Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson

"Sorry. Really. Sorry. I apologise to all book lovers everywhere. Yeah, it's my first book opinion, but more to the point, it's on a book that the majority of you have probably read. And it's not the bible." [Tom, 3:16] Apologies, again. Let's get this clear. I first read this book in the sixth form - around two to three years ago (after I finally stopped messing my education up), so it'd be fair to say I've been through this book lots previously. I've noted, analysed, and dissected every single 'important' passage in the book. And y'know what? I liked it. I did. A far cry from the days spent in a ...  Read the complete review

When the book was published in 1995, I saw it in the English corner of a German bookshop, I was drawn to it by the lyrical title and the cover with the atmospheric, nearly monochrome grey-black photo showing steep cliffs enshrouded by sea mist with some single trees on top evoking a Japanese landscape. I read the text on the back and learnt that the book was set on a Pacific island off the west coast of America and dealt with the fate of Japanese-Americans, I put it back on the shelves, though, overcome by the feeling that I didn’t have to be interested in everything. I don’t get this often and I’ve read many a book on subjects I didn’t know existed before I ...  Read the complete review

Introduction I had vaguely heard of the film and knew that it dealt with racism, an issue that particularly interests me, so when I stayed at my mother-in-law's recently and she had a copy, I made a beeline for it. I am in two minds about the placing of this review - it is crime fiction, under which category I have placed it, but it is so much more than that - it is an incredibly well-written novel about passion and cross-cultural issues and it would be equally in place in the modern classics section. Certainly one of the best books I have read in a long long time. The author This, amazingly, is David Guterson's first novel, which won the ...  Read the complete review

Snow Falling on Cedars is the debut novel from David Gutterson and winner of the 1995 Pen/Faulkner award for young fiction writers. Classified as a whodunnit, this book has won various critical acclaims and been made into a movie starring Ethan Hawke. As the novel opens, we are immediately brought to sit in on a trial in a warm and tense courtroom of San Piedro island. A Japanese American man is on trial for murdering a fellow fisherman, deemed an act of revenge due to some land disputes between the two. The accused, Kabuo Miyamoto sits tall, nonchalantly and shows no emotion and thus labelled ruthless and guilty by the towns folk. Kabuo's wife ...  Read the complete review

My Opinion: I had to read this book for school and my first thought was that there would be now way I was going to be able to read a 400+ book in two weeks. To my amazement, this book was awesome. It was just the type of book I would have read even outside of school. I had to read it fast and I skipped over a lot of it and was still able to understand the story completely. The author did a terrific job with the trial portions of the book and the dialogue. It was very well written and had great factual information on World War II. It was also suspenseful and I was able to read it quickly and not be bored by it. There was also a great deal of detail and great writing ...  Read the complete review