it; made me feel snowed in myself.
August 18, 2012
Finishing either the 4th or 5th Anita Shreve book and I'm just wrecked, as usual. It happens the same way every time so far. I begin reading, the story is set on the East Coast, Vermont, New Hampshire, by the ocean, and I think to myself, hmm, I don't think I can relate to this. The character seems cold, or strange, alien. Then a few page turns and I'm enraptured.
Shreve has a talent that I wish I had, the talent of describing something that is indescribable to most people. Daily moments or feelings that sweep by and are forgotten just as fast, taken for granted, missed in the swirl of stronger emotions. She tells a story from the inside out, examining the bones and interiors, describing the mundane from a different perspective, revealing emotions that are so often pressed deep and hidden inside, even to ourselves. She does it in the most loving, accepting way. I always feel incredibly human when I read her stories, and that feels like the most beautiful thing to be in all our flawed, silly glory.
There are always moments where I'm reading along, a person is walking or cooking or cleaning, putting on a shirt or taking one off, and then BOOM, Shreve makes an observation so incisive that it makes my chest feel like it's caving in. It often happens at the end of a chapter, as if she instinctively knew to give the reader some time to process that little exquisite bomb.
Her stories are not incredible or lurid or even very complex usually, but the gift is all in the writing and the emotions of the characters. She expresses what they are feeling, what they are experiencing, how their lives find meaning in the tiny, everyday things. How they love and make love, how love ends and begins, how a tiny little detail can make your heart explode with longing for someone gone. Her characters have a past, and a present that we share, and then they always, ALWAYS have a future. You can tell that she loves them as if they are real people. She cannot bear to leave them hanging, and neither can we.
Shreve has a talent that I wish I had, the talent of describing something that is indescribable to most people. Daily moments or feelings that sweep by and are forgotten just as fast, taken for granted, missed in the swirl of stronger emotions. She tells a story from the inside out, examining the bones and interiors, describing the mundane from a different perspective, revealing emotions that are so often pressed deep and hidden inside, even to ourselves. She does it in the most loving, accepting way. I always feel incredibly human when I read her stories, and that feels like the most beautiful thing to be in all our flawed, silly glory.
There are always moments where I'm reading along, a person is walking or cooking or cleaning, putting on a shirt or taking one off, and then BOOM, Shreve makes an observation so incisive that it makes my chest feel like it's caving in. It often happens at the end of a chapter, as if she instinctively knew to give the reader some time to process that little exquisite bomb.
Her stories are not incredible or lurid or even very complex usually, but the gift is all in the writing and the emotions of the characters. She expresses what they are feeling, what they are experiencing, how their lives find meaning in the tiny, everyday things. How they love and make love, how love ends and begins, how a tiny little detail can make your heart explode with longing for someone gone. Her characters have a past, and a present that we share, and then they always, ALWAYS have a future. You can tell that she loves them as if they are real people. She cannot bear to leave them hanging, and neither can we.
May 25, 2019
4.5
This is the third Anita Shreve book I have read this year - I'm really connecting with her writing. I think it's something about the way it's so simple but quite intimate. Descriptions of ordinary things that resonate deeply (for me at least).
This is about a father and his twelve year old daughter Nicky, who find an abandoned (alive) baby in the snow while out on a walk. We follow them through the quiet aftermath of this. A lovely and rather sad story that I adored.
This is the third Anita Shreve book I have read this year - I'm really connecting with her writing. I think it's something about the way it's so simple but quite intimate. Descriptions of ordinary things that resonate deeply (for me at least).
This is about a father and his twelve year old daughter Nicky, who find an abandoned (alive) baby in the snow while out on a walk. We follow them through the quiet aftermath of this. A lovely and rather sad story that I adored.
July 22, 2008
One of my favorite Shreve titles. I loved the teenaged character, and I adore Shreve's writing.
January 24, 2024
This is the first book i have read by Anita Shreve and im giving 5* as i really have no negatives to say regarding it at all to give it less. This was a beautifully sad but heartwarming story.
The relationship between all the characters run so smoothly and each chapter gives us more depth and understanding.
I really admire the way the author can take such a hard hitting story but show us the vulnerability and care behind each issue. The scene setting was fantastic and i was really immersed in the whole feel of seclusion and extreme of weather. Each chapter opens up a new perspective on the whole story. Fabulous.
This story surprises us with the strength in human nature. I will definatly be on the look out for more by this Author.
The relationship between all the characters run so smoothly and each chapter gives us more depth and understanding.
I really admire the way the author can take such a hard hitting story but show us the vulnerability and care behind each issue. The scene setting was fantastic and i was really immersed in the whole feel of seclusion and extreme of weather. Each chapter opens up a new perspective on the whole story. Fabulous.
This story surprises us with the strength in human nature. I will definatly be on the look out for more by this Author.
July 2, 2016
Is that it? Really? I've read better pieces of news about the same subject and that provoked in me deeper emotions than this book.
Talk about disappointment. Plus, the writing was bland and so were the characters.
Nicky was okay. She was really mature and her thoughts were surprisingly insightful for her age.
However, her father was a selfish, cowardly man, too lost in his own grief to support a young daughter going through the same process.
And Charlotte? Her story could have been so much more than it was.
Simply shameful.
March 2, 2021
This is a hard story to read, but it was so good. Written very well. A man and his daughter trying to get over losing his wife and youngest daughter in a car wreck finds a baby in the woods behind their house. This is a story about them healing and about the baby. (*)
July 22, 2007
I read this book to be a good book club member. The target audience appeared to be young adult women, so this book was not really my thing. That being said, it took only about four hours to read, which was a plus (and is why the book is worthy of two stars). Many of the characters seemed like caricatures, and many of their actions were not very believable. The narrator was supposedly 30 at the time the narration was occurring, but sounds like she is 12. Young adult women who like coming of age stories about young adult women may like this book.
September 26, 2019
A great little book about a father and his daughter who find a newborn baby left out in the snow while walking in the woods. It seems like a simple story but it actually covers a lot of ground, I love this author’s style of writing.
July 15, 2013
Light on Snow reminded me why I like Anita Shreve’s writing. The story of Nicky and Robert Dillon, her father, who find a new born baby in the snow while walking in the woods is simply told and caught me from the beginning. It is an easy read yet manages to uncover layers of how people make the decisions they do, as well as how they handle. Nicky and her father have suffered tragedy in their lives with the death of his wife and baby Clara. Nicky grieves for her mother and baby Clara, but in a very different way to Robert Dillon does. His solution is to isolate himself and Nicky but he doesn’t realise how this isolation affects his daughter. She is desperately lonely. I liked the way it flashed back from the present situation to the past as it helps the reader understand more of Nicky and feel for her.
Robert and Nicky rush the baby to hospital, saving the child’s life. Where are the baby’s parents? How they could do such a thing and how Robert and Nicky respond to this situation is the crux of the story.
Anita Shreve is very good at including the small details that make the story come alive. She made me care about the characters and what happens to them. I’m now looking forward to reading another Anita Shreve book I have here but needed a little change of pace first. If you like an emotional read where you care about the characters and wonder how you would react, you will enjoy this one.
Robert and Nicky rush the baby to hospital, saving the child’s life. Where are the baby’s parents? How they could do such a thing and how Robert and Nicky respond to this situation is the crux of the story.
Anita Shreve is very good at including the small details that make the story come alive. She made me care about the characters and what happens to them. I’m now looking forward to reading another Anita Shreve book I have here but needed a little change of pace first. If you like an emotional read where you care about the characters and wonder how you would react, you will enjoy this one.
August 25, 2007
I’ve never read Anita Shreve before, but I picked up this book at the Tokyo airport… it was a name I recognized and there were not a lot of English books to chose from. It turned out be a good choice. I enjoyed the book because the story and the characters seemed real. It was if this situation of finding a baby in the snow and plot that follows, could happen to anyone. I found that I was putting myself in the characters’ shoes asking what I would do in the same situation. I don’t want to simplify the characters… there were layers to their struggles that were both heartbreaking and heartwarming. It was a short book- I read it in one day of traveling… it almost felt like a long, “short story” which was kind of refreshing. Overall, a good, entertaining book, with a twisted, yet realistic plot.
