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Snow Falling On Cedars review
Dec. 31st, 2010 01:05 pmDavid Guterson's Snow Falling On Cedars was yet another random BookMooch acquisition - and another book that was entirely different to what I expected when I picked it up. It's basically about attitudes to Japanese people living in America during and after the Second World War, but its lengthy flashback sequences are framed by a courtroom drama device that rather jars with the tone of the rest of the book. I really enjoyed the gradually revealed and multi-layered story of the San Piedro islanders throughout the 40s and 50s, but could have done without the actual murder trial sections. The way both lawyers questioned their witnesses was incredibly annoying, and the relation of all the testimony made certain parts of the book very repetitive, with different people describing the same things over and over again with little variation by point of view.
Still, the courtroom bits were relatively few and far between, and the flashback sections were beautifully written and evoked, so mostly a good book, which kept me guessing as to the ultimate conclusion until the very last pages.
Still, the courtroom bits were relatively few and far between, and the flashback sections were beautifully written and evoked, so mostly a good book, which kept me guessing as to the ultimate conclusion until the very last pages.
