"Snow Falling on Cedars" by David Guterson

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…became mature enough to realize this, their relationship was doomed. Had Ishmael realized his love was not true love, he would have had to move away from Hatsue. In the novel the opposite is true, and Hatsue is forced to leave Ishmael. They were wrong from the start. The best they could have hoped for was friendship, which sadly they could not achive because of Ishmael's need for the return of his love from Hatsue.