East of the Mountains

Not as good as Snow Falling on Cedars, but I enjoyed it more. A very interesting look at death and life from a dying man's point of view. Worth reading at least once.

Very good story about a man with a terminal illness and the journey he talkes to find a new meaning in life.

An elderly doctor faces his pain and mortality as he sets out on a last and lonely travel quest. His search renews his commitment to life rather than death. As I read and traveled with him, I too was cheered and inspired.

Wonderful book about a man coming of age. The protagonist is dying of colon cancer and starts his pilgrimage back home to Eastern Washington in order to find a place to die. His plan is to kill himself but his adventures show him that death is not the worst thing, not maturing is.

Same style of over-lingering narrative, but good story non the less. Better, I think, than Snow Falling On Cedar

Heart touching story about the retired doctor struggling with terminal cancer... wanting to commit suicide so he'd not witness to the painful decline of his body. Find out what happened at the end, if he did or did not do it.

Borrowed this one from the wifey.

Positives-It was an easy reader and had a thought-provoking premise. Plus the author is a fair story-teller.
Negatives-It felt lacking in metaphors that help readers put emotions to situations.

Overall, worth the read.

Slow in places but overall I enjoyed Ben's "journey". Could definitely see this as a movie with Clint Eastwood or Robert Redford as Ben.

Sort of meanders at the end but it's so well written and the character is so interesting that it's hard to put the book down.

Frankly, the jury is still out on what I thought of this book. I picked it off the shelf on Monday morning and couldn't put it down until I finished it that night. I found some of the language pretentious but the journey of the main character was interesting enough to keep my attention till the end.

The ending I felt was severely lacking - there is something about the 'everything was the same as he left it' ending which causes me to sigh deeply, close the book and beat my head against a wall.

All and all, it could have been better.