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Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel |  | Author: David Guterson
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
New (118) Used (2783) Collectible (30) from $0.01
Rating:  713 reviews
Sales Rank: 3196
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st Vintage contemporaries ed
Pages: 460
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.1 x 1
ISBN: 067976402X
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780679764021
ASIN: 067976402X
Publication Date: September 26, 1995
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| • | ISBN13: 9780679764021 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
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Amazon.com Review
This is the kind of book where you can smell and hear and see the fictional world the writer has created, so palpably does the atmosphere come through. Set on an island in the straits north of Puget Sound, in Washington, where everyone is either a fisherman or a berry farmer, the story is nominally about a murder trial. But since it's set in the 1950s, lingering memories of World War II, internment camps and racism helps fuel suspicion of a Japanese-American fisherman, a lifelong resident of the islands. It's a great story, but the primary pleasure of the book is Guterson's renderings of the people and the place.
Product Description
A phenomenal West Coast bestseller, winner of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and an Abby Award nominee, this enthralling novel is at once a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, the story of a doomed love affair, and a stirring meditation on place, prejudice, and justice. "Finely wrought, flawlessly written."--The New York Times Book Review.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 713
This Book is a vivid, but unprententious, trip to another land. August 16, 2010
Dr. Cardinal (Free of the Mountains!!!!!)
Ok, here is my take on this book. It is a very, very good book. Not great, but very good. Is this alright? Well, it is alright because too many novels acclaimed by many of the experts are way too obtuse and make too many negative assumptions about the motives of most people. This book acclaimed by experts as great is about as close to that label as I think is possible. Why? The book presents a story, characters, and images that are all within the reach of most everyday places in the US. Most other hyped novels are so far beyond the realm of the normal that this book might look a little bland in comparison. However, this is a just an image of blandness. The book is something more, it something remarkable that could have happened in the more boring modern world. Anyway, get this book and enjoy a vivid image and good story, characters.
 Great story, characters, and writing July 5, 2010
Bob
What a great book. Guterson combines WWII, Japanese-American culture during that period, internment/racism, youthful and unrequeted love, and much more into a mystery. At the center is a reporter who is following a murder trial on an Island in NW Washington State post WWII. The reporter is a former Marine who lost his arm in the war fighting the Japanese; and he was in love with the suspect's (a Japanese fisherman whose family lost their farm during internment to the family of the victim) wife. Having never been to the Pacific Northwest, Guterson's wonderful writing brought the area alive to me. I found nothing in this book disappointing; the characters, the story, the writing, all excellent.
 If you prefer nuanced characters, read Harry Potter May 15, 2010
Christian Kober (Shanghai)
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
In the 1950s an American fisherman of Japanese origin is accused in trial tinged by racism to have killed caucasian American fisherman. He did not do it.
Unfortunately Guterson takes a few thousand words more than me. Mostly because he has to describe a lot of storm scenes which mirror the court room developments.
His characters are from central casting: The upright journalist with an emotional dilemma - can I hear a mockingbird sing somewhere? The racist sheriff. The teutonic, hypocritical and mean housewife. The manly Germanic giant. And the Japanese, all inscrutable, silent but noble in their suffering. Japanese women, alluring, demure and mostly reduced to their features (neck, hair...). Characters? What characters?
If you like embarassing sex scenes, read this book. Not because the sex scenes are so graphic. For from that. They are so painfully inhibited, so drearyly voyeuristic that they, unintentionally, are the parts which most truly seem to be 1950s in the whole book.
Most disturbing is the authors treatment of the Japanese characters. After all, this is a book also about the injustice of the internment of Japanese-American citizens during WWII. Though the author purports to show them as human beings, his approach is highly patronizing. They are only meant to fill a given role, they are not meant to be people, they are just cardbook characters to support the authors pretense of meaning well.
Last but not least there is the issue of style. The author is much in love with his own mediocre eloquence and heaps words upon words. Why not use 50 words where five might suffice is his approach to style. And maybe, just maybe, the wordier one becomes the less obvious the stereotyping becomes.
A very good read March 6, 2010
K. Smith (Idaho)
I have read hundreds of books, mostly historical fiction, history and autobiography. This is one of the best fiction books I've read in a long time. My only regret is I didn't read it earlier. It is definitely not for the light reader or someone who can't emerse themselves into the story, back-story, and characters.
Great Book, Fast Shipping January 13, 2010
J. Tolinos
I'm young so I didn't watch the movie when I was little. Saw the book in B&N and it caught me eye. I didn't want to have to pay the 20 bucks for it though, so I bought it here and it was a great read. Had some slow parts, but definitely recommend the book. And it arrived in a couple of days. Very fast shipping!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 713
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