|
|
|
|
||
|
HELP | |
|
  $5.95 List price:
Used Hardcover
Ships in 1 to 3 days
The Snow Fox: A Novelby Susan Fromberg Schaeffer
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:A great samurai and a beautiful poet fall in love in a novel that captures medieval Japan in breathtaking detail.
One thousand years ago, chaos loosed itself upon Japan, upending an era in which the arts flourished. At the dawn of 250 years of civil war, in the opulent court of Lord Norimasa, the beautiful but cruel poet Lady Utsu wages war with men's hearts and holds the fearsome lord and his devoted samurai Matsuhito in her thrall. As the two men raze Japan's landscape in futile battles for unity, Utsu falls for Matsuhito even as Lord Norimasa continues to love her. The epic romance of Utsu and Matsuhito resumes itself decades later, when they meet as vagrants so transformed by time that they no longer recognize each other; they are reunited through their mystical connection to a pair of snow foxes that are their only company in the Japanese wilderness. The heartbreaking story of their renewed love is fraught by the Japanese concept of mono no aware — life's ephemeral nature — that weighs on the lovers Review:"Susan Fromberg Schaeffer is, was, and always will be a wonderful writer." Alice Hoffman, best-selling author of Practical Magic and Here on Earth Review:"The story is permeated with cultural details, from palace etiquette to the customs of childbirth....In the end...the novel achieves a cumulative, transporting magic." Publishers Weekly Review:"[A] spare, subtle, moving love story....Schaeffer's tale...is first and foremost a work of imagination; look to it for traditional literary pleasures rather than for an accurate portrait of feudal Japan." Elizabeth Ward, The Washington Post Book World Review:"Schaeffer tells her story in epic style, as if it were being related by a chronicler contemporary with the events described....The novel's language is slightly stilted and portentous, like a translation of an ancient text." Lesley Downer, The New York Times Book Review Review:"The slow pacing and sometimes portentous dialogue will cause some readers to make a quick exit; others, however, will be swept up in Schaeffer's passionate evocation of the war between the sexes." Joanne Wilkinson, Booklist Review:"[C]arefully researched if rather ho-hum....Meandering and unfocused, written with a labored simplicity that will remind many of another well-meaning Western chronicler of the mysterious East: Pearl Buck." Kirkus Reviews Review:"Like Cold Mountain, The Snow Fox is a rich mixture of love story, battle saga and odyssey, and like Charles Frazier, Schaeffer aims to steep her readers in the rhythms and mentality of a lost way of life....The story sounds extravagant, almost lurid, like that of a fat, cheap paperback, but Schaeffer handles it with the restraint and delicacy of the venerable Japanese writings The Snow Fox so eerily echoes....Suddenly you realize that while the pageantry, intrigue and adventure of The Snow Fox has unfolded, Schaeffer has been carefully building this man and woman into fully realized people." Laura Miller, Salon.com Synopsis:Is one's fate created by the people one is lucky or unlucky enough to love? The Snow Fox raises this question as it brings to life three people who existed almost one thousand years ago in Japan. About the AuthorSusan Fromberg Schaeffer's previous novels include Anya, Buffalo Afternoon, and The Madness of a Seduced Woman. She lives in Chicago and in Vermont and teaches at the University of Chicago. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
Other books you might like
Related Aisles
| ||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
Don't Miss
