Smilla’s Sense of Snow met with both critical and popular praise upon its publication in Danish in 1992 and in English in 1993. In addition to being on many bestseller lists, the novel was reviewed in all major newspapers and magazines in the United States. Most critics hail the book as one of the most important novels to emerge at the end of the twentieth century. Indeed, reviewers commonly compare Høeg to such major writers as John Le Carré, Martin Cruz Smith Graham Greene and even Joseph Conrad. While critics agree generally that the novel is of exceptional quality, they nonetheless find that quality in different places. For some, the success of the novel rests in Høeg’s construction of the character of Smilla. For others, the plot itself drives the novel. For still other reviewers, the political ramifications of the relationship between Denmark and Greenland are at the core of the book. And for another group of critics, the postmodern characteristics of the novel make it a book worth studying.

Pearl Bell, writing in Partisan Review, for example, praises the characterization of Smilla, calling her “truculent, ferociously opinionated, erudite, disorganized, [and a] strangely beguiling woman.” Likewise, Lesley Hazelton in the Seattle Times writes this of Smilla:

Bravo Smilla: tough and vulnerable, intelligent and emotional, rational and impulsive, she’s her own person, a full person. This Danish writer scarcely takes a false step in creating a multifaceted, believable, brave woman—an amazing achievement when you consider how confused and alienated most American male writers are about women.

Those critics who focus on the plot of the novel include Brad Leithauser in the New Republic who writes that Høeg handles “with great deftness” the task of creating a plot for a thriller with “artistic freshness.” Richard Eder, writing in the Los Angeles Times Book Review, calls “the sinuous turns of [Høeg’s] story deeply engrossing,” although Eder is not fully satisfied with the book’s ending, suggesting that it does not quite make sense. Robert Nathan in the New York Times Book Review also praises Smilla for both its suspense and “exploration of the heart.”

Perhaps the largest group of critics are fascinated by the postcolonial themes of the book and the way Høeg depicts relationships between the Danes and the Greenlanders. Julian Loose in the London Review of Books suggests that “what lifts Miss Smilla above the ordinary is Høeg’s sense of how mixed motives have grotesquely deformed the unequal relationship of Denmark and Greenland.”

Novelist Jane Smiley, in a review appearing in the Washington Post, points to the “broader political issues, especially the meanings of borders and boundaries between countries and cultures” in Høeg’s evocation of the postcolonial relationship between Denmark and Greenland. Likewise, William A. Henry writes in People that Smilla is “at a deeper level . . . about cultural collisions between the industrial world and more primal places that have fallen under Western sway.” Finally, in an interesting review in the Montreal Gazette, Merilyn Simonds likens the misunderstandings between the Danes and the Greenlanders to the misunderstandings between Canadians and Inuits living in Canada.

Although some critics find fault with the novel because they have a difficult time classifying it generically, others find this generic fluidity to be a strength, as well as being indicative of postmodern literature. Hans Henrik Møller in an excellent article appearing in Scandinavian Studies, for example, identifies Høeg’s work as a “pastiche,” or a collection of “leftovers.” In this, he argues, Høeg’s work is bound both to “the literary past” as well to “postmodern écriture.” Likewise, Jim McCue, reviewing the book for the Times Literary Supplement, applauds Høeg for the books indeterminacy: “Melodrama and slapstick, epic journey and social indictment: the book proudly declines to limit itself.”

It is likely that Smilla’s Sense of Snow will continue to generate critical interest. As a generic hybrid and as an example of postmodernity, the novel elicits a different response with each reading. The wide critical understanding of the book speaks both to its importance as well as its multidimensionality.