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Original Essays | April 29, 2013
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More copies of this ISBNEd Kingby David Guterson
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:A sweeping, propulsive, darkly humorous new novel by the best-selling author of Snow Falling on Cedars: a story of destiny, desire, and destruction that reimagines Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex for our own era.
In Seattle in 1962, Walter Cousins, a mild-mannered actuary — “a guy who weighs risk for a living” — takes a risk of his own, and makes the biggest error of his life. He sleeps with Diane Burroughs, the sexy, not-quite-legal British au pair who’s taking care of his children for the summer. Diane gets pregnant and leaves their baby on a doorstep, but not before turning the tables on Walter and setting in motion a tragedy of epic proportions. Their orphaned child, adopted by an adoring family and named Edward Aaron King, grows up to become a billionaire Internet tycoon and an international celebrity — the “King of Search” — who unknowingly, but inexorably, hurtles through life toward a fate he may have no power to shape. An instant classic — David Guterson’s most daring and dazzling novel yet — that brings a contemporary urgency to one of the greatest stories of all time. Review:"Guterson (The Other) uses key elements of Oedipus the King as scaffolding for a snarky comedy skewering contemporary values. In 1962, a 34-year-old actuary seduces an underage au pair, producing a child who, abandoned, is adopted by the prosperous King family and named Edward. But Ed is not a king in name only; he grows into the 'king of search,' a man in the mold of Jobs or Gates running a company/kingdom akin to Google called Pythia. Guterson fans may be surprised at his lack of sympathy this time out; his characters are superficially realized and relentlessly ridiculed. The cure for the guilt Ed feels over causing a stranger's death? The right antidepressant. Ed has copious encounters with older girls, and then older women, a recurring theme Guterson employs partly for fun, but mostly to trumpet his point: Ed's not only Sophocles' Oedipus but also Freud's, thanks to an oversized (and oversimplified) Oedipus complex. But Guterson gives the myth neither new perspective nor fresh twist, and the ancient drama doesn't illuminate the present. The novel's worldview doesn't allow for heroes or gods, and treats fate as if it were mere coincidence. But the story is propelled by irony, much of it delightful, and if we're able to mock ourselves, we can't be all bad. Can we? (Oct.)" Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review:"David Guterson is a man of many voices, and they all speak volumes." The Seattle Times
Review:"A serious and searching craftsman, very much in the American grain." Time
Review:"[A] major writer...Guterson possesses a remarkable gift for capturing people and places, etching them into the reader’s mind." USA Today
Review:"[In this] tale of mythic proportions...readers watch in horror as three disparate lives hurtle toward their fate in this reimagining of the Oedipus myth....[Guterson's] fans will likely clamor for this." Sally Bissell, Library Journal
Review:"[An] engrossing, constantly twisting retelling of Oedipus Rex...darkly funny." The Huffington Post
Review:"A retelling of Oedipus Rex for the information age [that is] more comedy than tragedy. Guterson maintains an enjoyably sharp edge to his humor that will keep readers hooked." Kirkus Review
Review:"How would a modern man go about killing his father and marrying his mother, just like Sophocles' Oedipus? Guterson's vivid recreation...is a study in outsized avarice and arrogance. Exuberantly rambunctious, Guterson's bold pondering of the Greek classic is a fiendishly tantalizing romp." Carol Haggas, Booklist (starred review)
About the AuthorDavid Guterson is the author of the novels East of the Mountains, The Other, Our Lady of the Forest, and Snow Falling on Cedars, which won the PEN/Faulkner Award, as well as a story collection, The Country Ahead of Us, the Country Behind, and Family Matters: Why Homeschooling Makes Sense. He lives in Washington State.
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