Smilla's Sense of Snow (1992) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters/People edit see section history

• Smilla Jaspersen: Daughter of an Inuit woman and medical doctor father who wants to determine the cause of her six-year old friend's death.
• the mechanic, Thomas Fojl: A man who lives in Smilla's apartment building, whom she befriends
• Isaiah: a six year old boy who was afraid of heights and died having been on the rooftop of the apartment building.
• Juliane Christiansen: Alcoholic - mother of Isaiah
• Mrs. Elsa Lubing: ex-chief accountant of Cryolite Corp.
• Dr. Jorgen 'Moritz' Jaspersen: Smilla's Father
• Captain Telling: police
• David Ving: Director of Finance and a lawyer
• Benedicte Clahn: Add a description of this character.
• Johannes Loyen: professor
• Andreas Fine Licht: professor
• Jakkelsen: deck-hand, young brother to the captain. An addict
• Verlaine: ship's bosun
• Katja Claussen: Antique Dealer
• Seidenfaden: Engineer
• Urs: ship's cook
• Benja: Smilla's father's young wife
• Lagermann: Pathologist
• Hansen: Crew member on the Kronos
• Maurice
• Fernanda
• Lander: rich businessman
• Tork Hviid: Scientist
• Captain Lukas: Captain of the Kronos
• Ravn: Denmark government agent

Quotes edit see section history

• “I can tell you that most people secretly find it a relief to have the state divest them of the trouble of being an independent person.”

• “Nothing in life should simply be a passage from one place to another. Each walk should be taken as if it is the only thing you have left.You can demand something like this of yourself as an unattainable ideal. After that, you have to remind yourself about it every time you're sloppy about something.”

• “Tell us, they'll say to me. So we will understand and be able to resolve things. They'llbe mistaken. It's only the things you don't understand that you can resolve. Therewill be no resolution.”

• “You can't talk over this soup. It's shouting from the bowl, demanding your undivided attention.”

  Smilla Jaspersen

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• I feel the same way about solitude as some people feel about the blessing of the church. It’s the light of grace for me. I never close my door behind me without the awareness that I am carrying out an act of mercy toward myself.

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• Unfortunately, I’m not that confident myself. I’ve been given a great deal, and I’ve wanted a lot. And I’ve ended up not really having anything and not really knowing what I want.

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• To want to understand is an attempt to recapture something we have lost.

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• I’ve never claimed that I was perfect. Confronted with people who have power, and who enjoy using it, I turn into a different person, a baser and meaner one.

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• Deep within every blind, absolute love grows a hatred toward the beloved, who now holds the only existing key to happiness.

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• At this moment it becomes more obvious than it has been since I was a child that freedom of choice is an illusion, that life leads us through a series of bitter, involuntarily comical, and repetitive confrontations with the problems that we haven’t resolved.

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• The bad thing about death is not that it changes the future. It’s that it leaves us alone with our memories.

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• It’s the kind of day that might make you wonder about the meaning of life, and discover that there is none.

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• Nothing was more reassuring to me than the knowledge that I would die. In these moments of clarity—and you see yourself clearly only when you see yourself as a stranger—all despair, all gaiety, all depression vanish and are replaced by calm. For me death was not something scary or a state of being or an event that would happen to me. It was a focusing on the now, an aid, an ally in the effort to be mentally present.

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• There’s one thing that is forbidden on journeys by sled, and that is whimpering. Whining is a virus, a lethal, infectious, epidemic disease. I refuse to listen to it. I refuse to be saddled with these orgies of emotional pettiness.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Denmark, Copenhagen
• Greenland

Organizations edit see section history

• Cryolite Corporation of Denmark: Add a description of this organization.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Peter Høeg (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• CWA Silver Dagger Award (1992)
• Glass Key Award (Swedish) (1993)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PT8176.18.O335 F7613 1993
• Dewey: 839.81374

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › World Literature › Scandinavian
• Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Mystery

Movie Connections edit see section history

• Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997) (IMDb): The book was also produced as a 1997 motion picture called Smilla's Sense of Snow, starring Julia Ormond, Jim Broadbent, Gabriel Byrne, Richard Harris, Jürgen Vogel, Mario Adorf and Tom Wilkinson, directed by Bille August. It was released in the UK on the 31st October 1997, and has a running time of 121 minutes. (from wikipedia.com)