Snow Falling On Cedars
a novel by D. Guterson

A beautiful love story of two whose dreams and childish aspirations are altered by world events. While the movie may have ended in one way, the book is a bit different:

P427-428
"The white fir's root wad had pulled out of the ground and stood like a wall...Whitecaps roiled among the capsized boats... the green boughs and branches of the fallen trees lay scattered across the clean snow. It occurred to Ishmael for the first time in his life that such destruction could be beautiful.
The reckless water, the frenzied wind, the snow... It was harsh and beautiful and disorderly... Inside, he felt not only an aversion to it but an attraction to it as well. He wanted to remember and not to remember. It was something he could not explain."