The Snow Fox: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Oh let it end already
Review: Four hundred and thirty-four pages of dialog with little description other than "he said", "she said", and a plot that was achingly slow. I'd rather stick a fork in my eye than finish reading this book. I wish I'd borrowed it from the library instead of buying it, but that's what I get for buying a book based on cover art.

What a horrible, plodding, pile of .... words.

Rating:
Summary: A passionate, mythical romance
Review: Schaeffer paints an elegant portrait of Japan, a world of noble lords, samurai and beautiful ladies whose faces are always hidden from view. When, in 12th century Japan, the samurai, Matsuhito, is ordered to guard Lady Utsu against attack in her palace quarters, he becomes enchanted with her legendary beauty and the quality of her poetry. The two become lovers. Later, when a daughter is born, Lady Utsu sends the child away to be raised away from the court intrigues. It is this girl who grows up to write of the great love between the lady and the samurai, who can love no one else.

Matsuhito fights at Lord Norimasa's side for many years, until the Lord's death. The samurai thinks to return and search for Lady Utsu, but she has fled the palace with only her pet fox for company. In the following years, Matsuhito wanders north, towards the mountains and the snow. He acquires a horse and, later, a fox, the three of them moving up the mountains. He is content with his memories, but quietly yearns for the Lady Utsu. Eventually, the samurai falls ill. He stumbles upon a hut in the snow, occupied by a woman who lives alone. Sharing their secrets and dreams, the woman and the samurai realize that fate has given them another chance; thereafter, the lovers experience an affinity far more precious than the passion of their youth. Together they endure everything that comes their way, joy, intrigue, happiness and heartbreak.

The author imbues her characters with the quality of myth, living as they do in splendid isolation, surrounded by nature's bounty and beauty. But The Snow Fox is not a fairy tale: rather, Schaeffer writes of the mature love of a man and a woman. With haunting imagery, the author's light-handed touch creates shimmering reflection of the past: the elegant palace of Lord Norimasa, the elaborate, embroidered gowns, the ornate armor of the samurai and the simple beauty of the blossoming cherry trees. All is as beautifully wrought as the sound of Lady Utsu's voice as she whispers the tale of the four children. Luan Gaines/2004.

Rating:
Summary: A Spellbinding And Poignant Novel Of Medieval Japan
Review: Susan Fromberg Schaeffer has long been one of my favorite authors, so I was delighted to discover that she has written and published a new novel. She certainly does not disappoint her fans with "The Snow Fox," an elegantly written, multidimensional saga of 12th century Japan. Her characters, as always, are rich, compelling and three-dimensional. However, their various tales of love, both lasting and ephemeral, brutal civil war, loyalty to the ancient samurai code and to their warlord, Machiavellian politics, plague and illness, the camaraderie of noble soldiers and bandits alike, and the jealousies of beautiful court ladies, prove true the old adage that, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts." The author weaves here an intricate and complete tapestry - a portrait of three particular characters, set against the backdrop of a beautiful country during the most turbulent of times.

One thousand years ago, while art and culture still flourished in Japan, warlords and their samurais vied for power, turning their land into a bloody battlefield where chaos and anarchy reigned supreme. Lord Norimasa, one of the most powerful of the Japanese lords, was ruthless in his ambition to reunite and stabilize the kingdom. Poetry, art and beauty were held in the highest esteem by Norimasa's opulent court. Lady Utsu, renowned for her extraordinary physical beauty, was a remarkably gifted poet. Lord Norimasa had brought her to court when she was just a child, ostensibly to teach Chinese to Lady Tsukie, Norimasa's wife. The little girl had learned the language from a man in her native village. The royal couple treated the girl as one of their own, until Norimasa took her as a lover when she reached her teens. This entanglement caused never-ending problems between Lady Tsukie and the young woman, who had little say in the romantic attachment her mentor formed for her. As she matured, Lady Utsu also become renowned for her cruelty to men. A later lover of Utsu's, once told her wisely that, "Pain that cannot be endured turns to cruelty. In your life, it has." This man was the samurai, Matsuhito, who was destined to love Utsu deeply all his life. He too was brought to court as a youth by Lord Norimasa. There he trained to be a great warrior and followed his lord until Norimasa's death, many years later, released him from his vows of loyalty and further participation in the ongoing war. These three characters are inextricably bound together throughout the novel and all bear love for the other, in different ways, to different degrees.

The most enduring love and relationship, however, is Matsuhito's and Utsu's. They meet and feel the intense emotions of lovers in the prime of youth, but never reveal the extent of their feelings to each other. War and hardship separate them, seemingly forever. The two do reunite, as is their destiny. They meet in middle-age, so transformed by time that they do not recognize each other physically. However, the spiritual bond and attraction that first brought them together still binds them. There is an additional mystical bond between the two, formed through their pet Snow Foxes - their sole companions in the years of lonely wanderings in the cold northern Snow Country.

The intensity, honesty and extraordinary closeness of the relationship between this middle-aged couple far surpasses the experience and passion of their fleeting time together years before. I think one of the author's primary themes is the transitory nature of all things and experiences. Though some may think the book ends tragically, I do not agree. I rather believe what Matsuhito found to be true as he thinks to himself, "How strange Utsu and Matsuhito both were, each in love with the other, each unaware of how deep their feelings went. Yet in the end, they found each other again. Few people are given such a chance."

