East of the Mountains (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: David Guterson
- First Published: 1999
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: Four days (Saturday through Tuesday) in October, 1998, with flashbacks to the 1930’s and the 1940’s
- Setting: Primarily the Washington apple country east of the Cascade Mountains, with episodes in Seattle, Colorado, and Italy
- Principal Characters: Dr. Ben Givens, Tristan, Rex, Rachel Lake Givens, Aidan Givens, Lenora Chandler Givens, Wright Givens, Renee Givens-kane, Chris, Kevin Lamont, Christine Reilly, The Drifter, William C. Harden, Dr. Ilse Peterson, Bill Stackhouse, Kelly Lastenpole, Stu Robinson, Catherine Donnelly, Angel, Emilio, Ellen Dolores, Bea Harden
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: United States or Americans, Dogs, Suicide, World War II, Cancer, Death or dying, 1990’s, Terminal illness or terminally ill, Hunting or hunters, Italy or Italians
- Locales: Colorado, Seattle, WA, Italy, Washington
The habit of life is hard to break. Dr. Ben Givens, the central character in East of the Mountains, suffers from loneliness, old age, and terminal cancer, so it makes sense to him to plan suicide. A retired Seattle heart surgeon, he drives east over the mountains to Washington’s apple country, where he was born and where he plans to blow off his head with a double- barreled shotgun in a staged hunting accident, but his plan runs into all kinds of difficulties. First, he has a serious automobile accident and is almost killed. Then his life is threatened by another hunter who...
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