Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson was an interesting novel. At first i didn’t like it at all. I persevered and ended up loving it. Set in 1954 on a small fictional island off the coast of Washington State 10 years after the end of WW2 prejudices still ran high against the Japanese. When a fisherman comes up dead an investigation leads to possible foul place. The defendant has to prove his innocence with a big odd against him, his race. This books takes the reader through multiple genres that would fit many book lovers. It is character driven with a historical fiction setting and romance. Police and detective working against racism and prejudices of all kinds that ultimately fits the courtroom dramas many readers enjoy. In 1999 this enjoyable novel was made into a movie.

A small west coast US island community is rocked by the murder of a fisherman in the 1950s. The investigation and trial bring up painful history for the island's Japanese-American community and others.

I loved the way it went into such depth with the different characters. I found it a bit slow in places, but the pace fitted with the setting and the characters. It's more of a psychological study than a murder mystery.

David Guterson's award-winning debut is set in 1954 on the fictional island of San Pietro, off the coast of Washington state. When the body of fisherman Carl Heine is discovered early one foggy morning, the police are in no doubt that they have a murder on their hands. Suspicion falls upon Kabuo Miyamoto, a fellow fisherman who was known to been in dispute with the Heine family. Home to a large Japanese community, tensions have been high on San Pietro ever since Pearl Harbor, and the ensuing trial only serves to add fuel to the flames. With evidence piling up, thing are looking grim for Kabuo - his wife Hatsue and their children are starting to lose hope. But local newspaperman Ismael Chambers has a nagging feeling that the case is not as clear-cut as it seems, and he begins his own inquiries into Carl's death.

A review in the Independent on Sunday praised this novel for having a "page-whizzing narrative" and I can't think of a more inaccurate description. The pace is languorous for the most part, as Guterson gives us an intricate backstory of every major and minor character. Some of these detours I found absorbing, such as Ismael's horrific experiences in World War II. But other chapters, like a plodding reminiscence of his teenage romance with Hatsue almost put me to sleep. Yet I kept reading. The characters are so detailed and believably rendered, I had to find out their fates. So if you're looking for a nail-biting courtroom drama, I'd advise steering clear. However, if thoughtfully-constructed murder mysteries are your thing, then you can't go far wrong with this one.

Listened to on audio.

An interesting tale that toggles between a courtroom drama and the historical background of the main characters: Kabuo, a Japanese man is accused of murdering Carl, a fellow salmon fisherman. There is a land dispute that provides the motive and much circumstantial evidence to support the accusations. Kabuo's wife and the town newspaper editor have history that bring additional layers to this complicated story that delves into first loves, jealousy, prejudice, the effects of war, and the quicksand that small towns can create when everyone knows everyone.

What I appreciated most was how the same basic "facts" could be seen and interpreted differently by various characters, depending on the filter they had operating as a result of their own personalities, histories, and attitudes. It brought to mind the phrase "we see things as we are, not as they are". Watching the various characters go through their mental gyrations, I was not sure until close to the end how things might turn out, which created both curiosity and a sense of dread for the characters.

There was much to appreciate about this story, including the historical elements that played out as the U.S. engaged with Japan in WWII, with the resulting internment camps and mistreatment of the Japanese Americans, even those who served in the war. It was a shameful time which is well represented here, along with the residual suspiciousness that comes with those racial/ethnic divides.

What kept this from being a five star read was some repetitiveness that became almost annoying in the courtroom testimony, and perhaps a tad too much detail at times, which slowed down the read. But, overall, I found it interesting and enjoyable.

This well written fast moving novel jumps into action feet first with the opening taking place in the court room. Flash backs to the story that brings us there, rehashing events, developing characters, exchanging dialogue, all in a way that creates and builds the mystery as it unfolds like an unnamed flower before our eyes, but never quite sure of what we are seeing.

The writing is riveting and the story compelling. The author introduces us to the families of both the victim and the accused, and how they came to be involved in this small town island community. Each tidbit of information provides a link to the current presentation in court so that you can’t quite be sure how the events that brought us here could have transpired. Truly a mystery!

The character development is very good and the author does a great job of capturing that which can’t be achieved strictly by dialogue.

A very interesting account of Japanese American history, prejudices, the ravages of war and a community divided. Very thought provoking, and masterfully written.

