When I found the word "cedars" 7 times on a 2 page spread, I shut down. The language is simple; maybe I'm supposed to perceive it as deep, mysterious, or simply written in a beautiful way, but I just found it dull. I was so tired of hearing about snow and cedars.

I think it had a trial in it, and a Japanese fisherman, and some discrimination; maybe it happened in an internment camp in Washington state or something. Or maybe the main character is investigating his father's involvement in a trial in the 1940's. I don't remember. My book club read it and our discussion of it was not very interesting.

Funny- I just read a review by Gina- she called the language flowery and gave this example:

"By October San Piedro had slipped off its summer reverler's mask to reveal a torpid, soporific dreamer whose winter bed was made of wet green moss....The gutters filled with rust-colored pine needles and the pungent effluvium of alder leaves, and the drainpipes splashed with the winter rain."

I guess I just skim over this flowery language because it's so meaningless to the story. If I want imagery, I'll read some poetry, not this snowy cedary schlock. This language is flowery to the point of making no sense- a waste of the reader's time to ask them to parse out the convoluted imagery.

Another reviewer on this site said the book had endless narration- I agree- it needed less description of the scenery and more about the characters and time period.

According to Wikipedia, Snow Falling on Cedars was written by a teacher, taking 10 years to complete. The success of this book should give hope everywhere to teachers who want to be writers. But not just because it was a successful—it is also a good read.

David Guterson's novel was published in 1994, and became a huge hit, spawning a film version in 1999. The front cover gives away its superstar status, with a giant "The Award-Winning #1 Bestseller" badge.

"Oh great," I said to myself after examining the book. I came across this novel when Matt and Anna were simplifying their life and giving away books. I had heard of it, so I took it. But I had it for about almost a year before I read it. That "#1 Bestseller" just turns me away. I don't want people to think I read only bestsellers! I don't want want anyone to assume I'm a DaVinci Code fan! (Disclosure: I haven't read that novel, and I don't want to. Don't make me).

Anyway... this novel was a quick read, even though it's 460 pages long. Once I was into it, I didn't want to stop reading! The novel focuses on a murder trial in the '50s, when there was a lot of anti-Japanese racism resulting from WWII. Set on a Washington state island, the story revolves on the trial of Katsuo, who is accused of killing Carl over wanted strawberry farmland. It is easy for the citizens to get caught up in the racism, because they recall all of the Japanese citizens being interned in 1942, and many are war veterans. The internment of Japanese-Americans was a disgraceful action; this novel is a good reminder to us to not forget it. I don't think I heard about citizens being interned until I was in high school—which is pretty outrageous. Remember, kids, we study history lest we repeat it!

Which brings me to the relevance of this novel: it is really easy to read, sure, and very involving. Guterson has a gift for description: the strawberry fields, the snow, the mossy tree, each character's sex life, etc. But there is more to it than pretty words; it really makes you think about racial profiling and stereotyping. Well, Katsuo is a Kendo master, so he must been responsible for Carl's head wound.

I read that Snow Falling on Cedars is taught in many schools (but also banned in some). It is a great novel to teach for things like language, but more so for the potential discussions about racism. It's scary, because in the past seven years, America has painted all of its Arab-American citizens as potential terrorists. So, please read this novel as a reminder not to let these things happen!

A well-written and at times compelling combination of murder mystery, love story, and social critique. However, although it’s interesting and wonderfully atmospheric, I think comparisons to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird are unjustified; for a real masterpiece of racial relations and coming-of-age, read Mockingbird.

There is a breath taking story buried in the details of this book. My suggestion is buy the Cliff Notes. This book is written like really early fiction, so filled with detail that you almost miss it when a plot point crops up. I almost quit this book when I had to read a page and a half (I may be exaggerating here) of description of the glimpse of the living room the sheriff gets through the screen door when he is waiting for the lady of the house to answer his knock. He is there to tell her that her husband was found dead. I get that he might be wanting to put his mind on anything but what he is about to tell her but I really don't care what her sofa is like. I kept reading because I liked the story.
I was happy when I heard there was a movie made of this book but it is true to the book so dulled with detail and repressed emotion that you don't even care about the story you just want something to happen.

