There are occasional flashbacks in which the narrator recalls her absent sister and her family, her dead uncle in Hong Kong, and her lover, Laurie, who had accompanied her on her previous trip to Japan.

She came with her puffer jacket zipped up to her chin, and in the cold night air her breath came out in a little cloud, like a small departing spirit" (p. 90).

"[5] In a highly positive review, Tobias Grey, writing for The New York Times Book Review, noted, "Au's novel, written without any chapter breaks, deftly uses stream of consciousness to explore the legacy of inherited family traits and the difficulty of breaking away.

This makes the occasional imprecision — an unexplained switch in subject, a simile that doesn't land — feel deflating, disillusioning even.

"[8] The Sydney Morning Herald's Declan Fry wrote, "One of the novella's neat turns lies in how precisely and matter-of-factly it narrates events that are – as we come to realise – anything but ...

"[10] The Irish Times also proffered a mixed review, saying, Cold Enough for Snow is a strange, slim volume, written in gentle, sometimes graceful, prose ... there's a sadistic aspect to [the main] character, and her diligent perfectionism proves wearisome ... Generally, with such an unreliable narrator, a reader is at least fascinated by their perspective, or the story itself.

Unfortunately, although this character's mixture of heightened self-awareness and total obliviousness is curious, it's never quite interesting enough to carry the non-events of the book.

Although it improved upon rereading, in the end it was so understated that it left me unsure as to whether Jessica Au's writing was subtle to the point of genius, or just a little dull.