Title: Human life and loss
Product review: Having thoroughly enjoyed Snow Falling On Cedars with my book group, I looked forward to Guterson's second book. He handles human tragedy with grace and dignity in both books, though East of the Mountains was even more intense as the reader examines Ben's pending mortality prior to the autopsy table.East of the Mountians is about loss: Ben's loss of his own life, loss of the love of his life, loss of his youth, loss of hope and the world's loss of Ben, of Rachel, of their love for each other. Snow Falling on Cedars looked at past loss and moves on; East of the Mountains looks at future loss and lost of the past too. The omnipresent feeling of loss as life comes to its end was overpowering to me, so much so, I had to put the book down often to let the vicarious despair pass.I enjoyed the book, but closed it with a feeling of overwhelming sadness; knowledge that my own life will contain the same sorts of loss as Ben's and the same, sad evenual outcome.
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