East Of The Mountains

Rating:
Summary: Not up to Snow
Review: The Kirkus reviewer was wrong; many people have been disappointed by this novel, and I'm one of them.

Snow Falling on Cedars had a lot to it--a love story, a mystery story, a war story, and a story of the shabby treatment of the Japanese during WWII. I'm usually not much interested in descriptions of scenery, but in SFOC, I found them enjoyable and integral to the plot. Here, the descriptions just sat there, doing nothing.

Here is a man who is planning to kill himself but gets quite bent out of shape when he cuts his head in an auto accident (wasn't he wearing a seat belt?). I laughed out loud.

He seems quite concerned about his injured dog but seems to have no feeling for the birds he wantonly shoots.

The story went nowhere, and the few possibly interesting characters Ben meets along the way are not developed.

Rating:
Summary: A Mountain Too High To Climb
Review: It must be an author's nightmare - the follow-up to a debut novel which was both critically acclaimed as well as wildly popular with the public. While perhaps unfair, it is almost impossible not to use David Guterson's "Snow Falling on Cedars" as a measuring stick for his second novel, "East of the Mountains." While both novels take place in the Pacific Northwest, there is little other similarity (and even there the geographies of Washington State are decidedly different) between the two works.

On the surface, the story is a simple one. A retired surgeon (Ben Givens) faces his own mortality. Suffering from terminal cancer, the bereaved widower decides to take a trip back to his birthplace - east of the mountains - where he plans to end his life. En route, Ben gets into a car accident which sets off a chain reaction of odd meetings and situations which delay his plan and cause him to reflect on his past.

Guterson, as he displayed in "Cedars," is certainly an accomplished writer and overall it was a quick read. However, it is just plain depressing. I am still trying to figure out how one review blurb proclaims it "a strikingly joyful book." Although pre-dating it by years, I found the despair of the central character quite similar to the one in the novel-turned-movie "About Schmidt." While empathizing with his illness, I was frustrated with Ben. Although it surely could be argued, I just do not feel Ben changes (has an epiphany) over the course of his strange three-day journey. So that ultimately made me question the point of "Mountains." While the one of the novel's theme of the value of each human life is certainly a worthy one - what would have been a great short story is dragged out to just a good novel.

Rating:
Summary: Simple is nice.
Review: Everyone is right, the book is a hair contrived and at times drags on (especially the flashbacks). But, I really became attached to Ben. Like all road stories (Blue Highwways, On the Road etc.) this tale shares people and events that keep us rivited. Unlike others i have not read Snow Falling on Cedars but I think I will give it a try. This is a good rainy day Sunday book, nothing more nothing less. But I would defintely recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Vivid story
Review: I was attracted to this novel because it takes place in the state I live in, Washington. I was immediately pleased because the story was intriging, a retired surgeon finds out he has cancer and decides to set out on a hunting trip in which he plans to commit suicide, and the story of his life in the present and then his flashbacks to his younger days were well detailed, I felt I was really getting to know the character and I enjoyed rich history of Washington orchards brought out as well.

Rating:
Summary: No death without a life
Review: Ben Givens is a man suffering from cancer. He knows he only has a few months to live. He is a retired heart-surgeon. As a doctor he knows exactly what to expect as his condition deteriorates.

So he decides to put an end to his life before the end that is not only inevitable but both certain and predictable in its physical evolvement.

However, he decides to do this in a rather contrived way. The aim is to make his suicide look like a hunting accident. So he carefully plans his last hunting excursion making certain that nothing will lead to any suspicions as to the real cause of his death.

Yet nothing turns out quite like he expected.

For he becomes involved in incidents which serve to remind him not only of the value of kindness of one human being to another but also of life itself. No matter how grim in fact that life may seem to a man condemned to die a slowly painful death.

His suicide trip in the guise of a hunting excursion simultaneously becomes a sojourn to the past as his mind is flooded by memories induced by two of three marijuana cigarettes given to him by a drifter, one of his acquaintances on this trip to death.

To reveal the end of the book would be to deny the reader the pleasure of following along with Ben Givens the track of his thoughts and emotions as he plans his death then suddenly loses the means to such a death and ends up trying to regain both the means and the circumstances which would help him in staging his seemingly accidental death.

