As Simple as Snow

by Gregory Galloway

Anna—who prefers to be called Anastasia—is a spooky and complicated high school girl with a penchant for riddles, Houdini tricks, and ghost stories. She is unlike anyone the narrator has ever known, and they make an unlikely, though happy, pair. Then Anna disappears, leaving behind only a dress near a hole in the frozen river, and a string of unanswered questions. Desperate to find out what happened the narrator begins to reconstruct the past five months. And soon the fragments of curious events, intimate conversations, secrets, letters—and the anonymous messages that continue to arrive—coalesce into haunting and surprising revelations that may implicate friends, relatives, and even Anna herself.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Mystery, Teen, Book Club, Realistic Fiction, Contemporary

346 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2005

About the author

Gregory Galloway received an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. His first novel, As Simple As Snow, was a recipient of the Alex Award.

Reviews

[Jen Himes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book.

I read this book nearly ten years ago and I can honestly say that it is a book that I think about all the time. Looking at the reviews for As Simple as Snow, I feel that readers generally fall into one of two camps: the lovers or the haters. There is no middle ground.

And that's because you either get it or you don't.

And by 'get it' I don't mean you've figured out Anna's riddles or solved her many mysteries. I mean that you get the narrator. You either get what it feels like to be milk, or you don't. The narrator is unnamed, not to be a hook (although I do have a theory about his name), but to be an empty space in the story where you can insert your own insecurities, fears,experiences, quirks and honest thoughts.

A few reviewers have called the narrator selfish. Yes, he is. So is Anna. So am I and so are you. And it's supposed to be that way. The narrator's thoughts and beliefs are honest and untempered by what anyone else may think of him and as result, seem to many readers to be harsh and unfeeling. One reviewer called him cruel for his secret hope that Anna had been kidnapped or murdered rather than run away, because running away would mean she had left him. That isn't a cruel thought. It is not malicious. It's the thought of a boy who, before Anna, didn't really care about anything or anyone. The thought of a boy who, before Anna disappeared, didn't know he was insecure and lonely. It's the thought of a boy trying to play it cool when when the thing he cares about the most suddenly vanishes and leaves him alone again. It's an honest thought of a hurt and scared boy who doesn't know how to handle what is happening in his life, but it is not cruel thought. The narrator is not a cruel boy. If you or I were to relate our lives as honest and unflinchingly as the narrator, we would not always be seen in the best light either.

Ultimately, the biggest hiccup readers seem to have with this book, is how unresolved Anna's case is. There is no satisfaction of a mystery solved. And that's because the mystery surrounding Anna's death/disappearance and the narrator's reaction to it isn't a puzzle that is meant to be solved. It's not so simple as that. It's something as simple as snow. It's like Anna says:

"It means that everyone else thinks the world is simple, but it's not. It's like snow- most people think that it's just white, but if you look at it, really observe it, you'll see that there are different shades, from a sort of grayish white to a brilliant white [...] And then there's the texture. Some snow is dry and granular, almost like sugar, while other snow is wet and clumpy. And that's just the superficial stuff--once you start looking at each flake, it gets really interesting." (Galloway, 113).

This is not an easy read, by any means. But if you can get it, it is so worth the time spent.

P.S. My theory on the narrator's name: Remember how Anna says that she loves the narrator's name? It's on page 7. She says: "It's almost a perfect double dactyl [...] Higgledy-piggledy. That's a perfect double dactyl. two three syllable words with the stresses on the first syllables. Your first name and your last name have the same number of syllables and almost the same sounds--they mirror each other, or are parallel or parallax or something." Now remember how any time his parents are referenced by another character, they are always referred to as Mr. or Mrs G- ? Think about that for a few moments then tell me whose last name starts with a G and sounds the same as his first name so that they are parallel, or parallax or something?

How about Gregory Galloway. Almost a perfect double dactyl, don't you think?

[Patrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a real shit-show. A bland high school dude falls in love with this goth chick who has all these obscure interests she forces on him, and long story short, she disappears and you have to try and figure out if she was murdered, committed suicide, or ran away. There are a bunch of so-called "clues" throughout the book that are actually all red herrings and the book concludes with no resolution. That didn't bother me so much as the fact that the road to nowhere was boring. I would only recommend this to someone who I was sure wanted to punch me in the face already.

[gwayle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book, which I read in a day. It's a young adult mystery/romance/coming-of-age story. Bland, normal, nameless narrator boy meets razor sharp and reference-full "Goth" girl. They fall in love, then girl disappears. What happened? The book is littered with clues and coincidences, which are open to interpretation (for mine, see below). The mystery and numerous references make the book fun; it's also suspenseful, well-written, and strangely touching. It deals with heavy issues but isn't ever overwhelmed by them. The story and characters are beautifully crafted, and the romance is sweet. Highly recommended.

DO NOT READ ON IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK AND PLAN TO
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ONCE MORE, DO NOT READ ON IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK AND PLAN TO

Plot points, etc., that I think are key, and what I make of them:

--Anna's bruises. My guess would be that her father physically abuses her. Not only does the narrator periodically see bruises and cuts that Anna is patently evasive about (only one of which is explained later--the one she got while driving Bryce's car), but I feel that this is strongly supported by the shortwave radio scene, where Anna's father gets irrationally and explosively angry at Anna for not holding the ladder properly; the narrator sees bruises on Anna's arms two days later. Supposing the details about Anna's family in her "obituary" are true (which I know is not necessarily the case), the fact that one of her older sisters ran away might also support this theory. Also, where do all of Anna's scars come from (described in the obituary)? Not all of them are explained, so might not some be the result of past abuse?

