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Cold Enough for Snow

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Cold Enough for Snow

By: Jessica Au
Narrated by: Gaby Seow
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About this listen

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.

A young woman accompanies her mother on a holiday in Japan. The daughter has arranged their itinerary. They travel by train, visit galleries and churches chosen for their art and architecture, eat together in small cafés and restaurants and walk along the canals at night, on guard against the autumn rain and the prospect of snow. All the while, they talk, or seem to talk: about the weather, horoscopes, clothes and objects; about the mother’s family in Hong Kong and the daughter’s allegiances in Australia. But uncertainties abound. How much is spoken between them, how much is thought but unspoken?

2022, The Age Book of the Year Award Fiction, Short-listed

2022, Queensland Literary Awards The University of Queensland Fiction Book Award, Short-listed

2023, Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Victorian Prize for Literature, Winner

2023, Indie Book Awards Fiction, Long-listed

2023, Dublin Literary Award, Long-listed

2023, Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Prize for Fiction, Winner

2023, Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) Small Publishers' Adult, Short-listed

2023, ALS Gold Medal, Long-listed

2023, Miles Franklin Literary Award, Short-listed

2023, Prime Minister's Literary Awards, Winner

2023, Australian Literature Society (ALS) Gold Medal, Long-listed

©2022 Jessica Au. First published in print by Giramondo Publishing Company, Fitzcarraldo Editions, and New Directions Publishing (P)2022 Bolinda Publishing Asian & Pacific Islander Creators Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Heartfelt China

Critic Reviews

"So calm and clear and deep, I wished it would flow on forever." (Helen Garner)

"Rarely have I been so moved, reading a book: I love the quiet beauty of Cold Enough for Snow and how, within its calm simplicity, Jessica Au camouflages incredible power." (Edouard Louis, author of The End of Eddy)

"Au's writing ebbs along effortlessly and poetically." (The Australian)

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An award winner, this is well crafted and deserves a solid three stars. Some will love.

I felt it was unbalanced between the time in Japan and the reminiscing about the boyfriend. Narrator let it down. So hard to tell if I would’ve rated it higher if I read the physical copy. Am left without feeling.

Good Craft but Meh

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I see that there's mixed reviews, so I'd like to add my 2 cents.
I read this for a bookclub and after my first read I couldn't find the narrative and I was frustrated! but after my second pass I realised the happenings were in the subtext, and the book itself is a warm and beautiful stream of consciousness. If you need a clear plot, big moments, and a moral to the story, this might not be the one for you. But this book is really a simple art; the author has done a wonderful job telling us so much with her curated words in this descriptive story.
(and good job to the narrator, I think you captured the tone really well!)

justice for the book, justice for the narrator!

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Haunting and measured reflection on the life of the traveler and her family as she travels with her mother in Japan. The story and style grew on me as the book progressed and I enjoyed the insights and events in the life of children of Chinese immigrants . The tone was beautiful and evocative .

Haunting and evocative reflections on life and family

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I think the style of narration meant I couldn’t connect with the story or main character.

Could not connect

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I thought the narration was soothing and gentle which suited the style of the book. The scenes set and were described vividly with so much detail it was almost poetic however it lacked any connection to the characters they fell flat and were uninteresting. Overall I felt like this book was about everything and yet nothing. I feel the author has such potential to be a great story teller if there is an actual story to tell.

had high hopes

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It is not so much a story as it is a very beautiful recount of a journey, from the perspective of someone who is very observant and thoughtful when reflecting on the mundane. It also paints a picture of a different culture through the observations. I enjoyed listening to it a lot, though it wasn’t at all what I expected.

A beautiful, poetic narrative

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I listened to this book after it was recommended to me by a friend on the basis of good reviews. I have an interest in Japan and travel so I thought it would be a good match, however, I found in the naration really, really bland. the story was quite vague and it didn’t really go anywhere.

Ordinary story not helped by bland narration

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Unfortunately, I couldn't get past the narration style to get far enough in to this book to appreciate it. Seemed monotone and full of unnatural pauses. Just because a text is "literary" doesn't mean it needs to be read in (what I perceived as) a cold, detached way. Such a shame because I am keen to read this story. It will have to be the print version for me I think.

Narration style not for me

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great story, though I found I often drifted and didn't find the narration held my attention. Ended up listening twice and still think I missed a fair bit of the story.

story let ðown by narration

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I feel compelled to weigh in on the narration because I found it so awful. Words were mispronounced, the tone was robotic and the audio quality was so clipped I actually thought it was an AI. The story itself has a beautiful symbolism to it that I feel like I want to give it another go but read it this time instead of listening to it.

Read the book don’t listen to it

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