Cold Snow and Frazzle

We greeted two new faces at our gathering Tuesday night, meeting to discuss Smilla's Sense of Snow, by Peter Hoeg. We relocated to an area behind the children's section in the back of the library for the night, and carried on in spirited and lively conversation. The book gave us much to talk about, even allowing us to venture into suggestions for casting a remake of the movie based on the book.

Our opinions of the book ran the full gamut, from those who loved the book, many who liked the book, and a few who hated the book. Most everyone agreed that it was a difficult read, for reasons of wordiness, confusing plot structure, and too much scientific detail.

The story seemed to stray from its plot so often that many of us could not follow its intent. One of our group admitted to falling asleep whenever she started reading the book. More than once we questioned whether part of the problem with understanding the story was due to the book being translated from the author's native Danish.

But, even with the difficulties, most of us felt that reading the book presented a worthy challenge, and all but one, (who happens to be me), finished reading it to the end. The story line twist at the book's conclusion caught most everyone off guard, resulting in reactions that a mystery thriller turned into a science fiction story.

Many positive comments were made on the value of learning so much about Greenland, Denmark, and the Inuit people of the Canadian Arctic.

If our reactions whet your appetite to know more, a comprehensive description of the book, more details, information, and other links can be found on Smilla's own page of wikipedia, just by clicking here.