The Snow Child: A Novel
Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart -- he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone -- but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees.
This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.
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Story: There are many synopses on GR as well as on the book itself, so I won't repeat the premise of the book, but comment on the story itself. I found it compelling. I wanted to find out what happened next. I am not a fan of fantasy, so I found that part frustrating - especially since the story hints at it, but is it myth and magic? Or is it real? The disappointment comes when you contemplate the whole of the book and say, "what was the point?" In the end, there is nothing special or different about this story, yet there is an expectation that it should be.
Writing: The book starts out strong with unique descriptions that make you feel the beauty and ferocity of the landscape. The scene of the sad, lonely, and desperate couple is set with subtle thoughts and actions. However, once the new character is introduced, I felt that the language relied on telling more than describing.
Characters: I felt that the characters were well presented, believable, and the main characters had enough backstory to understand their motivations. They were presented consistently throughout the book. Of course, I am not including Faina, whose character was meant to be unbelievable.
Learning: Hmm, I always learn something new - especially when reading about a different state and/or landscape. And I had not heard of the snow child myth/fable, so I learned about that, but this book is not meant to be educating.
Ending: The actual end of the book is in an epilogue, and it is sweet and leaves the reader with a feeling of "happily ever after", but the real end of the story is in the last chapter, and I hated it.
Entertainment: I finished it. I just didn't enjoy it very much.
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