Thursday, October 18, 2007

At the Reading by David Guterson

At 7:40 forty reserved seats in the center front remained a mystery. That was when a person came and took the Reserved signs away and a few people went over to sit there.

I read Snow Falling on Cedars in 2003. This year I saw the movie on a DVD. I was happy with the cinematography. But the mystery resolved in a similar way to our reserved seats mystery at the reading. The book was a trial detective story with a convincing and well-explained missing clue that solved the question in a way that helped portray the setting more completely.

At one point my DVD screen began to separate into tiny rectangles, but I do not think I missed anything.

Important to me about the book's setting was the Scandinavian aspect of the fishing enclave. In the movie I hoped for more development and a larger portrayal of the Scandinavian aspect.

I thought the novel was very traditional in its size and aspirations, one that echoed novels of that time, the late 1930's, the 1940's.

No comments: