Customer Reviews

As Simple as Snow (Alex Awards (Awards))

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

"As Simple as Snow" will be haunting me for a long, long time.

Some say that all stories can be narrowed down to one of two plots. This story employs the "new person moves to town" plot - but it's far more complex than that.

Anna, a high school student, is more than what she seems. She likes to write obituaries for people who are still alive - for every person in town, even though she's just moved there with her parents. She wears black clothes, black boots, dark makeup, offsetting her blond hair. She loves Lovecraft, making mix CDs, and discussing the codes Houdini and his wife shared. She can argue both sides of a debate with equal passion and knowledge, thus making it unclear which side she herself would support. She insists that people call her Anastasia.

The narrator calls her Anna. He's a high school student as well. His name is unknown; it is unimportant. What is important is their relationship. He finds himself intrigued with Anna, despite her status as a "Goth," and the two begin dating. Her ideas challenge him; her intelligence impresses him; and, seven months later, her disappearance baffles him.

Author Gregory Galloway has created a stunning and haunting tale. Just as Anna herself, this book is hard to categorize. Many would call "As Simple as Snow" a mystery, but just as many might refer to it as a coming-of-age story. The writing is engrossing, placing the reader on the same page (no pun intended) as the narrator, trying to figure out Anna herself as well the codes she used. Readers will be looking for clues in the grand design while falling for this strong, willful character and wondering why she left.

It even has an appropriately creepy website, where you may download the mix CDs Anna created and watch a unique trailer for the book. If the trailer doesn't make you want to read the book immediately, I don't know what will.

This isn't a run-of-the-mill mystery, nor a cautionary tale. It's a story about a boy, a girl, a town, a code. It's a story about that time in your life when you realize nothing is as simple as it seems. Once you realize that, you can't go back, no matter how hard you try. You can only go forward.

"As Simple as Snow" will be haunting me for a long, long time.

Some say that all stories can be narrowed down to one of two plots. This story employs the "new person moves to town" plot - but it's far more complex than that.

Anna, a high school student, is more than what she seems. She likes to write obituaries for people who are still alive - for every person in town, even though she's just moved there with her parents. She wears black clothes, black boots, dark makeup, offsetting her blond hair. She loves Lovecraft, making mix CDs, and discussing the codes Houdini and his wife shared. She can argue both sides of a debate with equal passion and knowledge, thus making it unclear which side she herself would support. She insists that people call her Anastasia.

The narrator calls her Anna. He's a high school student as well. His name is unknown; it is unimportant. What is important is their relationship. He finds himself intrigued with Anna, despite her status as a "Goth," and the two begin dating. Her ideas challenge him; her intelligence impresses him; and, seven months later, her disappearance baffles him.

Author Gregory Galloway has created a stunning and haunting tale. Just as Anna herself, this book is hard to categorize. Many would call "As Simple as Snow" a mystery, but just as many might refer to it as a coming-of-age story. The writing is engrossing, placing the reader on the same page (no pun intended) as the narrator, trying to figure out Anna herself as well the codes she used. Readers will be looking for clues in the grand design while falling for this strong, willful character and wondering why she left.

It even has an appropriately creepy website, where you may download the mix CDs Anna created and watch a unique trailer for the book. If the trailer doesn't make you want to read the book immediately, I don't know what will.

This isn't a run-of-the-mill mystery, nor a cautionary tale. It's a story about a boy, a girl, a town, a code. It's a story about that time in your life when you realize nothing is as simple as it seems. Once you realize that, you can't go back, no matter how hard you try. You can only go forward.

"As Simple As Snow" took me by surprise. I hadn't heard anything about it before picking the book up, but the minute I started reading it, I was hooked. The characters are believable, and the author really did capture the various social "groups" that exist in high school.

There definitely were times where I wanted to shake the narrator for his unwillingness to ask questions or take initiative, but I put myself in his place and could understand. Regardless of that, I thought the story was beautifully written and has stayed with me long after I read it.

If you read this book, get a friend to read it also. This is a book that needs to be discussed!

This book is simply amazing. I am a teen librarian and have read lots and lots of books. I have read this book four times, it is a great mystery and so brilliantly written. I have never read a book so fast and didn't want it to end. I gurantee if you read this book you will want to pass it on to somebody else to read just so you have somebody to discuss it with. I can't believe that it is not on the bestseller list. Shame on the publisher for not promoting this book more. It is AWESOME. I hope the word gets out, I know I am trying to get more people to read it.

An eccentric girl comes into the life of our narrator. She, through her mysterious means, turns his life upside down. How could this girl, so different from the rest, have such an impact? How could she burn an impression so deep into his soul?

Galloway had the narrator mesmerized by Anna, but he was not the only one. I, too, was fascinated by this character.

I am very impressed with the story and the writing. The situation is one which has me torn on my opinion of the author. I am torn between the idea that I would not want to read another book by him and that I cannot wait for him to write many more so I may read them all. The only reason I would not read his other writing is I would be afraid it would not be as original; not as good. It is an odd feeling, one I am not used to, to finish a book and be left with this strange appreciation for the author because of the work he completed. The book was not the best I have read, but Gregory Galloway took me in directions that are usually left untraveled in my literary adventures and for that I thank him.

Of course I have a few complaints with the book, more loose ends than anything; a few points with which I would like closure. Other than those, I really enjoyed this book. It is not often that I read something other than a mystery. Sure there was mystery wrapped up in this piece of fiction, but there was also much more.

Since the characters are sophomores in high school, I suppose that's appropriate. I found very little to redeem this novel.

Pros: The author can write fair prose. The concept of one of the main character's writing obituaries for everyone in town was interesting (kinda like an updated "Spoon River Anthology").

Cons: Nearly everything. "Breakfast Club" its not. Apparently he's trying to have his characters have "realizations". Yet the characters think too well for high school students (got two very intelligent ones, and they don't do that well, I know). We have mysterious happenings, yet never fully develop a story line around it. The ending, other than the main character's personal realization in the last couple of pages, remains unresolved. What's his point anyway, "I learned to fake it like everyone else"? "The power of positive thinking? What??? This could have gone horror story, this could have gone mystery, this could have gone teenage angst...it could have gone somewhere, but it didn't, and that's the problem.

I know this books is supposed to be about how the world is complicated and nothing is simple when you are in love, but when none of the plot lines are resolved it makes the book a waste of time. I get that it wants to be about a boy learning to be more complicated, but when that comes with glimpses of a much better novel with actual plots it all falls apart. I would say that the author is very good at writing, and the world he creates you can become immersed in. I just wish he would have developed the story instead of basically dropping hints about what could have happened, but never explaining what really did.

As Simple as Snow is touted as anything but simple, full of mystery and subtle sorcery. For most readers over a certain age, however, (let's place it high at 35), it's nothing more than a slight twist on the typical, angst filled coming of age story. Ordinary, self-consciously unimaginative boy meets intellectual, ostentatiously quirky girl. She lures him with enigmatic word and number games, he falls into sophomore- year love with her, then she up and disappears. The town is frantic, thinking she's been murdered, but the enigmatic games continue in the form of cryptic messages, while taxpayers' money goes down the drain. Not surprising in the world of adolescents, the boy's only other friend also disappears. While this plot, for a while, generates interest as to their fates, what passes for resolution is, annoyingly, merely more questioning and angst. At the end of the interlude, a period of about six months, the boy has matured into a whole new identity because of what this girl taught him, and by implication, will grow into literary and personal greatness. The unnamed sophomore is a nicer kid than Holden Caulfield, but the drama's the same. Recommended for the "young adult" genre.

There was a lot of hype for this it seemed, and it didn't really pay off. It took a good half to two thirds of the book for the actual disappearance to occur - I almost quit reading before then. I then read straight through to the end, but wasn't exactly happy with the ending.

I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, but the ending didn't bring as much closure as I would have liked to the story.

As Simple as Snow takes a close look at some humanly complex and complementary characters in this story of adolescent love. Recommended for those who enjoy examining typical teen life and its varied expressions. Quick and fun, engaging characters and a twist at the end make this a great read.