''Cold Enough for Snow'' is a 2022 novel by Jessica Au. It won the 2023
Prime Minister's Literary Award
The Australian Prime Minister's Literary Awards (PMLA) were announced at the end of 2007 by the incoming First Rudd ministry following the 2007 election. They are administered by the Minister for the Arts. and the
Victorian Premier's Literary Award
The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary p ...
in the Fiction and Overall categories. It was also shortlisted for the 2023
Miles Franklin Award
The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879– ...
.
Plot
The novel involves an unnamed mother and daughter who live in different cities in an unnamed Western country and have not seen each other for some years. The daughter arranges for them to meet in Tokyo and travel through Japan, following her carefully planned agenda. Her mother, initially reluctant, comes only after her daughter pushes. In Japan, they visit art galleries, parks, shops, temples, and churches, and tea shops, sharing meals in small restaurants.
The daughter narrates everything, and the mother's few words are only reported second-hand. The title comes from a question the mother asks before the trip because she'd never seen snow.
There are occasional flashbacks in which the narrator recalls her absent sister and her family, her dead uncle in Hong Kong, and her lover, Laurie, who had accompanied her on her previous trip to Japan. She recalls the story she was told many times as a child of the love affair her uncle had as a young man, but when she asks her family about it, neither her sister nor her mother remember the story.
At times, the mother does not participate fully in the daughter's plans. She waits outside a gallery while her daughter goes in, and she does not bring hiking boots, so that she cannot go on a mountain walk. Rather than changing plans, the daughter travels by train to a nearby town then does the walk back towards her mother.
At one point, the mother disappears. When the daughter asks the innkeeper about her mother's whereabouts, the innkeeper claims that the daughter was staying alone. "When my mother finally appeared, she might as well have been an apparition. She came with her puffer jacket zipped up to her chin, and in the cold night air her breath came out in a little cloud, like a small departing spirit" (p. 90).
Reception
Reviews
''Cold Enough for Snow'' was generally well received by critics, including starred reviews from '' Kirkus Reviews'', who called it "a beautifully observed book, written in precise, elegant prose that contains a wealth of deep feeling."
In a highly positive review, Tobias Grey, writing for ''
The New York Times Book Review
''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read ...
'', noted, "Au's novel, written without any chapter breaks, deftly uses stream of consciousness to explore the legacy of inherited family traits and the difficulty of breaking away." Grey compared "the way that Au injects matter-of-fact descriptions with existential angst" to "
Albert Camus
Albert Camus ( , ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist. He was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature
The 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded the French writer Alb ...
." Claire Messud of ''
Harper's Magazine
''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...
'' similarly discussed the Au's writing style and the impact of that style: "The tenor of the narration is hardly effusive. Yet the effect is of the gentle quiet of snowfall, rather than the lethal frigidity of an icicle ... Au's is a book of deceptive simplicity, weaving profound questions of identity and ontology into the fabric of quotidian banality ... Not much happens in Au's novel...but nonetheless, significant emotions, memories, and thoughts are meaningfully conveyed. What matters, the novel reassures us, is constantly imbricated with the everyday, just as alienation and tender care can coexist in the same moment." ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikke ...
'''s Baya Simons said, "Au's prose is precise and finely grained ... This makes the occasional imprecision — an unexplained switch in subject, a simile that doesn't land — feel deflating, disillusioning even. Furthermore, her close narration style and a lack of dialogue give rise to a sense of claustrophobia: what is not being said?" ''
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
'''s Declan Fry wrote, "One of the novella's neat turns lies in how precisely and matter-of-factly it narrates events that are – as we come to realise – anything but ... There is the sense, too, that as Au cultivates her own voice – one that could belong to no one else; a voice she seems so far to have withheld from us, if not herself – we will see the full emergence of her talent."
''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' provided a mixed review, saying, "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." ''
The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'' also proffered a mixed review, saying,
''Cold Enough for Snow'' is a strange, slim volume, written in gentle, sometimes graceful, prose ... there's a sadistic aspect to
he main
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' i ...
character, and her diligent perfectionism proves wearisome ... Generally, with such an unreliable narrator, a reader is at least fascinated by their perspective, or the story itself. Unfortunately, although this character's mixture of heightened self-awareness and total obliviousness is curious, it's never quite interesting enough to carry the non-events of the book. Often she's trite to the point of cliche ... In spite of moments of beauty, what can most truthfully be said of ''Cold Enough for Snow'' is that it is inoffensive. It will suit some readers ... while quickly leaving the minds of others. Although it improved upon rereading, in the end it was so understated that it left me unsure as to whether Jessica Au's writing was subtle to the point of genius, or just a little dull.
Awards and honors
''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...
'' included ''Cold Enough for Snow'' in their list of the best books of 2022. ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide ...
'' included it on their list of the 25 best Australian books of 2022. ''
InDaily
''InDaily'', initially the online subscriber daily news service is of weekly newspaper, ''The Independent Weekly'', replaced the printed version entirely in November 2010. It shares its website with ''CityMag'', a weekly digital magazine whic ...