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Original Essays | April 29, 2013

Edward Lee: IMG How to Clarify Butter: A Writer's Tale

2 comments By Edward Lee

Chefs don't have time to write. While I was working on Smoke and Pickles, I was running a restaurant — a daily regimen of testing recipes,... Continue »
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    Smoke and Pickles: Recipes and Stories from a New Southern Kitchen

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2 Beaverton Literature- A to Z

East of the Mountains 1ST Edition

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East of the Mountains 1ST Edition Cover

ISBN13: 9780151002290
ISBN10: 0151002290
Condition: Standard
Dustjacket: Standard
All Product Details

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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

It is mid-October, 1997, harvest time in the Columbia Basin of central Washington state, a rich apple- and pear-growing region. Ben Givens, recently widowed, is a retired heart surgeon, once admired for his steadiness of hand, his precision, his endurance. He has terminal colon cancer. While Ben does not readily accept defeat, he is determined to avoid suffering rather than engage it. And so, accompanied by his two hunting dogs, he sets out through the mythic American West-sage deserts, yawning canyons, dusty ranches, vast orchards-on his last hunt. The main issues for Ben as a doctor had been tactical and so it would be with his death. But he hadn't considered the persuasiveness of memory-the promise he made to his wife Rachel, the love of his life, during World War II. Or life's mystery. On his journey he meets a young couple who are "forever," a drifter offering left-handed advice that might lessen the pain, a veterinarian with a touch only a heart surgeon would recognize, a rancher bent on destruction, a migrant worker who tests Ben's ability to understand. And just when he thinks there is no turning back, nothing to lose that wasn't lost, his power of intervention is called upon and his very identity tested. Full of humanity, passion, and moral honesty, East of the Mountains is a bold and beautiful novel of personal discovery.

Synopsis:

Ben Givens is a retired heart surgeon who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Deciding to take charge of his own demise, Ben travels into the wild country of Washington state with his two dogs and his father's Winchester, to hunt one last time and then to end his life on his own terms. But, as with all quests, the Fates intervene. A car wreck introduces him to various helpers and hindrances, and gradually Ben undertakes a journey back through his own past. As he nears the apple-growing country in which he grew up, he recalls the signal events of his youth and manhood-especially his wartime experiences and his profound love for his wife of fifty years. Ben is transformed into an American Odysseus as he confronts the many sides of his own nature in a novel that radiates with the glories of the natural world and the mysterious permutations of the human heart.

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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 3 comments:
carolandandys, January 1, 2013 (view all comments by carolandandys)
David Guterson is one of my favorite writers. The fact that his stories are centered in my beautiful home state of Washington makes almost feel as if they are my stories. I love his troubled characters and the way that the physical geography seems to echo a psychological geography of the soul. As the story of East of the Mountain unfolds, I found myself increasingly drawn to the main character and hoping and praying for a good outcome to a most challenging dilemma.

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ebaker, January 2, 2010 (view all comments by ebaker)
This book had a powerful impact for me.
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LuAnn, January 23, 2008 (view all comments by LuAnn)
The setting for this book is in my stomping grounds -- "East of the Mountains" of Washington state. Add to that the fact that it is written by David Guterson, one of my favorite authors, and how could I not love this book! Guterson tells the story of a man who is in the last stages of his life. Ben Givens is dying of colon cancer and wants to spare his daughter the burden of watching his agony. He decides to commit suicide, yet his plan is to make it look like a hunting accident. He travels east of the mountains to where he grew up. His plans are continually waylaid as he runs into one road block after another. Does he finally carry out this last act? I'll never tell. You'll have to read this excellent and touching story for yourself to find out. I, for one, will see this beautiful country I call home differently from now on.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780151002290
Author:
Guterson, David
Publisher:
Mariner Books
Location:
New York :
Subject:
General
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
Cancer
Subject:
Suicide
Subject:
Psychological
Subject:
Adventure stories
Subject:
Psychological fiction
Subject:
Aged men
Subject:
Surgeons
Subject:
Seattle
Subject:
Seattle (Wash.) Fiction.
Subject:
Hunting accidents.
Subject:
Colon.
Subject:
Hunting accidents -- Fiction.
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Copyright:
1998
Edition Number:
1st ed.
Edition Description:
Trade Cloth
Publication Date:
20000418
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
304
Dimensions:
8 x 5.31 in
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Related Subjects

Featured Titles » History and Social Science
Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z
History and Social Science » Pacific Northwest » Literature Folklore and Memoirs

East of the Mountains 1ST Edition Used Hardcover
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$5.50 In Stock
Product details 304 pages Harcourt - English 9780151002290 Reviews:
"Synopsis" by ,
Ben Givens is a retired heart surgeon who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Deciding to take charge of his own demise, Ben travels into the wild country of Washington state with his two dogs and his father's Winchester, to hunt one last time and then to end his life on his own terms. But, as with all quests, the Fates intervene. A car wreck introduces him to various helpers and hindrances, and gradually Ben undertakes a journey back through his own past. As he nears the apple-growing country in which he grew up, he recalls the signal events of his youth and manhood-especially his wartime experiences and his profound love for his wife of fifty years. Ben is transformed into an American Odysseus as he confronts the many sides of his own nature in a novel that radiates with the glories of the natural world and the mysterious permutations of the human heart.
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