Lynda C. (Readnmachine) reviewed This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind on + 1440 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Fine, affecting memoir of growing up in the mid-20th century in a series of sheep camps, remote ranches, and tiny hamlets in Montana's high country. Doig's beautiful prose catches both the beauty and brutality of the life, and ends with a thoughful examination of what it means to be a family.
Conrad B. (Phunter) reviewed This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind on + 35 more book reviews
It wasn't too long ago that I read Ivan Doig's novel "Dancing At The Rascal Fair" - the story of a lifetime spent working the land and raising sheep in the hills of Montana. At times, reading this book I had to stop and remind myself that this was autobiography not novel - even though it sometimes feels like one. It is a beautiful reminiscience of the rugged Montana landscape which enthralled me when I visited it - such a contrast to our Southern vistas. It is also a stirring testimony to the bonds of family and community and a tribute to the author's father and grandmother - two rugged individuals who poured their lives into his.
great read........loved it...
Richard G. (ralegh) -
One of the most beautiful books I've ever read. The author paints an incredible portrait of his father and grandmother with deceptively straightforward and simple language. The two become united by necessity in an unlikely relationship in order to raise the author, and the love among the three--grandmother, father, and author--is delightfully expressed.
Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind on + 1178 more book reviews
Ivan Doig was a writer from Montana who died last year at the age of 75 of multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells, from which he'd suffered for eight years. I didn't realize he had passed until after I finished reading this marvelous memoir of his life growing up in Montana under the guardianship of his father and his maternal grandmother.
The book is one that should be read slowly and savored describing the land where he grew up including the small towns, ranches, sheep farms, and life in western Montana. But more than that, it is the story of a family starting with a narrative of his ancestors who emigrated from Scotland to Montana. Then the loss of his mother at a very young age, his life on the various ranches working at various jobs including raising sheep with his father. And finally, his obtaining a degree at Northwestern University in Chicago and working as a journalist and writer.
The book really captures a way of life from a by-gone era as Doig paints a vivid picture of growing up under the Big Sky of Montana in the open spaces and among the ranchers, farmhands and livestock. He also portrays the townspeople and characters along the way in great descriptions including the denizens of the local bars and other establishments in small town Montana. Overall a great memoir of a life growing up in the west of the mid twentieth century.
The book is one that should be read slowly and savored describing the land where he grew up including the small towns, ranches, sheep farms, and life in western Montana. But more than that, it is the story of a family starting with a narrative of his ancestors who emigrated from Scotland to Montana. Then the loss of his mother at a very young age, his life on the various ranches working at various jobs including raising sheep with his father. And finally, his obtaining a degree at Northwestern University in Chicago and working as a journalist and writer.
The book really captures a way of life from a by-gone era as Doig paints a vivid picture of growing up under the Big Sky of Montana in the open spaces and among the ranchers, farmhands and livestock. He also portrays the townspeople and characters along the way in great descriptions including the denizens of the local bars and other establishments in small town Montana. Overall a great memoir of a life growing up in the west of the mid twentieth century.