--Why Anna doesn't like Mr. Devon. My guess is that Anna, like many of the others girls in the school (as we are told by the narrator), developed an early crush on Mr. Devon--before she met the narrator--and was at some point rebuffed by him. In this scenario, what Mr. Devon tells the narrator is the truth--though perhaps he holds back his knowledge/suspicions about Anna's feelings and his passive dismissal of them by not getting around to looking at her artwork. The cryptic message that Anna sent to Mr. Devon, which the narrator found, could certainly be interpreted as flirting. Try this one on: Anna researches Mr. Devon's backstory (she is clearly adept at finding things out about people), discovers the fire episode in his past, and switches Mr. Devon's and his girlfriend's places in her fake obituary as a form of mild, cathartic revenge. I guess there's a possibility that Anna and Mr. Devon did have a fling, but I tend to doubt that. There is also the fact that it was at Mr. Devon's urging that the narrator went to the library to meet girls in the first place--was Mr. Devon trying to set them up, thereby deflecting Anna's feelings?

This is how I've chosen to interpret it; I realize that there might be hints that Mr. Devon is not such a great guy, which might lead other readers in different directions: his own admission that the fire in his past might not have been accidental, his lie about Alaska (Slocum, by the way, is the surname of the first person to sail around the world, who also mysteriously disappeared and was finally declared dead years later), his creepy artwork, and Anna's hints that he is a "fake" and her mention of scandal in his fake obituary.

By the way, I really doubt that Anna and Mr. Devon planned to run away together. Anna's last mix, meant for the narrator, is chock full of songs that say "I love you" in a billion different ways. It just doesn't seem plausible that she could have been cheating on him the entire time.

--The SaSaS text message. This one is never explained, to my knowledge. It seems possible that Anna sent it, but it may also have been Carl or Claire, who both had access to Anna's obituary notebooks (Anna titled the narrator's fake obituary "something as simple as snow"). Then again, the notebooks presumably don't say that the phrase is a code, so how would Carl or Claire know?

--In summary, my best guess is that Anna ran away, something she felt like she had to do to get away from her father. The dress near the ice? Obviously staged. Other pieces of evidence that I feel support this conclusion:
--no body found
--she gave her notebooks to Claire for safekeeping
--she asked Claire to send the narrator her (Anna's) fake obituary--because she knew she'd be gone
--the constant hints she drops about leaving, not being around soon
--their goodbye scene, where she "passes the key" in her kiss
--the contents of Anna's fake obituary, which has her "gone" and the two meeting again years later
--the last mixtape, full of songs that say goodbye (I realize this could point to suicide, but that just doesn't seem plausible to me)

Now, this might be complicated by the fact that Anna didn't confide in the narrator, nor did she unambiguously try to contact him after she left--who would do that to someone you are in love with (especially if your love was that special brand of first/adolescent love--obsessive, consuming, personality-altering, etc.)? Then again, several cryptic comments make it seem like she was trying to prepare the narrator for a separation--perhaps she wasn't able to burden him with the knowledge or her secret. Maybe she was worried that if she confided in the narrator that the police would find her; maybe she felt that it was too much to ask the narrator to keep this secret from everyone. The police have a way of worming information out of you--why risk it? Why not make a clean break? Or, maybe she intended (or intends?) to contact the narrator later, and something prevented her (death?).

The one thing I have trouble explaining is the extra condom wrapper found in the basement. Did Anna put it there? Why? It seems obvious that it would lead the police straight to the narrator, which seems a bit cruel of Anna. The narrator is convinced that he didn't leave it behind. I suppose there are other possibilities (a different sexual partner, someone planted it there, etc.), but none feel convincing to me.

[Kyla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unlike everyone else in the world, I hated this book. Should have liked it: YA, numerous literary and musical references, etc. But the characters were flat, flat, flat. And unrealistic. It was like the author sat down and wrote what he wished had happened to him in high school with the benefit of years of reading and listening to music - which is my fantasy/style of YA writing too, which is why my writing sucks. Kind of feels like he got his MFA and read somewhere that YA novels were selling so he tried it. No soul, baby, no soul.

[Nikole · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be perfectly honest, I am giving this book such a high rating because it pissed me off and I couldn't get it out of my head. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy reading the book. The reason I was so obsessed and angry after finishing it was all the unanswered questions. For starters, you never even learn the main character's name (and this is the least of the mysteries). Then there is the eccentric goth girl he falls for that has more secrets than she has appearances in the book. To top it off, halfway through the book she disappears. You, along with her unnamed boyfriend are left to wonder wtf just happened, and if she is even alive. There are clues left behind that you are suppose to use to piece together the rest of the story, but in the end even the narrator is left lost and confused. I think if the ending hadn't been so unexpected I would have marked this down as a 3 star and not even bothered with the review, but after all this time I still can not get this book out of my head. It is definitely worth judging for yourself...

