Product: Snow Falling on Cedars (2000)
Rating: 4.0
Interesting Meditation on Love
Ishmael Chambers and his story is really the central theme of this book; the treatment of the Japanese in general and the murder case really are just the "deux ex machina" that allow for the exploration of Ishmael's obsessive love for Hatsue, the Japanese girl he grew up and had an abortive teenage affair with.It's his reaction to her unilaterally ending their affair that is the core of this story.The circumstances were particularly hard for him: he receives her goodbye letter while sent away to war, just as he is about to lose his arm (obviously symbolic of the way her leaving him left him unwhole). Probably because of the psychological trauma of his injury, his deep love for Hatsue turns obsessive, and haunts him for a decade. Without rehashing the entire plot, the trial of Hatsue's husband for murder finally allows Ishmael to come to terms with the fact he's lost her, though this is never as explicitly stated in the book as it was in the movie by the defense attorney.The reader must make some judgments: is not all TRUE love "obessive?" If a lover can be just casually tossed aside like a used Kleenex after [...], was there any "love" to begin with? Or was it really just base exploitation to satisfy an out of control hormone rush? If Ishmael had simply shrugged his shoulders after receiving Hatue's letter and said, "Oh well, bring on Lover #2," what good would such a "love" be?On the other hand, his obsessiveness tortures Ishmael for years to come, and prevents him from ever finding a new love again. So really, his story is a decade-long search for peace. He finds it, but in a way that is not particularly noble. From the moment Hatsue dropped him, he felt a tremendous sense of powerlessness - it was HIS love to that was taken away, HIS affair nullified, and he never had ANY say in it, and the effect on Ishmael was similar to the most personal sort of rape. For a decade, Hatsue never made any effort to make him feel that their love had mattered to her at all - something which underscores the obessive nature of his continued feelings for her, because in reality they are quite irrational... it's quite clear she never truly "loved" him at all.What finally sets Ishmael free isn't some insight into Hatue's feelings for him, though. No, what sets him free is a decision he makes near the end of the book: for years, he harbored the fantasy she would somehow come back to him. With her husband on trial for his life, it appears to him that the fantasy may in fact possibly come true, after all... yet in the end he makes a decision that frees Hatsue's husband and ensures she never can come back (if indeed she ever would, because in fact their love on her part was never true to begin with).And that is what finally sets Ishmael free: this time around, it was HIS decision - not just a unilateral one by Hatsue, for now HE TOO concurred that their love should not continue. And with that sense of empowerment, he can finally set aside the awful hurt of victimization he felt when, in his eyes, she took something from him without ever asking him.A very intelligent book, that provides some deep insights into the nature of human love. It raises important questions, and actually provides some answers. It's up to the reader to decide, though, if "love" really is just a selfish thing, good so long as it is convenient for oneself - but to be cast aside the moment a price is attached, regardless the effect on the other person. There is, of course, a very practical and hardheaded answer to that - but one must wonder what it says about the character of the person that gives it.