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HARCOURT, 1994
(available in paperback from Vintage, 1995)
ON A FOG-SHROUDED night in the waters north of Puget Sound, a local salmon fisherman, Carl Heine, meets his death aboard his fishing boat under circumstances that are shrouded in mystery. It is less than a decade after the end of the Second World War, and a fisherman from the same small island, Japanese-American Kabuo Miyamoto, is charged with Heine’s murder.
In David Guterson’s richly atmospheric debut novel, Snow Falling on Cedars, the snow-limned landscape of the Pacific Northwest is the backdrop for the tale of a small community bound together by the enclosing perimeter of their island, San Piedro, yet divided by prejudice and suspicion.
At the center of this haunting novel is Ishmael Chambers, a local journalist who in his youth dared to cross the island’s unspoken racial divide to love a young Japanese-American girl, Hatsue. Chambers, haunted by love lost, is drawn back to those days as he observes Hatsue at the murder trial of her husband, Kabuo. Unlike many on the island, Chambers is unwilling to jump to the conclusion that Kabuo is guilty of Heine’s murder.
As the trial proceeds, the island community must reckon with its past, when Japanese-American residents were sent to detention camps as their neighbors watched in silence and sometimes even appropriated land that had belonged to their exiled neighbors.
S now Falling on Cedars is infused with the aroma and flavor of ripe strawberries and descriptions of lush, colorful strawberry fields. San Piedro Island, modeled on Puget Sound’s Bainbridge Island, where Guterson resides, was home to many strawberry farmers of Japanese ancestry. In the novel, Kabuo appears to have a motive for killing Carl Heine: While Kabuo’s family was interred in the detention camps, Heine’s family appropriated their strawberry fields.
“Snow Falling on Cedars provides an excellent history lesson about the little-discussed internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II,” says Stephanie Koura, a trained cook and website developer who read Guterson’s novel with her Wuthering Bites book club in Seattle. “Sometimes I think it’s hard to believe that such a violation of human rights could have happened so recently. Snow Falling on Cedars is not an overtly political book, but it handles the subject of cultural differences and racism with sensitivity and grace.”
Koura’s father and his family owned a strawberry farm on Bainbridge Island for several decades before and after World War II, and her aunts and uncles still live on the original property. “My father is a Nisei, or second-generation Japanese-American, and I’m Sansei, or third-generation,” says Koura. While there is no longer a farm on the property, there is a Koura Road where the farm once stood. “Growing up on the farm, my dad’s favorite way of eating strawberries was simply to slice fresh strawberries and eat them with real cream,” says Koura.
Stephanie Koura adapted this recipe from one created by Mrs. Eiko Shibayama, whose family were also strawberry farmers on Bainbridge Island. Mrs. Shibayama’s recipe originally appeared in a Japanese Baptist church cookbook in Seattle.
1¼ cups finely processed chocolate wafer crumbs (about 18 cookies) 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 1 cup heavy cream
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1 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced |
Preheat oven to 325°F. Using a fork, stir together the chocolate wafer crumbs and butter in a small bowl until well blended. Transfer the mixture to a 9-inch pie pan and press the crumbs evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the pan to form an even crust. Even out the crust by pressing with the bottom of a flat glass. Bake until set and fragrant, 10–12 minutes. Place the pan on a wire rack and allow to cool to room temperature.
Beat the heavy cream until medium-firm peaks form; do not overbeat. In another bowl, beat together the confectioners’ sugar, cream cheese, and vanilla until smooth. Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture until thoroughly combined. Pour into the cooled chocolate crust.
3. Heat the jelly in a small saucepan over low heat until melted. Cool slightly. Arrange the sliced strawberries over the cream cheese filling, starting from the outer edge, with the strawberry tips pointing outward. Slightly overlap layers as you work toward the center. Using a pastry brush, gently coat strawberries with melted jelly. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Yield: One 9-inch pie, 6 to 8 servings
NOVEL THOUGHTS
St. Louis mothers who met in a playgroup formed Book-A-Nons when they realized they shared a passion for reading and wanted to stay in touch after the children outgrew the playgroup.
Snow Falling on Cedars is among the group’s favorite titles. “Snow Falling on Cedars seemed to have all the elements of a lasting story,” says Janet Edwards, “including forbidden love, murder, courtroom drama, prejudice, flashbacks, a memorable setting, and wonderful writing.” Edwards says members had known little of Japanese internment camps during World War II before reading the novel. “We discussed how the emotions from the internment-camp experience still permeated the community Guterson described,” says Edwards. A lasting impression of the novel, she adds, was not so much the characters, but the small community, and how their shared history shaped the unfolding story. “I love the book’s title,” she says. “I envision how much tension seeps into the soft image of snow falling.”
Literary Society of San Diego member Rebecca Rauber often serves her book club a dinner that reflects the reading selection on tap for the evening. “Snow Falling on Cedars presented some challenges,” says Rauber. “Much of the action was in a courtroom, on a boat being ripped up by thirty-foot waves, or in a relocation camp. But we’re creative.”
Rauber served lox (smoked salmon), bagel bites, fresh strawberries, and sushi, foods she says were all gastronomically relevant to the selection and helped animate their discussion. “We go to some extremes to make our food relevant, and take our task seriously,” adds Rauber.
cup confectioners’ sugar