Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed on 7/3/2016 + 1223 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.

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