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this because John Green said that As Simple as Snow inspired him in part to write Looking for Alaska, and boy, that influence is apparent. I actually had to remind myself a few times that this was not, in fact, a John Green novel (interestingly enough, this was written as an adult novel, but has been adopted by the YA community with gusto).

I very much enjoyed this book. It was bleak, with a manic pixie dream girl and a boy who's lacking personality (and a name! I always find that frustrating, and a bit too blunt). The narrator's parents are an exercise in tedium, their day to day existences depressing and inanely normal. High school, standard bit. But when Anna shows up, she changes the narrator's world. And some other things happen, but I won't spoil any of those things here.

While I enjoyed the reading of this book, I was left with a lot of questions, and I found that difficult. It was more like real life than an escape in that respect, but I don't regret reading it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to prowl every message board related to this title to see other readers' theories of some of the events that unfold between these pages.

[Bandit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Isn't that a great cover? It really is. The premise of the book is intriguing too. But the main emotion listening to this evoked is frustration. Mind you, it is intriguing at first, but as time goes by and no resolutions appear to materialize, it becomes downright infuriating...and then it ends. WTF. Midway through listening to it, I actually had to double check the listing for this book, it seems to be referred to consistently as adult and yet it comes across as YA, which really isn't my preference. Confusingly enough it is read by an adult, Scott Brick, who usually does a very good job, and so all these teens sound like an adult, but what they're dealing with is distinctly adolescent sort of things. This is a love story between a regular sort of boy and a mysterious girl. The girl is mysterious again in a distinctly age specific fashion, she dresses goth, she writes fictional obituaries for everyone she knows, she makes her own stamps and sends random postcards that require research, she likes classic horror and obscure music, she is a puzzle a riddle and an enigma in a way that can initially excite but quickly get old, unless, of course, one has that inexhaustible zeal of youth. The boy is enamored, swept of his feet and begins to decipher i.e. date the girl. Four months later the girl disappears. Here's where it was suppose to get interesting...because they had a code for contacting each other from beyond, because there are clues and hints all over, because there were allusions to some sort of wrong doings throughout the plot, because...well, because that's how a book should work. There should be an arc of sorts, it might have been a mystery or even something supernatural, instead none of the clues lead anywhere, the book just turns into a sort of coming of age story and that's it. Only eight discs but extremely unrewarding, despite Scott Brick's best efforts as a reader. Wasted potential that no amount of good writing or narration can save. And definitely YA. There is something toward the end where the narrator mentions how something, something in his life, can't quite remember but is left with more questions than answers and to him that's ok (because for one thing he's a kid), but in a book that really isn't. This one is all questions, no answers.

[Mary Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Throughout the book, I kept waiting for something to happened. When I finished the book, it may or may not have taken a trip across the room.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Simple as Snow by Gregory Galloway is a novel about a normal teenager whose life changes dramatically when he meets Anna Cayne. This boy (his name is never told to the readers) narrates the story and takes the readers back to when he first meets Anna and their romance. Then Anna suddenly disappears and leaves behind a black dress in a hole in the snow and unanswered questions of what happened to her that the narrator takes upon himself to solve. The author Gregory Galloway has a MFA from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. He lives in New Jersey.
In about the first half of the novel, it describes how Anna and the narrator meet and all the things they did up to her disappearance. First they agree to be in a relationship with each other. Then Anna starts frequently putting notes into her boyfriend’s locker but stops this and starts constantly sending him packages in the mail, emails, and IM’s about things that she found or thought were interesting. Right away from this you could tell that Anna is information hungry. I loved this part of Anna’s character because Galloway incorporated stories and quotes, and I got to learn some things while reading this novel. For example, Anna put this note into the narrator’s locker and it said “I hate you. I never want to see you again. You said it wasn’t true but I saw your car outside her house. You lie, and I can’t take it anymore. I hate you. P.S. Call me later”(49). Another reason why I thoroughly enjoyed this book is because it was relatable. The book showed things that happen in a typical high school. For example, there was dating which comes with jealousy and other emotions, and groups of people such as popular jocks, the Goths, the nerds, the geeks, and the people that do not belong anywhere. Anna fit into the Goth group while the narrator really didn’t belong. When people found out they were in a relationship, they got hate notes in their lockers. I think their peers where shocked because they acted like two completely different people. Anna was the scary girl while the narrator was the social outcast. But I like this type of love story. Also, the book showed how the narrator grows in the book. One instance to support this was when the narrator’s brother Paul pretended to be drunk so that he could get the feel of it. Another instance was at the end of the book where he accepts the fact that Anna was gone and learns from how she suddenly disappeared. He realizes that he has no life in the town with his socially inept parents, and goes to live with his brother so that he could start over again. The fact that the protagonist comes to realize this in the end of the novel makes the ending acceptable.
Although this book was very enjoyable to me, there was one thing that could have made it better. If the author had answered at least some of the open ended questions, it would have been even more enjoyable. In the novel, everything was going so well but she just disappears one day. Without Anna’s disappearance, the novel would not have been different from any other love story between teenagers. This made the plot unique but I wish that the author had told us what happened to Anna in the end. Some people may find this a good aspect of the book because it lets the readers invent their own end to the story, but I do not.
Other than how the author did not tell us if Anna was murdered, got into an accident, or just decided to leave, it was a great read. I really liked the type of love story, how I could relate to the novel, and the unique plot. The way the author incorporated information through Anna’s personality was ingenious and interesting for me to read. This book would be perfect for anyone who likes mystery, romance, and a strange plot.

