Loading...
194th out of 319 books
—
59 voters
My rating:
add to my books
The Other
From the author of the bestselling Snow Falling on Cedars, a coming-of-age novel that presents two powerfully different visions of what it means to live a good life and the compromises that come with fulfillment.
John William Barry and Neil Countryman shared a love of the outdoors, trekking often into Washington's remote backcountry where they had to rely on their wits—and ...more
John William Barry and Neil Countryman shared a love of the outdoors, trekking often into Washington's remote backcountry where they had to rely on their wits—and ...more
Hardcover, 272 pages
Published
June 2nd 2009
by Alfred A. Knopf
(first published 2007)
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
2,489)
I picked this book up off of the shelf in the guest room where we stayed this past weekend. It looked perfectly normal when I first held it. Upon opening the cover, though, I discovered that the pages were all wavy and convoluted, as if the book had been given a bath or left out in the rain. I almost abandoned the read at that point -- but now I'm glad I didn't.
I hadn't read any of his other work, though Snow Falling on Cedars came highly recommended. Spousal unit said this one was...more
I hadn't read any of his other work, though Snow Falling on Cedars came highly recommended. Spousal unit said this one was...more
view all 8 comments
David Guterson writes books that aren't just shaped by my native Pacific Northwest: they are the Northwest. His narratives wouldn't happen anywhere but the Northwest, as the geography defines the stories. Whether it is the nature of the island in Snow Falling on Cedars, or the incessant rain in Our Lady of the Forest, these stories are born out of Seattle and the areas within a hundred miles of it. Each of his books contains dozens of details that explain Washington State, while reminding us ...more
Charissa
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
outdoorsy types, those with crazy friends, hermits
Recommended to Charissa by:
David Guterson
Shelves:
literature
This book reminded me of what it was like to be out in wilderness all those years with the boys I grew up with. Remote, scrabbling around in the underbrush wondering where the hell we were exactly, reading topo maps, reveling in the small ecstasies of just a bite of food, made so much more special by the fact that we had toted it on our backs for miles, and know there will be nothing else until we tramp back out again.
It also reminded me of the passions of a misanthropic and dissati...more
It also reminded me of the passions of a misanthropic and dissati...more
"Snow Falling on Snoozers..."
Save yourself four hours and just take two Ambien instead.
This tale holds promise but turns out to be a plodding bore-fest. The narrator protagonist tells the story of his eccentric buddy John William Barry.
The latter is a trust fund kid who determines to embark into the woods and live (and eventually die) like a hermit.
Long after the death, the protagonist learns that his friend has willed his $400+ million ...more
Save yourself four hours and just take two Ambien instead.
This tale holds promise but turns out to be a plodding bore-fest. The narrator protagonist tells the story of his eccentric buddy John William Barry.
The latter is a trust fund kid who determines to embark into the woods and live (and eventually die) like a hermit.
Long after the death, the protagonist learns that his friend has willed his $400+ million ...more
Good writing, enjoyed this. From author of Snow falling on cedars.About two boys who become friends, one is rich and eccentric. He becomes a hermit living in the Hoh forest and the other watches out for him and leads his own life, getting married, becoming a teacher. Then his friend dies and leaves him a multi-millionaire. The story keeps going back and forth, with too little detail in some parts and too much in others.
I have been waiting for David Guterson's next book for several years.
What I liked: the scenes on the mountain with his friend, John William; the scenes in his classroom (too brief, wanted more, but then I too was an English teacher); the trek through Europe and his love for Jamie.
For more about this book, see my review on amazon.com under the title and my reviewer's name, EGranfors.
What I liked: the scenes on the mountain with his friend, John William; the scenes in his classroom (too brief, wanted more, but then I too was an English teacher); the trek through Europe and his love for Jamie.
For more about this book, see my review on amazon.com under the title and my reviewer's name, EGranfors.
Critics had sharply divided reactions to The Other. Though most praised Guterson's eloquent prose and lush descriptions of Washington State, the Oregonian considered the novel "dawdly and overwritten." Several critics bemoaned the inertia of the two friends, while others deemed the protagonists well-rounded and sympathetic. The critics fell primarily into two campsthose who were captivated by Guterson's philosophical questions about individual conviction and identity and those who fe
...more
I find myself thinking about this book a lot. It's an existential mystery, which I love, set partly in the 70's, in Western Washington and at Reed College, in Portland, Oregon. It poses the question 'how can idealism and absolutes exist in the world?' and I can't say that the answer is very upbeat.
The part set at Reed, an odd, exhilarating and inarticulate college romance, told from the point of view of the Hermit of the Hoh's college girlfriend, was one of the best parts of the ...more
The part set at Reed, an odd, exhilarating and inarticulate college romance, told from the point of view of the Hermit of the Hoh's college girlfriend, was one of the best parts of the ...more
I slogged through this book, wishing the author had given me more white space on the pages, and that so much of it wasn't flashback retelling. I didn't like any of the characters and while other reviewers extol this book for its "deep friendship" between two men, I just saw them both as pathetic. For me, the narrator was more problematic than his wacko/visionary reclusive friend because 1) I could not see why he stayed in the relationship (which at times was borderline abusive,verbally...more
O.k Where to begin? This book in many ways parallels "into the wild" and began with a bang. I was really drawn to the characters in the first pages. Introspective, pot smoking, wilderness junkies are always fun to read about and so Neil countrymen and his friend John William were intriguing.
Neil becomes an English teacher and John William chisels out a cave in the wild and lives there for the next seven years or so. I thought the story had a lot of potential, and the focu...more
Neil becomes an English teacher and John William chisels out a cave in the wild and lives there for the next seven years or so. I thought the story had a lot of potential, and the focu...more
I’m not certain how to rate this book. It was tedious for me at times, filled with tangents and interwoven timelines, and often made me feel off balance as a reader.
However, the book also compelled me to consider several interesting questions:
Is it ethical to assist a friend if your assistance might result in his suffering? What if his choice of existence only constitutes suffering in the eyes of others and to him is the epitome of happiness and fulfillment? Does the...more
However, the book also compelled me to consider several interesting questions:
Is it ethical to assist a friend if your assistance might result in his suffering? What if his choice of existence only constitutes suffering in the eyes of others and to him is the epitome of happiness and fulfillment? Does the...more
I really like David Guterson, and after reading his latest, I would have to count him among my favorite authors. This novel was every bit as good as "Snow Falling on Cedars".
Guterson is incredibly good at creating characters who seem absolutely real. His characters are complex, sometimes morally ambigious, always so well drawn that when I close the book I feel as though they live on. John William and Neil Countryman touched me. Although it was clear that John William felt morall...more
Guterson is incredibly good at creating characters who seem absolutely real. His characters are complex, sometimes morally ambigious, always so well drawn that when I close the book I feel as though they live on. John William and Neil Countryman touched me. Although it was clear that John William felt morall...more
This is like the brother book to a book I read last year, The Last of Her Kind. I say this b/c the 2 novels are really similar- young person with working-class background makes friends with filthy rich young person with a very strong personality- but this one is about male characters instead of females. Both the rich characters have this very negative attitute towards the status quo, their families, and a disdain for their money, which is sort of understood but not really by the working-class ...more
The prose is eloquent and the characters believable. I really couldn't relate to the characters love of the wilderness and living without modern comforts. But, I could relate to the power of friendship; the bonds that form even between people who seem to be an unlikely match. John is rich and Neil is not. They randomly come in contact with each other at a high school track meet and a life-long relationship is forged. "That's how I met the privileged boy; the loner who lived in the woods...more
This book was hard for me to get into and I kept putting it down for months on end, not having the enthusiasm to pick it back up--which is rare for me.
On the positive, it was well written, and the flashbacks that the author employed worked to keep the story interesting. I also love Guterson's descriptions of the Pacific Northwest and this book didn't fail in that respect. I've hiked and worked in the country that was the setting for the book and Guterson's words put me right back th...more
On the positive, it was well written, and the flashbacks that the author employed worked to keep the story interesting. I also love Guterson's descriptions of the Pacific Northwest and this book didn't fail in that respect. I've hiked and worked in the country that was the setting for the book and Guterson's words put me right back th...more
Well, I admit it: increasingly these days, with most books I read, by the time I get within 20, 30, sometimes even 50 or 100 pages of the end, I'm ready to skim; definitely with the last 10.
Not so with The Other, by David Guterson. With the exception of a few parts of some of the wilderness scenes, I savored every word, didn't look ahead to find out what would happen (only at one point did I really want to) and didn't rush through the final pages.
At first, I loved this bo...more
Not so with The Other, by David Guterson. With the exception of a few parts of some of the wilderness scenes, I savored every word, didn't look ahead to find out what would happen (only at one point did I really want to) and didn't rush through the final pages.
At first, I loved this bo...more
Some of the imagery rang a note with me since I have travelled in the Olympic National Forest, the descriptions were familiar to me. However, it became apparent to me that John William was set on suicide during his first winter alone and when Countryman returns on one of his many trips in the second winter and finds John William's remains, it was no surprise to me or anyone I think. He was intent on self destruction and although he did an amazing job of surviving the length of time that he did...more
I just finished reading this book, but I am still working out what it is about. The protagonist, Neil Countryman, represents Guterson himself, and John William Barry, the Hermit of the Hoh, is an alter ego, and thus the significance of the story lies in the relationship between the two men with their respective mindsets and lifestyles. But what, ultimately, are we to make of it?
The hermit represents a set of ideals about which Countryman/Guterson feels some guilt for failing to live b...more
The hermit represents a set of ideals about which Countryman/Guterson feels some guilt for failing to live b...more
David Guterson is a skilled writer; it's the precision and smooth modulation of his prose that generates the enjoyment of this novel. Unfortunately, that enjoyment is jammed by a dense layer of intellectualism - superficial attention to obscure authors, philosophies, and ideas that goes way beyond characterization of the English teacher protagonist.
I doubt that Guterson is aware, but The Other is a mirror image of The Dark Half, where Steven King tells the story of a author whose li...more
I doubt that Guterson is aware, but The Other is a mirror image of The Dark Half, where Steven King tells the story of a author whose li...more
"The Other," has had a strong effect especially because while I was reading it, that young, crazy kid shot Congresswoman Gifford.
There is a young, crazy kid in "The Other," as well, and his tragic path toward mental illness and a lonely death is, through flashback after flashback, understandable and logical. The author alerts the reader to intense psychological duress and includes, late in the book, a harrowing description of the debilitating powers of early neg...more
There is a young, crazy kid in "The Other," as well, and his tragic path toward mental illness and a lonely death is, through flashback after flashback, understandable and logical. The author alerts the reader to intense psychological duress and includes, late in the book, a harrowing description of the debilitating powers of early neg...more
We talked about unreliable narrators in our writing group a little while ago, and even tried an exercise using an unreliable point of view. Afterwards I tried to think of books that might illustrate the technique. Though I couldn’t remember particular ones, I knew I’d read passages, maybe even whole books, written from the point of view of a self-absorbed beauty who thinks everyone loves her, a nervous investigator who thinks he’ll never succeed, a religious preacher who’s totally convinced of h...more
Guterson is marvelous at reflective writing. In some ways this book reminds me of Saul Bellow's Humboldt's Gift. In each, the narrator, himself a person of good talent, is friends with someone quite extraordinary. Weird, perhaps even ridiculous, but extraordinary, talented in some way far beyond the narrator. Someone to which even the narrator can't fully relate, although they knew them best, and perhaps in return, the narrator receives a great gift.
There's another connection between t...more
There's another connection between t...more
This was my selection for the Senior book group. I seemed to like it mre than the others did. The story of friendship - Set mostly in Seattle, Neil Countryman is the son of blue-coller workers. he meets John William the son of great wealth at a race. The friendship builds although Neil goes the route of college, marriage and children. the eccentric John William Bary opts out. They both like hiking the many woods and there is (for me) far too much detail that sometimes gets in the way of the...more
This book was like a really smart kid in an English class who has tons of potential but just sits in the back, all slumped over. Then, when he finally writes something, you're intermittently struck by his genius, but mainly frustrated that he didn't put more effort and editing time into it.
The story of this book is incredibly interesting -- I mean, who doesn't want to read about extreme camping and a rich dude eschewing society to become a hermit in the Hoh Rain Forest? I live in W...more
The story of this book is incredibly interesting -- I mean, who doesn't want to read about extreme camping and a rich dude eschewing society to become a hermit in the Hoh Rain Forest? I live in W...more
I was excited when my book discussion group chose this book. The author's Snow Falling on Cedars is one of my all-time favorite books, so I picked up this book with anticipation. I have mixed feelings about the book even though I gave the book four stars. It's a dark story dealing with issues of class, friendship, and extremely different ideas about what constitutes a fulfilling life. Neil Countryman is raised in a working class neighborhood in Seattle, while John William Barry has an upper ...more
This is a fascinating character study. John William and the narrator Neil Countryman are drawn to each other because of a fearless, passionate love of nature. But Countryman can't understand what motivates his charismatic friend to choose a hermit's life when he himself begins a more conventional adulthood. He recounts the strange, reckless (that is, mapless) trips he takes with his friend, but also his encounters with John Williams cold mother and negligent father. What drives his friend to...more
Okay, did anyone else get INTO THE WILD flashbacks while reading this? 'Cause I did. I feel like Mr. Guterson was probably majorly inspired by Jon Krakauer's true adventure story. Except Chris McCandless died in Alaska, and John Williams died in the mountains of Washington. I wasn't quite sure if it was the Rainier mountains or the Cascade mountains (I think Rainier), because both were mentioned. Either way, though, that's pretty scary. Washington is not a very forgivable climate in the winter. ...more
A strange and interesting book. I was fascinated for a long time, but less interested as it went on, outright bored and skimming when it got to the end. Why Guterson chose to end his book with the John William's father's incredibly long-winded and dull musings on what he might have done or not done to contribute to his son's mental illness is beyond me. It ruins a good book's ending. Neil's inheritance of John William's money, an interesting aspect, is tossed off while endless detail is given to...more
I really liked this book. I suspect that if I had not lived in Seattle for close to ten years I would have liked it less as it is very much a story of place. At the center of the story are two friends, John Williams and Neil Countryman. One becomes a hermit and lives by his ideals, the other compromises a bit, but finds a certain level of happiness. Reading this I could not help thinking of Orwell's Keep the Aspidistra Flying, and Jon Krakauer's Into The Wild, but books that touch on making ch...more
To understand how I feel about Guterson, or did feel, we'll have to travel back in time to the 1997/98 school year, when Guterson was invited to speak to my 7th grade English class (one of his sons was in my graduating class). Young and impressionable I was an aspiring writer and avid reader and was so excited to be in the presence of a real writer. When it came time for the question and answer portion of the visit my palms were sweating as I asked him "At what point did you realize you wan...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Readers Also Enjoyed
David Guterson is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, journalist, and essayist.
He is best known as the author of the novel Snow Falling on Cedars (1994), which won the 1995 PEN/Faulkner Award. To date it has sold nearly four million copies. It was adapted for a 1999 film of the same title, directed by Scott Hicks and starring Ethan Hawke. The film received an Academy Award ...more
More about David Guterson...
He is best known as the author of the novel Snow Falling on Cedars (1994), which won the 1995 PEN/Faulkner Award. To date it has sold nearly four million copies. It was adapted for a 1999 film of the same title, directed by Scott Hicks and starring Ethan Hawke. The film received an Academy Award ...more
Share This Book
5 trivia questions
More quizzes & trivia...
“One thing has led to the next in my life, but like lines of a poem. I suppose I've thrown in my lot with love, and don't know any other way to go on breathing. ”
—
4 people liked it
“As soon as he was gone, we opened, "Baucis and Philemon." An elderly couple living in a cottage, they're granted a wish by Jove. They confer in private before Philemon asks, "May one hour take us both away; let neither outlive the other." The wish is granted.
I said, "Simultaneous deaths? Why didn't they wish for eternal happiness instead? What else would anyone wish for?"
"They did wish for that," answered Jamie.”
—
3 people liked it
More quotes…
I said, "Simultaneous deaths? Why didn't they wish for eternal happiness instead? What else would anyone wish for?"
"They did wish for that," answered Jamie.”
