Book Thirty Four

Well, I was pleasantly surprised by this book.  It had guts.  I thought it would be just another book about a male ego but it was more than meets the eye.  I'm desparately sad about missing this book club as I feel I could gain a lot from the discussion.  Unfortunately, it snowed today and I had a commute from hell.  Somedays, it is awfully hard to appreciate Minnesota.

But, back to the book.  Guterson's writing was very detailed which caused me to detach from the characters initially.  Clearly, John William Barry was depressed and his depression was aggravating as most depressions are.   I found myself more taken with the setting than the characters at the outset.  Guterson writes about the Seattle mountains and environs with great admiration.  I'm not a hiker but I felt as if I was breaking my own trail.  A mix of action and contemplation, this could be a book for both genders.

As the book continued on, it made me think.  Similar in plot but  more developed, this novel seems more ambitious and enhanced than Krakauer's Into The Wild.  It is thoughtful about existentialism and delves further than just the actions of the hermit.  It wonders about nurture and nature and if John William Barry suffered the effects of bad parenting.  It makes you question Neil Countryman's decisions and motives and consider what life might be like if 19 million dollars fell out of the clouds one day into your hands.

This is a novel that I might recommend (to some) and would certainly be on a personal Top 10 list of my own IF it were just a little less verbose OR if I was just a little more male.  Know what I mean?