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While I would like to think I'm above average, I wouldn't classify myself as a very good writer of factual texts. However, I have wanted to review this book for a while, as it's risen to be one of my absolute favourite books, and when the Jaded - "signed book contest" was announced, I figured it was time. Hopefully you can enjoy parts of the review at least, and if you consider to pick this book up while reading, even just for a brief moment, my work is done.
So, for the review:
“When you think of the future, you never know what it
holds. You cannot possibly foresee what is waiting for you around the next
turn. Anything can happen; next week, tomorrow, in five minutes…
But
when you think of that one word, regardless of what it holds, you know that you
have one.
So
why is it then that sometimes the ground is just swiped away from underneath
you, causing you to lose your grip on life? How can something you have no
control over just reach into your life and snatch your future away from you?
Who knows.
But it happens”
(Olsen,
Caroline: Snow pg. 3 line 1-12)
Thus starts the
novel Snow, written by Norwegian self-published author Caroline Olsen, and after
reading this far, I assumed the book would be a real tearjerker. It does sounds that way, and to a degree, it’s the truth, but there is much more to it
than just tears. This book has more than a sad story to offer, and it didn’t
take me long to realize that.
In a way, Snow
was destined to be different just because of its heritage. Written by a
Norwegian writer, in English, about Japanese teenagers, it already sounds like
a bit of an oddity. And different it is, in the best way imaginable. Not far
into the book, there was one thing that struck me hard and set this book
noticeably apart from all but the peak of the novel-mountain I’ve read hitherto
in my short life. The characters.
Now, if there is
one thing I’ll complain about with almost all books I’ve ever had the chance to
read, it would be the characters. While books may have interesting characters,
I’ve almost never felt close to one. On rare occasions, the
character, rather, the narrator, of a book narrated through first-person
perspective, have managed to get my complete sympathies, make my eyes mist red
or have me want to step into the book to just hug him/her. But this is rare.
With Snow, however, it was different. Though narrated in third-person, the main characters felt very “of-this-world”-to me. I almost
believed I’d bump into any one of them on the street any day.
I do not know
exactly what it is that makes the characterization of the characters in Snow so
good. I fail to pinpoint it. My theory, however, is that those characters, and
their brilliant vitality, is a positive side effect of Olsen knowing her characters far too well. Most times, when I read a book, I get the feeling the
authors were focusing on the plot, with the exception of most stories narrated
by an “I”. When the plot is in focus, the story writes the characters. Snow,
however, strikes me as a book that is all about, and only about, the
characters. The characters write the story. And for that to work, the
characters need to be strong and well made. They need to have good sides, bad
sides, ups and downs, hope and despair. This is something I feel the characters
of Snow all have. When I finished the book, I wasn’t left with some made-up
persons I remembered the name of. I was left with friends, who will stay in my
heart forever. I take my hat off for Olsen, for making that happen.
Maaya ruffled his friend’s messy hair. “You’re just
jealous!”
“Of what?” Atsushi asked him, gasping in a very
excessive manner.
“My fantabulous planning skills!” Maaya exclaimed,
beaming.
Atsushi burst out laughing.
“Fantabulous?” he shrieked. “What kind of word is
that?!”
Maaya smiled. “A fantabulous one”
(Olsen,
Caroline: Snow pg. 27 line 24-30)
To sum the book
up, it’s all about a boy named Maaya. As an artistic soul and a true
ideologist, he’s fairly calm when he at 16 realizes he’s gay, and from there,
you follow him through love, break-ups and prejudice. As you hear, the plot
itself is pretty normal. You’ve probably all read something like it before.
However, without this sort of simple plot, I don’t think the book would have
worked at all. There is something I’ve been saying to myself for many years
now; a motto of sorts, which marks my path when I myself write. “When the
characters write their own story, the plot cannot be too bold or extraordinary.
Should the plot decide to stand out, it would slowly take the throne from the
characters, while the characters would still be fighting for their place. In
this case, the story would lose its focus, and with it, its grip on the
reader.” I believe this to be the truth. After all, a story thrives by its
ability to keep the reader’s attention. Should it be unclear which drives which
of the story and the characters, where would you, as a reader, place your
attention? The story? The characters? Or maybe you would rather pick up a
different book? I know I am of the latter type. Therefore, as Snow is a
character-driven story, it is crucial for me that the story be generic. After
all, that is what, to me, makes it excellent.
The themes of
the book are also a strong side. Naturally, due to the plot, you have the theme
of homophobia and prejudice, but it also deals with drunken parents and
troubled childhoods. While all quite strong themes, they’re handled in a very
tasteful and rather peculiar way. Instead of letting them dominate the
storyline, they’re just standing there on the sideline. The themes can be seen
in the characters, and the characters can be seen in light of the themes, but
that’s also almost all there is to it. A cynical and seemingly apathetic nature
may well be linked to that character’s troubles at home. An upbeat and
pacifistic nature can have a connection with that character’s “above
average-awesome” parents. And while the homophobia and prejudice plays a part,
and when all comes to all, a pretty important part at that, it does not
overshadow the characters, nor does it become preaching. It is simply there,
helping the story along and giving room for reflection.
But then of
course, you also have all the sweet themes. Friendship, love, and fights for
equality all play important parts in the story. As a matter of fact, the
friendship and love may be exactly what drives the characterization and makes
the characters so extremely real. Without the love, certain characters may well
have had nothing to live for. Without the friendship, certain characters
may well have been much less upbeat and much less positive than they are. And
in the end, the friendship and love is what binds the characters together and shapes them into who they
are, and for that, those themes deserve creds.
Now, I have one
little pet peeve with this book; the language. Or rather, the grammar, the
punctuation, and at some points the sentence structure. Olsen’s vocabulary is good;
the book is very easy to read, while keeping up some linguistic wisecracks, as
seen in the quote four paragraphs ago. The writing style itself, while far from Salinger- or Nabokov-quality, is above average, and it works. However, some grammatical errors,
punctuation errors and a very few nonsensical sentences do to a certain degree
disturb the reading experience. While I do not know exactly which pages to find
them at at this point, I do notice it, and it does disturb me when a “have”
have replaced a “has”, a dot is replaced by a comma, or at worst, nothing at
all, and two sentences that should not be one have apparently been fused
together, whether it’s due to a glitch or an undiscovered mistake. However, it
does not ruin the book at all for me. I know I am above average grammar-nazi,
and I’m always told to calm down when errors like these make me see red, but
the characters carries the book above all that.
Therefore, even
if you’re bugged by linguistic mistakes, I still recommend you to pick this
book up, because the good elements of it wash the bad elements away. All in
all, it’s a well-done piece of literature; it provides laughs, it provides
tears, and when the inevitable happens, it can fairly break your heart. But in
the end, that is also all right. After all, without sadness, you wouldn’t have
happiness, and it takes some heart-breaking moments to truly appreciate the
amounts of joie the vivre contained within the front and the back of this cover.
(Art by Lanny Suhandy)
er stuff; I've joined one too many swaps on DenOfAngels, and we're also now straight in the middle of our exam period. Meaning, most of my time is being spent sewing, or studying. And of course, the mandatory reading of novels and graphic novels. Mostly graphic novels. An alarming amount of them actually, but what the heck, it's fun. I've also been reading quite a couple of *graphic* novels, but that's an entirely different story.