Snow Falling on Cedars is a novel I recently finished. It was a book I chose to read because Ms. Bandman strongly recommended it and because I needed to read a Historical Fiction novel. Ms. Bandman said that the tenth graders used to read it as one of their class books and that it is a very good story. I was actually surprised at how interesting it ended up becoming. It was intricately weaved with several different characters' points of view. The author effortlessly shifted from character to character making the book very interesting. The plot was also very interesting and educating. It really gave me insight on how the Japanese-Americans were treated during World War II and how their life was so dramatically affected. Within this novel, the Japanese living on this Island off the coast of Washington were given a little more than a week to completely pack up the essentials and leave. They didn't know exactly where they'd be going, what they're life would be like after they got "there", and if they'd be able to return to their homes. If someone came into my house and gave me 10 days to completely pack up, I couldn't do it. It's unthinkable. How can the government just lock everyone up into camps because of their race? Another thing that really bothered me was that the whole book was centered around this grand trial for a murder. And the reason that Japanese people took such a big role in the book is that the man accused of the murder of a well-known German fisher man, Carl Heine, is a fellow fisherman Kabuo Miyamoto who happens to be Japanese. Not only that, Carl's father and Kabuo's father were landlord and tenant respectively. Carl's father leased 7 acres of his land to Kabu's father many many years ago with a set payment plan. Kabuo's father missed the last payments when he was forced to go relocate to the camp and Carl's father died shortly after so Carl's mother sold the farm from under the Miyamotos. Kabuo returned to the island after fighting in World War II and he tried to get his family's land back but was denied. So, the belief of the island was that his bitter hatred towards the Heine family prompted him to kill Carl. This of course, was not true, but his race and the bitterness of the town towards Japanese people made Kabuo's life so much more difficult and I felt bad for him--I really did. Another part of the book I really liked was that there was this other character who took a very big role in the text--his name is Ishmael Chambers. He is the editor/owner/main writer for the Island's paper and he has an interesting past that really gives him an edge that I really liked. He fought in the war, lost an arm, and had a love affair with one of the other characters when he was younger that really made the novel have an interesting twist to it.
Overall...it is a great read. The length is a little scary, but honestly...I loved it.
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