Everybody Reads

William L. Spence

Nov. 6, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- David Guterson, the best-selling author of "Snow Falling on Cedars," will visit the Palouse and the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley next week as part of the Everybody Reads community reading program.

Everybody Reads encourages participants to read the same book, after which public discussions and author appearances take place throughout the region. The novel selected for this year's program is Guterson's "The Other," which came out in paperback this summer. The book deals with two lifelong friends, one of whom chooses a more conventional path of work-marriage-family, while the other becomes increasingly eccentric and ultimately leaves his friend a fortune after dying alone in a cave.

Guterson said the book is his most autobiographical, reflecting some of his own experiences as a struggling college graduate and teacher who subsequently achieved phenomenal success with his first novel.

"I recognized in myself a draw to both visions of life offered in the novel," said Guterson in a recent telephone interview. "Neil (the conventional one) understands that his life is a compromise, but wants to take some pleasure from it. John (the recluse) won't compromise, and he lives a life that's the logical extension of his values. I wanted to work out the implications of traveling both paths. What kind of life could you make for yourself if you didn't compromise, or if you did? This was an issue for me personally."

Guterson, 53, grew up in Seattle, where his father was a defense attorney. Like the fictional Neil, he married young and worked as a teacher for a number of years before experiencing sudden wealth and celebrity.

"Neil suddenly found himself substantially wealthier and had to grapple with that experience," he said. "I could relate. I wasn't prepared (for the success that came from 'Snow Falling on Cedars'). I'm very grateful that it allowed me to write full time -- that was a huge gift. But before the book I strongly believed that you shouldn't value wealth or celebrity, because they're transitory. I still believe that, even more now than I did before."

Guterson never considered becoming a writer until he took a creative writing class in college. Now, writing is an obsession, something he can't wait to do every morning.

"I'm a very early riser," he said. "I wake up about 4 a.m. and I'm wide awake, wound up, and enthusiastic about starting to write. It's exhilarating. There are so many nuances, so many subtle challenges, it keeps you alive mentally. It's a kind of disease, but a pleasant disease."

He'll usually keep writing until midafternoon. If he's not working on a novel, he writes poetry or works on some short stories. Characters are an amalgamation of people he knows, aspects of himself and "shear imagination." Unlike many authors, though, who get their story ideas by first imagining a character, Guterson said in his case the theme precedes everything else.

"I usually have an abstraction, a question or issue that intrigues me, and then I begin to look for the elements of story that allow me to explore that idea and that provide the best opportunity to fully examine it," he said. "I don't feel like I ever have any trouble coming up with an idea for a story. It's more a process of filtering them down and deciding what to focus on."

Although none of his subsequent books have been as successful commercially as "Snow Falling on Cedars," Guterson said that isn't how he measures value.

"To me, the important thing is artistic accomplishment," he said. "I feel like, in my career trajectory, I've improved as a writer. I think 'The Other' was better than 'Our Lady of the Forest' and hopefully the book I'm working on now will be even better."

Guterson will discuss his book at public presentations in Colfax, Pullman, Moscow, Clarkston, Lewiston and Nezperce. (See accompanying story for complete schedule). The talks are free.

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Spence may be contacted at bspence@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2274.

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The Everybody Reads schedule featuring David Guterson, author of "The Other," includes:

Monday

10:15 a.m.-noon: "A Conversation with David Guterson," Colfax High School

7 p.m.: "An Evening with David Guterson," Neill Public Library, 210 N. Grand Ave., Pullman

Tuesday

8:30 a.m.: "A Conversation with David Guterson," Moscow High School

7 p.m.: "An Evening with David Guterson," Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre, 508 S. Main St., Moscow

Thursday

9:30 a.m.: "A Conversation with David Guterson," Clarkston High School

7 p.m.: "An Evening with David Guterson," Lewiston Community Center, 1424 Main St.

Next Friday

11 a.m.: "A Conversation with David Guterson," Lewiston High School

7 p.m.: "An Evening with David Guterson," Nezperce Library

Newstex ID: KRTB-1112-39508607