[Sara Gerot · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this book back in October. At the time I gave it 3 stars because I felt, as did many others according to the comments, that it was too unresolved and too unsure of its own genre for a 4.
However, lately I have been thinking back to the characters. I've been mulling over the mystery of the plot, and feel tempted to pick the book back up again and go over it for clues I may have missed.
Possibly I won't find the answer, and in this way I am to be just as frustrated as the narrator. This is pretty interesting to me.
7 months later, and I feel compelled by the characters and plot to go back. Maybe this genre-twisting book, bland and beautiful in some places and dark and brooding in others, has more of a point than I thought. I find myself wanting to push others to read it to get their opinion. I want to share the frustration. So 4 it is. I'm impressed with the power of fermentation that Galloway infused into this book. I guess I'm having trouble letting go. That seems to deserve another star.

[Simone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think to really enjoy this book you have to accept and be ok with the fact that you never find out what happens to Anna. (Not a spoiler, the narrator says this at the start of the book.) I accepted that early on, and just let myself enjoy the ride and the story.

Apparently John Green is a big fan of this book, and has said that it inspired him to write Looking For Alaska. I haven't actually read any John Green besides TFIOS (I'll turn in my teen librarian badge now), but from everything I've heard about them, this book would definitely appeal to fans of his.

I would also recommend it to anyone who liked "Gone Girl", again with the caveat that in this book, the mystery never gets solved.

[Ashleigh Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book somewhere around 10-15 years ago. I have never had trouble recalling the title, and think about it often. It is a book that really does make you think and wonder about. It is very thought provoking and the fact that I still think about it all these years later is amazing to me. Not very many books have power like that. I absolutely recommend it.

[Penelope · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gregory Galloway's first novel.

I had difficulty writing this. I don't know why exactly but I started writing it so many times and every single time (at least 3 to 4 times that I tried) I would abandon my attempts. However, I think it's time for me to write one before I forget how I thought about this book.



“It’s almost more fun not knowing… If you knew what it all meant, then it might not be as interesting or compelling. That’s probably half the fun, not knowing. Sometimes there’s more fun in the mystery of things than anything else.”

This excerpt from the book tells it all. Anna Cayne actually said it. She is one of the MAIN characters until she disappeared halfway through it. TADA! (this is no spoiler as it has been mentioned in the synopsis already!) But this is actually the story of the narrator, whose name was never mentioned, and how he found himself through Anna.

What is this book really all about? For me, I see this book as having three layers.

The first layer: A LOVE STORY (which is actually how it all started)

Yes, as most books have. And as do most books as well, their love story was typically untypical. And by that I meant, the attraction of opposites. Real typical isn't it? The narrator is plain and uncharacteristic. He is the odd one in a bunch of odd people. He does not fit into any of the usual groups in school (jocks, geeks, goths, etc etc.). He sees himself as "pure as glass" and as he described it, his life is boring in addition to having very unconventional and socially outcast (?) parents. I also think that his life is lead by social insecurities. Whereas Anna Cayne is his opposite. She belongs to a group (the Goths) but she does not let her group define who she really is. She is eccentric yet remarkable, smart, has her own interests (including which is writing obituaries for the whole town) and curiosities , optimistic about the future, enjoys life and has her own perspectives. Conventionally, he falls for her and her seemingly carefree attitude. He is drawn to her and follows her lead (again, very predictable) and yet it seemed that his fondness or love (if thats what you call it) for her eventually helped him in the end (we'll get to that later).

The second layer: A MYSTERY NOVEL

So, for the second part, as I have mentioned earlier (and as what is stated in the synopsis), the girl disappears! Where has she gone to? Why? What's will all the secrecy? Now you see why its a mystery novel as well. She runs away/leaves town, gets kidnapped, accidentally drowned or was murdered. Whichever of this happened, the guy, of course, would want to know because it just happened all of a sudden and no one knows why. All they found of her was her dress laid out next to a hole in the ice of the frozen river. She leaves elaborate clues and emails which left the narrator as well as the readers hanging and craving for more, wanting to know the truth and to find where she's gone to or what really happened to her.

Now, by this time you think you know what would happen but just then everything you thought this book is about is actually not quite.

The third and last layer: A COMING OF AGE NOVEL

Surprise Surprise! Who would have thought that it is actually a coming of age novel? (or maybe I was the only one. haha!) Its the whole point of the book in fact. Of course, as the book was written in a way that leaves readers hanging, it also just gives a hint of the real motive of the author that is to find who you really are, not defined by society. It is also the need to accept yourself and express what you genuinely feel or think. Anna was the one who taught the narrator about this. Even though he did not see it clearly that way before but by the end of the novel, it was said that maybe he would also know what he would be doing with his life and that it was the best thing that ever happened to him.

"Before, I had nothing. I had no life, no friends and no family really and I didn't really care. I had nothing and nothing to lose and then I knew loss. What I cared about was gone; it was all lost. Now I have everything to gain; everything is a clean slate. It's all blank pages waiting to be written on. It's all about going forward. It's all uncertainty and possibilities."

