The Snow Child

A Novel

by Eowyn Ivey

First Edition, 389 pages

English language

Published Feb. 1, 2012 by Reagan Arthur Books, Little Brown and Company.

ISBN:: 978-0-316-17567-8
OCLC Number:: 785601445

(20 reviews)

Homesteaders Jack and Mabel have carved out a quiet life of hard work and routine for themselves in the wilderness that is 1920s Alaska, both still deeply longing for the child it’s now impossible for them to have. Yet their love for each other is strong, and in a moment of levity during the season’s first snowfall, they play together, building a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone—but a trail of tiny footsteps remains. For weeks following, they both catch glimpses of a blond little girl alone in the woods but neither dares mention it to the other, afraid that long-buried hopes have overruled common sense.

Then the little girl, who calls herself Faina, shows up on their doorstep. Small and fair, she seems truly magical: she hunts with a red fox at her side, she leaves blizzards in her wake, and somehow she manages to survive alone in the harsh Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand Faina, they come to love her as their own. But in this beautiful, violent place, things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform them all.

Eowyn Ivey’s enchanting, mesmerizing debut is the story of a couple whose longing for a child is so intense that they may have imagined her into existence. As dazzling as the snowy Alaskan landscape in which it is set, The Snow Child shines with imaginative power, immersing the reader in a place both faraway and familiar, a tale both universal and brilliantly unique.

3 editions

Neorxenawang reviewed The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Review of 'The Snow Child' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

The Story

Now going into this book, I thought, “Oh cool! A contemporary take on an old folk tale. This should be interesting.” However, the book has parts where it is glaringly aware of itself as an imitation of another story, and this is especially obvious in the scenes where Mabel actually OWNS the original folk tale (written in Russian) in her book shelves. As if that weren’t annoying enough, she actually keeps referencing the book to see what’s about to happen next in HER life-- eye roll.

I hate this about as much as I hate when people dream in books in order to get a message across to the reader, and I think the book would have done just fine without it. I get what the author was trying to do with this plot device, but all in all it was just distracting.

Not to mention that the twists that get thrown into this story (Part III has a lot of plot tweaks that just seem to fly in out nowhere and smack you in the face) feel a little forced for shock value, and they happen a bit too unnaturally.

The Unexplained

I don’t mind when things are left unsaid. However, there were some pretty annoying loose ends in this book that I didn’t care for too much. The ending was really just okay at best. But really I just felt apathetic about the whole thing.

The snow child, when she speaks to Jack and Mabel, has dialogue without quotation marks. And then Jack and Mabel’s quotations disappear as well. Not that this needed an explicit explanation, but I still didn’t get a clear sense of what the point of that choice was by the end of the book.

The Characters

Okay. Some of the characters are great and it’s easy to read their parts without cringing. Others, not so much. And obviously character like or dislike is not what makes a story good or bad. But, I think because I felt so mixed about the plot, I have mixed feels about the characters too.

Also, they seem like characters out of a Hallmark movie (or maybe a Lifetime Christmas movie so that we can account for the animals that get hunted in this book-- and the steamy (but not so steamy) romance parts). They seem like characters who are dying to be complex but are written too simply. And some of the parts just seem to be wrapped up too neatly. I will admit, this was a magical sort of story and I appreciated the mystical feeling layered over the characters and how they deal with their situations (Will the snow child return? Is she real? Is she magical?).

But their issues just seem too simple. Will we be able to keep the farm? Or do we have to go back and live on the east coast? Will the snow child talk to us? Is she in our heads? Will she disappear? It’s like-- that’s it? And then Mabel reads from the book (more like an instruction manual for the ENTIRE STORY) and the reader is basically fed the remainder of the plot.

Anyway. This book was a miss for me. But I’m not angry I read it. Counts as a book toward my reading goals anyway! And it was just kinda meh.

Sharyl reviewed The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Review of 'The Snow Child' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Winter is not my favorite time of year, and yet Eowyn Ivey paints winter in Alaska, of all places, as fantastic, shimmering, and magical. The story, too, is a fascinating tale I did not want to put down. Actually, it's a creative update of a very old Russian fairy tale, with a romantic and mysterious twist.

This is a lovely novel...what can I say? I recommend it!

boomboxnation reviewed The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Review of 'The Snow Child' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

It seems all I can do is agree with most everyone here. An endearing(?) novel that is certainly a bit of a tear jerker. I didn't want the tale to end, now that I am done, I am at a loss for what to read next. It was expertly written and lovely. I want to run off into the woods now.

Shawn Towner reviewed The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Review of 'The Snow Child' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

During the first 10-15% or so I was worried that this would end up being super schmaltzy, like an Alaskan version of that Jennifer Garner movie where a plant child becomes a member of the family and teaches them about love, togetherness, the American way, etc. Fortunately, this book veers into more mature territory. The second part was a little slow, but in the third and final part, things really pick up and get going again.

Sandra reviewed The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Review of 'The Snow Child' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I have mixed feelings about the ending. I know it's a fairy tale but still...

Coleysscrollies reviewed The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Review of 'The Snow Child' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I wanted to read this right now because I've been so hot. I thought that reading about the winter atmosphere in Alaska would cool me down. I was right. I loved this book so much! It is beautiful and gorgeous (basically every positive adjective.) Exquisite writing. It made me pick up quilting again and made me start freezing vegetables from my garden for winter. It helped my feet feel connected to the earth and my heart connected to the characters that surround me.

Michael @ Knowledge Lost reviewed The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Review of 'The Snow Child' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Middle aged childless 1920's Alaskan couple build a snow child and the next day they find Faina. The little child fills a void in their life and they spend the whole book trying to make the snow child their own and stop her disappearing when the snow melts. This is a book which is either a magical realism novel or an attempt at a fairy tale, but I didn't find it came together at all. The book is very lyrical but nothing really happened in the book and it felt like a book full of padding without much plot.

Jamie reviewed The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Review of 'The Snow Child' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I did become emotionally invested in this one. In a way, it's the most romantic book I've ever enjoyed. The characters aren't quite 3-dimensional, but aren't exactly flat. (Archetypal?) The pay-off is telegraphed from about the first third of the novel. And the setting, 1920's Alaska frontier, could have played as an additional character in the hands of someone like David Mitchell (not that he would have written this).

But for all the parts that miss (just), Ivey does some brilliant things with tone and plot that kept me wondering if this were magical realism or just plain realism. The longing of Jack and Mabel for a child of their own is painful. Their self-imposed isolation is weighty. And I don't really have a novel to compare this to, which is something.

I think this is a book we'll hear a bit about for the coming year.