Irmo Branch Library - Multimedia Book Club discussion

As we finish up the book and have had a chance to watch the film, here are some additional discussion questions for this month. Be warned that at this point spoilers are fair game!

1) What did you think of the ending of the book? Were you anticipating this kind of ending or perhaps something different? Do you think the story ended realistically, given your understanding of the time period?

2) Let's talk about Ishmael. Although this is a story primarily about a Japanese-American family, Guterson brings us into the story through a number of community members, including Ishmael who functions as a sort of main character in the book. Do you find him to be a compelling protagonist in the story? Why or why not? Are there any characters or plot points you wish you could have known more about?

3) The 1999 film "Snow Falling Cedars" is a relatively faithful adaptation of the novel. What did you think of the film version? Did it focus more or less on the elements in the novel that stood out to you? If you saw the movie without reading the book, what would you still understand about the story and what might be missing for you?

1.) Humans are complex, which we tend to not give ourselves or others credit for. Because I tend to be very "either, or", "yes or no", "right or wrong", I like a resolved ending with a clear-cut answer. However, because the issues between legality, morality and emotions all played a part in Kabuo's case, the jury and the readers walked away feeling torn and being partially split on Kabuo's guilt. Prejudice and "not like us" tactics were used (and performed very well, by the actor in the film adaptation) during the case by Alvin Hooks. The notes given by Ishmael may have made all the difference in Kabuo's final outcome. Nels Gudmundsson tried to appeal to logic and the complexity of humanity when speaking with the jury. This reminded me of Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird" in a way. He pleaded with the jury, not just to see a Japanese man who was not white like them, but to see a man, his motives or lack thereof, the facts, the context, and not just a villainized version of an entire race in one human being. Given the time period, I imagine that this was probably a more realistic ending because cases dealing with murder, prejudice, race and the effects of a World War can become ones that are hard to come to a conclusion about although the outcomes usually are not desirable or necessarily fair.

2.) It was interesting to see this entire case from someone with an outside view and little stake in the matter. However, the fact that Ishmael was once Hatsue's lover gave him a tie to the case and outcome. Would he be able to look at the facts objectively when he knew that the man on trial was chosen over him by the woman who had stolen and ultimately crushed his heart? As a newspaperman, could he report from an unbiased point of view to offer both parties a fair coverage of the trial? I felt like I had a good understanding of how the case may have looked to a typical jury member having to determine the verdict of Kabuo's trial, reading the novel through the eyes of a bystander. I am happy to see that Ishmael did more than just stand by however, he did deeper research himself to find answers and do what he knew was right and honorable to the legacy of his father and America's justice system.

3.) I really enjoyed the film adaptation of "Snow Falling on Cedars." The story was very compelling and to see the looks on the faces of the Japanese families affected by war and internment camps brought a greater sense of reality to history. I liked that even though there was some violence, it was not shown to a deep extent (I am a bit squeamish about visual violence) and I could still understand the pain and the past of the characters involved in the war or finding Carl Heine Jr. The romance aspect was more pronounced to me in the movie, which I think also kept my attention as a romance lover. What was missing for me, was seeing the dynamic of the relationship between Kabuo and Hatsue when they first met and were dating before they got married. They seemed to have a marriage based on mutual respect and love, but it would have been nice to see it developed a little more (once again, romance lover here!).

It's interesting to read Kyland's take on the book/film because some of my thoughts about the story go in a different direction!

1) I was happy with the ending of the book, although I wonder if it would have turned out that way in real life. Many people have gone through unjust trials that judged based on prejudice instead of the actual evidence, and I had low expectations for how this would turn out for Kubuo. In that sense, I was relieved that the story did have a happy ending for him and his family! I would not have been surprised if Ishmael had decided not to do the right thing and burned up the evidence exonerating Kubuo; I would not have been surprised if the court had refused to consider the new evidence at that late hour; and in fact, the film considered both of these scenarios as possibilities, which I appreciated. The one thing I wish I knew about the ending is whether Kubuo ever did get his family's land back. Presumably, the land would be available for sale again, but I wonder if the whole murder-trial situation would have soured the prospect of buying it back. I was appalled that Carl's mother sold the land like she did. In a kidding-but-not kind of way, at certain points, I was kind of hoping the story actually would turn out to be a vengeance plot! Well, I was happy in the end with Carl and Kubuo making up and resolving the land issue, even if the unfortunate accident got in the way.

2) Kyland makes good points above! Ishmael and the love story create another source of conflict through this outside observer who has his own history with Hatsue. I also liked how we got to see the war from both Ishmael's perspective (fighting in Japan) and Kabuo's perspective (fighting in Germany). This provides a much fuller outlook on the conflict as a whole and how it created divisions in communities. Toward the end, however, I started to get annoyed with Ishmael and his romantic conflict. They're all driving around in a snowstorm, Hatsue clearly focused on the fact that her husband could be sentenced to death(!) and he's trying to interpret her facial expressions as they concern him! Ishmael, this is not about you! I wanted to yell at him. I would have been pretty disgusted with him as a character had he stuck with his decision to write an editorial instead of going to the authorities with the new evidence "to make her beholden" to him, as he said. I felt he was pretty entitled in his assessment of their romantic situation, and not even just when it had been 10 years! Sadly, the film made me dislike Ishmael even more, as the filmmakers leaned hard into Ishmael as the star of the story. They even had the Japanese-American people bow to him in the courtroom as he stood in the balcony looking over them! Extra-textual scenes like this give Ishmael more of the spotlight in the film, and it's not an improvement in my opinion.

3) To that point, I was not a fan of the films hyped up focus on the love story between Ishmael and Hatsue. I can understand the appeal and everything, but for the reasons I mentioned above, the love story is my least-liked aspect of Ishmael's story. I also missed some of the more extensive scenes of the internment camps and the brutality of war. These scenes stand out to me as what make the book so important as literature. I can see how these could be too much in a visual medium--and they did pretty well with what they did show--I just wish there could have been more emphasis on these elements. As Kyland pointed out, showing more of Hatsue and Kabuo's courtship would have been one way to give these characters more time on screen and show their development, and it would have provided more about the conditions of living in an internment camp. For me, this is a case where the book is better than the film!