Dear Becca,
Shame on me. Though I rushed to read The Snow Child,
I’ve been dragging my feet when it comes to this blog post.I have to begin by
saying how much I love the cover of this novel. This is such a beautiful
illustration and captures Faina, the snow child, exactly as Eowyn Ivey wrote
her. Not to mention, if I were judging this book by its cover, I would buy it
in a heartbeat.
The Snow Child came highly recommended to me by a
colleague who described it as a whimsical read. Whimsical is a good word for
it, though I would add that there is something extremely dark about this tale
which makes it so much more complicated than I expected.
I’m not extremely fond of the first chapter and if this
book had not had such positive reviews, I think the first chapter would have
scared me away. It’s only the first chapter so I’ll go ahead and give some of
the plot away – the main characters, Jack and Mabel, are an older couple who
tried to have kids but were never able. They live on a homestead in Alaska now
and Mabel feels alone and unsatisfied by her life with Jack. In the first
chapter, she goes out to a lake that is barely frozen over with ice intending
to walk out so far that the ice breaks and she falls through and drowns. A very
dark suicide plan. This scene is important to the rest of the novel because you
better understand how much Faina, the little snow child, means to them when she
shows up. Also, you see how much Jack and Mabel’s relationship changes because
of her. I just wish that it hadn’t been quite so dark.
I expected this novel to focus on Faina but I was rather
okay with it focusing on Jack and Mabel because, to be honest, I liked them a
whole lot better than I liked Faina! I haven’t touched on the mysteriousness surrounding
her very much because I don’t want to give anything away, but she is a skittish
young child who is not quick to show emotion. She brings a lot of warmth and
goodness to the people whose lives she touches, but she is never able to commit
to them as fully as they commit to her. I think that’s where my resentment stems
from.
Faina is based upon a character in Russian fairy tales
named Snegurochka.
I very much appreciated the fact that author Ivey incorporated the original
tale, “The Snow Maiden”, into the storyline. Just as the reader questions
whether Faina is human or supernatural, so does Mabel. And in the end, the
truth doesn’t really matter to either. (Well, maybe it will matter to some
readers, but it didn’t matter to me.) I found a version of the fairy tale
on-line which you might like to check out.
When all was said and done, I was left with tons of
unanswered questions about Faina and this story. Sometimes that drives me nuts,
but this time I was okay with it, which is a major compliment in and of itself
for this book. I’m really curious to hear your thoughts on it, Becca! I feel
like this is a category that we’ve never really read/discussed together before.
Perhaps it’s also good timing considering the magical elements in The Raven Boys.
Til we read again,
Megan
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