The Other, Post 1

I am reading a book titled The Other, written by David Guterson. The basic premise of the story is that two high school boys have formed an unusual friendship. The boys, John William Barry and Neil Countryman, are from very different backgrounds, and the first chapter of the book describes how these differences affect them and their friendship. Neil Countryman is from an average Seattle family. As the narrator of the book, he portrays himself as rather ordinary in the book’s first chapter. Neil describes his role on his high school’s track team by telling readers that he is “someone intimate with the middle of the pack,” and this description seems to fit other areas in his life, too (3). Neil doesn’t seem bitter or unhappy with his commonplace background and life. Instead, he focuses more his friend John William’s atypical life. John Williams is the opposite of Neil in high school: Neil goes to a public school, while John Williams attends an elite prep school in Seattle. Neil’s family is big and traditional, but not college-educated. John William, on the other hand, comes from a family of prosperous and famous Seattle businessmen. John William is the only child in a broken family: his mother has moved away after going insane, and his father is often away on business trips. Neil’s nuclear family, however, seems to be caring towards him and his younger sister.

One thing that these polar opposite boys have in common is a love of adventure. They meet during a track meet, when they race neck-and-neck during their 800 meter run. Although neither Neil and John William have any chance of winning the race, they share a drive to push themselves to their physical limits. Neil explains that half mile runners are “in search of deeper agony than they can find elsewhere (5).” This common search also leads John William and Neil to extended and rugged camping trips in the backcountry areas of the North Cascades. John William and Neil become reckless during this trip and get lost, spending a long time without food and with no knowledge of how to get out of the backcountry. This, combined with their experimental drug use, makes the pair seem like stereotypical rebellious teens. However, the author uses an interesting technique to keep readers from dismissing the book as boring because of this: he writes the story from Neil’s perspective as an adult. This doesn’t make much difference in a lot of the telling of the story, but Neil does add occasional observations from his point of view as an adult. For instance, Neil and John William decide to steal coins from a fountain in a park in Seattle one night while they are high. This scene isn’t very original, but Neil’s bewildered comments on it as an adult make it more unique. Neil says, “But I can’t explain why we were stealing coins at the Seattle Center. It makes no sense to me now, though it must have made sense to me then. I just don’t recall what the logic was…” (12). These observations add depth and interest to the story, and give the reader clues about what kind of a person Neil is as an adult. I am excited to continue reading about the intriguing characters and their adventures in The Other.

Work Cited:

Guterson, David. The Other. New York: Random House, 2008.