It was kind of nice to write the real message of the book in that way although it was such a tease. I thought that I would have a resolution (I guess I'm that kind of person, wanting closure) but I presume the author had other thoughts. In a way, the author was able to grasp the audience's attention on two things: the need to know and the need to be perceptive. Even as such, I still think that this novel just leaves too many unanswered questions.

In conclusion, the book was good but not as captivating as I would have thought it would. And although, I did not get the resolution I wanted, it was nice to leave in a note that would have you think of many other possibilities.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Simple as Snow is a young adult coming of age story about an average teenage boy and his brief and turbulent relationship with his goth girlfriend, Anna. The book is labeled as a mystery but I honestly don’t see it that way. In fact, I think that this book is hideously mismarketed as a mystery novel. Galloway himself ran a website for a while where he interacted with readers and would give them further clues to the “mystery.”

It has been over a decade and there hasn’t been any real answer to what happened to Anna. The reason why was that the mystery was never meant to be solved, it’s a game like the ones played by Anna in the story. All of the hints within the story and teased by the author are red herrings. The mystery is not actually what the story is about.

The narrator is intentionally ambiguous so as to make him relatable to the average teenage reader. While everyone may think of themselves as unique, quirky, or cool, if we stop to take a good hard look at ourselves, I think that many of us feel that we’re pretty average. We go out of our way to conform to an idea of what we’d like to be. I appreciated the narrator because he is a perfect representation of that feeling of uncertainty, of not being able to fit in, of feeling like an outcast; an experience shared by many young adults stumbling through high school.

The narrator is defined by his malleability, whether he realizes it or not. When he meets Anna he thinks she’s weird, but quickly finds himself drawn to her. She has a personality that is exciting to him, and steadily he begins to mold himself to her, playing all of the little games that she creates no matter how ridiculous. At first glance, they may seem like an ideal relationship of opposites, but as I read I began to question the romance.

The important facet of the narrator and Anna’s relationship really was that Anna became an overwhelming force in his life. While the narrator is a supportive and stabilizing figure for Anna, she was not necessarily a positive influence on him. Her disappearance understandably leaves him distraught, and the second half of the novel picks up speed as the narrator starts to question his life without Anna as a guide. In her absence, the things that seemed special to them were really not all that special, and the narrator realizes that he has choices in his life, if only he would just make them.

I have to admit that this book took me several months to finish. It’s not that the writing was bad, quite the opposite in fact. The first half of the novel is painstakingly slow as the relationship between the narrator and Anna is developed. It seems benign at first, and I had begun to wonder where the story was going or why so much time was spent on the duo’s everyday interactions. It wasn’t until the end of the book and for a few days after that the message of the story really sunk in, and the careful buildup at the start made so much more sense.

I can see why this book is a favorite of my husband’s and why it has captivated readers despite its relative obscurity. While I found it frustrating at times, I ended up enjoying this slow burn of a novel. I cautiously recommend it with an extra reminder not to go in with expectations of a mystery.

[Sera · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'll be honest, I really wanted to like this book. And for the first half or so, I did. Anna was an original sort of character, and despite the blandness of the narrator, I liked the way that the two interacted with each other. The plot promised to become even more interesting, and to be honest, I was all set to give this book five stars.

Then I read the second half, and things started to go downhill.

I'll start by saying this- if you're like me, and like books with a real conclusion that ties up most if not all loose ends, then don't even bother with this book. There are multiple times where things seem as though they're going to be resolved, where you think that at least one of your questions will be answered. Then something happens that makes you not only question what has already been read, but opens up a whole new set of questions. Questions that, mind you, never actually get resolved.

I had high hopes for this book- really, I did. The only reason I'm not giving it a one star rating is because for a while, I did enjoy it. I really believed that things were going to get better, both for the characters and the book itself. But unfortunately, this was just one of those books that left me feeling completely let down, staring at the cover, and thinking- that's really it? And just because of that frustration, I can't see myself recommending this book.

[Chris - Quarter Press Editor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think I've ever been so simultaneously angered and left in awe by an author. Galloway spins a mighty fine yarn here that only gets better as it goes on. At first, I'll admit, that I wasn't too into the thing, but as it had been recommended to me by a trusted friend--and my bad habit of finishing everything I start--I kept plodding along. This book truly gets better and better as it goes on. Those are the reasons I am in awe.

I am angry at Mr. Galloway because of how unsettled I am by all the mysteries left behind. I can't see this novel ending any other way, but seriously... I suppose this is a good way/tactic to keep your readers thinking about your novel long after they've finished. I will be thinking about this one for weeks to come, I'm sure.

Books like this remind me of why I wanted to be a writer in the first place. However, they also remind me how lacking my own novel is. I suppose I'll say that everything balances out though, because that reminder makes writing the new novel even easier.

[Armana · Rating 1 out of 5]

The publisher should include something like 'Warning: Not meant to be read by people looking for a plot.' Or '
Achievement unlocked:
I managed to get a completely plotless book published, cheers!'
How to diagnose a lazy author:
'Puzzles?-great! Different hobby?-Even better. Shallow characters who like solving puzzles and have weird hobbies?- Couldn't get any better. Full stop. Now if you all could just complete the story for me, that would be great. Oh and yeah I killed somebody / made them disappear just because the story was going nowhere. The end.'
It is my sincere request to the author to never ever make an attempt at writing a thriller if he himself doesn't know what to do with his characters.

