Snow Falling on Cedars

David Guterson’s novel Snow Falling on Cedars centers around a murder trial in 1954 on a small fishing island off the Washington coast. The defendant is Japanese while the victim is Caucasian, providing a significant racial angle so soon after WW II, in which many Americans fought, the Japanese were sent to internment camps, and the defendant did both. Guterson describes personalities and histories of several people in detail, and does an excellent job of conjuring the small-town world they live in. Though the author’s craftsmanship in writing and evocative images were impressive, I often found myself glancing ahead to see how much further each chapter continued. It was a decent read, though someoneone with a literary mindset would appreciate it a lot more than I did.