East Of The Mountains

Rating:
Summary: storyline takes intellectual easy path - misses opportunity
Review: First, Guterson is a man of substantial writing abilities. In fact, I agree with many who have noticed Cormac McCarthy in this piece, and I believe he has the talent to pull it off. I thought the novel started out with a great premise, the foundation that could have made a truly great novel was laid with grace and considerable skill. However, the novel seemed to get off-track in the middle, and by the time I finished the piece I wondered who actually developed the plot line; Guterson or his publisher, wishing to produce a piece of neutral pablum that would create that largest possible economic market for this book. Too bad, this could have been a Great American Novel. The good news is I think Guterson still has one in him.

Rating:
Summary: a man looking for one last hunt and facing his own death.
Review: i liked this story.Givens plans to go on one last hunt with his two dogs. facing the inevitable painful death of colon cancer, he plans to make his suicide look like a hunting accident so his daughter can get his life insurance money.things go awry right from the beginning leading to an end he hadn't anticipated. reminds me a little of the main character in ed abbey's THE FOOLS PROGRESS if he'd lived to be an old man. but that's just the way i saw it.

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Summary: A teens view of the book
Review: This is without a doubt the best book I've ever read it was awesome a definite for anyone looking for a good book they can't put down!

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Summary: Guterson attempts Cormac McCarthy
Review: If you like the beautiful work of Cormac McCarthy's trilogy(All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, Cities of the Plain), do not read Guterson's new book. Here, you'll find a writer obviously attempting to write in the style of McCarthy, and failing. I seriously struggled to get through the first 64 pages of this book, but ploughed onward, with the knowledge that the book will be featured everywhere, from Barnes & Noble displays to dozens of reviews in magazines and journals. The book loses its ponderous McCarthyisms in the second half, which is better. My favorite parts include the relationship betweeen Givens and his dogs, and the sexual attractions he has with the younger female characters. I never read Guterson's Snow Falling on Cedars, so I can not compare it to that. I would advise readers to skip this one, and pick up McCarthy's Cities of the Plain for first-rate writing.

Rating:
Summary: the first paragraph sets the tone
Review: In the first paragraph we learn the character's sleep is visited - not interrupted, mind you, but visited - by phantoms: images of everything from family members to fruit trees. In the same breath we are told he didn't dream - that these images guarded the portal to dreams. Hmm. Sounds nice and literary, but if your sleep is visited by phantoms and images isn't that dreaming? Then we learn that he is insomniac and didn't sleep at all. Okay... But the pain he feels "throughout all his waking hours" only hits him when his feet hit the floor. Huh? Three self-contradictions on the first page. If good writing is long, rhythmic streams of words, and that seems to be the definition of the other reviewers here, then DG is a genius. By any other definition this is verbiose, pretentious drivel.

Rating:
Summary: prime example of the tyranny of creative writing classes
Review: Amazing how much wordiness we've learned to put up with - no, we even demand it, as proof of good writing. We therefore learn in Chapter One of Guterson's new book that a character steadies a "cup of lemon tea" (lemon, note - lest you think it might have milk in it)"on the dashboard so that it shed a crescent of steam against the windshield." Very nice, good observation - but so what? The writer includes it for the usual creative writing class reason: because he can.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: I was enthralled by the absolute beauty of Guterson's work. Such beautiful descriptions! A marvelous job at capturing moods. A very memorable piece.

Rating:
Summary: A once in a lifetime novel
Review: Having read Snow Falling On Cedars I wasn't sure what to expect of this, particularly as it seemd to be a departure from that very succesful formula. I was hoping for another brilliantly written crime novel that would keep me guessing, instead I was touched, deeply. Guterson has written a brilliantly heartwarming tale about life, love and loss. Read this now, you will not be disappointed.

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Summary: Similar life experiences related well to my own.
Review: "East of the Mountains" described the land and small towns wonderfully. The pointing dogs acted as if I were along for the hunt. Ben Givens encountered death all over, his wife, his own future, his dog, the death of his family members as a child, for his was not an isolated case. People learn to overcome the grief and continue with life for there is new life continually around us, new orchards, a one year old Brittany, giving life to a new child, experiencing life with his immediate family on hiking adventures or memories of family and trips that make us continue on with life. A good leisure read having personally expereinced Ben's emotions.

Rating:
Summary: a powerful, haunting novel
Review: After "Snow Falling on Cedars," I wondered if this fabulous writer would prove true in a second novel -- this book is even better! It's so crisply written, so eloquent, so compelling. I have already started reading it a second time -- I usually don't do that until after a year or so from the first read, but I couldn't wait on this one. We are so lucky to have a wonderful writer like Mr. Guterson -- I can't wait for his next novel... and the one after that, too!!!!