Snow Falling On Cedars

It was ok but that’s all. I expected/wanted so much more. The time line jumped around way too much. Although it wasn’t hard to follow, it was distracting. I never felt engaged. Nor did I particularly care about any of the characters. It was hard to believe that based on the information given, an arrest, even with prejudice, would have been made. I expected a difficult moral situation, like in House of Sand and Fog, but that never developed. The story line was straight and simple without any subplots of interest. Simply wanted to see how it ended but didn’t even care that much. I don’t understand all the rave reviews. It wasn’t bad, it simply wasn’t that good.

The opening scene in riveting: a small-town courtroom on an island in the upper end of Puget Sound on a snowy day. Having lived in Seattle for a few years, I can really say that his description of the residents of the island, and the geography itself (sounds like Whidbey Island to me) is excellent. Guterson's descriptions of the salmon-fishing, strawberry-growing culture, their houses, boats, and perspectives are wonderfully refreshing. Set in the 50's, it shows the honest simplicity of life in that era, yet gets into the complexity of the personalities and feelings of the main characters. Guterson displays the interactions of the local people as though he might have been one of them. Their social transactions are complex, although properly muted in 50's fashion so there is not a lot of dirty wash hanging out in public. If you like Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion stories from Lake Wobegon, you will probably do well with this book. The alleged murder of fisherman Karl Heine by Japanese fisherman Kabuo Miyamoto kicks off a fury of irrational anger at the otherwise exemplar Japanese population. Having been born in 1945, it reminds me vividly of the comments and prejudices I heard about the Japanese way back in South Dakota where most people had never met such a human -- except on the battlefield. The teenage romance between Ishmael (later the island's sole newspaper editor) and Hatsue Imada (who would finally marry Kabuo) is touching and heart-wrenching, although their conversation and insights into their situation might be a bit too high-level for their time and maturity. It is Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet set in Puget Sound. The sudden hysteria and hatred that boils over when Heine is found dead and Kabuo is accused, jailed and charged based on very circumstantial evidence shows how fine the line is between acceptance, toleration and total condemnation when ethnic groups live together in close proximity. Guterson uses flashbacks to develop the main characters very fully to the point where you think you might be living next door to them by the end of the novel. The murder mystery aspect of this story is only a vehicle for a deep exploration into the heart and soul of humans, as individuals and groups. The ending is predictable and uplifting, but left me with the feeling that the island had a lot of work to do to get back to normal -- years of atonement and reconciliation. This story is a good read for those who allow themselves to be swept away into a beautifully told, tragic story. Real men do not cry when reading storybooks, but I strangely noticed some tears on my cheeks every now and then. This is not a formula-based murder mystery. It is a story that can stick with you and make you look at yourself as though you might have been one of the islanders.

This is easy to read but difficult to handle in the sense it uncovers so much of our human flaws by using a very explicit localized event. It reveals how we can be captured by preconceived assumptions about people. Yet, how in the end there is good — enough often— to make things right

An excellent book. The vocabulary, descriptions, and the way the author presents the social issues of PTSD and racism is very commendable as well as thought provoking and entertaining.Jill

Like the wonderful movie version of this haunting and timeless story (see my review), this is a wonderfully written and superbly executed novel that both evokes a particular time and epoch in American history and also relates a breath-taking love story at the same time. Although the movie version unfortunately opened to mixed critical reviews, in my opinion it is one that comes very close to cinematic perfection. Here in the original best selling novel written so powerfully by David Guterson, we are treated to a powerfully depicted drama that also gives us a splendid tale of contemporary social tensions and one man's view of his own personal responsibilities to do what is right and moral. This spellbinding tale of love, mystery and intrigue is set in the Pacific Northwest in the time period right after the end of World War Two, and deals with the undercurrents of deep-seated racism against a group of ethnic Japanese who had made their home for decades on the island depicted in the movie, and who were in many ways the most terribly and unjustly mistreated group within the United States during the war.The story is told in a series of flashback vignettes, and the narrator is the protagonist wrestling with the jumble of feelings and motives as he moves uncertainly toward making his fateful decision to do what he must. In many respects this is also a marvelous murder mystery, and the courtroom drama that unfolds delivers a stunning indictment of the racist tensions and prejudices rampant in this small ocean-side community just after the conclusion of World War Two. The narrator, a decorated war veteran who has lost both his arm and his love to another is covering the story of the murder trial as the reporter/publisher of the small local newspaper also has other, less apparent motives that unravel as the story proceeds. What becomes a life and death drama soon becomes much more a mysterious excursion into the past and a chronicle of tender first love lost, and we begin to understand the complicated jumble of feelings that the narrator reveals to us. This is a book that deals masterfully with a painful aspect of American history quite well without either looking for easy answers or contriving convenient solutions, and in exploring the dimensions of human prejudice and personal feeling as well as it does, manages to let us know that the only way to end such prejudice and fateful discrimination is through individual effort and personal growth. This is a book I heartily recommend for a weekend's intellectual entertainment. Enjoy.

Delivered in a timely manner and the quality was true to the seller’s description.Very satisfied

A fascinating study of culture and prejudice in 1950s America. A fisherman of Japanese decent, born in the US and having fought for his country in WWII, is accused of murder on the island of San Piedro. The book covers the three days of the trial, during a fierce winter storm which cuts the island off from the mainland. Gradually we hear the history of each of the main characters and uncover what really happened on his boat that night. The writing is languid and the descriptions of the snow make the climate one of the main characters in the story. A most enjoyable read.

I would give this novel 5 stars but I wanted to alert readers to the sloppiness of the Kindle version. Obviously no one has checked this at all. Throughout the book there are basic errors (e.g p353 in Kindle, "nothing is more painful to me than uniting this letter to you" meaning "writing this letter". This happens throughout the book. Sometimes punctuation marks are stuck in the wrong place too. Please, Bloomsbury/Kindle, take a bit more pride in your product.

Gutersen creates a courtroom drama and a moving love story in the vividly described fishing community in an island in the Seattle area. It brings to life the prejudice against Japanese Americans in the wake of the Second World War and is a beautifully written book depicting both the beauty and harshness of life on the island. The trial of a Japanese American accused of murder is unforgettable and the tension of the trial is sustained until the end.

The book is far too long and filled with far too much detail about boats. There is a lot of technical boating vocab to understand. The trial is of no interest and it would have made a much better book if the story had revolved around the two young lovers. The ending was anti climatic and dull. None of the characters were properly developed and the war memories seemed out of place. The writing was of a very high standard though so three stars it is.

I enjoyed this book a great deal, and would recommend it. It is beautifully written and observed and the description of the court case and the lawyers is realistic and accurate. One of the best books I have read in a while and have no problem recommending it.