Tabac
10-26-2003, 07:45 PM
...by David Guterson (2003). I read Snow Falling On Cedars twice and East of the Mountains; this third book seems to present a decline in the author’s appeal to me, personally. The premise is interesting enough, about a teenaged girl who claims to have seen the Virgin Mary out in the woods near a logging community. The other characters in the story all have interesting lives and complications therein; they are made believable because they all (from the priest of the Church to the man who feels guilty for his son’s paralysis to the visionary’s PR person) are so decidedly imperfect. They struggle with internal conflicts, with how they want to feel and how they actually feel. At first, I thought that the attention Guterson gives to the masturbatory habits of some of the characters was not really necessary; in retrospect, it helps establish the imperfection of at least one of them. If you’re a real Guterson fan, you’ll like this book; if you’ve never read him, I recommend Cedars over this one.