East of the Mountains

Rating:
Summary: Achingly Familiar Landscape and Character
Review: As a native Northwesterner, I am always suspicious about books written about this region. So many writers don't get it right, but five a quick gloss to Puget Sount, toss in a little Mt. Rainier and rhapsodize at entirely too much lengh about the San Juan Islands.

But Guterson's got the sense of place just right. The book opens with an aging and terminally ill Seattle physician's decision to return to the scene of his youth and end his life.

I found myself gasping with recognition in Guterson's account of the surprisingly long and difficult journey over Snoqualmie Pass to Eastern Washington. The landscape sings such a familiar song through Guterson's words.

His protagonist initially displays the contained stoicism so typical of the region's Scandinavian-American residents. And like them, he rises to complex challenges, spilling forth his humanity at every turn. The protagonist's achingly difficult night on the Columbia plateau was so real that it was painful to read.

The doctor has to be one of the best fictional characters I've encountered in a long time. In fact, he is so skillfully drawn that I find myself unable to decide whether Guterson's greater gift is for evoking character or landcape. In any case, this is defintely a five-star book.

Rating:
Summary: The Strength of the Human Spirit
Review: East of the Mountains by David Guterson is a moving account of the strength of the human spirit. Ben Givens, a retired heart surgeon who has been diagnosed with inoperable colon cancer, takes the reader on a hunting trip designed to cover up his planned suicide. Though actually spanning one week of time, Givens adventure in the high desert of Eastern Washington State guides us through a lifetime of memories and leads us to a deeper understanding of Ben's desire to end his life. Guterson's style of slow and patient writing adds to the feeling that his main character is winding down, putting things in perspective and trying to make sense of a life that he can no longer control. Guterson writes with the wisdom of someone who has experienced the slow process of forced acceptance.

Through vivid flashbacks and visual descriptions, Guterson paints a picture of Given's childhood in the apple orchards along the east bank of the Columbia, the area itself, and how he met and fell in love with Rachel. When Ben is called to serve his country in World War II, he witnesses death first hand on the battlefields in Italy's Apennines, and is awed by the power of healing that emanates from the hands of the Army doctor. This experience leads Givens to choose a fulfilling career as a thoracic surgeon. After marrying Rachel and fathering a daughter, Ben is sustained by the love and devotion of his family, the power of healing others, and the richness of personal accomplishments. When Rachel dies, Ben realizes how deeply his own sense of self was rooted in his relationship with his wife; now, only nineteen months after his wife's death, Ben is faced with the onset of colon cancer. The fight or flight syndrome is even more intense for a surgeon who is personally acquainted with the process of a slow death. "Ben was aware of regions of pain so terrible, they obliterated all arguments"(p 15). Ben envisions the burden and pain that such a painful fatal illness will inflict on both him and his loved ones; he turns to the alternative-suicide. "Like all physicians, he knew the truth of such a verdict; he knew full well the force of cancer and how inexorably it operated. Better to end it now, he'd decided; better to avoid pain than to engage it" (p 4).

However, the human spirit clings to life, and as Ben Givens spends a week in the east side of the mountains, he encounters several people who influence and help him to discover his inner strength. After Ben wrecks his 1969 International Scout at Snoqualmie Pass, he nearly loses his eye and alters his immediate plans. Ben meets a couple of incense-carrying "forevers" who remind him of youthful desires and a drifter who provides him with marijuana to ease his pain. Givens encounters a coyote hunter and survives a wild nighttime standoff with a ravenous pack of Irish wolfhounds, leaving one of his dogs dead and the other critically injured. Ben tests his physical endurance as he carries his wounded pet from the desert to a veterinarian where her touch reminds him of the power in a surgeon's hands. As his journey continues, he meets a migrant worker who tries his ability to understand and comes face to face with a situation that questions his identity as a physician. However, Ben's skill saves the life of a mother and infant in a very harrowing delivery, and life begins to take on new meaning for Ben. "Things looked different" (p 264). Guterson makes us understand that even when the body gets old and betrays us, the human spirit is ageless and can endure.

Ben Given's decision to end his life is not so shocking considering the road ahead of him; however, his inner strength to find a new path toward his final passing is inspiring. In the unhurried quiet of Ben's soul, truth was affirmed. Ben's encounters with people on the east side of the mountains taught him that life is a gift filled with purpose and beauty, and that even in the darkest hours, the human spirit can reach out and touch someone's heart. Guterson reminds us that we are all human, that we do not want to suffer, and that it takes an extremely strong person to live life fully when faced with the finality of death.

Rating:
Summary: The Literary Talent is Obvious But No Story Here
Review: Guterson's skills as a writer are unquestionable, as was demonstrated in his first book. However, East of the Mountains is no Snow Falling on Cedars. The writing is there, which kept me reading, but the plot is lacking. The story of a dying man on a journey toward death who encounters individuals who, *surprise*, each represent a little piece of himself was predictable and uninteresting.