[Megan Honaker · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was tough for me. I appreciated the thought that went into the writing because the characters do a lot with art and literature so I think the book was well thought out. I just thought it moved so slowly with such a frustrating plot. The plot that you read about on the back of the book doesn't start until almost page 200 and I think that's ridiculous. Up to that point, it's all about their relationship and that's a bit much for me. And then Anna. I just despise her. I think she's selfish and eccentric but in a super annoying way instead of endearing. She left so many plot-holes like what's up with the thing with Mr. Devon? I just think so much was left unanswered which was obviously the point but too much was left in my opinion. To me this book is like a shittier Paper Towns.

[Marya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess this is a mystery; a main character disappears in the middle of the story, leaving the narrator to try and work out what happened to her. Yet, this is not a whodunnit story. The book is more interested in exploring the narrator's sense of self and how others define/do not define it. The character who disappears is equally self-absorbed. She drops names of famous or obscure artists/musicians/writers/performers constantly, as though these, plus her Goth attire, define her. She also has a penchant for adding mystery and drama to everyday life, no matter how mundane. In other words, she is a typical teen.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's kind of a shame this got pigeonholed as YA - it's rare that I find adult literature that leaves so many mysteries unsolved. Of course, some authors leave things unresolved and it feels like a cop-out, but in this case, it was nice! This book definitely gets better after the manic pixie dream girl goes missing. She's a little too kookily mysterious/spontaneous/culturally aware, but maybe she actually has modeled herself after some manic pixie dream girls a la Garden State Natalie Portman and her ilk. So in that sense, it is believable that a teenage girl would be actively trying to be quirky(!), but the second half when she's not bodily present was much better.

[Everardo garza]

A quote that i found and loved is "but if love is true and still leaves you lonely. what good does it do?"(gallooway,3) 3

[Will Walton · Rating 5 out of 5]

It will hit you smack in the gut and leave you breathless. There, I said it. I feel that strongly about it.

[MarxtheScizor · Rating 1 out of 5]

As Simple as Snow is one of the worst books I have ever read. I've been rendered speechless by how...disappointingly awful this book turned out to be; I went into it expecting an interesting story, and came out on the other end coated in pretension and shite.

Let's begin with the characters of this metaphorical train wreck before diving into the plot:

First up, we have Bland 'N Dull, the unnamed protagonist, who is completely enamored with Interesting McQuirky, a mysterious goth chick who is...intruiging, to say the least. They start an unlikely romance because Interesting McQuirky thought he was uninteresting, and wanted to liven things up for him(I am dead serious).

Bland 'N Dull is somehow generically unique, if that makes a lick of sense; he is, supposedly, a sort of person who doesn't "fit in" with any social class at high school, an outcast. Basically, he's every high school teenager in YA literature, except with even less to talk about. He has a drug dealing best friend, whom I am going to call Plot Device Magee for reasons to be revealed later, who is the only other person besides Bland 'N Dull who hasn't been lumped into a stereotypical category. I'm not joking; even Interesting McQuirky is lumped to the "goth" category for no reason other than "she wears black and does weird shit'", and yet the main character and his best friend are exempt from social stereotypes because...the book said so. No real reason is given; the main character just doesn't fit in, because he's so bland that everyone thinks they'll catch whatever personality-crippling disorder he has. At least, that is what I think should be the explanation.

So, his best friend makes him hang out in the library because it's a good place to pick up chicks(apparently) and he ends up talking very awkwardly to Interesting McQuirky. The two become...I have no idea what they become; she's a girl made up of pointless quirks(she makes her own stamps and listens to very old music because it is delightfully quirky), and he has the personality of lukewarm soda(disappointing, bland, and not nearly as good as you thought it would be). They don't have a connection as much as they have...a boring sort of mutual understanding. He is curious about her, because she is quirky, and she thinks he is bland and uninteresting, so he needs excitement in his life. She has multiple pictures and other such things hanging up on her wall, and ends up asking him to remember where she placed a certain item she gives him on her wall, then take a photo of it and ask if it is in the correct spot, because...she's quirky.

As their relationship is kinda forced along, prodded forth with a long stick and made to run on a hampster wheel, spinning itself around for a long, long time; it just goes around in circles, going nowhere even when it tries going somewhere. I wanted to fling the book against a wall after a few pages of the romance, and for a pretty good reason. How would you feel if you had nothing but conversations essentionally consisting of,

Bland 'N Dull: I want to know more about you. Tell me something.

Interesting McQuirky: (gives vague answer, dodges questions asked, or says something quirky)

Bland 'N Dull: You are very vague, and I still want to know more, but I won't ask anything else, because you are too quirky for me to understand. By the way, I love you.

It gets tedious; they have no romantic connection, no connection in general, and yet they are forced to interact. Even the exploits of Plot Device Magee are more interesting; he deals drugs for...no real reason. At least he does something besides fawn pointlessly over a girl who always gives more questions than answers.

