Summary and Reviews of Snow Falling On Cedars by David Guterson

Media Reviews

Los Angeles Times Haunting.... A whodunit complete with courtroom maneuvering and surprising turns of evidence and at the same time a mystery, something altogether richer and deeper.

Time - Pico Iyer Luminous...a beautifully assured and full-bodied novel [that] becomes a tender examination of fairness and forgiveness...Guterson has fashioned something haunting and true.

The New York Times Book Review Compelling...heartstopping. Finely wrought, flawlessly written.

Booklist Guterson's first novel is compellingly suspenseful on each of its several levels.

Kirkus Reviews As a thick snowstorm whirls outside the courtroom, the story is unburied. The same incidents are recounted a number of times, with each telling revealing new facts. In the end, justice and morality are proven to be intimately woven with beauty--the kind of awe and wonder that children feel for the world. But Guterson communicates these truths through detail, not philosophical argument: Readers will come away with a surprising store of knowledge regarding gill-netting boats and other specifics of life in the Pacific Northwest. Packed with lovely moments and as compact as haiku--at the same time, a page-turner full of twists.