Set on San Piedro in the Gulf Islands, it’s a trial novel with brilliant metaphors for surviving love, loss, and racism, while maintaining suspense until the last three pages (which does have unnecessary, anti-climatic explanation). The subplot is a story of love, loss, and waiting.

Here's the story...
Hatsue Imada was a childhood friend to Ishmael Chambers. Her parents were labourers on a stawberry farm; his father ran the newspaper—a fierce defender of Japanese Americans.

Early on the kids have a conversation about oceans—a metaphor for their respective inherited worldviews. Hatsue maintains that there are seven different oceans, with different names, colours, salt levels, etc. Ishmael sees just one continuous body of water; it is the same underneath. The novel’s beauty is the understatement of such metaphors—only suggested as images, yet yielding much thematic power.

Because Hatsue’s parents would never allow marriage to a white boy, the teenagers develop a long-term, secret romance, meeting inside a hollowed out cedar. When the war comes, the Imadas are sent to internment camps, and Ishmael goes to kill faces which look Japanese. The children plan to continue writing in secrecy, but Hatsue gives up, not wanting a part in duplicity which puts her at odds with family in such times. She writes and tells Ishmael that she has realized she no longer loves him. Her heart actually follows her willfull decision, and she soon agrees to love Kabuo Miyamoto, a Japanese boy who grew up watching Hatsue and practicing the lethal art of kendo stick fighting. They marry at the camp and dream of a strawberry farm together.

Ishmael loses his arm in the war and suffers phantom pain, still he refuses surgery to kill the nerve endings—a metaphor for his heartache. He still loves Hatsue and would rather feel something, pain, than have no connection at all. He cannot will to move on.

In the parallel main plot, Carl Heine and Kaboa grow up as childhood friends in the midst of racial tension. Kabuo’s parents work on Carl’s family land before WWII. To the chagrin of fastidious Etta Heine and her racism, the Miyamotos arrange to purchase seven acres with Carl Heine Sr., making payments to eventually put the land in the name of the only legal heir, a born American citizen, Kabuo. In comes the war and all Japanese Americans are sent to internment camps, causing the Miyamotos to miss their final two payments. Carl Sr. suffers a heart attack, giving Etta opportunity to sell the strawberry farm she has always hated—the Miyamoto’s land is sold beneath them, lost to Ole Jurgenson.
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Ten years later, both Kaboa and Carl Heine are salmon fisherman. After they both return from service abroad, they purchase boats and begin families. Ole ages and eventually puts his farm, the Heine/Miyamoto land for sale. Carl agrees to buy it, Kabuo is too late. Carl and Kabuo discuss the sale, Kabuo asks for the 7 acres; Carl considers it.
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Both men go fishing one fateful foggy night. Carl’s lights drain his battery; his boat floats dead in the water. Kabuo finds him, ties up, and loans a new battery. Before Kabuo pushes off, Carl agrees to the land sale. Shortly thereafter, Carl is struck broadside by a large ship’s wake and is tossed into the water after hitting his head on the ship’s gunnel.
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Kabuo is then arrested for the murder of Carl Heine—the motive being a land dispute, weapon being his fishing gaff, used kendo style in a high seas attack. The court proceeds as snow falls to quiet and unplug the world. The snow, ironically, is a metaphor for healing and unity:

The snowfall obliterated the borders between the fields and made Kabuo Miyamoto’s long-cherished seven acres indistinguishable from the land that surrounded them. All human claims to the landscape were super-ceded, made null and void by the snow. The world was one world, and the notion that a man might kill another over some small patch of it did not make sense. (321)

The dramatic conflict builds as Ishmael uncovers evidence which could save Kabuo—and restore Hatsue to her husband. Ishmael’s war-bred hate for the Japanese holds him, but in the end he saves the life of Hatsue’s second love.
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One overwhelming theme is fairness—that it cannot be expected in this world. And though the world is tossed by injustice and accidents, humanity retains a will. Will is everything—to live, to work, to dream, to love and to wilfully replace loss by love again. The novel ends with Ishmael understanding this: “That accident ruled every corner of the universe except the chambers of the human heart.”

Ik weet niet wat het punt van dit boek had moeten zijn, maar ik heb het niet gevonden.

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.

I love a good trail! This book reminded me of when I was a “Court TV “ fan.

You do not have to love this book because it has a pretty cover!!!!

The cover is gorgeous. Frame it. Then throw away the rest of the book.

Oh gosh did this book generate some feelings in me. Why is it so hard for people to do the right thing for the right reason and believe that other people can too?

