Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow - Peter Hoeg Reviews

I was expecting this to be a fantastic thriller, given all the accompanying hype, and the first few chapters certainly created an intriguing situation and character. Smilla is a lonely woman with an uncomfortable relationship with her father and life. Memories also gradually reveal her relationship with a young neighbouring boy who has recently ...  Read the complete review

I agreed with most of MagdaDH's review, but I must correct one misapprehension. She writes: "The version I read was translated by Felicity David. There is also another version, in Tiina Nunnally's translation, titled "Smilla's Sense of Snow". I would throughly recommend the version I read as it read wonderfully. I have a ...  Read the complete review

I rarely read translations now I read almost exclusively in English: the world of literature, pop-fiction and non-fiction in English is so huge and varied that with all the time in the world one would not mange to explore it; so no wonder translations seem often just a spurious extra. And yet, every so often, a translated book crops up ...  Read the complete review

To us snow may just be a type of weather precipitation but to Smilla, born and raised in Greenland, it is a part of life. She has grown up with snow and ice; she knows how it forms, how to live with it, how to treat it with respect and that it can tell a story, for Smilla has a feeling for snow. THE STORY The snow has told ...  Read the complete review

"Isaiah is lying with his legs tucked up under him, with his face in the snow and his hands round his head, as if he were shielding himself from the little spotlight shining on him, as if the snow were a window through which he has caught sight of something deep inside the earth." But Isaiah hasn't caught sight of ...  Read the complete review

I’m still not quite sure why I started reading this book, strangely enough. I had seen the trailer for the film of the same name a while back, but it didn’t appeal to me – and then out of curiosity, I read the back cover of the book when I saw it lying on the table at a mate’s flat not long ago. It might not have sounded ...  Read the complete review

Is it a good idea to see film versions of books? Yes, if the film is well made; what does it matter where the plot comes from? NO, NEVER, if you’ve read the book! How wonderful is it to imagine what the characters might look like, I can create my own fictitious world and people it with my own imaginary creatures. But how can I ...  Read the complete review

Hoeg is an author who knows how to gain your trust. The novel opens with the apparently accidental death of a small boy falling from a roof in Copenhagen. Smilla Jaspersen knows better than to make the obvious assumption, and her astounding stubbonness and tenacity draw the reader deeper and deeper into the background to the boy's death. ...  Read the complete review