Snow Falling on Cedars A personal review
I have to admit, when I first started reading this book, I had a problem with trying to stay awake: I found the writing dry. Then slowly as characters were introduced, a mystery started to unfold, and tension between neighbors rose, I could not put the novel down. Whether it was the vivid descriptions of the snow banks, or the emotional accounts of the townspeople, David Guterson's novel, Snow Falling on Cedars is a true piece of literary art. Snow Falling on Cedars is the fictional account of a Japanese immigrant, Kabuo Miyamoto who is on trial for the murder of a fisherman, Carl Heines. The majority of the residents of San Piedro have already found Kabuo guilty simply because of his race, physical stature, and history as a soldier. Guterson weaves this relatively simple tale through the eyes of many people giving points of view that are sometimes lost in stories of prejudice, thus creating a complex story where one finds themselves simplifying with every party involved. By doing this, Guterson establishes an emotional connection between the readers and the characters.The characters, although physically different, are very similar in that they don't trust anyone who is different than they are. For instance, Carl Heine's
Snow Falling on Cedars is, quite simply, one of the greatest works of modern literature that I have read. It captures the beauty of the Northwest, the lust of adolescent love, and the ugly face of racism in us all. Snow Falling on Cedars fits in well with Washington State History on a few levels. We talked about I feel this book ties in well with the "Washington State History" class. One can read about Washington's high amount of trees, yet one cannot appreciate them nearly as well as I did when reading Snow Falling on Cedars. Snow Falling on Cedars had a certain charm to it, something I connected with as a long time resident of this State. For instance, when Ishmael is making his way to his mother's house, and he is describing the chaos that the snow has created, "Looking out past the windshield wipers Ishmael saw billions of snowflakes falling in long tangents, driven southward, the sky shrouded and furious. The wind propelled the snow against the side of barns and homes, and Ishmael could hear it whistling through the wing window's rubber molding, which had been loose now for many years."(320) I am reminded of my days growing up in the Cispus Valley where scenes like this were frequent in the winter months. The strawberry farms are another good example. Some of the descriptions that Guterson used to capture the beauty of these fields were as if they were m
Some common words found in the essay are:
Falling Cedars, San Piedro, Kill Mockingbird, , Camp Maybe, Cispus Valley, East Guterson, Fair Grounds, Carl Heine's, Washington History, falling cedars, snow falling, snow falling cedars, washington history, reading book,
Approximate Word count = 930
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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