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A review by jenbsbooks
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
5.0
I'd heard a lot of good things about this ... I felt like I needed to experience it during the cold months (Dec/Jan/Feb). I'm not really sure what "shelves" to put this on ... was there paranormal, was this a fairy tale reimagining? Magical realism? Historical? I'm not really remembering the story of [book:Where the Forest Meets the Stars|40545956] but recall a similar feeling ... a "what was actually happening here?" type of thing (also dealing with a mysterious child).
This captured my attention right away and kept it. I really didn't know where things would end up. The whole thing had a sense of "magical realism" ... realistic except for that touch of the mysterious. Is the child real? Is she a 'snow child' ... hints of "Frosty the Snowman" in some of the fairytale endings possibilities. Then things happen to make you (the reader) question that ...
The writing was lovely. The characters were complex, not perfect, but ones you learned to love.
I'd purchased the audio during an Audible sale, as it's exclusive there. I ended up buying the kindle copy too (just $2) as while the library had the ebook, kindle format wasn't offered ... and I'm a kindle snob. I feel like this might be one that I re-read, or just want to have in my library, and while I listened to the audio (very well done) I saw that the text copy had some "missing quotations" around the Faina's speech, and sometimes that's just something I need to see to get the feel (didn't really pick up on that in the audio. Same in [book:The Road|6288] and others. It was very interesting and added to the mystery. The kindle/text copy also had some additional information and bookclub questions, which I always appreciate).
Third person - we are in the heads of Mabel mostly, but also Jack, and then a little from Garrett. Past tense - divided into three "parts" and an epilogue. Just simple chronological chapters, no headers, some chapters divided further with a simple *
No profanity. Some slight sexual content. Some animal violence.
This captured my attention right away and kept it. I really didn't know where things would end up. The whole thing had a sense of "magical realism" ... realistic except for that touch of the mysterious. Is the child real? Is she a 'snow child' ... hints of "Frosty the Snowman" in some of the fairytale endings possibilities. Then things happen to make you (the reader) question that ...
The writing was lovely. The characters were complex, not perfect, but ones you learned to love.
I'd purchased the audio during an Audible sale, as it's exclusive there. I ended up buying the kindle copy too (just $2) as while the library had the ebook, kindle format wasn't offered ... and I'm a kindle snob. I feel like this might be one that I re-read, or just want to have in my library, and while I listened to the audio (very well done) I saw that the text copy had some "missing quotations" around the Faina's speech, and sometimes that's just something I need to see to get the feel (didn't really pick up on that in the audio. Same in [book:The Road|6288] and others. It was very interesting and added to the mystery. The kindle/text copy also had some additional information and bookclub questions, which I always appreciate).
Third person - we are in the heads of Mabel mostly, but also Jack, and then a little from Garrett. Past tense - divided into three "parts" and an epilogue. Just simple chronological chapters, no headers, some chapters divided further with a simple *
No profanity. Some slight sexual content. Some animal violence.