Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap | Wendy Welch: Books, Yarn, Cats, Opioids

Almost twenty years old now, this book was a bestseller in its day, so likely many people have heard about it. One of the things that always struck me about Snow is how slow, lyrical, and quietly understated it is. I loved it, felt drawn into the story, from the opening phrase, “The accused man, Kabuo Miyamoto, sat proudly upright with a rigid grace…”

You get right into the story and all its undercurrents with that simple yet powerful opening.

The story centers around a missing fisherman, Japanese ill will following World War II, the sale of old family land, and a love triangle. It’s not a mystery so much as an exploration of human psyches and motivations. The book’s final line – which won’t be a spoiler, I promise – is, “Ishmael gave himself to the writing of it, and as he did so he understood this, too: that accident ruled every corner of the universe except the chambers of the human heart.”

It’s a lovely read.

The funny thing about reading Guterson for me, though, is that I could never get into his other books. He wrote another about a dying man planning to commit suicide, and I couldn’t get past the first chapter. Nor did I like his short story collection. Go figger.

But it really doesn’t matter, because if Snow Falling on Cedars were the only thing Guterson ever wrote, it would be legacy enough. It’s a wonderful book, deep, rich, complex in its rhythms yet straightforward and believable in its plot. Character makes plot. These characters are so very of their time and place. Get yourself a cup of coffee and a comfy chair, and lose three or so hours. You won’t regret it.

Jack’s guest blog post today recounts the great fire of 2014 –

Well, that was quite an experience!

We were down in Johnson City on Monday doing radio shows and meetings and then headed home to avoid the forecast snow, arriving back in mid afternoon. Shortly afterwards I looked out the window and couldn’t see the other side of the street. Thinking it was fine snow I moved to a better position and saw clouds of dense smoke pouring out of a building only a couple of hundred yards from the bookstore. It was a NAPA auto parts store full of paint, oils, tires and other scary stuff and as I watched dumbstruck flames began to appear through the smoke. Within a short time the firefighters and police had all the surrounding streets closed and fire engines and high-lift ladders came screaming in – locals as well as from all the surrounding towns. They worked until 11 pm and then left it to burn itself out.

Next morning I walked across and saw a small fire still burning inside. Hhhmmm, I thought – that doesn’t look good! Within half an hour the whole place was blazing worse than ever and all the firefighters were back with their machines. We took a walk up to look in the evening and despite the enormous quantities of water we’d seen poured on the building for two days, there were still a number of healthy fires burning inside. Finally this morning it looks as if it has really has burned out!

Through the whole thing I was torn between disbelief that this was actually happening, the danger of the whole place exploding in all directions, and fascination at the scale of it – a great column of smoke, enormous flames, the apparent ineffectiveness of the enormous quantities of water being poured down on it (and how quickly we could evacuate our dogs and cats).

Now that it really does seem to be over, my final thought is for two groups of people – the owners and workers in the business that has gone, and the brave men and women who battled to keep it from spreading to the adjacent buildings (including our bookstore).

Finally, pictures –