Overall Rating and Opinion of "The Snow Child"
- Heather
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Re: Overall Rating and Opinion of "The Snow Child"
So, when I finished and closed the book, I looked at my husband and said, "Well, she wasn't a ghost." He asked what she was. My answer -- a fairy tale.
- Moribund
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I really appreciate this observation. If I don't interject as much realism to the story and read it as a fairytale it really starts to come alive in a different way. In this way then we are really dealing with a retelling of the same Russian fairytale that Mabel has in her hands. "A story in a story". Cool.hnardi8 wrote:
So, when I finished and closed the book, I looked at my husband and said, "Well, she wasn't a ghost." He asked what she was. My answer -- a fairy tale.
- Heather
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Exactly! I don't think you can enjoy this if you expect it to follow the rules of real life. Yet, at the same time, it seems to be a more detailed, real-life telling of the Russian fairy tale. The more I think about and discuss this story this story, the more I like it.Moribund wrote:I really appreciate this observation. If I don't interject as much realism to the story and read it as a fairytale it really starts to come alive in a different way. In this way then we are really dealing with a retelling of the same Russian fairytale that Mabel has in her hands. "A story in a story". Cool.
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Agree - it's a fairy tale not a detective story & IMO when you read it with that in mind it is a beautiful story and it pulls you in wanting to know who the snow child is & where does she go when the snow melts and spring arrives?hnardi8 wrote:So, when I finished and closed the book, I looked at my husband and said, "Well, she wasn't a ghost." He asked what she was. My answer -- a fairy tale.
It reminded me of all the fairy tales I read as a child and the urge to keep reading to find out what's going to happen next.
A world is born again that never dies.
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- Heather
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For awhile I wondered if she was winter itself, and that's why she had to disappear when winter left.Fran wrote:Agree - it's a fairy tale not a detective story & IMO when you read it with that in mind it is a beautiful story and it pulls you in wanting to know who the snow child is & where does she go when the snow melts and spring arrives?
It reminded me of all the fairy tales I read as a child and the urge to keep reading to find out what's going to happen next.
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My feelings exactly. The Snow Child is a beautiful story. I was so engrossed in it, I couldn't put it down. I enjoyed the magic of Faina. There were some lessons I even picked up from it to use in life. It is definitely a must read for everyone.Valrose wrote:I can't decide which aspect of the novel the Snow Child I like best. The beautiful language and images of Alaska, the magical fairy tale that unfolds, the believable characters, the factual historical setting, or the questions raised about relationships and how to best deal with pain and sorrow. Fantastic novel.
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Great book for anyone. (I think the highest ratings will come from females since it was a female author.)
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Sometimes when you read a book, you have to put it down for a second because the voice in your head, shouting, "No one would react like that!", is just too loud. That never happened with this novel. The characters were utterly believable, their emotions were real - to them and to me, and the way they interacted was entirely realistic. They never really seemed created to me.
However, if there was one draw back to this novel, it probably lies in the end. In a sort of 'Hunger Games'/'Harry Potter' was that's really popular, the reader's given this little extract just to prove that everything is good in the world. All the strings are tied up or whatever the phrase is and all the characters are content - if not happy. The childless couple now have a pseudo grandchild who calls them 'papa' and 'maime' and Garret stares at the wolverine he had hunted, that had him to Faine, but doesn't kill it. It's all very neat and you get the impression that we're supposed to be content with the lack of resolution over Faine, the mismatch of her tragic, but entirely human past and these hints of strange fairytale powers.
But lets end this on a good note. I would recommend this book to a lot of people. One of the features that stuck out at me was the mirroring used: the lake walked and then skated on, the scarf put on the snowgirl and pulled off the woman, the snow constantly used to mirror and remake past events. It was amazing to see these familiar symbols winding through the book. And this harks back to Ivey's focus on nature. The description of the bubbles and cracks in the ice as Mabel walked over the lake still stick with me, even though they skate over that lake happily later in the book.
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