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katiesmize's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
Cozy winter Scandinavian Alaskan fairy tale adventure romance with heartache feels. So beautiful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Grief, and Death of parent
machenn's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Infertility, and Grief
Minor: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Alcohol
mshaniuk's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Lovely, sad, a perfect book for the middle of winter. Infertility and loss are big themes. But I didn’t find it excessively depressing. The land was like a character itself.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, and Pregnancy
szuum's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
lyndz_reads's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Child death, and Death
dancersweetp's review against another edition
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
This book was our January book club pick and was a pretty easy read, although I would consider it on the slow side of medium pace. I finished in 3 days. It was not an amazing book but I thought it was good. I loved her descriptions and quite enjoyed the writing style. I thought it was the perfect book to read during a spate of snow days and while it was extra cold in our area. I enjoyed the story and the characters were very real and relatable, while also being likable. Parts were hard to read due to my own struggles with infertility and pregnancy loss but manageable. Would recommend, especially during a cold winter; this story is a good one to curl up with in front of a fire with a hot beverage.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, and Infertility
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Pregnancy
sleepylilpanda's review against another edition
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Child death
megwilli's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, and Grief
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Suicide attempt
nikipbg's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The Snow Child is about a middle-aged man and woman, Jack and Mabel, who leave the comfort of their familiar life and withdraw to Alaska after losing a child. The loss has taken a toll on their marriage, they’re struggling to establish their new homestead, and Mable is considering suicide.
In a moment of uncharacteristic playfulness one night, Jack and Mable make a snowman outside their cabin. In the morning, it’s gone-- but they suddenly catch a glimpse of a young girl at the edge of the woods near their house, wearing the same scarf and mittens the snowman had been decorated with.
Jack and Mabel start seeing the girl more and more often, and they become obsessed with looking for and learning about her. It’s not clear to them—or to the reader-- whether the girl is real and feral, living alone in the Alaskan wilderness, or a figment of their imagination, or a snow child, stepped from a fairy tale. Around this time, they also make friends with a local family who help them establish their fields and crops. As the friendship grows between the two families, and as Jack and Mabel increase their contact with the mysterious girl, their circumstances improve: Crops come in, the marriage rekindles, and there is joy and purpose in their lives again.
One thing the book does well is that it keeps the reader guessing whether the “snow child” is real or supernatural. Is she a rugged native girl with keen survival skills, or a magical sprite made entirely from the winter elements? I also liked the fairy tale structure of the story: A poor, grief-stricken, couple is struggling to survive in the wilderness with meager resources, facing tragedy and hardship, until a mysterious figure inexplicably appears one day and their luck begins to turn.
While some people have described this book as “sweet” and “uplifting,” I couldn’t disagree more. It was certainly beautiful, even magical, at times—but if fairy tales are supposed to have morals, the moral of The Snow Child seemed to land somewhere between: “You’re going to destroy the thing you claim to love, by trying to control it” and “Outsiders showing up to impose their “civilized” way of life on others don’t always know best.” I personally saw the message as ominous and the ending as a tragedy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Minor: Child death
queensboro's review against another edition
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy