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Interviews | October 6, 2009

Jill Owens: IMG The Powells.com Interview with Margaret Atwood



margaretatwoodIn her 2003 novel Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood describes a future after humanity had been almost entirely wiped out by a plague. Jimmy, aka Snowman, lives... Continue »
  1. $18.86 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

    The Year of the Flood

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6 Burnside Pacific Northwest- Literature Folklore and Memoirs

Other titles in the Vintage Contemporaries series:

  1. A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You: Stories
  2. A Brief History of the Flood
  3. A Closed Eye
  4. A Cure for Dreams
  5. A Far Country
  6. A Handbook to Luck
  7. A Lesson Before Dying
  8. A Movie...and a Book
  9. A Piece of My Heart
  10. A Special Providence
  11. A Stranger in This World: Stories
  12. A Thing (or Two) about Curtis and Camilla
  13. Abandon
  14. All I Could Get
  15. American Psycho
  16. Anagrams
  17. Angel Rock
  18. Another Green World
  19. Asa, as I Knew Him
  20. Ash Wednesday
  21. Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse
  22. Babylon and Other Stories
  23. Babylon Rolling
  24. Back in the World: Stories
  25. Bad Behavior
  26. Bailey's Cafe
  27. Bicycle Days
  28. Big Bad Love: Stories
  29. Black Tickets ((Rev)79 Edition)
  30. Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had to
  31. Breaking and entering
  32. Bridge of Sighs
  33. Brief Lives
  34. Bright Lights, Big City
  35. Brightness Falls
  36. Brother, I'm Dying
  37. Buffalo Soldiers
  38. Burning House
  39. Casa En Mango Street (House on Mango Street)
  40. Cathedral
  41. Catherine Carmier
  42. Chasing Windmills
  43. Checkpoint
  44. Chilly Scenes of Winter
  45. Claire Marvel
  46. Company
  47. Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories
  48. Day
  49. Day of the Bees
  50. December
  51. Decreation: Poetry, Essays, Opera
  52. Delcorso's Gallery
  53. Dirty Work
  54. Distortions
  55. Dogwalker: Stories
  56. Dr. Haggard's Disease
  57. East of the Mountains
  58. East of the Mountains
  59. Edgewater Angels
  60. Edwin Mullhouse: The Life and Death of an American Writer, 1943-1954, by Jeffrey Cartwright: A Novel
  61. Empire Falls (HBO Tie-In)
  62. Enchanted Night
  63. Et Tu, Babe
  64. Evening
  65. Falling in Place (80 Edition)
  66. Father's Day
  67. Fidel's Last Days
  68. Fires: Essays, Poems, Stories
  69. Fireworks
  70. Five Gates of Hell
  71. Fraud
  72. Friend of My Youth
  73. Gallatin Canyon
  74. Ghost
  75. Glamorama
  76. God's Fool
  77. Goodnight, Nebraska
  78. Gorilla, My Love
  79. Great Neck
  80. Happy All the Time
  81. Henry of Atlantic City
  82. Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen
  83. Honeymoon: And Other Stories
  84. House of Sand and Fog
  85. How to Breathe Underwater: Stories
  86. In a Country of Mothers
  87. In Lucia's Eyes
  88. In My Father's House
  89. In the Cut
  90. In the Driver's Seat
  91. In the Fall
  92. In Times of Siege
  93. Indelible Acts
  94. Jack
  95. Jamesland
  96. Jernigan
  97. Keep the Change
  98. Kentucky Straight: Stories
  99. King Bongo: A Novel of Havana
  100. Krik? Krak!
  101. La Casa En Mango Street
  102. Lark and Termite
  103. Last of Menu Girls - With New Introduction ((Rev)04 Edition)
  104. Latecomers
  105. Leaving Home
  106. Lewis Percy
  107. Like Life: Stories
  108. Like You'd Understand, Anyway
  109. Little America
  110. Love Always
  111. Love Among the Ruins
  112. Love in the Present Tense
  113. Lunar Park
  114. Lust and Other Stories
  115. Lying Awake
  116. Mama Day
  117. Matrimony
  118. Meditations from a Movable Chair: Essays
  119. Meditations in Green
  120. Memoirs of a Geisha
  121. Mile Zero
  122. Monkeys
  123. Moons of Jupiter (82 Edition)
  124. Mortimer of the Maghreb: Stories
  125. Mozart and Leadbelly (05 Edition)
  126. My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist
  127. Netherland
  128. New England White
  129. Ninety-Two in the Shade
  130. Nobody's Angel
  131. Nothing But Blue Skies
  132. Nothing Lost
  133. Of Love and Dust
  134. Off Keck Road: A Novella
  135. Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All
  136. One To Count Cadence
  137. Our Lady of the Forest
  138. Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories
  139. Palace Council
  140. Panama (78 Edition)
  141. Paradise
  142. Park City: New and Selected Stories
  143. Particles and Luck
  144. Peace
  145. Philadelphia Fire
  146. Picturing Will
  147. Plainsong
  148. Players
  149. Preston Falls
  150. Prisoners of War
  151. Project X
  152. Providence
  153. Rabbit Boss
  154. Ransom
  155. Ratner's Star
  156. Reservation Road
  157. Reservation Road
  158. Revolutionary Road (Movie Tie-In Edition)
  159. Rocket City
  160. Salmonella Men on Planet Porno
  161. Sam the Cat: And Other Stories
  162. Samedi the Deafness
  163. SAP Rising
  164. Scooter
  165. Secrets and Surprises
  166. Selected Stories
  167. Self-Help
  168. Short Cuts: Selected Stories
  169. Short People
  170. So I Am Glad
  171. Songs without Words
  172. Spider
  173. St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves: Stories
  174. State of Grace
  175. Still Life with Husband
  176. Story of My Life
  177. Taking Care: Short Stories
  178. The Abomination
  179. The Abortionist's Daughter
  180. The Amalgamation Polka
  181. The Assassin's Song
  182. The Back Nine
  183. The Beggar Maid: Stories of Flo and Rose
  184. The Big Girls
  185. The Bird Is a Raven
  186. The Brief History of the Dead
  187. The Cadence of Grass
  188. The Cage Keeper: And Other Stories
  189. The Chosen Place, the Timeless People
  190. The Clearing
  191. The Clearing
  192. The Closed Circle
  193. The Commitments
  194. The Commoner
  195. The Communist's Daughter
  196. The Country Ahead of Us, The Country Behind: Stories
  197. The Dead Fish Museum: Stories
  198. The Dive from Clausen's Pier
  199. The Double Bind
  200. The Emperor of Ocean Park: A Novel
  201. The Emperor's Children
  202. The End of California
  203. The Fan Man
  204. The Favorite Game
  205. The Feast of Love
  206. The Feast of Love (Mti)
  207. The Gone-Away World
  208. The Good Life
  209. The Great Divorce
  210. The Grotesque
  211. The Half-Life of Happiness
  212. The House of Sleep
  213. The House on Mango Street
  214. The Hundred Brothers
  215. The Joy Luck Club
  216. The King in the Tree
  217. The King Is Dead
  218. The Last Good Kiss
  219. The Laughing Sutra
  220. The Lay of the Land
  221. The Legal Limit
  222. The Lost City
  223. The Lost Father
  224. The Mezzanine
  225. The Names
  226. The Other
  227. The Outside World
  228. The Practical Heart
  229. The Progress of Love
  230. The Queen's Gambit
  231. The Rain Before It Falls
  232. The Redneck Way of Knowledge
  233. The Revolution of Little Girls
  234. The Rotters' Club
  235. The Sabotage Cafe
  236. The Salt Eaters
  237. The Senator's Wife
  238. The Soul Thief
  239. The Sporting Club
  240. The Tattoo Artist
  241. The Theory of Light and Matter
  242. The Translation of Dr. Apelles: A Love Story
  243. The Ultimate Good Luck
  244. The Uses of Enchantment
  245. The Varieties of Romantic Experience
  246. The View from the Seventh Layer
  247. The Voyage
  248. The Way Through Doors
  249. The Whore's Child: And Other Stories
  250. The Willow Field
  251. The Winemaker's Daughter
  252. The Wrong Case
  253. Things That Fall from the Sky
  254. Through the Ivory Gate
  255. Tietam Brown
  256. To My Dearest Friends
  257. To Skin a Cat
  258. Traffic and Laughter: Ted Mooney
  259. Trans-Sister Radio
  260. Trauma
  261. Trespass (Vintage)
  262. Trouble: Stories
  263. Typical American
  264. Unaccustomed Earth
  265. Undiscovered Gyrl
  266. Veronica
  267. Visible Spirits
  268. Wetware
  269. What Was Mine: & Other Stories
  270. When the World Was Steady
  271. Where I'm Calling from: New and Selected Stories
  272. Whores on the Hill
  273. Wildlife
  274. Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?: Stories
  275. Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories: And Other Stories
  276. You Don't Love Me Yet
  277. Young Hearts Crying
  278. Zoology
  279. Zoot-Suit Murders

Snow Falling on Cedars

by David Guterson

Snow Falling on Cedars Cover

Awards

Winner of the 1995 PEN/Faulkner Award
American Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award
Pacific Northwest Bookseller Association Award

Synopses & Reviews

Review:

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

Review:

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

Review:

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

Review:

"[A] thoughtful, poetic first novel, a cleverly constructed courtroom drama with detailed, compelling characters....Packed with lovely moments and as compact as haiku — at the same time, a page-turner full of twists." Kirkus Reviews

Review:

"Guterson...is content to stretch out a flat, stereotypical description as far as possible....[L]uckily for Guterson many readers...are willing to buy into the scam that anything this dull must be Serious and therefore Fine and therefore Beautiful Writing....Beneath all the verbal rubble in Cedars is a good murder mystery crying out to be heard..." B.R. Myers, The Atlantic Monthly

Review:

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

Review:

"Guterson uses a rich scenario and cast of characters to explore issues much deeper than the usual. Like the snowfall that is it constant refrain, Snow Falling on Cedars builds up gradually, steadily, surrounding the reader with its magic." Newsday

Review:

"A powerful meditation on the nature of pride and prejudice and personal responsibility....Casts a deepening spell." Seattle Post Intelligencer

Review:

"Intriguing....Vividly written." San Francisco Chronicle

Review:

"The novel poetically evokes the beauty of the land while revealing the harshness of war, the nuances of our legal system, and the injustice done to those interned in U.S. relocation camps. Highly recommended." Library Journal

Review:

"Luminous....This is poetry masquerading as prose." People

Synopsis:

San Piedro Island, north of Puget Sound, is a place so isolated that no one who lives there can afford to make enemies. But in 1954 a local fisherman is found suspiciously drowned, and a Japanese American named Kabuo Miyamoto is charged with his murder. In the course of the ensuing trial, it becomes clear that what is at stake is more than a man's guilt. For on San Pedro, memory grows as thickly as cedar trees and the fields of ripe strawberries — memories of a charmed love affair between a white boy and the Japanese girl who grew up to become Kabuo's wife; memories of land desired, paid for, and lost. Above all, San Piedro is haunted by the memory of what happened to its Japanese residents during World War II, when an entire community was sent into exile while its neighbors watched. Gripping, tragic, and densely atmospheric, Snow Falling on Cedars is a masterpiece of suspense — one that leaves us shaken and changed.

Synopsis:

A phenomenal West Coast bestseller, winner of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and an Abby Award nominee, this enthralling novel is at once a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, the story of a doomed love affair, and a stirring meditation on place, prejudice, and justice.

About the Author

David Guterson is the author of a collection of short stories, The Country Ahead of Us, the Country Behind; Family Matters: Why Homeschooling Makes Sense; Snow Falling on Cedars, which won the 1995 PEN/Faulkner Award, the Pacific Northwest Bookseller Association Award, and was an international bestseller; and the national bestseller East of the Mountains.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
yourotherleft, January 17, 2009 (view all comments by yourotherleft)
Snow Falling on Cedars, set on a scenic island off Washington state known for its fishing and its strawberries, begins and ends with the trial of Kabuo Miyamoto who is charged with the murder of fellow islander and fisherman Carl Heine. As the testimony in the trial proceeds, we meet and become intimately acquainted with many members of the community of islanders which is divided between its white citizens and its significant population of Japanese-Americans. Taking place just after World War II, the novel deals with lingering prejudices from wartime when the island's Japanese Americans were "resettled" in California for the duration of the fighting and when even those white islanders who might have once been favorably disposed to their Japanese counterparts struggle to reconcile their post-war relationships with their Japanese neighbors after fighting the Japanese during the war.

Guterson takes on so much with this novel and does it beautifully. Starting at the center with the trial, Guterson works out throught the entire community exploring a forbidden affair, intense prejudice, war wounds of both the physical and emotional sort, hopes, dreams, struggles, and finally healing for a community that is coming to terms with itself. Guterson's narrative flows seamlessly between past and present between trial testimony and deeply personal memories. His prose is vivid and makes it totally possible to see, smell, and even taste the unique surroundings of San Piedro Island. The greatness of this book lies in the community that Guterson creates and his immense talent for perfectly capturing moments we might have some sense of but could never describe so deliciously.
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Dina, August 19, 2006 (view all comments by Dina)
This is a wonderful book--one of my favorites. The prose is lovely and takes you right into the setting of the book. The characters are compelling. This book is a love story and a courtroom mystery. Excellent.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780679764021
Author:
Guterson, David
Publisher:
Vintage Books USA
Location:
New York :
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
Washington (state)
Subject:
Legal
Subject:
Journalists
Subject:
Japanese Americans
Subject:
Trials
Subject:
Legal stories
Subject:
Washington
Subject:
Washington (State) Fiction.
Subject:
Trials (Murder)
Copyright:
Edition Description:
Paperback
Series:
Vintage Contemporaries
Series Volume:
week 8
Publication Date:
September 1995
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Pages:
480
Dimensions:
8.16x5.05x1.02 in. .77 lbs.

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