Ein Amerikaner japanischer Abstammung ist angeklagt, einen Amerikaner deutscher Abstammung ermordet zu haben und das auf einer kleinen Insel an der Nordwestküste der USA, zehn Jahre nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg. Die Geschichte handelt von einem Indizienprozess voller Ressentiments, der gegen den Angeklagten geführt wird, von einer Liebesbeziehung und Freundschaften, die durch die Rassengrenzen und den Krieg sabotiert werden, von Diskriminierung komischerweise nur von japanischen Ex-Feinden und von den Entwicklungen, Aussagen und überraschenden Wendungen im Strafprozess.

Fast wie bei Perry Mason wird das Verbrechen durch viele Zeugen beleuchtet und alle Hintergründe aufgedeckt. Alle handelnden Charaktäre werden liebevoll aber fast schon zu exzessiv inklusive Hintergrund beleuchtet. Am Anfang ist es etwas mühsam die im Stakkato auf den Leser einprasselnden Kurz-Lebensgeschichten zu sortieren und im Gedächtnis zu behalten, weswegen ich einen Punkt abziehe. Es ist nicht immer notwendig die Personen inkl. deren Krankheiten, Schwächen und früherer Arbeitgeber mit wiederum ausführlicher Lebensgeschichte so ausladend breitzutreten. Da die Handlung aber auf einer kleinen Insel spielt, hat man nach ca. 150 Seiten wirklich alle kennengelernt und kann anschliessend die spannende Handlung und die ausführlichen Beschreibungen von Landschaft, Menschen, und Motiven geniessen.

Fazit: Wenn man über den Anfang hinwegkommmt, ist es eine sehr bewegende, lehrreiche und spannende Geschichte sprachlich sehr ansprechend und atmosphärisch dicht erzählt.

At once a courtroom drama, a love story, a war story and a coming-of-age story, Guterson’s debut novel is a marvelous work depicting one man’s struggle against his baser instincts.

Kabuo Miyamoto grew up on his family’s strawberry farm, land that his parents, born in Japan, were prohibited by law from owning. They leased the land from Carl Heine Sr, with an agreement that when their son turned 21, he (an American born citizen) would own the land. Natsue Imada also grew up on a strawberry farm, at the opposite end of San Piedro Island from the Miyamoto’s farm. Her near neighbor and childhood friend was Ishmael Chambers, son of the local newspaper owner/editor. Natsue and Ishmael form an attachment as children and teenagers, but their plans are interrupted by World War II, and the internment of all Japanese. Twelve years later, Hatsue is married to Kabuo, who is on trial for murdering Carl Heine, Jr, a local fisherman, and son of the woman who “stole his family’s land” while they were in the internment camps.

Guterson uses the trial as the framework for telling the story of these three people, whose lives are intertwined and bound by local history, prejudice, regret and grudges. The men, in particular, harbor resentments from past injuries, and seem trapped in holding on to their feelings of having been wronged and/or done wrong.

Island life is unique in that the residents have few opportunities to truly isolate themselves from one another. Separated from the rest of world by an expanse of water, they must form a community to help one another. There is one hardware store, one post office, one grocer, one mechanic, one school. They may have squabbles, but if you make an enemy you will not be able to avoid that person. So, in general, they set aside their differences and get along – at least on the surface. But all that is unsaid is kept inside one’s soul, festering and shaping thoughts and behaviors.

This is the quandry for Ishmael and Kabuo, and to some extent Carl Jr. The attack on Pearl Harbor unites the American citizens against “the Japs” and results in tensions between families that have peacefully coexisted for years. Guterson masterfully pits a German family against a Japanese family – at one point even having a character comment on the irony of the Japanese being viewed as the enemy, while the Germans are NOT automatically labeled as Nazis.

Ishmael’s quandry is more complex. He loses his heart to Hatsue, only to have it broken, and then loses an arm in the Pacific theater – “blown off by a Jap.” Covering the trial, he cannot bear to look at her, he cannot bear to look away. He longs for her and yet blames her for his current state. His moral dilemma is made more difficult by the latent prejudice rife among island residents, to which he is also falling prey.

