Snow Hunters

 

Snow Hunters

Paul Yoon

ISBN: 978-1-4767-1481

August 2013

*I won this book via Goodreads*

5 Stars

After the Korean War, Yohan finds himself making a new life on the coast of Brazil. There he finds himself the friend and apprentice of a tailor, Kiyoshi. Through their work he learns a new language and the way of life in the community. Acquaintances and relationships come and go with time but the bond he forms with Kiyoshi, the church groundskeeper, and two vagabond children is what helps him conquer the demons of his past so he can embrace the future.

There is no way for me to do this novel any kind of justice. If I was to describe it in just a couple words those words would be; brilliantly beautiful.  I don’t know what to write except to try and describe what I felt while reading.

 For me the impression of relationships was the strongest. Yohan has a lot of people come and go in his life and they were mostly for brief periods of time or during brutally difficult times. Some that were longer in duration weren’t very communicative or physical like we would expect them to be. For Yohan, though, they all had an importance that he carried and reflected on and would comfort him when he needed it most.

The prose is almost magical. There is a lot of sadness but there is always something inspiring to balance it out. The pacing is perfect and once I read the first page I didn’t want to put it down.  The only thing left to say is that I absolutely adored this book and that everyone should read it.