Yet the book is not confined alone to this struggle towards death. Rather it is filled with reminders of how people cling on to life in spite of the dangers or obstacles they may encounter along the way.

This is the first book I have read by this author. Guterson does handle language with skill, knowledge and experience. Not, however, with any impression of effortlessness.

In fact, one does sense to an intense degree that the author not only has devoted a great amount of time on research on the factual background to the plot but also on finding the correct word on every occasion and for every description. However, the factually correct word is not always emotionally or even intellectually the right one as it may in essence interfere with the flow of the words within which it is embedded and consequently the way in which such a flow may affect the response of the reader to that particular flow of words .

Nonetheless the story is told well in spite of the way in which it is often illustrated by such overt aspects of reality in the sense of the detail profusely made available at certain points of the book. To such an extent in fact that one senses that the author is merely and possibly quite needlessly demonstrating knowledge which he has gained through his research prior to or during writing the book. In fact, even though this is a rather short book, while reading it one is sustained by a steady suspicion that it could even be shorter without any real damage to either the development of the plot or the message of the book.

Of course, some people adore detail. For detail does serve to make more real that which we all know is, in fact, not real but a work of fiction.

However, apart from this observation about how the book becomes needlessly dense at some points it remains throughout an interesting book to read.

This is mainly achieved by the way the character of Ben Givens is so solidly structured both by his placement in the present as well as his anchorage to his past.

Rating:
Summary: Maybe he has only one novel in him
Review: I was disappointed in this second novel. After having read 'Snow Falling on Cedars' (recommended) I was looking forward to this book. 'East of the Mountains' lacks the ring of truth and as I made my way through this irritatingly soppy story; I suspected Guterson of writing, rather than a novel, a potential screenplay.

Rating:
Summary: This book is so good!
Review: I was Able To Get Inside That Man's Head
I really enjoyed East of the Mountains. Every time I read a Guterson book, I end up understanding men better, their depth of emotion, their motivations, their courage or lack thereof, the experiences they open themselves up to. I really appreciate the opportunity to gain this knowledge. I anxiously await Guterson's next book. He has a tremendous ability to take you there with his engaging descriptions of the terrain and culture. He is able to cross the great divide and communicate accurately the mind, will, and emotions of his characters. I connect with his works and am edified by them. . I respect Guterson's ability to bring to these pages the very soul of this 73-year-old man I wonder how he, as a younger man, got so much insight into what it would be like mentally to face such a thing as a cancer diagnosis at 73.

Rating:
Summary: Just Misses Inspiring
Review: A well constructed, well plotted, and well written novel that simply falls short of the magic that makes great books. You know the plot... it's the journey of a dying man through a state, through his life, and through his soul. Dispite this wonderful pretense, it doesn't move. Guterson proves himself certified gifted with prose, one of the best of the modern crop thanks to this book and "Cedars," however althogether the novel just fails to inspire. It's not particularly unsatisfying, and it's never less than adequate, but it becomes glaringly evident that Guterson missed his intended mark, and failed to achieve the desired effect on the reader. Personally I felt the end to be a little rushed, and in the final pages I found myself more of an ambivilant observer. It's just a solid novel, and a pleasant read. All in all, East of the Mountains is typical of the recent crop of "pop" novels, particularly like those of John Grisham. On a side note, I can't stop looking at the cover. It's great.

Rating:
Summary: Not As Depressing and Led to Think
Review: The beginning of this book unfolds a depressing picture of what's to come, but it turns out to be an interesting journey. The pace is somewhat slow, but this book does have beautiful visual descriptions and well developed and interesting characters. I will agree with most reviewers that Snow Falling On Cedars is a much stronger story by this author. Borrow this book from a friend of library and enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: My First Guterson Read
Review: I did not read Snow Falling on Cedars, and I am glad I did not because it seems to prejudice "Snow" readers against the style, structure and content employed for East of the Mountains. The book's premise, a retired surgeon faces terminal cancer, drew me in. The writing kept me there. The writer makes it look easy as he lays down a beautiful, thought-provoking story.