The Snowman's Children: A Novel [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Glen Hirshberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 2002

The Snowman's Children is a poignant, psychologically intense first novel that tells the story of an incident from one man's childhood in the 1970s, when a serial killer called The Snowman stalked the streets of suburban Detroit. The incident, a result of good but woefully misguided juvenile intentions, forced his family to leave their home, and eventually forced him, at age twenty-nine, to return to his hometown in search of three old friends. Reminiscent of both To Kill a Mockingbird in its touching portrait of childhood, and the beautifully written brand of suspense that calls to mind Smilla's Sense of Snow, The Snowman's Children is an unusually controlled and original novel that establishes Hirshberg as an important new voice in American literature.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hirshberg's first novel attempts a dark twist (even darker than usual) on the tale of a 1970s suburban childhood. In the winter of 1977, a serial killer dubbed "The Snowman" haunted a quiet Michigan neighborhood, preying on the town's children. Mattie Rhodes, who was 10 years old at the time and left town soon afterward, is now a directionless 27-year-old locked in a stale marriage. Unable to move forward with his life, Mattie feels compelled to return to his hometown to make sense of the past. As he attempts to reconnect with his old friend Spencer Franklin, the tragic story behind his departure is gradually revealed. Seventeen years ago, Mattie and Spencer watched their friend, the brilliant but troubled Theresa Daughrety, descend into madness, brought on not only by her encounter with the killer but by her mother's suicide and her father's overbearing presence. Mattie's reckless attempts to save Theresa spawned an unthinkable disaster. Hirshberg deftly uses hints of magic realism to depict the wintry landscape of Mattie's remembered childhood. Everything from children's names (Jon Goblin) to the games they play ("Murder in the Dark" and "Mind War") lends the book a sinister air of unreality. Hirshberg doesn't quite succeed in pulling off the sensational climax; the mysterious disaster behind Mattie's departure is implausible and unsatisfying. Nonetheless, his deft use of psychological suspense shows much promise. Though it's not as artful or subtle, the novel may remind readers of Jeffrey Eugenides's The Virgin Suicides, another eerie, nostalgic coming-of-age tale set in the 1970s Detroit suburbs.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Troubled 29-year-old Mattie Rhodes returns to Detroit in search of his childhood friend Theresa, a brilliant, strange, and mysterious girl who, even now, haunts him. For a few magical months in 1977, Mattie, Theresa, and their friend, Spencer, the lone black boy bused to their school as part of Detroit's desegregation mandate, form a special bond, united by their outsider status. At the same time, a serial killer called the Snowman has been preying on children, snatching them in broad daylight. Both oblivious to and thrilled by the danger, the school kids all make Snowman jokes and try to sneak out of the house to go sledding. As Mattie and Spencer begin to sense that Theresa is in danger of slipping away from them and descending into mental illness, they concoct a desperate plan to save her and instead condemn their families to the nightmare of media publicity. First-novelist Hirshberg too often slides from drama into melodrama, but he has a real gift for capturing the emotional power of childhood friendships. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf (November 10, 2002)
• ISBN-10: 0786710829
• ASIN: B001G8W93G
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,038,758 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this new book deserves a read, February 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Snowman's Children: A Novel (Hardcover)

This novel kept me looking for those spare minutes to read. It is moving, scary overwhelming and too close to home if you have children. Though the events occured in the 70's, we are always concerned for the whereabouts of our children. And do we remember being children ourselves? Many times we do not understand their actions and don't give our loved ones the benefit of the doubt because we are scared, and being a good parent is hard work and luck. This book made me blue,laugh, cry and think. A good book to discuss at a book club.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unsettling, November 23, 2008

By 

Rebecca K. Grider "Book Addict" (Louisville, KY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Snowman's Children: A Novel (Hardcover)

Having just finished this book, I am still processing it. I will say that at times I was clutched in the throes of the mystery and at times I was wholly frustrated with the length of time it took to unravel. The climax was unsatisfying but perhaps only because I was so eager to have it figured out.

Plots were lost - that of his wife, waiting not so patiently for him to return or at least let the past stay in the past. Did she leave him forever? Not that I wished this book to be an exploration of his life, but the early build up of that subplot seemed to require a bit more effort to offer some closure by the end.

Yet, maybe that's the point. That this journey Mattie takes is a journey to tie up loose ends, to place his history into some sort of box, labelled, understood and neatly packed away. The truth of anyone's history, no matter how melodramatic or mundane, is that one's life is a mess of loose ends, nothing finishes, only propells us forward. There is no closure available to anyone that rights the wrongs of the past or promises a pleasant tomorrow. All we can do is come to peace with what was and appreciate what is instead of looking only to what will be.

The writing is sometimes lyrical and sometimes seems to try too hard. It is obviously a first novel though not one to ignore. As the moments since I put it down have passed I feel more of a kinship towards the material and perhaps that will grow.

Would I recommend it? If you purchased it for a bargain price as I did, yet. I doubt it's one I'll read again and again, but it was interesting enough the first time around.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Refreshingly original, September 5, 2003

By 

Dave Schwinghammer "Dave Schwinghammer" (Little Falls, Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Snowman's Children: A Novel (Hardcover)

If you're expecting a serial-killer thriller, you're better off looking elsewhere. THE SNOWMAN'S CHILDREN is more concerned with the impact of the murders on children growing up in Detroit during the time the Oakland County Child Killer prowled the streets in search of his pre-teen victims than with lowbrow titillation. Glen Hirshberg, who grew up in Detroit during the time of the murders, loosely based this novel on Tommy McIntyre's WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING: THE SEARCH FOR A CHILD KILLER.
In this fictional account, the main character Mattie Rhodes returns to Detroit, seventeen years after the murders, in search of his boyhood friend, Theresa Daughrety. During the year the Snowman was on the prowl, Mattie, his friend Spencer Franklin and Theresa went through various traumas, some related some unrelated to the murders. The three are gifted students who compete in Mind Wars, a kind of up tempo Trivial Pursuit, to see who is the sharpest. Theresa usually puts the other two to shame. The game is run by Theresa's father, Dr. Daughrety, who is unduly taken with his daughter's intelligence. On their own, the three play "Murder in the Dark", where one player stalks the other two in a pitch-black basement. The Snowman's depravities are a backdrop to the everyday travails of eleven-year-olds until Theresa, who is showing increasing signs of mental distress, becomes directly involved.
Theresa is the most interesting character of the three; apparently, while the other children have been shaking in their boots, she's been on the trail of the Snowman, despite her emotional shakiness. Mattie worships her, probably because of her seeming indifference to the popularity game most kids worry about.
For comic relief, Glen Hirshberg adds some quirky elements, such as Sergeant Ross's addiction to licorice sticks; Mattie's little brother's apparent hatred for Mattie; Mark "the Bird" Fidrych's pitching exploits, and Mattie's Blue Grass singing wife.
I found it a bit hard to get into the book at first because Hirschberg doesn't tell us a whole lot until well past midpoint and because Hirschberg jumps back and forth from 1994 to 1976. Mattie's reactions to just about everything are also overly emotive. His heart jumps into his throat when his cereal is cold. Hirschberg also loves similes, unfortunately only two out of three hit their mark.
Despite these minor foibles, I highly recommend the book. Hirshberg has talent to burn as is evidenced by the following description of Mattie's teacher who'd been in a traffic accident: "She looked frail, like a china plate someone had broken and glued back together, minus one or two tiny but unnoticeable chips."