Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Study Guide for David Guterson's "Snow Falling on Cedars"
    A Study Guide for David Guterson's "Snow Falling on Cedars"
    A Study Guide for David Guterson's "Snow Falling on Cedars"
    Ebook41 pages29 minutes

    A Study Guide for David Guterson's "Snow Falling on Cedars"

    By Gale and Cengage

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for David Guterson's "Snow Falling on Cedars," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateJun 15, 2016
    ISBN9781535833431
    A Study Guide for David Guterson's "Snow Falling on Cedars"

    Read more from Gale

    Related to A Study Guide for David Guterson's "Snow Falling on Cedars"

    Related ebooks

    Teaching Methods & Materials For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      I, Me, My

      Aug 28, 2022

      I, Me, My
      4 min read

    • Article

      Spring Reads

      Mar 1, 2022

      by Anne Tyler (£16.99 Chatto & Windus) French Braid is the latest novel from this Pulitzer Prize-winning author: an absorbing and perceptive family saga that starts in a holiday cabin beside a lake in the 1950s and carries through to the present day.

      1 min read

    • Article

      Commentary: When I Almost Died: My Days Battling Coronavirus And What I Remember The Most

      Sep 16, 2020

      CHICAGO - Last week, when I read my own obituary, I remembered the first time I almost died. It was a cold December morning in 1963 when I fell through and under the ice covering the south edge of the Lincoln Park lagoon and was rescued by my younger

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Original Single Lady

      Nov 27, 2017

      The Original Single Lady
      5 min read

    • Article

      Helen Fisher

      Mar 4, 2021

      Helen Fisher
      4 min read

    • Article

      Louise Erdrich, Minnesota, And Me

      Nov 10, 2021

      I’ve met Louise Erdrich three times in my life. For some mysterious reason, the acclaimed author always seems to appear at exactly the moment where everything is going belly-up in my life: A potential move abroad. A breakup. A global pandemic. The fi

      4 min read

    • Article

      Jeff Flake's 'Conservative Conscience'

      Aug 9, 2017

      The book pulls no punches. It sharply condemns conservatism for its role in a "culture of vicious dehumanization," not to mention its sins of incoherence, rejection of empirical fact and plain hypocrisy. Writing of the rush by the conservative party,

      2 min read

    • Article

      Word By Word

      Nov 28, 2018

      Word By Word
      3 min read

    • Article

      Illuminations

      Oct 5, 2022

      Illuminations
      4 min read

    • Article

      Pick Of The Crop: October’s 10 Best Books To Savor In Autumn

      Oct 20, 2021

      Spend the month reading new books by John le Carré, Jonathan Franzen, Amor Towles, and Mary Beard.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Clarence Page: The Age-old Trick Of ‘Passing’: Fiction Writer The Latest To Be Disgraced By Lies About Heritage

      Mar 20, 2023

      I have never known a man who faked his own death, but I have known a man who faked his own life, then sadly failed to live long enough for us to talk about it. I’m talking about the late Hache Carrillo, a rising, award-winning literary talent whose r

      3 min read

    • Article

      What Grief Tastes Like

      Apr 21, 2021

      What Grief Tastes Like
      5 min read

    • Article

      Love AND Marriage

      May 4, 2021

      Love AND Marriage
      5 min read

    • Article

      Il Duce’s daughter

      Oct 28, 2022

      Il Duce’s daughter
      3 min read

    • Article

      5 Great Novels You Might Have Missed in February

      Mar 9, 2017

      February saw some heavyhitters in the world of fiction: Lincoln in the Bardo, anyone? How about Katie Kitamura’s A Separation? A Book of American Martyrs by Joyce Carol Oates, Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman, Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. . . . But wait, t

      2 min read

    • Article

      Carl Bernstein

      Mar 1, 2022

      Pulitzer Prize winner Carl Bernstein, who became a legend after he and Bob Woodward blew the Watergate scandal wide open, is looking back to his own beginnings in his new book, Chasing History: A Kid in the Newsroom, a memoir of his early years in th

      2 min read

    • Article

      In A Land ‘Shaped By Water,’ A Family Tale Of Persistence

      Jul 17, 2023

      “The Covenant of Water,” the latest novel from bestselling author Abraham Verghese, delivers a magnificent saga. Bursting with myriad characters, well-braided plotlines, politics, history, faith, and geography, the story centers on a young Christian

      3 min read

    • Article

      Necessary Trouble

      Jan 15, 2018

      I’VE SEEN UNBELIEVABLE CHANGES during the past 50 or 60 years. When people say, “Nothing has changed,” I feel like saying, “Come and walk in my shoes.” I truly believe that if there is faith and hope and determination, we can continue to lay progress

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Panopticon: John Updike’s Apartment Stories

      Mar 9, 2018

      Has there, in American letters, at least, ever been a better noticer than John Updike?  By “noticer,” I don’t mean “writer of detail,” exactly.  There are many writers whose use of detail I find more narratively effective:  Saul Bellow, Joan Didion,

      5 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Feb 20, 2023

      Rebecca Makkai’s latest novel, I Have Some Questions For You, is a literary mystery set against the backdrop of a New Hampshire boarding school. Our protagonist, Bodie Kane, is a successful podcaster who is invited back to her alma mater to help some

      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for A Study Guide for David Guterson's "Snow Falling on Cedars"

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      A Study Guide for David Guterson's "Snow Falling on Cedars" - Gale

      1

      Snow Falling on Cedars

      David Guterson

      1994

      Introduction

      David Guterson's reputation as a writer began with his first novel, Snow Falling on Cedars. It is a blend of courtroom drama and romance that takes place in a small town in Washington. Set in 1954, the novel examines the dynamics of the fictitious community of San Piedro Island after World War II. The past and present stories of many of the citizens of the small community spin off the central murder trial. Critics have embraced this novel for its sensitivity, vivid imagery, well-rounded characters, and thoughtful handling of difficult issues. Guterson admits that Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (which he assigned his high school students to read) was a major influence on his novel. He was inspired by the structure, which brings together separate stories, and the drama created by a racially-motivated trial in a small community.

      Snow Falling on Cedars went virtually unnoticed when it was released in hardback. Once it was published in paperback, however, the book's popularity gained momentum from word of mouth, and the book became a paperback bestseller. In fact, Guterson's novel became the fastest-selling book in Vintage Books' (the publisher that picked up the novel's paperback rights) history. Overseas, the novel also enjoyed best-selling status; Snow Falling on Cedars has been translated into fifteen languages. The success of the book enabled Guterson to quit his teaching job and focus on writing. In addition, the novel won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award and the prestigious PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 1995.

      Author Biography

      David Guterson was born on May 4, 1956, in Seattle, Washington, the middle of five children to Murray (a criminal defense lawyer) and Shirley (a stay-at-home mother) Guterson. He enjoyed a happy childhood and spent lots of time outdoors. Since then, he has grown into an award-winning author, a contributing editor to Harper's magazine, and a vocal advocate of homeschooling.

      Guterson first became interested in writing while studying at the University of Washington, from which he earned his bachelor's degree in 1978. The next year, he married Robin Radwick, a high school classmate. The newlyweds moved to Rhode Island, where Guterson attended Brown University's creative writing program for one semester. During the year they spent in Rhode Island, the Gutersons lived in a cabin on a tree farm. Robin worked as a speech therapist while her husband wrote short stories. Upon returning to the Pacific Northwest, Guterson completed a master's degree in writing at the University of Washington in 1982. The couple then

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1