The Snow Child in Around the Year in 52 Books

Jan 24, 2013 Nadine in NY Jones rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, literary-schmiterary, based-on-a-folk-tale, lotsa-buzz, new-fairy-tale, wintery-snowy

She could see, now that she had been shown...

A magical tale full of hardship, snow, and cranberries. (Maybe I noticed the cranberries more than most people. There were a lot of cranberries.) This was completely captivating, but at the same time I found myself easily distracted.

I read this in mid-April. But it snowed just a few days ago, enough to cover the grass. Enough to build a snowman. But we didn't; I don't remember the last time I made a snow sculpture.

This was such a gorgeous and gut-

She could see, now that she had been shown...

A magical tale full of hardship, snow, and cranberries. (Maybe I noticed the cranberries more than most people. There were a lot of cranberries.) This was completely captivating, but at the same time I found myself easily distracted.

I read this in mid-April. But it snowed just a few days ago, enough to cover the grass. Enough to build a snowman. But we didn't; I don't remember the last time I made a snow sculpture.

This was such a gorgeous and gut-rending book. I was immersed even while I was distracted, and I felt pretty gutted when I finished. I felt certain scenes deeply, I was there in the bleakness and the beauty.

Just as startling was the fox. It sat beside Faina with its silken red tail curled around its feet and its ears pricked forward. Something in its predatory eyes and thin black mouth told of a thousand small deaths, and Mabel could not forget its muzzle smeared with blood.

And this scene, which I found particularly poignant and ethereally lovely:

She could see, now that she had been shown. The sun had disappeared behind them, and the girl pointed across the valley to the mountain slopes aglow in a cool purple-pink. Silhouetted against the sky, tendrils of snow unfurled from the peaks, whipped by what must have been a brutal wind. Here on the rise, though, the air was still. The colors were distant, impossible, untouchable.

That’s what my name means, Faina said, still pointing.

Mountain?

No. That light. Papa named me for the color on the snow when the sun turns.

Alpenglow, Mabel whispered.

She felt the awe of walking into a cathedral, the sense that she was being shown something powerful and intimate, and in its presence must speak softly, if at all. She stared into that color, trying to imagine a father who could name his child for such beauty and then abandon her.

We should go, Faina said. It will be night soon.

The child led Mabel back to the homestead, to the warm cabin where Jack waited with hot tea and bread he had baked in a Dutch oven.

So, he said. What did you see?

I understood Mabel and Jack. But there was still a lot I didn't understand. I have questions:
What does the fox symbolize? (view spoiler)
What does the moose symbolize? (view spoiler)
What does the wolverine symbolize? Is that the cruel and heartless spirit of Nature?
What does the swan symbolize? (view spoiler)
And my number one question!! Why are there no quotation marks used for all dialogue involving Faina????. (view spoiler)

Lots of questions. But this is not a book that rewards questions; there may be hidden meanings, but they will remain hidden, the way the junco remains hidden under the boughs of my fir tree. The book follows its own advice:

He had said too much, but not as much as he could have.

This book never tells us as much as it could. This is as close as we get to an answer:

“We have tried to convince her to stay with us, but she refuses. She says the wilderness is her home, and I’ve gone with her there, and it’s true. It is her home. She walks on top of the snow. And I know it seems unbelievable, Esther, but she can hold a snowflake in the palm of her hand without it melting. Don’t you see? She was reborn that night… reborn out of snow and suffering and love.”

This is NOT a plot-driven novel, and I am one of those people who really needs a plot (which may be why I found myself easily distracted at times), so I'm really surprised that I enjoyed this as much as I did. The characters Ms Ivey created are wonderful

Esther burst into the cabin like a friendly hen, flapping and chattering and nearly knocking Mabel over as she tried to open the door for her. In one hand she held a towel-covered cast-iron pot and with the other she hugged Mabel and kissed her on the cheek.

and the beauty of the Alaskan landscape comes through so clearly in each scene that you might as well just call Alaska another character in this book.

This November day, the river otter did not keep her waiting. She heard ice splinter, a splash, and then he was just the other side of the small creek. She expected him to dash across a log or run humpbacked down the bank as he always did. Instead he paused at the water’s edge, turned toward her, and stood up on his hind legs. He was remarkably still, supported by his thick tail, his front paws dangling at his chest. For longer than Mabel could hold her breath, the otter stared at her with his eyes like deep eddies. And then he dropped to all fours and scampered down the creek.

Farewell, old man, until we meet again.

She had no way to know its age or gender, but there was something in the light-colored chin and long, coarse whiskers that reminded her of an old man’s beard. From a distance the otter gave a comical, mischievous impression, but when it slithered close Mabel could smell fish blood and a wet chill.

She told no one of the otter. Garrett would want to trap it; Faina would ask her to draw it. She refused to confine it by any means because, in some strange way, she knew it was her heart. Living, twisting muscle beneath bristly damp fur. Breaking through thin ice, splashing in cold creek water, sliding belly-down across snow. Joyful, though it should have known better.

