Snow Falling on Cedars

by David Guterson

Snow Falling on Cedars: Style 1 key example

Style
Explanation and Analysis:

The writing style of Snow Falling on Cedars shifts between two distinct rhythms. Its recurring trial scenes move at a stiff, procedural pace, and these scenes provides a predictable structure for the events to unfold. By contrast, the book’s flashbacks stretch longer. They contain slower emotional reflection and employ more winding descriptions. The rhythm of these scenes allows the narrator to show how moments in memories often don’t stay fitted together in a logical order. When they are interleaved with one another, these opposing patterns of courtroom and flashback split the book’s structure. Each shift Guterson makes between past and present echoes a change in how time works for his characters.