Oh, and their parents...I'm going to have to complain about Interesting McQuirky's, the father in particular. I have two, very large problems with his character; the other character's parents are boring and stupid, but this guy is infuriating.

Problem 1: He is obviously revealed to be an abusive jerk early on, but this plot line(whatever it was) is discarded later on. When his daughter is trying to help, he lashes out at her for no reason, and whines about how she can't do anything right so we can feel bad for the "abused" girl. She even comes to school with bruises on her neck, which only Bland 'N Dull seems to notice for some reason; it is blatantly obvious that he is an abusive jerk, which is why his later actions make no sense.

Problem 2: He suddenly changes from a jerk to a jerkishly overprotective guy who allows his wife, who shames Bland 'N Dull for having sex with his daughter, even though she has obviously beaten around the bush more than once, and it was her fault for forcing herself on him like a tramp after getting him plastered, to hit him in the face. Let that sink in; he lets his hysterical bitch of a wife hit the main character, even though he never did anything wrong. When she disappears, it seems like he blames him, so we can feel bad for poor Bland 'N Dull, instead of his daughter. It's a very paper-thin emotional manipulation attempt that bugs the hell out of me.

Anyways, as everything develops between them, Bland 'N Dull attracts the attention of Jealous Boyfriend, the ex of his new girlfriend, and he is repeatedly hassled for no reason, because he isn't "good for her" or some bull like that. Even when he tries fitting in with the goths, he...doesn't, for some odd reason; one of them says something profound, he says something even more profound, and yet they hate him, because the plot said so. It pisses me off that he is despised for no good reason, especially when this girl's friends have no real right to say who dates her and who doesn't. By the way, Jealous Boyfriend is constantly mentioned and speaks to the main character in some cases, but has no real purpose to exist in the story.

Either way, after they blabber about pointlessly profound and deep things, everything kinda falls apart. First off, she disappears for no good reason, and when his older brother's family comes to visit, then his older brother tells him he can't come back because their parents are idiots, he's being all mopey and sad about how he lost her. He tries figuring out where she went, but never truly finds any clues. Bland 'N Dull's best friend supposedly vanishes after some drug dealing thing gone wrong, only to come back and explain that his reputation is now ruined because of it, and he's never returning. So he leaves, and poor little Bland 'N Dull keeps moping and trying to find out where she is. When someone sends him a mysterious letter detailing her obituary(she wrote one for everyone in town, and according to her, everyone who died in the fake obituaries actually died the exact same way later on), he gets annoyed, and tries digging for answers. Even after he goes on some talk..ghost-communication television program to find "closure", and discovers she might be dead, he still keeps digging, and where does his hard work get him?

Nowhere. He never finds out what happened; his drug dealing buddy left forever after he killed some chick he rebounded with by giving her too many drugs, we're meant to care even though it doesn't matter, he's all mopey and sad, everything sucks, and now his hard work leads to nothing. The book spins its wheels, trying to go somewhere, but just like the forced romance, the plot doesn't go anywhere. It ends abruptly, without true closure, and expects us to think that we should be satisfied without the answers we need.

I wouldn't recommend reading this, unless you want to laugh at how terrible it is.

[Abigail Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read this for a class since the author is coming to talk to us in two weeks. A decent read and I got through it in like a day, but I didn’t find it particularly moving or profound. Pretty typical manic pixie dream girl tale but interesting enough.

[Evie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like the first person narrative and the focus on the main character while the main character remained rather nameless (boring?). The writing style grabbed me and kept me reading even if the plot was somewhat meandering.

[David Olsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. I just find a general frustration in works that don't resolve the central mystery.

[Molly · Rating 1 out of 5]

"'You have your whole life ahead of you,' my mother told me, 'don't spend all your time in the past.' It's good advice, I know it is, but the past has its own ideas. It can follow you around with a life of its own, casting a long shadow." ~ Pg. 3, good=bye to everyone

I came across this book at my town's Community Senior Center of all places, which is where I happen to exercise. The fitness membership is extremely affordable and, compared to the Y, I am the youngest and thinnest person working out, which always provides nice motivation to show up :0) Regardless, I was without anything to read while on the elliptical and decided to peruse the book exchange shelves in the common area. There were several titles I'd read before and loved dearly, and also trashy romance novels and airport bookstore crime thrillers that are not my usual choices. And between those, sat "As Simple As Snow."

The description sounded intriguing - and it was an intriguing plot. A new girl named Anna moves in to town, is very different in her selection of appearance (Goth) but also in every other way imaginable, which makes her incredibly magnetic and interesting to our narrator - a high school boy who does not seem to know where he fits in anymore. And so of course, they become friends, begin dating and she becomes his entire world's focus. Until she disappears, presumed dead, out of the blue.

I classified this as a Young Adult novel, given the perspective and age of the characters involved. But it wasn't a tale that dwelled on the struggles of high school life. It was truly more about the excitement that comes from expressing yourself and shedding the natural fear that can come from wanting to do that. I enjoyed Anna's never-ending thirst for knowledge. Her quirky efforts to engage friends in her world became annoying, like she was trying too hard to be cool or something. But whatever. She was smarter than me, as far as her breadth of subject interest and knowledge, though I didn't find a lot of interest in the topics that enthralled her. But I could relate to that spark inside that comes when you are young, bright-eyed and looking to conquer the world because of the truly grown-up ideas you find yourself exposed to.

