Don Quixote is one that comes to mind in comparison to mine, in that they both involve journeys undertaken by older men. I owe a debt to every story that's ever been told in that tradition. "The journey story is pervasive across the planet and across time. "I feel that I've written a story that is in the most long-standing tradition of human storytelling," Guterson says. Crossing the mountains into eastern Washington, Givens wrecks his car, and from there his real journey begins. His plan is to kill himself and make it appear to be a hunting accident. Givens sets out from Seattle to revisit the rural, apple-growing region of Washington State, where he grew up and met his wife of nearly 50 years, Rachel, who has recently died. His second novel, East of the Mountains, not only lives up to the promise of Snow Falling on Cedars, but it suggests just how expansive David Guterson's maturing talent may be.Įast of the Mountains describes the final hunting trip of Ben Givens, a 73-year-old retired surgeon recently diagnosed with inoperable colon cancer. It simply increased my sense of being challenged."īut David Guterson's many fans have nothing to worry about. "I was aware that there is an expectation that writers inevitably falter at this stage, that they fail to live up to the promise of their first successful book, that the next book never pleases the way the prior one did. That was certainly the case with me after Snow Falling on Cedars."įor Guterson the "amazing success" of that 1994 first novel also raised the specter of the dreaded second book syndrome.
"When it comes time to sit down and write the next book, you're deathly afraid that you're not up to the task. "It doesn't matter who you are, how many awards you've won, how popular you are, or how much critical acclaim you've had," says David Guterson.
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