Stories based on fairy tales always have a natural depth and darkness that other stories don't have, and it is this added depth and sense of almost touching magic that is probably what kept me captivated even when there wasn't much of a plot to carry me along.

*

I don't like reviews that review other reviews, but I have to add this: I've seen a few reviews saying "why wasn't this tagged YA?" and I'm mystified as to why anyone would see this as YA. Are all fairy tales automatically YA? Does the absence of sex and violence immediately mean a book is YA? I don't know. What I just read is a very mature book that I can't imagine has a lot of appeal for teenagers. The pace is slow, the two main characters are middle-aged, the themes are mature themes: the notions of loss and loneliness, living beyond loss, looking back on a life after it's lived, and so on. Sure teens deal with loss and loneliness too, but not this kind. As a woman of a certain age myself, these themes resonated with me. As you age, the highs and lows are rounded, things are slower, deeper, you look back on your life and evaluate the chances you took and the chances you didn't take. It really comes home to you that you play out the hand you've been dealt and you won't be getting another. Frankly, I'm surprised that such a young debut author can write middle-age so convincingly!!

This quote sums it up:

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.

I think the overall message here is that Mabel was selected for Grace bestowed from Mother Nature, not because she was special but because she was willing.

I've decided to use this book to fill the "based on a fairy tale" prompt in the 2016 Popsugar Ultimate Reading Challenge. ...more

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Feb 18, 2012 Chelsea rated it really liked it

This is a beautiful book. I love the images of the brutal, yet wondrous Alaskan wilderness. As is the trend these days, we have a retelling of a Russian (apparently) fairy tale. In it, an old man and woman are unable to have children of their own and make a child out of snow. This child comes to life and stays with them in the cold temperatures of the winter months and melts or leaves when the temperatures rise.
With this tale in readers' minds, many parallels can be drawn between this fairy tale This is a beautiful book. I love the images of the brutal, yet wondrous Alaskan wilderness. As is the trend these days, we have a retelling of a Russian (apparently) fairy tale. In it, an old man and woman are unable to have children of their own and make a child out of snow. This child comes to life and stays with them in the cold temperatures of the winter months and melts or leaves when the temperatures rise.
With this tale in readers' minds, many parallels can be drawn between this fairy tale and the events of the novel. An older couple, Mabel and Jack, have lived in Alaska for years and are childless. They live a rough and lonesome existence until the first snowfall of the seasons ignites a childlike playfulness in the couple. They build a snowman. The next morning the snowman is gone but mysterious tracks have appeared. The two begin seeing a fox and later, a mysterious child in the woods near their cabin.

This child, named Faina, has long white blond hair and flits about the woods like a sprite. She has definite magical characteristics and is rarely seen without her fox. The couple often spot her and are mystified by her presence, leaving her presents in the woods. Finally, she speaks to them and visits their home often. Faina reveals her name and, to Jack, her living situation in the woods. Jack discovers the body of the man she claims to be her father who has been living in a cave with Faina since her birth. It is unclear to the reader whether or not this story has any truth behind it or if, like the fairytale, Faina is actually a snow child. In fact, the truth is never revealed and readers are left to decide for themselves.
As the years pass, Faina retreats with the winter and snow during summer months, returning to the couple each winter with the first snowfall. Faina grows into a young woman and attracts the attention of Garrett, a boy who the couple are close with, perhaps even considering him a son. The two become a couple and there is to be a wedding and even the birth of a child. Readers are left with a melancholy and bittersweet feeling at the conclusion of this magical novel.
...more

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Apr 01, 2015 Lacey Louwagie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction, retelling, historical-fiction, 100-book-challenge-2015, magical-realism

This book was not what I expected it to be. It was lighter on magic, heavier on Alaskan frontier hardship, but once I adjusted my expectations, I ended up enjoying the book a lot.

It is one of those stories that you need to let yourself really sink into slowly. The hardship and isolation of settling the Alaskan frontier is palpable, as is the grief Mabel feels over her inability to have children, and the tension that all this elicits in her long-time marriage. Over the course of the novel, Mabel ...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Celeste rated it really liked it

I liked the way this book was written. I loved the setting, the characters and the mystical element. Good read. (Jen D.-f.b.c.)

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Apr 25, 2013 Jaime rated it liked it

Shelves: magical-realism, read-2013, bookclub, historical-1915-1930

This is not the sort of book I usually pick up on my own. I gravitate more towards heavily plot-driven fiction, and this book is more of a slow walk through the beautiful, snow-laden woods.

That’s not to say it wasn’t good. There was something charming about Mabel and Jack, even if they spent a lot of their time unhappy and wondering if they had made a huge mistake trying to make their home in Alaska. Mabel’s sadness, in particular, is palpable. By moving to Alaska, she’s merely run away from her ...more

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