Synopses & Reviews
Like his PEN/Faulkner Award-winning novel,
Snow Falling On Cedars, David Guterson's beautifully observed and emotionally piercing short stories are set largely in the Pacific Northwest. In these vast landscapes, hunting, fishing, and sports are the givens of men's lives. But although Guterson's characters go into the wilderness in search of mallards or silver trout, they discover other things instead: the decay of their youthful ardor; the motiveless cruelty of strangers; their own capacity for deception and grief.
Generously imagined, masterfully restrained, and written in prose that stings like the scent of gunpowder, The Country Ahead of Us, the Country Behind is a collection of extraordinary power.
Review
"Evokes the mores and dilemmas of life with a familiarity tinged with nostalgia and tempered with irony....David Guterson tracks the elements of this world with a precision that evades both vagueness and cliches." The New York Times Book Review
Review
"Brilliant....Manages to address moral questions and much more with a supple grace that easily outshines the flashy emptiness of much short fiction....[H]e is a man of many voices, and they all speak volumes." Seattle Times
Review
"A seamless flow of language and story rewards the reader's efforts. Well crafted and polished...these tales tender truth." Seattle Weekly
Review
"The pieces are well-crafted, the characters taking shape with a few simple brush strokes." Boston Globe
Review
"A first collection of ten stories stark, moody portraits of men or boys faced with loss that are tautly written, austere, occasionally lyrical, and mark Guterson as a writer to watch." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"These are wonderful, compassionate memory pieces told with a fine sense of detail, and without a whiff of sentimentality, whose revelations unfold quietly and inevitably." Booklist
Synopsis
From the award-winning, bestselling author of Snow Falling on Cedars--a beautifully observed and emotionally piercing collection of short stories that "center s] on men in the Pacific Northwest, characters whose emotions are sometimes as isolated as the landscape" (The New York Times). Like his novel, Snow Falling On Cedars, for which he received the PEN/Faulkner Award, Guterson's short stories are set largely in the Pacific Northwest. In these vast landscapes, hunting, fishing, and sports are the givens of men's lives. With prose that stings like the scent of gunpowder, this is a collection of power.
Synopsis
Like his novel, Snow Falling On Cedars, for which he received the PEN/Faulkner Award, Guterson's beautifully observed and emotionally piercing short stories are set largely in the Pacific Northwest. In these vast landscapes, hunting, fishing, and sports are the givens of men's lives. With prose that stings like the scent of gunpowder, this is a collection of power.
About the Author
David Guterson is also the author of Family Matters: Why Homeschooling Makes Sense and Snow Falling on Cedars, which won the 1995 PEN/Faulkner Award, the 1995 ABBY Award, and the Pacific Northwest Bookseller Association Award, among others. A contributing editor to Harper's magazine, Mr. Guterson lives on an island in Puget Sound with his wife and children.
Table of Contents
Angels in the Snow 3
Opening Day 16
Day of the Moonwalk 30
Aliens 45
Wood Grouse on a High Promontory Overlooking Canada 64
Piranhas 70
Three Hunters 88
American Elm 107
Arcturus 129
The Flower Garden 143