Book Reviews of Montana 1948

This is one of my favorite books of all time. Suppose you are the sheriff of a small town. Suppose your brother, the Golden Boy of the family, has become a doctor who treats the Native Americans on the reservation. And suppose he's accused of molesting the Indian girls...what do you do? Told from the viewpoint of 12-year-old David's point of view, it's a year neither he...nor you...will ever forget. HIGHLY recommended.

Deceptively simple, this is a powerful novel about families, secrets and justice. It is about how one family is torn apart and yet brought together by their actions and reactions to a crime. Even though it is a short book it has more story in it than a 900 page novel. The characters emotions jump off the page and take firm hold on you. A book I highly recommend.

I truly liked this book. Well-written without being wordy. The story got started from the first page and I stayed up late to finish it - it was that good. Excellent writing, fascinating characters, a positive reading experience.

Don't overlook this brilliant, moving, coming-of-age story. Down to the last word, not just the last page, it will surprise and captivate you.

Great story! A quick, compelling, heart-breaking read.

Very evocative little story of time and place and events which forever change the view of 12-year-old the narrator. It is a tale of love and courage and, of power abused, and of the terrible choice between family loyalty and justice.

Our book club read this. To me it was just ok. I didn't really find it a good read.

A touching book about a young boy and family secrets. A beautiful potrayal of life in small towns.

Nice historical fiction. Short and not so sweet.

Thoroughly engaging read and beautifully written.

Good story, good writing!

This one kicks you in the gut almost immediately and doesn't let up!

In the tradition of Wallace Stegner and Norman Maclean,Larry Watson has created a completely new American classic, a remarkable evocation of a time, a place, and more: a story whose pages will not stop turning because the characters will not let them.

Very interesting, easy to read book. I read it in one sitting. I would recommend this book for adults only, as it centers around adult themes. But is done in an intelligent, non-offensive way.

A mystery in the tradition of "To Kill A Mockingbird"

A young Sioux woman tossing with fever on a cot; a father begging his wife for help; a mother standing uncertainly in her kitchen with a 12-gauge shotgun: from these fragments of memory, evoked by the narrator as the novel opens, Watson builds a simple but powerful tale. It is Montana in 1948, and young David Hayden's father, Wesley, is sheriff of their small town--a position he inherited from his domineering father. Wesley is overshadowed by his older brother, Frank, a war hero who is now the town doctor. When Marie, the Sioux woman who works for the Haydens, fall ill, she adamantly resists being examined by Frank. Some probing reveals that Frank has been molesting the Indian women in his care. Wesley's dilemma--should he turn in his own brother?--is intensified when Marie is found dead and David confesses that he saw his uncle near the house before she died. The moral issues, and the consequences of following one's conscience, are made painfully evident here. Watson is to be congratulated for the honesty of his writing and the purity of his prose. Highly recommended.

This is a quick read, but very interesting.

Great story that captures the complexities of families and the secrets they keep.

Great characters and emotion. A short, moving story of family, loyalty, place, and justice. Definitely worth reading.

This book won numerous awards and is excellent. I ran across it as a pick in a college course (I am an instructor).

"This story is as fresh and clear as the trout streams fished by its narrator..As ybuversak ub uts tgenes as it is original in its peculaiarities, MONTANA 1948 is a significant and elegant edition to the fiction of the American West, and to contemporary American ficion in general."

another goody

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