Snow Falling on Cedars in The Complete Idiots Guide to the Ultimate Reading List

Aug 08, 2010 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it liked it

Shelves: crime, literary-fiction, novels, mystery, fiction, historical-fiction, ultimate-reading-list

The novel has been compared to To Kill a Mockingbird and there are similarities in plot and theme--but I have to say I wouldn't compare the the two--Guterson's novel just isn't anywhere near as powerful as Harper Lee's classic novel.

The novel is set in 1954 in Washington State and involves the murder trial of Kabuo Miyamoto and the lingering issues of the forced removal and internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, interweaving the present of the trial with the past of those involve The novel has been compared to To Kill a Mockingbird and there are similarities in plot and theme--but I have to say I wouldn't compare the the two--Guterson's novel just isn't anywhere near as powerful as Harper Lee's classic novel.

The novel is set in 1954 in Washington State and involves the murder trial of Kabuo Miyamoto and the lingering issues of the forced removal and internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, interweaving the present of the trial with the past of those involved. I was thrown a bit by the first courtroom scene. Reading it I wanted to yell, "Objection, leading the witness!" (Yes, that sort of thing bothers me--harder to suspend your disbelief when you know the author right at the start has things wrong.) I thought the scenes in the courtroom dull, and one of many reasons I felt the novel has no where near the impact of To Kill a Mocking Bird is that the evidence does suggest guilt and not a matter of prejudice--while it's clear in Lee's book race is the issue.

Even though there were some beautiful passages, other aspects of the omniscient narrative bothered me. The story didn't always flow and was slow-paced, almost glacial at points, and devoid of a sense of humor; the sex scenes felt rather romance novel (and at times the sexual content--like that regarding sex life of the defense lawyer--TMI and extraneous), and if I had to hear about the sheriff's Juicy Fruit gum one more time I thought I'd scream.

Kabuo, his wife Hatsue and the man who loved her as a boy, Ismael, are all sympathetic characters though, and the story of the Japanese American experience in those times did hold my interest. (The scenes in the internment camp were among the most vivid and riveting, I suspect more because I'm unfamiliar with the subject rather than Guterson's prose.) I liked how evocatively the author described the rural Pacific Northwest, drew different characters and, through both, portrayed the fictional community of San Pedro Island. The ending fell flat for me though. It made a tidy resolution mystery-wise but failed to move me. ...more

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Feb 10, 2010 Karen rated it really liked it

Not usually my kind of book. I read it because some parents wanted it banned from the school. I thought it was a good portrait of how horrible it must have felt to be a japanese american during WW II. I think it also shows one of the bad sides of american history in a fictional story. I think it is a classic. I can see why the school picked it for advanced English class.

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