Who Are You When No One Is Watching?
When a beloved high schooler named Lucinda Hayes is found murdered, no one in her sleepy Colorado suburb is untouched—not the boy who loved her too much; not the girl who wanted her perfect life; not the officer assigned to investigate her murder. In the aftermath of the tragedy, these three indelible characters—Cameron, Jade, and Russ—must each confront their darkest secrets in an effort to find solace, the truth, or both.
In crystalline prose, Danya Kukafka offers a brilliant exploration of identity and of the razor-sharp line between love and obsession, between watching and seeing, between truth and memory. Compulsively readable and powerfully moving, Girl in Snow offers an unforgettable reading experience and introduces a singular new talent in Danya Kukafka.
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In one sentence? I held my breath all throughout this book. I have read it in a couple of nights. I really wanted to see what else main characters would come up with. I read it for the exploration of characters rather than a story itself.
The story of Girl in Snow is told from perspective of 3 voices: two teenagers (boy and girl) and one adult (police officer). It is told in fragments, memories, thoughts and impressions.
Author has done a great job creating characters that stay with you even after you unraveled the story.
- tangled untangled
- snow and blood
- black eyeliner and acne
- bitten nails and smelly clothes
- boobs and laughter
- purple and yellow
- ballet shoes and cracking bones.
- cigarettes and old wine
Readers see secondary characters through the eyes of a teenage boy who is struggling with everything (tangled untangled), even touching and a girl who is in conflict with the world and even her own body (black eyeliner and acne).
Is it YA book? No, not really. Girl in Snow is reading for parents of teenagers. It is an adult book about young people. When written from teenage perspective it is all raw, acute, sharp, overpowering and overwhelming.
We, adults, take everything in our stride, relying on our experience, using previous lessons and references. We are more interested in getting from A to B (who killed the girl in snow and why), getting a result, rather than in feelings, emotions, sensations of the journey itself.
It is all new for the teenagers. They are unexperienced, unprepared. Every new feeling is the end of the world. Every new incident is the journey to another planet…
If you liked Gillian Flynn and her Sharp Objects (or even Gone Girl), you will love Girl in Snow. If you are a parent of a teenager, you need Girl in Snow (to get a perspective, to get a glimpse of what our kids are going through… because we already forgot what it was like to be an alien in our own body and head)
Girl in Snow is an amazing book in its rawness, sharpness and unravelling…
Svetlana Tishchenko 