East of the Mountains, David Guterson
East of the Mountains, David Guterson
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East of the Mountains

Author: David Guterson

Narrator: Edward Herrmann

Abridged: 5 hr 54 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/05/2000

Synopsis

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the award-winning, bestselling author of Snow Falling on Cedars comes ”a strikingly joyful book and a monumental achievement” (The Philadelphia Inquirer) about a dying man’s final journey through the American West.

When he discovers that he has terminal cancer, retired heart surgeon Ben Givens refuses to simply sit back and wait. Instead he takes his two beloved dogs and goes on a last hunt, determined to end his life on his own terms. But as the people he meets and the memories over which he lingers remind him of the mystery of life’s endurance, his trek into the American West becomes much more than a final journey.

About The Author

David Guterson is the author of a collection of short stories, The Country Ahead of Us, the Country Behind; Family Matters: Why Homeschooling Makes Sense; Snow Falling on Cedars, which won the 1995 PEN/Faulkner Award, the Pacific Northwest Bookseller Association Award, and was an international bestseller; and the national bestseller East of the Mountains.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Susan on February 24, 2008

Guterson is an extraordinary writer and storyteller. I read his first novel, Snow Falling on Cedars while spending one extremely snowy winter in Chicago with my dear Aunt Cassie as she fell ill with cancer and spent her last days in a hospice. The staff was nice enough to let me stay overnight anyti......more

Goodreads review by Linda on June 27, 2009

Eloquent, beautiful prose, but boring, slow story. Put it this way: if I were in the middle of a chapter and the phone rang it wouldn't bother me to put the book down and forget about it until I dusted the table it was sitting on.......more

Goodreads review by robin on January 22, 2022

Age, Wandering, And Wisdom David Guterson's novel "East of the Mountains" is set in the Columbia Basin of central Washington in the late 1990s. It tells the story of Dr. Ben Givens, a renowned heart surgeon who has recently lost his wife, retired, and learned he is suffering from terminal colon cance......more

Goodreads review by The Final Chapter on September 11, 2023

SJC Review: 3.26 This novel has the strengths of an excellent premise and wonderful descriptive prose, but the plot feels contrived and the pace sluggish. Guterson has unquestionable ability in painting a landscape so adroitly that it can attain as much attention as the main characters. Moreover, the......more

Goodreads review by Oscar on June 04, 2016

Esta es la segunda novela que leo de David Guterson, tras la estupenda ‘Mientras nieva sobre los cedros’, que tan buena fama le otorgo a su autor, sobre todo tras la versión cinematográfica. ’Al este de las montañas’ narra el viaje del septuagenario doctor Ben Givens por ese mítico oeste americano.......more

Quotes

“A compassionate and masterful achievement.” —San Francisco Chronicle

”A strikingly joyful book and a monumental achievement.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer

 “In describing the world of a dying man, Guterson invokes the ultimate book of suffering–then, to his great credit, offers it here as a consolation rather than despair.” –The Boston Sunday Globe

“The writing is wonderful throughout, the characters are vivid…heartfelt, engaging and well drawn.” —The Miami Herald

“Profound and ambitious. . . . Guterson depicts . . . moral and spiritual struggle with a clear-eyed intensity and intelligence that gives East of the Mountains its essential authority.” —Chicago Tribune

“The shape is elegant, the tone is perfectly controlled, almost cool, and Guterson’s prose shines with [a] taut polish. . . .[He] is a craftsman with a sense of literary history, one of the most serious and accomplished young American writers.” —The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Guterson possesses a remarkable gift for capturing people and places, etching them into the reader’s mind.” —USA Today

“This book would be a challenge to praise too highly. It resounds with clarity. It feels like home.” –The San Diego Union-Tribune

“[Guterson] has produced a clean, unpretentious and expert piece of work, filled with the immediate beauty of everyday life and the desolation of leaving it behind.” —The Washington Times

“Wonderfully written, tender toward its characters, and full of incident and insight.” –Men’s Journal

Awards

  • Audie Awards
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