Anna likes to observe, learn and then put out her interpretation of things in creative, mysterious ways. Everything is a riddle. Not unlike the shortwave radio message transmissions her father has introduced to them. She is all about putting clues out there for her friends to discover to solve these riddles. But the biggest mystery to be solved is Anna herself.

What is real? What is imagined? Why does she do or say certain things? What is she feeling? Those in her circle are obsessed with her. And when she disappears, the whole town becomes obsessed. I was obsessed too - to figure out what all of these crumbs scattered throughout the book would lead to. So many sketchy characters swirling around her; were they involved in her disappearance or death? What did it all mean????

I was told a long time ago that a mystery author or playwright does not introduce unnecessary details. Everything is there for a purpose. Well, this author does not subscribe to that rule. He introduces lots of details. Details around every page turned. And NONE of them point to any purpose in the end, other than to string the reader along toward an ending that provides zero answers.

I am guessing that this book's message is to show the lesson learned by the narrator in this mystery that has broken his heart. Anna came into his life, woke him up, and revived his spirit. It put him on a new path, or at least, showed him the path he was meant to follow. It doesn't really matter what happened to her. It is what her existence caused to happen within him that is the point. The unsolved mystery was vital to his internal change.

But it wasn't vital to me. I hate unsolved mysteries.

[N]

Apparently, Galloway has an MFA. I know this from this book jacket blurb, but the clues are also in his style of writing. As Simple As Snow, a bleak little adolescent love-story-turned-mystery, reads like a clumsy creative writing dissertation. Most of the first dozen chapters are simply vignettes describing the novel’s major characters. They’re not integrated into the story in any way – they’re just there, as if copied&pasted from a homework assignment to write 1,000 words about a single character. As I was reading, I also grew to dread any change of setting, because the story would inevitably grind to a halt as Galloway devoted a page to describing the scenery.

Maybe if the story were more compelling, this stylistic clumsiness would bother me less. Alas, I couldn’t bring myself to care about the unpopular narrator, his unhappy home life or his eccentric new girlfriend. Admittedly, there are some nice touches to the story, such as Anna’s penchant for sending the narrator odd little gifts and letters through the mail. As a noir-ish teen drama, it also reminded me of the movie, Brick. Unfortunately, the blending of genres worked better when writ large on screen. Here, the characters just seem pretentious and annoying.

Outcasts are usually easy to root for – they’re the underdog and you want to see them succeed – but Galloway’s narrator seems ill-liked for good reason. He’s dull and unremarkable, with a hint of mean-spiritedness. There’s one chapter where he describes his mother in terms of unbridled scorn: she’s too inept to hold a job (never mind that she used her career-building years to raise three kids); she’s a mediocre cook (never mind that she still makes him two meals a day, every day). It’s deeply unpleasant.

Though branded as a mystery, I found I didn’t even care enough to find out what happened in the end.

[Emilyn Snyder · Rating 3 out of 5]

After finishing this book the first two descriptors I thought of were 'weird' but 'simple'. Weird not necessarily in terms of bizarre but in terms of structure and how one would expect the story to go. Simple not in terms of easy but straightforward.

I don't think I necessarily love or hate the book, my emotions fluctuated depending on each chapter. If anything, it felt like I was reading not a novel and more of a series of short stories. This goes beyond the unusual way the chapters are formatted. It truly feels as each section could be a compelling story all its own, a series of non-fictitious snapshots of a real person's life. Or a piece submitted by a non-fiction creative writing student. The characters were well built up, from the narrator's perspective, and the sense of life in that small town felt tangible if flawed. I can understand one's love of its world but also one's frustration of its ending. But its meant to be loved and to be frustrating. Despite its simple appearance the author isn't trying to spoon feed you the story. Perhaps he could go about it in a more agreeably manner or maybe he just insisted on writing int he way he wanted it to be written.

I am neither recommending it or not recommending it, if it's summary and reviews have piqued your interest, go ahead, read it. If you don't want to waste your time (or what you think will be wasting your time), then don't. Either way I feel this is a book you must discover naturally, not because an anonymous book snob on the internet told you to read it.

[FindingFiction · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book embodies exactly what I find most enjoyable to read. Now this is a warning that books like these aren’t for everyone.

It’s a slow coming of age mystery told by our narrator. Now this entire book could be considered either horribly confusing or intentionally brilliant. While listening to the audiobook, it didn’t occur to me that I didn’t know the narrator’s name. I can name his best friend, his girlfriend, his girlfriend’s best friend, his brother and sister, even his “enemy”, but I didn’t know his name. Going back I realized he is unnamed and this is obviously deliberate by the author, for what purpose, I couldn’t tell you, but it does add to the entire ambiance of the book.

The plot is a bit ambiguous and leaves the reader thinking that the authors deliberately is manipulating us to be confused, leaving dead end clues.

I looked online to see what others thought and not too much was found about the book and not much else could be said about the ending that I already didn’t know. A few tried to decipher clues left by “Anna”, one of the characters, but whether those clues are intentionally meant for the reader to decipher or just apart of the plot is also unknown.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. It’s hard to fault this book when I know I’ll be thinking about it long after today.