"There's no point in spending your life in the pursuit of something that's easy." - Alice Kuipers

Monday, April 22, 2013

Monday Book Review - The Snow Child

Welcome to Monday and this week's book recommendation. I'm excited to share this one with you. I read it in under twelve hours because I simply could not put it down. Yep, it's that good.

THE SNOW CHILD by Eowyn Ivey
 

To put it simply, THE SNOW CHILD is a fairy tale. A really, really well done fairy tale. It's the story of Mabel and Jack, who have moved to Alaska to make a fresh start and put their grief stricken past behind them. About to enter their second winter, the move doesn't seem to have worked and the two are more miserable than ever. That is, until a flight of whimsy causes them to build a snowman... or more precisely, a snow child...

I can't think of a more beautifully told fairy tale. Eowyn leaps effortlessly from character to character, telling the story from each character's perspective and giving a very rich voice to the story. The flow is perfect, the pacing so well done it seems like a sin to put the book down for even a moment. At the same time, she's made it so digestible, the story given in such perfect bite sized pieces that time flows by like water and suddenly you realize you've read half the book without ever thinking of stopping.

More than the expert story telling, it's whimsical, effervescent and just a tad bittersweet. It's a beautiful story, as mysterious as the snow and landscape within. This one is a definite must-read.

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