Michael Cunningham: The Snow Queen

Hi

The Snow Queen is my last novel of the month. It has 256 pages and I got it from Bol.
Tomorrow I start work again!

This last review of the month will be short so I can still include it in this month’s Wrap Up.

 “Michael Cunningham’s luminous novel begins with a vision. It’s November 2004. Barrett Meeks, having lost love yet again, is walking through Central Park when he is inspired to look up at the sky; there he sees a pale, translucent light that seems to regard him in a distinctly godlike way. Barrett doesn’t believe in visions—or in God—but he can’t deny what he’s seen.
At the same time, in the not-quite-gentrified Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, Tyler, Barrett’s older brother, a struggling musician, is trying—and failing—to write a wedding song for Beth, his wife-to-be, who is seriously ill. Tyler is determined to write a song that will not be merely a sentimental ballad but an enduring expression of love.
Barrett, haunted by the light, turns unexpectedly to religion. Tyler grows increasingly convinced that only drugs can release his creative powers. Beth tries to face mortality with as much courage as she can summon.”

 

The Snow Queen is not about the thrilling plot, it's about the story and the characters. A lot is implied or symbolic. It can feel slow when suddenly months have passed and you have to figure out what has happened and it pains you when you realize. These flawed, hurt, lonely characters try to find meaning and certainties in life in contingencies. They fixate on a song, an election, ... to drown out the world.

The prose is beautiful and symbolic but there were moments (and not a few) where I felt like Cunningham was trying too hard to write Great Literature.

 

Happy reading.
Helena