March 1, 2008
This book was a quick read, which I was in dire need of. The plot was interesting enough to keep my attention, although there were points where the author merely mentioned what would come of a certain seemingly insignificant event (i.e. When Nicky and her dad help shovel out the woman's car at the end of the novel and the author merely states: "In the spring, my father will stop at the cottage with the wash outside and find a kind of love there with a woman and her there sons that in years to come will cause all sorts of joy and complications in my life...") It's these sorts of comments that frustrate me and make me wish there was a sequel.
January 14, 2023
It was an engaging story. It conveyed so many layers of issues woven together. The author provided many perspectives on large core issues and relationships. It was well written and I enjoyed the author's work. It felt like a hallmark movie on some levels.
May 7, 2015
All ratings systems are relative. I really liked this book but I couldn't give it four stars because other four star books were much better.
This is "a modest work" according to a review on the back of the book. There are very few characters, a single plot line with references to something that took place in the past and
essentially one setting. It hardly qualifies as a novel. As I read it in two sittings it seems like an extended short story. I'm not worried about the definition, I just want to point out that it doesn't pretend to be a major work. I can picture it as a Hallmark TV presentation or an independent film. At times I thought it might be meant for young adults as the main character is a girl twelve years old. In any case it is well written and very touching.
Notice that I give no summary at all. I even recommend that you do not read the blurb on the back of the book that gives away a small part of the story. It's much better to follow the story as it unfolds. I haven't looked at the other reviewers yet and I'm betting that most people enjoyed the book.
This is "a modest work" according to a review on the back of the book. There are very few characters, a single plot line with references to something that took place in the past and
essentially one setting. It hardly qualifies as a novel. As I read it in two sittings it seems like an extended short story. I'm not worried about the definition, I just want to point out that it doesn't pretend to be a major work. I can picture it as a Hallmark TV presentation or an independent film. At times I thought it might be meant for young adults as the main character is a girl twelve years old. In any case it is well written and very touching.
Notice that I give no summary at all. I even recommend that you do not read the blurb on the back of the book that gives away a small part of the story. It's much better to follow the story as it unfolds. I haven't looked at the other reviewers yet and I'm betting that most people enjoyed the book.
November 22, 2021
Light On Snow
This novel is an interesting story about a young 12 year old girl and her dad, who live in a remote house in a small town in New Hampshire and are still trying to come to terms with a major tragedy in their lives. They happen to be out snow-shoeing shortly before Christmas when they make a startling discovery, and there starts the story, narrated entirely by the young girl. Anita Shreve wrote this book in a spare style, descriptive enough but consistent with the simple, matter of fact way that a pre-teen would tell a story. I mostly listened to this book and the reader, Alyson Silverman, was spot on in portraying the voice and inflection of a 12 year old. Without going into details, the plot unfolds in a well-paced, interesting manner that held my attention and kept me guessing at times. There are only a few main characters, and the adverse winter weather is one of them. I enjoyed the book, especially since I was reading it during cold weather, and I recommend it.
This novel is an interesting story about a young 12 year old girl and her dad, who live in a remote house in a small town in New Hampshire and are still trying to come to terms with a major tragedy in their lives. They happen to be out snow-shoeing shortly before Christmas when they make a startling discovery, and there starts the story, narrated entirely by the young girl. Anita Shreve wrote this book in a spare style, descriptive enough but consistent with the simple, matter of fact way that a pre-teen would tell a story. I mostly listened to this book and the reader, Alyson Silverman, was spot on in portraying the voice and inflection of a 12 year old. Without going into details, the plot unfolds in a well-paced, interesting manner that held my attention and kept me guessing at times. There are only a few main characters, and the adverse winter weather is one of them. I enjoyed the book, especially since I was reading it during cold weather, and I recommend it.
May 4, 2018
Recently, in the library I noticed an ‘In Memorium’ display for Anita Shreve. How sad that this talented author is no longer with us! Some of her novels have been long standing favorites. She writes so well, and in her stories the hook is usually set early! Light on Snow, written in 2004 was a rewarding discovery! The unique tale unfolded as told by an endearing twelve-year-old girl. I find I generally enjoy child narrators. Perhaps it takes a special talent to carry that off. The story involved a newborn baby girl found in the woods in the dead of winter. It was certainly an intriguing story line and kept me turning the pages!
