I review a book I was convinced I had already read, Snow Falling on Cedars
Snow Falling – the blurb
In 1954 a fisherman is found dead in the nets of his boat, and a local Japanese-American man is charged with his murder. In the course of his trial, it becomes clear that what is at stake is more than one man’s guilt. For on San Piedro, memories grow as thickly as cedar trees and the fields of ripe strawberries – memories of a charmed love affair between a white boy and a Japanese girl; memories of land desired, paid for, and lost. Above all, San Piedro is haunted by the memory of what happened to its Japanese residents during World War II, when an entire community was sent into exile while its neighbours watched.
Sounds familiar
Yep, I was convinced I had already read this book when passed it by a family member. I flipped to the blurb and thought ‘hmm maybe I don’t remember it quite as well as I thought’. I proceeded to read the first few chapters and realised I hadn’t read any of it before. That being decided I, like the residents of San Piedro during the snow storm, settled down for the night. Well the next couple of days, it is 400 pages long after all.
A classic whodunnit?
The book is billed as a whodunnit. And it is. Yet it’s so much more. Don’t be expecting pace, it’s not a thriller. Instead it ambles it’s way along and is told mostly in flashbacks, from childhood, the war and the events leading up to Carl Heine’s death. I particularly liked the sections where Gutterson would deviate and focus in on the small details – the Strawberry Festival, the newspaper headlines, the buying of supplies for the snow storm. Whilst not necessarily moving the story forward valuable insights in to island life and the minds of it’s residents were gained during these rambles and I adored them.
Enemy number one
Gutterson expertly illustrates the racial tensions on the small Pacific Island ten years after World War Two. The island had a flourishing Japanese community which all changed following Pearl Harbour. I hadn’t realised until reading Snow Falling what happened to the Japanese-American population during the war. Gathered up and placed into internment camps at times the parallels between the Nazi’s and their treatment of the Jews were stark. With one islander even accusing the ancient Japanese strawberry farms of ‘being planted in rows pointing straight toward the radio transmitter thus guiding Jap Zeroes straight to their target’.
What confused me was the fact the murder victim was of Germanic heritage. Yet never once was the racism directed towards him or his family. Yes it was the Japanese who bombed Pearl Harbour yet Germany was at war too and killed many Americans. It would have been interesting if Gutterson had written a book based in say, Scandinavia and it was a German man who murdered a Japanese fisherman. Would the tables have been turned? Are Europeans biased one way and America the other?
Don’t walk on by
There was perhaps a little too much sex (a bizarre comment about a book like this I know). Whilst I could appreciate Carl and Ishmael’s personal life being looked into, the defence attorney’s erection ‘withering in his hand’ was a detail I just didn’t need to know. I did however love the insight into the treatment of the Japanese-Americans and the ripple effects of Pearl Harbour some ten years later. If you’re interested in reading more about Japan’s involvement in World War Two I strongly recommend The Second World War by Antony Beevor, brilliant at filling in any gaps your history knowledge may have.
I so nearly didn’t read Snow Falling. Yet it’s a prime case of proving you should never pass on a book just because it’s not currently riding high in the top ten best sellers list. Give those aging books on your to be read pile a read, otherwise you could miss some absolute crackers.
