Review: Smilla's Sense of Snow

Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Absolutely no idea what to make of this book. It starts as a whodunnit, although I initially got it because it seemed to be about Greenland, which I thought would be interesting. Turns out the author is Danish, has nothing to do with Greenland, but seems to have done his research (I'd be curious to hear what Greenlanders think of what he says). But the result is a hodge-podge of mystery, random references to Greenlandic ways and traditions, and a very odd literary style. The conclusion of the mystery is a let-down and pretty implausible, to put it mildly, but it does make me more curious about Greenland. Does anyone know any good Greenlandic authors? 

One great sentence, however, that I had to highlight: 

"There is one way to understand another culture. <i>Living</> it. Move into it, ask to be tolerated as a guest, learn the language. At some moment you grasp what is foreign, you will lose the urge to explain it. To explain a phenomenon is to distance yourself from it." (p. 193)

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