The Snow Child

The Snow Child is a heartwarming story of a childless couple, and the child they made of snow one day. It's a story of hardships, relationships, friendships, and parenthood (almost wrote parentships there). The language is easy, but slow at times, as it is filled with descriptions of the Alaskan wilderness and snow. Lots and lots of snow. The book will make you feel cold sometimes. It's easy to forget that it's set in the 1920's, but towards the second part you start to notice the little things, here and there, that make it clear it's the 20's. I'm glad I took my time reading this book, because it meant I could spend more time with the characters, and their developments felt more realistic that way. The Snow Child is divided into three parts, so I'll divide this review into three parts.

The first part: This is where we get to know Mabel and Jack, it was slow but it was also explaining their day to day lives in Alaska. We get a lot of background about the old couple, and their longing for a child. The second part: We meet the child, Faina, Mabel and Jack's characters slowly develop during these chapters. The chapters are somewhat faster, and months go by. It isn't always clear how much time has gone by between each chapter, but the weather and seasons are always mentioned. I guess that the characters also measured time with seasons. It is during those chapters that we meet the Bensons, and really get to know Esther and her son Garret. Mabel and Jack face a lot of hardships, and we watch them both grow into better people as they deal with the harsh Alaskan winters and the lack of crops. The Russian book Mabel owns clearly foreshadows a tragic ending, although we don't quite know how it will all end up. I loved how it felt like Garret was their son. It was also a little sad, how Faina was like a daughter to them, but they could never force her to live with them as she wasn't really their daughter. The third and final part of the novel goes by too quickly. Six years have gone by, Faina is much older, and so is Garret. It's exciting, because the Benson's finally meet Faina, and now they know that Mabel didn't have "cabin fever" for the past six years. You can almost predict that Faina and Garret will be good friends, and they do. I loved how they both changed throughout the book, and couldn't help but love them. The same applies to Mabel, Jack and Esther. The ending wasn't shocking, it is already known that Faina is going to go somehow, even though I hoped it wouldn't be that way. It was still sad when she was gone. It makes you think that maybe the same thing happened to her mother. I felt like the ending was satisfying, the epilogue is set a few years after Faina is gone, and Eowyn Ivey wraps it all up so that there are no unanswered questions. There are quite a few chapters that make you go aww and smile, whilst getting teary-eyed; Mabel and Jack having a snow fight and building a snow child; skating with Faina; Garret going to Jack to ask for Faina's hand in marriage; pretty much all the scenes where Mabel and Jack really felt like they were parents; and the wedding.