One of the best aspects of Cedars was Guterson's character development and the author's subtle intertwining of those characters. This is not the case in his second book, as each character appears for only a few pages. I found myself much more interested in the migrant workers, the vagabond, and the kids in the VW bus than in the main character.

As a previous reviewer pointed out, it does feel as if Guterson rushed on this one. It's pretty good, but certainly not great.

Rating:
Summary: A meditation on what matters
Review: I agree with other reviewers who believe this work falls short of SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS (just short, however). Guterson's second novel is, nonetheless, a worthy and well-written work about a man's journey into the mountains to commit suicide. Ben Givens, formerly a skilled heart surgeon, believes he has lost all reason to live. He has lost his wife, his work, and now his health because of incurable cancer. In essence, his decision represents a failure of heart.

Before leaving, he makes it appear that he intends to return home, setting the stage for his act to appear like an accident. He heads east into the Cascades, in his old International Scout with hunting dogs, provisions, and shotgun. Soon there's a problem. Distracted by his dogs, he skids on a wet mountain road and slams into a tree. Suddenly, he is need of help, from others, and it arrives in unlikely ways: from a young couple, a drifter, a veterinarian, a migrant worker, and a rancher. They help Ben beyond their understanding, and beyond his, too.

This is a story that weaves its magic slowly, patiently, and on more than one level, much like COLD MOUNTAIN. This is a journey of the spirit. This is a journey forward through the mountains and backward through a life. This is a journey into what matters when all seeems lost. Along the way, Ben reminisces about his childhood, his roots, his family, his military service in World War II, and his wife -- a summing up and a reconciliation, a meditation on what mattered most in his life.

Guterson continues to craft novels of artistry and literary merit, tales that tackle substantial themes. He is a writer to watch.



Rating:
Summary: Masterful tale of a life-changing journey
Review: I had never been to eastern Washington state -- until I read David Guterson's loving portrayal in this rich and understated novel of a sick old man trying to lose his life, and finding it in the process. Guterson's plain, beautiful prose in this book took me to that region of the U.S. His writing here reminded me of both Wallace Stegner and Willa Cather, both exemplars of loving and meticulous portrayals of the American west and its people.

The emotional descriptions are never overwrought, and because of that they are immensely affecting. Ben Givens is likable in spite of a stubborn thread. The flashback accounts of his halcyon youth on an apple farm are just gorgeous; you will smell the crisp apples hanging from the rows of trees and feel the love between young Ben and his brother, mother, and father. In Guterson's fictional world, husbands and wives love each other deeply and unwaveringly; children and elders operate from a platform of profound mutual respect and affection. What a pleasant change from much of today's ironic, cynical, nihilistic fiction about relationships!

I liked "Snow Falling..." very much, but I feel this book is the greater writerly achievement of the two. In my view, it vaults Guterson into the ranks of some of our finest regional and national fiction writers.

Rating:
Summary: East of the Mountains- a full course meal
Review: I was utterly shocked when I saw that this book had only earned 3 stars (at the time of this review). It is hands down one of the best books I have ever read. My wife and I were about 2 weeks from relocating to the area where the book is set so that may have played a role in my enjoyment of the book

The travels of the protagonist lead him, and the reader, to consider life and death. I gave this book away after I read it only to go and buy another copy for myself. I will read it again and again.

Rating:
Summary: I loved this book...
Review: I'm quite suprised by the reviews that rate this book a poor follow up to Snow Falling on Cedars. They are very different books, and East of the Mountains is intentionally more focused on an internal journey of an individual man. If you understand that going in, the book completely lives up to what we expect from Guterson's writing.

It does lack the intricate weaving of multiple characters and storylines of Snow Falling on Cedars, but I really enjoyed the attention Guterson gives to Ben's character development. And no one has ever captured the essence of Eastern Washington like this author has--having lived there for 5 years (now in Seattle, much like the lead character), his visual portaits of the land are both accurate and stunning.

If you appreciate understanding what motivates characters, and enjoy rich, descriptive detail of landscapes, you will like this book.

Rating:
Summary: Better than Snow Falling on Cedars
Review: I'm quite suprised by the reviews that rate this book a poor follow up to Snow Falling on Cedars. They are very different books, and East of the Mountains is intentionally more focused on an internal journey of an individual man. If you understand that going in, the book completely lives up to what we expect from Guterson's writing.

It does lack the intricate weaving of multiple characters and storylines of Snow Falling on Cedars, but I really enjoyed the attention Guterson gives to Ben's character development. And no one has ever captured the essence of Eastern Washington like this author has--having lived there for 5 years (now in Seattle, much like the lead character), his visual portaits of the land are both accurate and stunning.

If you appreciate understanding what motivates characters, and enjoy rich, descriptive detail of landscapes, you will like this book.

Rating:
Summary: I loved this book...
Review: Written beautifully with such a life affirming message. I could see the main character so clearly and he haunts me still. I loved this one and highly recommend it.