Cold Enough for Snow
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the inaugural Novel Prize, an elegant and subtle exploration of the mysteries of our relationships to others
A mother and daughter travel from abroad to meet in Tokyo: they walk along the canals through the autumn evenings, escape the typhoon rains, share meals in small cafes and restaurants, and visit galleries to see some of the city’s most radical modern art. All the while, they talk: about the weather, horoscopes, clothes, and objects, about family, distance, and memory. But uncertainties abound. Who is really speaking here—is it only the daughter? And what is the real reason behind this elliptical, perhaps even spectral journey? At once a careful reckoning and an elegy, Cold Enough for Snow questions whether any of us speak a common language, which dimensions can contain love, and what claim we have to truly know another’s inner world.
Selected from more than 1,500 entries, Cold Enough for Snow won the Novel Prize, a new, biennial award offered by New Directions, Fitzcarraldo Editions (UK), and Giramondo (Australia), for any novel written in English that explores and expands the possibilities of the form.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Chinese Australian writer Au's hypnotic debut follows a Chinese mother and daughter during a vacation in Japan. The pair meets in Tokyo and carries on simple conversations as they visit museums, stroll in parks, shop for souvenirs, and have meals during the seasonal typhoon rains. The daughter narrates, examining her mother and their relationship as she observes both her mother's behavior and the way that she has aged since they last saw each other. Yet despite the simplistic nature of the story, its meandering nature invites the reader to wonder what has really brought these two women together—and whether the mother is there at all. The narrator remembers stories the mother told her as a child about the mother's childhood in Hong Kong, such as about the narrator's reclusive older brother and lost love from his youth—only the mother now claims the details are all wrong. Some readers will find their patience tried by the vague Tokyo episodes, but Au exquisitely conjures the family's nebulous past, and is at her best when folding in the perspectives of other family members. Once this probing and surprising text catches hold, it leaves the reader with lingering questions.