September 4, 2008
If you enjoy a quick delve into the nature of grief, love, and family, but don't want to be overwhelmed with vicarious pain, then this is a good pick for you.
The story is told in the first person by a woman looking back after many years on herself as an adolescent, but she uses the present tense for the current events of the story, and the past tense for longer-ago flashback events. I thought this made it feel less like a memoir and gave it more urgency. The author underlines the emotional elements of the story with frequent descriptions of the weather conditions and the landscape, but she doesn't indulge in ridiculous metaphors that might induce the gag reflex in the reader.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. Though the plot was predictable in many ways, the predictable moments seemed to confirm the realism in the characters and situations rather than feeling like plot devices.
The story is told in the first person by a woman looking back after many years on herself as an adolescent, but she uses the present tense for the current events of the story, and the past tense for longer-ago flashback events. I thought this made it feel less like a memoir and gave it more urgency. The author underlines the emotional elements of the story with frequent descriptions of the weather conditions and the landscape, but she doesn't indulge in ridiculous metaphors that might induce the gag reflex in the reader.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. Though the plot was predictable in many ways, the predictable moments seemed to confirm the realism in the characters and situations rather than feeling like plot devices.
October 29, 2013
I could not put this book down. I was totally engrossed in the storyline, plot and characters. This was a compelling, touching yet easy read. It tugged at my hearstrings as I shared the pain, grief, loss and loneliness that jumped out at me. I am not giving away much here other than it is told from a 12 year old's perspective as she reflects back on a time in her life when she is an adult. As she is telling the story it shifts backwards and forwards which helped me gain a better understanding of why Nicky and her father were suffering the grief, loss and loneliness that they were. I recommend it if you are looking for a book that you will feel for the characters as you read their story and ponder about what you would do and how you would cope in their situation.
October 9, 2017
What happens when a 12 year old girl and her father find a crying baby in the snow filled woods next to their home? Well, you will have to read Light on Snow to find out. I think you will be glad you did because it is another well written story by Anita Shreve that grabs hold of you and keeps you entertained and turning pages. I have read all of Anita Shreve's books, although I haven't shelved them all on Goodreads yet. They have all been very good and several of them are exceptional. If you haven't experienced her writing yet this would be a good one to start with.
July 8, 2015
Felt the cold, felt the sadness. Very easy to read, as are most of Anita Shreve's novels,
August 20, 2018
What a good story about living with consequences, forgiveness and love of family! The only thing I would have changed is to leave out the swearing, though infrequent.
July 3, 2018
Anita Shreve “Šviesa ant sniego”. Prieš keletą metų skaičiau šios rašytojos “Lakūno žmona”, pamenu, jog paliko tikrai gana neblogą įspūdį. Šią man rekomendavo bibliotekininkė, tad nusprendžiau perskaityti. 🤗.
Tai apmąstymai apie meilę ir netektį, sielvartą ir viltį. Ar galima atleisti lemčiai, sau, kitiems? Ar įmanoma po didžiulės tragedijos atsitiesti ir viską pradėti iš naujo?
Istorija apie tėvą ir dukrą, kurie bando pradėti naują gyvenimą nuo pat pradžių. Knyga buvo labai gyvenimiška, vietomis graudi. Taip pat patiko, jog knygoje yra aprašomi praeities įvykiai bei dabartis. Skaitėsi lengvai ir įdomiai. Man asmeniškai, norėjosi šiek tiek daugiau sužinoti apue kūdikį, kurį rado tėvas ir dukra. Būtų labiau patikę, jei ši tema būtų buvusi labiau aptariama. Šiaip knyga patiko, kai nesinori nieko per daug rimto. 🙂 3/5 ⭐️
Tai apmąstymai apie meilę ir netektį, sielvartą ir viltį. Ar galima atleisti lemčiai, sau, kitiems? Ar įmanoma po didžiulės tragedijos atsitiesti ir viską pradėti iš naujo?
