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“Snow Falling on Cedars” takes place on San Piedro Island, located off the coast of Washington in 1954, just thirteen years after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The book’s main character is a Japanese-American fisherman named Kabuo Miyamoto, who, goes on trial for the murder of Carl Heine, a well-liked local fisherman and respected war veteran. Much of the book involves flashbacks, depicting the events leading to Carl Heine’s death. The book explains that before the war, Heine’s father promised to sell a piece of land to Kabuo’s father, but when the war began, Kabuo’s family was sent to work camps. When the war ended, Heine’s father had died and his bitter mother refused to sell. After Kabuo returned from the war, he married Hatsue, a girl who was of Japanese decent, but had abruptly ended a relationship with a white man, Ishmael Chambers, who is now a reporter for the local newspaper. Ishmael is still bitter because of Hatsue’s rejection. The night Carl is murdered Kabuo helps save him when his fishing boat ran out of power and in appreciation, agrees to sell Kabuo the land his father was promised. However, later on that night Carl drowns after a large freighter produced a wake large enough to knock Carl into the water. The authorities produce coincidental evidence and Kabuo is charged with Carl’s murder.
Approximate Word count = 893
Approximate Pages = 3.6
(250 words per page double spaced)
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