The author's prose is as lyrical and poignant as haiku poetry. And indeed, the actual poetry in the book is wonderful. She paints exquisite landscapes with words that evoke images of Sesshu, using a delicate, muted palette and changing to rich, brilliant colors to describe the gorgeous multilayered kimonos and costumes used during the period. Ms. Schaeffer is at her best when developing character and describing emotion in the most subtle of ways, which leave the reader with a sense of loss once the novel is completed. Kudos to SFS on completing another wonderful novel!

JANA

Rating:
Summary: Romantic and Beautiful, but Not Quite Perfect
Review: The protagonist of THE SNOW FOX, Lady Utsu, is a highly complex and fascinating character. A poet and a member of the court of Lord Norimasa, Lady Utsu is aristocratic, fun loving and heartbreakingly beautiful. Despite her good qualities (and she does have many), Lady Utsu is also hard-hearted and cruel. We hear about Lady Utsu's cruelty from Lady Utsu, herself, probably not the most unimpeachable source. But, we also see Lady Utsu's cruelty in action when Lord Norimasa orders her to kill the man she loves and she complies. This act of cruelty, which occurs early in the book, is important because it goes far in shaping the character of Lady Utsu and the events to come.

THE SNOW FOX takes a very romantic turn when Lord Norimasa sends Matsuhito, one of his favorites at court, to guard Lady Utsu. She falls in love with him immediately and it is a love that is destined to last a lifetime despite the fact that complications soon arise for both of the lovers.

THE SNOW FOX is set in eleventh century Japan and is a book filled with exquisite detail, something at which Schaeffer really excels. These details are often extremely romantic and beautiful, e.g., the description of "snow viewing" parties, but they are just as often violent and bloody, as when Lord Norimasa beheads a rival and displays that rival's head on a stick like a trophy. Schaeffer, to her credit, is equally adept whether describing the fragile and beautiful qualities of snow or the bloody violence of a beheading.

Schaeffer's prose in THE SNOW FOX is a little stilted and old-fashioned, but I didn't mind that. I thought it "fit" the feudal setting of the novel well. What I did mind was the author's repetitiveness, which eventually got on my nerves and the fact that some of her metaphors were too heavy-handed. A story as beautiful as this one could have been strengthened with a lighter touch.

I also felt that some of the transitions in THE SNOW FOX were awkward and rather clumsy. This is a book that's very complex, sophisticated and ambitious in its narrative structure. It covers many, many years and is almost epic in scope. Most of the time, I felt Schaeffer handled the novel's complexity very well, but at other times, she misses the mark and the book is not seamless. I did enjoy the oblique description and the fact that Schaeffer didn't feel the need to "spell everything out." I loved the dream and memory sequences and the way they overlapped with reality. I thought this added to the book's sophistication and also to its romantic quality. The very fact that Schaeffer didn't feel the need to explain everything gave THE SNOW FOX an assurance that many novels from lesser authors lack.

THE SNOW FOX is a fascinating book, especially for western readers, since it takes place in a time and country very far away and is made up of events that would have never happened in the west. It does, however, concern itself with themes that are universal, i.e., the enduring (or, one could say the fleeting) quality of love and the effects of growing older and losing one's beauty, especially with regard to women. Women take center stage in THE SNOW FOX. They are the most complex characters and they present great puzzles to the men involved, including the powerful Lord Norimasa.

The ending of THE SNOW FOX is inevitable and quite beautiful. I would definitely recommend this lovely and romantic book (it is definitely not a genre romance) to anyone interested in fiction set in ancient Japan or simply to a general readership interested in a beautiful and sometimes heartbreaking, story.

Rating:
Summary: Snow Fox
Review: The Snow Fox, that remarkable novel by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer, is a book everyone should read. We read it in our book group and this was the first book discussed that the men liked as much as the women. This never happens. The characters come alive at once and are completely believable. Even the two foxes have personalities of their own.

The Snow Fox begins with Lady Utsu, the most famous court poet of her time. She is ordered by the member of her clan, Lord Norimasa, to kill the man she most loves. She does, and after that, she is changed forever; she becomes cruel to men, probably (I thought) because she no longer wants to damage a man again. But she soon falls in love with a samurai who is Lord Norimasa's most trusted soldier. The two of them are separated by battle and by court intrigues, but after a great deal of time has passed, the two of them are reunited again, largely because each of them has a pet fox, and Lady Utsu, who is known to travel with a fox, is again found by the samurai who loves her. The love affair between the two is completely real--none of that drippy stuff you usually find in novels with romantic plots. The love affair is also very fragile. Both the samurai and Lady Utsu are afraid the happiness they find will not last. He believes this because life has taught him that lesson, and Lady Utsu has learned the same thing. She also (according to me) feels great guilt for the cruelty she has inflicted on men and believes she is sure to be punished. The end of the novel is simply heartbreaking and feels predestined. I don't want to give the ending away, but I didn't want anyone watching me as I finished reading the ending. It was too powerful. I wanted to read it in silence, without distractions.

I am a fan of Susan Fromberg Schaeffer's work. Anya and Buffalo Afternoon were just republished. The three together are a remarkable triad about the suffering caused by the violence of everyday life and the unending suffering caused by war. I've reread The Snow Fox twice--it is an amazingly beautiful book, like all of Schaeffer's--and I reread the other two. You can't go wrong reading War and Peace. But then you can't go wrong reading these three amazing novels. I've never read anything that can touch them. And with the three of them available together--nuclear fission! In the dangerous time in which we live, these three books are essential reading. Schaeffer is one of the few great American writers, and it's about time people started saying so.