Istorija apie tėvą ir dukrą, kurie bando pradėti naują gyvenimą nuo pat pradžių. Knyga buvo labai gyvenimiška, vietomis graudi. Taip pat patiko, jog knygoje yra aprašomi praeities įvykiai bei dabartis. Skaitėsi lengvai ir įdomiai. Man asmeniškai, norėjosi šiek tiek daugiau sužinoti apue kūdikį, kurį rado tėvas ir dukra. Būtų labiau patikę, jei ši tema būtų buvusi labiau aptariama. Šiaip knyga patiko, kai nesinori nieko per daug rimto. 🙂 3/5 ⭐️
September 7, 2023
“His imagination had abandoned him, just as his heart had.”
In my opinion, you simply cannot fully grasp the nuances of grief in this book unless you’ve lost someone precious to you. I resonated deeply with these characters and their journey through an extreme loss. This is not my usual genre but managed to keep my attention the entire time. It was not the story that I thought it was going to be, and I cannot tell if I’m happy with that or not. I am overall glad I read this warm and relatable story.
In my opinion, you simply cannot fully grasp the nuances of grief in this book unless you’ve lost someone precious to you. I resonated deeply with these characters and their journey through an extreme loss. This is not my usual genre but managed to keep my attention the entire time. It was not the story that I thought it was going to be, and I cannot tell if I’m happy with that or not. I am overall glad I read this warm and relatable story.
January 9, 2023
Wow! Just an amazing book! After losing his wife and infant daughter in a car accident, a man and his 12 year old daughter move from NYC to a remote New Hampshire home where they live in grief and near isolation. While taking their daily late afternoon snowshoe trek through the woods one day, they discover a newborn baby wrapped in a sleeping bag that has been abandoned. Light On Snow is a great character study of how the two main characters are affected, coupled with a a storyline that kept my attention throughout every page.
February 21, 2020
A quiet, lyrical story about grief and hope. I love Anita Shreve's spare prose and evocative descriptions of place, especially the New Hampshire snow.
April 11, 2020
I had a quick dip into this last night and finished it this morning, as it’s quite big print, a page-turner, and the last twenty pages are an extract from another of Anita Shreve’s books. I thought I had another few minutes’ reading to enjoy, and all of a sudden the story ended! Of course I have come across this before, but I forget about it until it happens, and then I always find it mildly irritating, because I feel I’ve been short-changed in my expectation of when the story I’m currently reading is due to end. “Light on Snow” is a really well-handled tale, though, and I thought it was powerfully told. I read it because someone had mentioned to me comments on it by a writer called Mark Oakley, and the book then turned up in the post. I found, when I read it, that I didn’t agree with all that Mr Oakley said, but one thing in particular stands out for me:
“Freedom is what we do with what has been done to us”.
I think, from having read Nelson Mandela’s “Long Walk to Freedom” years ago that he, imprisoned for 27 years for his beliefs, would agree with that. Without Anita Shreve labouring the maxim, that is what comes across in this book.
The voice is that of a twelve-year-old girl, set back in time but written in the present tense. Page two sets this voice in context:
“I am twelve on this mid-December afternoon (though I am thirty now) and I don’t know yet that … ”
The girl, Nicky, has had a traumatic life, and the book centres on how she handles new drama (or is it more trauma?) as unexpected events unfold and she, not her father, with whom she lives, is first to come to terms with the emotional demands of the situation. I don’t know Anita Shreve’s other books, but this story crystallises round the strength of women, even in girlhood, and also their desperation in motherhood and loss. The book is dedicated to the author’s mother, which I found quite moving. Perhaps she is the grandmother of the story, who is beautifully portrayed.
I haven’t talked about the book’s title, but it’s wonderfully appropriate. The actors in the drama that possesses these characters are trapped by snow; the snow is what makes the events of the story possible. It can hide the participants, protect them, maim or kill them. In this world where, likewise, emotions are frozen, light comes into lives marooned by snow and by grief. There’s a clever detail where the girl, Nicky, takes pretend photographs of the new light.
