The Snow Child

The Snow Child
By Eowyn Ivey (386 pages)
Published by Reagan Arthur/Little, Brown
Bookish rating: 5

I give it a 5. The most enthusiastic 5 I have given since I can remember. A ballsy statement,here, but I think this novel is perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Part fairy tale, part achingly gritty and human, this story begins with an older, childless couple homesteading in the Alaskan wilderness in the 1920s. Coping with the longing and disappointment and heartache of wanting a child, Jack and Mabel are fascinating characters who create a little snow girl for fun one snowy night. Then one day, the snow child shows up at their door as a real girl, flitting in and out of their lives. And of course, they grow to love her. But is she even real?

Anything else I write about events will spoil the plot, so let me move on to themes--and boy, are they big. This novel explores what it means to be a mother in the many, compelling forms motherhood can take. Loss, heartache, unexpected joy, suffering, friendship--it's all packed into one of the most moving and beautiful novels I have ever read. I fear that everything else I read for awhile will seem contrived and lame.

The writing is pitch-perfect, whether describing moss or falling snow, or the pain of losing a baby. You can feel the cold air along with every single emotion the characters experience. It's quite incredible. As Mabel thinks back to the years and years her arms "ached with longing" for a baby, she imagines the mommy desire and physical need to just stroke and kiss and clutch her babies and wiggly toddlers. "Where else in life, Mabel wondered, could a woman love so openly and with such abandon?" (p. 328) See? Freaking brilliant.

The Snow Child was a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer, which means I need to read the actual winner, because I am skeptical that it is superior to this novel.

Do I actually need to type out that I recommend this book? HIGHLY? Oh my goodness, just read it.