A friend recently sent me a reel on Instagram, and it was asking the question about why white people are afraid of Black people (a very generalized question on racism, of course, and not meant to point out anyone in particular). I thought about it, and I've concluded racism in that context might exist because there has never been a full accounting of truth. Germans have recognized their role as Nazis, and Canada has finally recognized the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as a federal statue to coincide with Orange Shirt Day to recognize the damage done to Indigenous populations in their residential schools. It's never too late to admit a wrong and right a relationship. The US has never done anything like this for slavery or the Indigenous massacres. I think that this fear of Black and Indigenous people and the intuitive need to keep them subjugated is based on what retribution might be exacted if they ever came forward for true healing, forgiveness, reparations, etc. So much harm has been done through the centuries that I can understand this fear.

This book takes place in the 1950s, less than a decade after WWII ended, less than a decade after most of the Japanese internment camps closed. There was still a lot of suspicion. Pearl Harbor was still a fresh memory for many people. Never mind that a lot of the Japanese were US citizens at the time and had been living in the US for several generations. It was only during Reagan's time that any kind of apology was issued (might be the only thing Reagan ever did that I approved of). All surviving Japanese were given $20k in reparations. In today's value, that would be roughly $60k. It wasn't enough to make up for all the racism/xenophobia Japanese (and let's face - anyone looking Japanese) were subjected to, but it was something. But in the 50s and for many years afterward, while WWII veterans who had fought the Japanese were still alive to remember their wartime traumas, we were still considered a barbaric culture that were not to be trusted. And this is the setting we find ourselves in this book.

The internments were a terrible blight on modern US history. People were rounded up and forced to leave behind all their assets, without being able to say goodbye to anyone, often being separated from family members, without being given much information about what will happen to them, forced into camps that were not built for survival, manned by cruel soldiers, barely feeding families, and without much healthcare. Some people weren't even Japanese - they were rounded up because they looked Japanese. (Sounds like a version of what the Nazis were doing with the Jewish people, what the Patriot Act did to Brown men and Guantanamo Bay after 9/11, and what we are doing today with ICE raids, no?) As an act of self-protection, many even volunteered to fight for the US in the war. Of course they weren't thanked or welcomed in the war fields or back home when they came back, be it alive, maimed, or dead. When the remaining people were released from camps, they found they had no homes to go back to, no businesses run again or jobs to take back, no lives to resume. Most of their assets had been stolen, looted, sold, damaged, and many of their bank accounts were never unfrozen. On top of their ruinations, on top of being sapped of any resources and having to start from zero, they were hated upon from all directions. And this is the backdrop of this book. I don't know how many people who've read this book realized the dire circumstances Japanese were in at the time.

So while I won't forgive them racism in this book, I can understand it. I can see why Kabuo and his wife felt hopeless. I can see why the judge felt conflicted. I can understand the jury wanting to interpret reasonable doubt in a very narrow way. I can understand Ishmael's personal struggle to weigh his own PTSD and depression against his unrequited love. I can empathize with the widow and the defense attorney trying to challenge the collective conscience of the jurors.

I feel like the book ended a bit hastily, but up until that point, it was definitely a story that felt realistic. I would've liked the author to have provided the background more explicitly, but I don't know what kind of research was done, whether any was done. I think it would have been a more compelling story if Guterson could've conveyed how what it was like for the Japanese and the communities they were living in back then. But given the resurgence of rash "law and order" in the name of "national security" between 9/11 raids and current ICE raids, I think this is an important story to keep telling and retelling.

This is an eloquent, meaningful book. Can't believe I waited so long to read it.

One day, you and your neighbour are pals. You lend one another your tools or indulge in cold beers. Your children share a school bus and play on the same ball team. The next day, your neighbour cannot be trusted. He is an enemy. Such was the result for millions of neighbours following a day that would live in infamy.

David Guterson's excellent novel begins with a looming murder trial, after a Caucasion fisherman is found dead at sea. The reader is then taken back into the dead man's past, the accused man's past, America's pained past. Snow Falling On Cedars, set in the Puget Sound area, is beautifully written. Both the portrayal of America during its era of Japanese interment and the suspense of Kabuo Myamoto's murder trial fascinate and repel.

I'm shocked that this title has received harsh, low reviews. It is a great read.

4.5 stars, due to a slightly less climactic finish than expected.