Set against the whiteness of the snow and the intervention of light are harrowing images of blood and death; but nothing is over-dramatised. The house where they live is isolated and snow-bound; but the nearby town is homely, and the people matter-of-fact, kind in a practical, non-interfering kind of way. The development of the day-to-day relationship between the girl and her father underlies a deeper change for them, and in this seismic change is the substance and sustenance of this book. Definitely a good read, mainly for women, I think, unless male readers wish to delve into the details of childbirth and female adolescence!
“Freedom is what we do with what has been done to us”.
I think, from having read Nelson Mandela’s “Long Walk to Freedom” years ago that he, imprisoned for 27 years for his beliefs, would agree with that. Without Anita Shreve labouring the maxim, that is what comes across in this book.
The voice is that of a twelve-year-old girl, set back in time but written in the present tense. Page two sets this voice in context:
“I am twelve on this mid-December afternoon (though I am thirty now) and I don’t know yet that … ”
The girl, Nicky, has had a traumatic life, and the book centres on how she handles new drama (or is it more trauma?) as unexpected events unfold and she, not her father, with whom she lives, is first to come to terms with the emotional demands of the situation. I don’t know Anita Shreve’s other books, but this story crystallises round the strength of women, even in girlhood, and also their desperation in motherhood and loss. The book is dedicated to the author’s mother, which I found quite moving. Perhaps she is the grandmother of the story, who is beautifully portrayed.
I haven’t talked about the book’s title, but it’s wonderfully appropriate. The actors in the drama that possesses these characters are trapped by snow; the snow is what makes the events of the story possible. It can hide the participants, protect them, maim or kill them. In this world where, likewise, emotions are frozen, light comes into lives marooned by snow and by grief. There’s a clever detail where the girl, Nicky, takes pretend photographs of the new light.
Set against the whiteness of the snow and the intervention of light are harrowing images of blood and death; but nothing is over-dramatised. The house where they live is isolated and snow-bound; but the nearby town is homely, and the people matter-of-fact, kind in a practical, non-interfering kind of way. The development of the day-to-day relationship between the girl and her father underlies a deeper change for them, and in this seismic change is the substance and sustenance of this book. Definitely a good read, mainly for women, I think, unless male readers wish to delve into the details of childbirth and female adolescence!
Read
August 13, 2012رمان (نور بر برف) از جمله رمانهايي به حساب ميآيد كه به اهميّتِ انسان و رعايت عواطف آن كه تمامِ هستي يك انسان را تشكيل ميدهد، پرداخته است. اينكه هر يك از ما داستاني، رازي، دردي ناگفتني داريم و اين راز، داستان يا درد تا پايان عمر با ما همراه است و سعي ميكنيم با آن به جدال درآييم و بر آن غلبه كنيم و در آخر به نقطهاي ميرسيم كه تسليم ميشويم و با آن و در كنار آن
تا پايان عمر زندگي ميكنيم
طرح اين رمان، حكايت دختري دوازده ساله است كه همراه پدرش هنگام قدم زدن در فصل زمستان به نوزاد تازه به دنيا آمدهاي بر ميخورند كه رهايش كردهاند و تلاش اين پدر و دختر براي زنده نگه داشتن اين نوزاد و به نوعي نجات جان يك انسان كه همان نجات جان همهي انسانهاست
