Book Review: Snow Falling on Cedars

A little story, nice quaint lore
A little ditty, nothing more
The stage though, was, for satire set
But such a treatment never met

Book: Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson

**** (out of five stars)

I hope that someone out there is proud of me that I finished one book during the school year (never mind that I started mid August), but anyways, this was it, and I chose it because of the movie. Which I have never seen...but I thought the book might be interesting.

So the gist of the novel is that there's this San Pedro island community off the coast of Seattle, where there are two distinct communities: the Japanese, and the WASPs. The setting is about ten years post-WWII so obviously, there are some ethnic divisions within this town, despite the fact that the Japanese families have been around since before the turn of the century.

One of the Japanese men in the community is charged with first degree murder of one of the white men, and the story follows the trial. It's an interesting look into the dynamics of a mixed culture society, and how war changes everything. However, I was a little disappointed because while Guterson seems to hint at the racial divisions, he focuses more on the story of the trial and less on the implications of these divisions, which is really a shame, because his book could have said a lot more about what it means to be "american," regardless of ethnicity or place of origin.

It was interesting to me, too, as a Canadian-born Chinese, to see the interplay between the draw of the "motherland" and the "homeland." The accused was an American born, son of Japanese born parents. Sometimes, for me, it feels as if Canada thinks I'm too Chinese to fit in perfectly, but the flip side of this is that for most Chinese, I'm what they'd call "white-washed." This is not a pretty term, because of the implications of desertion, ignorance, and a sense of homelessness that it brings along with it. But when Canada is all I've ever known, but culturally, my manners and ethics reflect my Chinese heritage, how can I ever fit in perfectly with either of these two groups? And this begs the question then: which is the "homeland?"

So I am insulted when either group pokes fun at my ethnicity, because neither group truly understands what it means to be Chinese Canadian, in equal parts of each. CBCs have become a displaced group, belonging to neither set, and always confused as to where our allegiance should lie. And so, naturally, we take the best of both worlds, and are criticized for it.

It was for this reason that the book got four stars. The writing was okay, and the story didn't really go anywhere, but I connected with the characters because of my own situation. And to me, that's what makes a good book: one that serves as a springboard for larger, more personal issues. Go Guterson.