I love this paragraph near the end of the book (no spoiler):
Islanders were required by the very nature of their landscape, to watch their step moment by moment. No one trod easily upon the emotions of another where the sea licked everywhere against an endless shoreline. And this was excellent and poor at the same time – excellent because it meant most people took care, poor because it meant an inbreeding of the spirit, too much held in, regret and silent brooding, a world whose inhabitants walked in trepidation, in fear of opening up. Considered and considerate, formal at every turn, they were shut out and shut off from the deep interplay of their minds. They could not speak freely because they were cornered: everywhere they turned there was water and more water, a limitless expanse of it in which to drown. They held their breath and walked with care, and this made them who there were inside, constricted and small, good neighbors.

Like The Shipping News, this title pivots on its setting...this time in Washington state. Set after WWII and with a plot involving everything from murder to passionate romance to Japanese interment camps, Guterson breathes life into every facet of this tale. The picturesque locale of Washington lends fog and dreariness to this story of lost love and horrific death.

The first time I read this book I was much younger and happier than today. I remember that it made a great impression on me and I loved it very much. So if this review had written at that time, it would get a 5-star book. But that's not the case this time.

 As I sometimes do, I see a book that reminds me of something from the past, and I reread it.
But the present reading didn't give me the same enthusiasm for the first time, perhaps because I am no longer fond of the genre of detective stories or instead this time I didn't notice there ware any mystery, suspense or detective story Tchlas. The beginning of the book and its end were a bit boring to my taste, yet, the middle of the book remained as good as I remembered it was - fascinating and teach about the prejudices and relations between Japanese and American immigrants in the war, after Pearl Harbor and the years after. All through a story about a small town surrounded by the sea and the trial of a local Japanese, through which the mixed feelings of the islanders towards immigrants introduced from hatred to sympathy and everything in between.

In conclusion, I would say that the book is suitable for reading once in life.

Excellent writing and story. Loved it.

Na een mistige nacht wordt de vissersboot van Carl Heine Jr. stuurloos op zee gevonden. Bij nader onderzoek wordt zijn lichaam gevonden in zijn netten onder water. Wat is er gebeurd? Een ongeluk....of moord?

Niet lang daarna wordt Kabuo Miyamoto beschuldigd van moord op Carl. In zijn boot worden sporen gevonden die daarvan het bewijs zouden kunnen zijn.

Het proces begint. Dat is eigenlijk de kern van het verhaal. De locatie van het het verhaal: het eiland San Piedro.

De auteur laat ons kennis maken met vele eilandbewoners. Eigenlijk kent bijna iedereen iedereen daar, en velen hebben met elkaar te maken.
Er woont ook een aantal Japanezen op het eiland. In 1942, na Pearl Harbor, zijn ze allemaal weggevoerd, omwille van hun ras, dat op dat moment als 'de vijand' beschouwd werd. Dit veranderde heel veel in het leven van de mensen van San Piedro.

Hatsue, de vrouw van Kabuo, speelt ook een grote rol in het verhaal. In haar jeugd had zij namelijk een geheime relatie met Ishmael Chambers, die eindigde toen Hatsue en haar familie van het eiland verdreven werden. En Hatsue trouwde met Kabuo.

Nog veel meer wordt er verteld over verschillende mensen en hun levens voor en na de oorlog. En er ontstaan situaties die het zouden kunnen verklaren dat Miyamoto en Heine zich als vijanden tegenover elkaar zouden kunnen gedragen.

Heel veel 'zou' dus echter....

Ik vond de verhalen over de mensen interessant en boeiend, en op het einde van het boek, als het proces goed op gang kwam, werd het dan ook nog eens spannend.
Ik heb dit boek graag gelezen.

A quiet but beautiful book. A murder trial in a small island community hinges on the interlaced histories of the islanders. Old prejudices and old loves compete with each other to find the truth.

Not sure why I have never read this before but I really enjoyed it anyway. Usually I am not a fan of court room dramas but the way this one alternated the court room scenes with background information and scenes from the past was wonderful. The representation of the Japanese people was a little stereotypical - no, a lot stereotypical - but it did not spoil the fascinating story. I was interested too to hear about this chapter in the history of the war. I knew about the way anyone with any German heritage was rounded up in England, but I did not know about the Japanese in America. It was a very low point for humanity around the world. This is a good book anyway and worth reading for anyone who has not already done so!