در گير و دار داستان، شخصيتهاي تازهاي وارد ميشوند و خواننده در طول روايت نسبت به آنها داراي حس مثبت و منفي ميشود و وقتي اين شخصيتها سخنان خود را بيان ميكنند و هر يك داستان زندگي خود را به خواننده منتقل ميكنند در مييابيم كه سختترين و ناممكنترين كارها در جهان همان (قضاوت كردن) است و در پايان كتاب، با تجربهي اولين بار پريود شدن قهرمان دختر اين رمان، نويسنده به نوعي ميخواهد خواننده را همراه با قهرمان دختر داستانش به بلوغ فكري دربارهي كاراكترهاي داستانش برساند تا خوانندگانش بدانند كه " انسان به انسان زنده است " و همچنين محبت
رمان (نور بر برف) از مشكل بزرگي نيز رنج ميبرد و آن عدم رعايت زبان داستان است. چون حوصلهي چنداني ندارم به اختصار بيان ميكنم. زبان روايت داستان از زبان يك دختر دوازده ساله بيان ميشود؛ يعني اول شخص مفرد. زبان روايي يك دختر بچهي دوازده ساله با يك زن بيست ساله و يا يك پسر بچه شانزده ساله فرق ميكند. چرا كه ديدها و تجربههاي آنها متفاوت است. مرحوم (گلشيري) داستاني دارد به نام (عروسك چيني من). اين داستان علاوه بر اينكه جزو بهترين داستانهاي كوتاه ادبيات فارسي است، يكي از بهترين الگوها براي درك عرض بنده است؛ بدين صورت كه ما وقتي اين داستان را ميخوانيم واقعاً باور ميكنيم كه اين داستان از زبان يك دختر بچهي هفت هشت ساله بيان ميشود. و يا وقتي كتاب (ناطور دشت) را ميخوانيم دقيقاً حس ميكنيم كه يك پسر بچهي شانزده ساله دارد داستان تعريف ميكند
مشكلي كه زبان روايت اين رمان از آن رنج ميبرد همين است. زبان روايت، بيان يك (دختر دوازه ساله) نيست، بلكه (زنيست كه سعي ميكند مثل يك دختر دوازده ساله به دنيا نگاه كند و حرف بزند) و متاسفانه از عهدهي آن بر نميآيد. به جز اين مشكل، در كل كتابيست كه ارزش وقت گذاشتن براي خواندنش را داراست
تا پايان عمر زندگي ميكنيم
طرح اين رمان، حكايت دختري دوازده ساله است كه همراه پدرش هنگام قدم زدن در فصل زمستان به نوزاد تازه به دنيا آمدهاي بر ميخورند كه رهايش كردهاند و تلاش اين پدر و دختر براي زنده نگه داشتن اين نوزاد و به نوعي نجات جان يك انسان كه همان نجات جان همهي انسانهاست
در گير و دار داستان، شخصيتهاي تازهاي وارد ميشوند و خواننده در طول روايت نسبت به آنها داراي حس مثبت و منفي ميشود و وقتي اين شخصيتها سخنان خود را بيان ميكنند و هر يك داستان زندگي خود را به خواننده منتقل ميكنند در مييابيم كه سختترين و ناممكنترين كارها در جهان همان (قضاوت كردن) است و در پايان كتاب، با تجربهي اولين بار پريود شدن قهرمان دختر اين رمان، نويسنده به نوعي ميخواهد خواننده را همراه با قهرمان دختر داستانش به بلوغ فكري دربارهي كاراكترهاي داستانش برساند تا خوانندگانش بدانند كه " انسان به انسان زنده است " و همچنين محبت
رمان (نور بر برف) از مشكل بزرگي نيز رنج ميبرد و آن عدم رعايت زبان داستان است. چون حوصلهي چنداني ندارم به اختصار بيان ميكنم. زبان روايت داستان از زبان يك دختر دوازده ساله بيان ميشود؛ يعني اول شخص مفرد. زبان روايي يك دختر بچهي دوازده ساله با يك زن بيست ساله و يا يك پسر بچه شانزده ساله فرق ميكند. چرا كه ديدها و تجربههاي آنها متفاوت است. مرحوم (گلشيري) داستاني دارد به نام (عروسك چيني من). اين داستان علاوه بر اينكه جزو بهترين داستانهاي كوتاه ادبيات فارسي است، يكي از بهترين الگوها براي درك عرض بنده است؛ بدين صورت كه ما وقتي اين داستان را ميخوانيم واقعاً باور ميكنيم كه اين داستان از زبان يك دختر بچهي هفت هشت ساله بيان ميشود. و يا وقتي كتاب (ناطور دشت) را ميخوانيم دقيقاً حس ميكنيم كه يك پسر بچهي شانزده ساله دارد داستان تعريف ميكند
مشكلي كه زبان روايت اين رمان از آن رنج ميبرد همين است. زبان روايت، بيان يك (دختر دوازه ساله) نيست، بلكه (زنيست كه سعي ميكند مثل يك دختر دوازده ساله به دنيا نگاه كند و حرف بزند) و متاسفانه از عهدهي آن بر نميآيد. به جز اين مشكل، در كل كتابيست كه ارزش وقت گذاشتن براي خواندنش را داراست
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