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Home > Categories > Books > Fiction > The Snow Queen review
Michael Cunningham's luminous novel begins with a vision. It's November 2004. Barrett Meeks, having lost love yet again, is walking through Central Park when he is inspired to look up at the sky; there he sees a pale, translucent light that seems to regard him in a distinctly godlike way. Barrett doesn't believe in visions - or in God - but he can't deny what he's seen.
At the same time, in the not-quite-gentrified Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, Tyler, Barrett's older brother, a struggling musician, is trying - and failing - to write a wedding song for Beth, his wife-to-be, who is seriously ill. Tyler is determined to write a song that will be not merely a sentimental ballad but an enduring expression of love.
Barrett, haunted by the light, turns unexpectedly to religion. Tyler grows increasingly convinced that only drugs can release his creative powers. Beth tries to face mortality with as much courage as she can summon.
Cunningham follows the Meeks brothers as each travels down a different path in his search for transcendence. In subtle, lucid prose, he demonstrates a profound empathy for his conflicted characters and a singular understanding of what lies at the core of the human soul.
The Snow Queen, beautiful and heartbreaking, comic and tragic, proves again that Cunningham is one of the great novelists of his generation.
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Review by: shellcruise (Shelley)
Dated: 26th of July, 2014
This is one of those books that doesn't really go anywhere and no great point to it. It starts of with Barrett seeing a bright light and for the whole book he is rather fixated on it and he believes it represents a miracle. It is the reoccurring plot element but just doesn't do anything for the story.
The writing actually really annoys me. The writer starts to make a point and then starts waffling on about nothing at all, you can read pages of absolute dribble which has nothing to do with here nor there and ads nothing to the story and then when he eventually gets back to point you have completely forgotten what you were actually reading about.
The chapters can be 3 pages or 10 pages long but then in the second section it goes for 61 pages and then it returns to its normal 8 pages or so long. The words are very small and I felt like I was reading for 10 minutes before I got to turn the page.
Basically two brothers live together and ones partner is dying of cancer. The end. I enjoyed aspects of it but I found it just didn't stick to the plot very well. It finished in a position where I guess its up to you as to what happens. To be honest didn't care one way or another. If you like like winded explanations that you could possibly enjoy this, but if you like fast faced, needs to be a reason for why I am wasting my time reading this then I would not bother.
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This book is a reissue of the original edition, first published in 2007. Illustrations are by Trevor Pye.
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