The Snow Fox: A Novel [Paperback]

Susan Fromberg Schaeffer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 17, 2005

"A spare, subtle, moving love story that builds and sustains its own utterly believable world." —Elizabeth Ward, Washington Post

One thousand years ago, chaos loosed itself upon Japan, upending an era in which the arts flourished. At the dawn of 250 years of civil war, in the opulent court of Lord Norimasa, the beautiful but cruel poet Lady Utsu wages war with men's hearts and holds the fearsome lord and his devoted samurai Matsuhito in her thrall. As the two men raze Japan's landscape in futile battles for unity, Utsu falls for Matsuhito even as Lord Norimasa continues to love her. The epic romance of Utsu and Matsuhito resumes itself decades later, when they meet as vagrants so transformed by time that they no longer recognize each other; they are reunited through their mystical connection to a pair of snow foxes that are their only company in the Japanese wilderness. The heartbreaking story of their renewed love is fraught by the Japanese concept of mono no aware—life's ephemeral nature—that weighs on the lovers. Reading group guide included.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Critically praised for her remarkable capacity to evoke time and place in her gorgeous novels (Polish concentration camps in Anya; the Vietnam war in Buffalo Afternoon), Schaeffer here transports the reader to medieval Japan in a haunting tale of thwarted love and unsolved mysteries. Lady Utsu, renowned both for her beauty and her cruelty, is the ward of the great Lord Norimasa. While Norimasa has been kind to Utsu, as a test of loyalty he forces her to kill her lover. When Utsu falls in love again, with Norimasa's prot‚g‚, the samurai Matsuhito, she flees the palace. Though they are unaware of the coincidence, Utsu and Matsuhito each adopt a pet fox named after the other, as surrogate for and symbol of their yearning. Their poignant reunion decades later in the snow country, mixing bliss and grief, becomes a transfiguring event. Schaeffer creates an atmosphere as delicate and precise as an etching, yet raw with violence. The story is permeated with cultural details, from palace etiquette to the customs of childbirth. It's a world of extreme gentility and utter barbarity: while the upper classes weave poetry into their formal conversations, peasants are slaughtered like animals, and victorious warlords display heads on spikes. As Utsu and Matsuhito experience passion and grief, the plaintive leitmotif is the fleeting nature of life. The plot doubles back upon itself, as Lady Utsu and Matsuhito recall earlier incidents in memory and dreams. This device adds depth, but it also slows the narrative; readers must be patient. In the end, however, the novel achieves a cumulative, transporting magic.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

In this exhaustively detailed portrait of medieval Japan, the treacherous politics of court life and the way women are both coddled and restricted are a source of great unhappiness for renowned poet Lady Utsu. When the powerful Lord Norimasa insists that Lady Utsu poison the only man she has ever loved because he is a traitor, Lady Utsu is forever changed. Realizing that he has gone too far by forcing her to buy into his brutal version of power politics, Lord Norimasa decides to make amends by setting Lady Utsu up with his faithful sidekick, the samurai Matsuhito. Unexpectedly, the two develop a deep and passionate love for each other and are able to cast off their inhibitions and share their innermost thoughts. Separated by war and palace intrigue, they reconnect decades later, rekindling their feelings in an isolated mountain cabin. The slow pacing and sometimes portentous dialogue will cause some readers to make a quick exit; others, however, will be swept up in Schaeffer's passionate evocation of the war between the sexes. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 438 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (February 17, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393326527
• ISBN-13: 978-0393326529
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #860,232 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read a book, it won't kill you., January 30, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Snow Fox: A Novel (Hardcover)

I'm a Vietnam vet. I don't usually read novels. I read Buffalo Afternoon. Now I look for Susan F. Schaeffer's novels. I bought this one before it came out. I was surprised, I thought it was great. I was up late reading it and finished it in a few days, this is very fast for me. How does this woman know so much about war? This book too makes you remember what war really was. And the love story...well women can be pretty tough, and the woman in this book is something. I don't think I'm going to forget her. What I've learned in my life is that life is hard but there are always great things that keep you going. Susan F. Schaeffer looks at life the way I do. Read this book, man. Next I will reread Buffalo Afternoon. That's MY book! But this is my book too. Ten stars, let's not be stingy.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A passionate, mythical romance, February 10, 2004

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Snow Fox: A Novel (Hardcover)

Schaeffer paints an elegant portrait of Japan, a world of noble lords, samurai and beautiful ladies whose faces are always hidden from view. When, in 12th century Japan, the samurai, Matsuhito, is ordered to guard Lady Utsu against attack in her palace quarters, he becomes enchanted with her legendary beauty and the quality of her poetry. The two become lovers. Later, when a daughter is born, Lady Utsu sends the child away to be raised away from the court intrigues. It is this girl who grows up to write of the great love between the lady and the samurai, who can love no one else.

Matsuhito fights at Lord Norimasa's side for many years, until the Lord's death. The samurai thinks to return and search for Lady Utsu, but she has fled the palace with only her pet fox for company. In the following years, Matsuhito wanders north, towards the mountains and the snow. He acquires a horse and, later, a fox, the three of them moving up the mountains. He is content with his memories, but quietly yearns for the Lady Utsu. Eventually, the samurai falls ill. He stumbles upon a hut in the snow, occupied by a woman who lives alone. Sharing their secrets and dreams, the woman and the samurai realize that fate has given them another chance; thereafter, the lovers experience an affinity far more precious than the passion of their youth. Together they endure everything that comes their way, joy, intrigue, happiness and heartbreak.

The author imbues her characters with the quality of myth, living as they do in splendid isolation, surrounded by nature's bounty and beauty. But The Snow Fox is not a fairy tale: rather, Schaeffer writes of the mature love of a man and a woman. With haunting imagery, the author's light-handed touch creates shimmering reflection of the past: the elegant palace of Lord Norimasa, the elaborate, embroidered gowns, the ornate armor of the samurai and the simple beauty of the blossoming cherry trees. All is as beautifully wrought as the sound of Lady Utsu's voice as she whispers the tale of the four children. Luan Gaines/2004.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars surpassing beauty from one of america's premier novelists, January 29, 2004

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Snow Fox: A Novel (Hardcover)

In the one short week since "The Snow Fox" debuted, I have read this novel twice. Why? Because the book is so compelling in its plot, character development, and beauty of language that I needed to savor it more than once. However, this was not without costs: the closing chapters brought tears to my eyes and heart and the writing, from first page to last, transported me to a time and place from which it was difficult to return.

All of my reactions reflect the particular genius for which the author Susan Fromberg Schaeffer is best known. In "Anya" and "Madness of a Seduced Woman," Schaeffer proved herself a master with few peers in evoking other times and places. Now she has taken on an even more difficult setting, that of medieval Japan. Schaeffer obviously devoted years to studying Japanese history and culture, but her talents as a novelist and poet are never overwhelmed by period details or the Zen-like sensibility that informs the latter part of the book, and her exceptional command of rhythm and image are used to dazzling effect. Wrap yourself in the beautiful fabric that Schaeffer has created in "The Snow Fox" and enjoy what is both a love story of remarkable complexity and a meditation on the meaning of life.