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East of the Mountains - David Guterson


 East of the Mountains - David Guterson Printed Book
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East of the Mountains - David Guterson

 
Description: ISBN 0747545081 / Author: David Guterson / Genre: Fiction / David Guterson's first novel, Snow Falling on Cedars, was a true ensemble ... more
East of the Mountains - David Guterson ... piece, in which even a high-stakes murder trial seemed like a judgement passed on the community at large. In his eloquent second novel, however, the author swings dramatically in the opposite direction. East of the Mountains is the tale of a solitary, 73-year-old Seattle widower. A retired heart surgeon, Ben Givens is an old hand at turning isolation to his advantage, both professionally and personally: When everything human was erased from existence except that narrow antiseptic window through which another's heart could be manipulated--few were adroit as Dr. Givens. Now, however, Ben has been dealt a problem entirely beyond his powers of manipulation: a diagnosis of terminal cancer. With just a few months to live, he sets out across the Cascades for a hunting trip, planning to take his own life once he reaches the high desert. A car crash en route puts an initial crimp in this suicide mission. But the ailing surgeon presses onward--and begins a simultaneous journey into the past. Between present-tense episodes, which demonstrate Ben's cranky commitment to his own extinction, we learn about his boyhood in Washington's apple country, his traumatic war experience in the Italian Alps, and the beginning of his vocation. Guterson narrates the apple-scented idyll of Ben's childhood in a typically low-key manner-- and orchards, of course, are seldom the stuff of melodrama. Still, many of his ambling sentences offer miniature lessons in patience and perception: They rode back all day to the Columbia, traversed it on the Colockum Ferry, and at dusk came into their orchard tired, on empty stomachs, their hats tipped back, to walk the horses between the rows of trees in a silent kind of processional, and Aidan ran his hands over limbs as he passed them with his horse behind him, the limbs trembling in the wake of his passing, and on, then, to the barn. The wartime episodes, however, are less satisfactory. Clearly Guterson has done his research down to the last stray bullet, but there's a second-hand feeling to the material, which seems less a token of Ben's detachment than the author's.

Newest Review: ... of people who change his way of thinking. His thoughts are forced back to his time as a young man, when he met his wife and ... more

 ... fought in the Second World War. Will his desire to die remain? Or will he return home and share his fear of death with his daughter? The characters The older Ben Givens is not of great interest to the reader. He has lost the will to live and as such, can only concentrate on his pain and the desire to commit suicide. Even this did little to inspire sympathy in me. However, as the story develops, and Ben begins to look back into his past, he becomes a much more interesting character. The son of a fruit orchard owner, ...more

Price Comparison for East of the Mountains - David Guterson

East of the Mountains
David Guterson's first novel, Snow Falling on Cedars, was a true ...
Last Update 09.12.2009 06:11
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East of the Mountains
David Guterson's first novel, Snow Falling on Cedars, was a true ...
Last Update 09.12.2009 06:11
£ 4.48
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David Guterson Omnibus: "Snow Falling onCedars", "East of the Mou ...
Pages: 704, Paperback, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Last Update 09.12.2009 06:11
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Read Reviews for East of the Mountains - David ...

sunmeilan
Crowned Review East of the Mountains - David Guterson: Hunting, Picking Apples and Dying (915 words)
by - written on 22/09/06 (Very useful, 103 readings)
Rating:

I chose this book because of the enjoyment that I gained from reading Snow Falling on Cedars, David Guterson’s other novel. I wasn’t expecting this novel to be of the same standard; I have read rave reviews of Snow Falling on Cedars, including my own, but very little about this particular book. Without a doubt, David Guterson has a talent for vivid descriptions of the surroundings; unfortunately, in this case, he hasn’t shown much of a skill for a compelling story. The story Dr Ben Givens is dying of colon cancer. His wife died a year before. His daughter and grandson are settled. There only remains one thing to do; to return to the countryside of his ...  Read the complete review

 

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