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Summary: Isn't there a "10" Star rating? Should be for Ivan Doig!
Review: As a native Montanan, I was drawn to this book. I don't know what I can say without reapeating the outstanding things others reviewing this book have stated. I, like a previous reader, pick up House of Sky just to read certain passages over and over. The use of the English language in this book is Masterful; absolutely masterful. The emotions that the words stir up in even the manliest of us men, is remarkable. Even if you are reading this review by accident, BUY THE BOOK. You won't be able to put it down... I guarntee it.
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Summary: Growing up in Big Sky Country
Review: As a writer, Ivan Doig is something of a favorite son in Montana, and for good reason. His memoir is a rhapsody of affection for the land where he grew up -- the small towns, homesteads and ranches in the Smith River Valley, along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, extending north to the Blackfeet Reservation on the Canadian border. It's also a wonderful and often touching story of a father and son. Born in 1939, Doig begins his tale with the emigration of his forebears from Scotland to Montana. At the end, in the 1970s, he has emerged as a writer with a graduate degree, living in Seattle, with rich and deeply felt memories of the people and the land he has known -- the house of sky.An only child, his mother dying when he is six years old, Doig is raised by his father, Charlie, who works various jobs, sheepherding, haying, moving from place to place, and for a while leasing a small ranch of his own, his son in tow. Charlie is a hard-working man, with a big heart and tender love for his son. Concerned by a turn of bad health, he is reconciled to his mother-in-law, who did not approve of her daughter's marriage to him, and the three of them become a family that remains together until Charlie's death at age 70. The book captures and preserves in detail a way of life that has almost vanished from America. Doig tells of growing up in wide open spaces among livestock and wildlife, learning from his father the skills of making a living off the land and surviving against the odds. He attends small town schools, spending the winters in rented rooms, seeing his father and grandmother only on weekends. Much of his time spent with adults or alone, he grows up more quickly than his peers and learns to love solitude. At 300+ pages, this is not a long book, but it's no page-turner. You find yourself reading it slowly, relishing the rich prose style that captures the poetry in this landscape of mountains, valleys, and plains, as well as the people, with their personal quirks, habits, ways of talking, and often eccentric behavior. In fact, the book reads much like a novel, full of stories, colorful characters, humor, pathos, suspense, and adventures. The vividness of Doig's writing reflects his training as a journalist, and I suspect that he may have been influenced more than a little by the novels of Thomas Wolfe. I recommend "This House of Sky" to anyone with an interest in the West, nature writing, books about growing up, family sagas, ranching and rural life. As a companion volume, I recommend Wallace Stegner's "Wolf Willow," about his boyhood in southwestern Saskatchewan.
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Summary: Holds up as one of my all-time favorites
Review: Doig's poetic use of language is haunting. I read and re-read many phrases and paragraphs just to fully appreciate the beauty he evoked with the language. As a native to the western landscape, I could visualize his story in a way so much more profound than the simple telling of the story. Certainly the best of Doig's books I've read so far! I highly recommend this book and am now buying a replacement copy for myself and one for a Christmas present.
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Summary: A treasure.
Review: I have to agree with the reviewer from Longmont, CO. The writing is poetry and I found myself going back over passages just to savor the descriptions. Ivan Doig can make you see and feel the landscape, hear the words spoken. I consider This House of Sky a treasure on my bookshelf. Absolutely beautiful.
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Summary: Wonderful book about fathers & sons and loss.
Review: I ordered this book when it was first published for my dad. When I was home for his funeral the bookstore called to tell me it was in. I bought the book and read it about 6 months later. I have never read a book that was so unique in the way the author used language. If you want to know how cowboys and sheepherders in Montana speak read this book. If you want to know how people compromise themselves for the ones they love read this book. If you want to gain insight into a truely fine father and son relationship read this book. If you don't want to be moved to tears and laughter don't read this book. It took me over a year to finish this book because the language was so vivid it transported me back to my childhood and I felt as it I were sitting in my dads truck listening to him shoot the breeze with his cowboy friends. My fathers voice whispered in my ear and I would have to put the book down. Read this book you will not be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed the book. The clincher was the realism and affection written into the characters. The work shares a time and place long since gone in this country. It makes one wonder if their own generation can live up to the character and accomplishments of the ones in the book.
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Summary: What's family?
Review: If there is any question in your mind about the need for,and value of, a son's relationship with his father, read this book. In a much more straight forward and honest way than the much better known 'Angela's Ashes' this book shows how a father and grandmother give life, and make the necessary changes to insure this one boy not only survives, but thrives. Through some of the most unbelievable circumstances and struggle, a father shows his son what it means to be a man, and how to grow into the job. Light hearted at times, serious at times, through the cycles of life and death in the real world they make it, and grow from it. What more could you ask? It's real.
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Summary: Simply the finest book you will ever read.
Review: In a beautifully written narrative that flows and dances with the richness of the Montana landscape, Ivan Doig shares not only his unique boyhood with us, he shares his heart.
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Summary: Through the Eyes of a Master...
Review: Ivan Doig has captured my heart. I felt that he took my hand and led me to this magnificently rugged and sometimes brutal place, and shared all the joys and sorrows he shared there with the people he loved.He tells of his father's great inner strength, his father's love of the grandeur of those wild mountain ranges, deep-notched valleys, and the prairie fields that go on forever. He tells of his mother, whom he lost at the age of six, and the people who come into his life to get him through those tender years of loss, each one a rich, full-bodied character of the West, who leaves an indelible mark on Ivan's life. This is not a tear-stained narrative. This is a proud son of the West, with a deep love of his heritage and the people who made him the man he is today.I'm so grateful he was willing to share his story with us.If you love beautiful,richly-descriptive prose, great narratives, histories of the people who settled the West, please enjoy this fine portrait painted by a master of the art.
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Summary: An amazing piece of work!
Review: Ivan Doig's "This House of Sky" is one of the most moving books I have read. Raised in Montana myself, I can relate to almost every segment of this well written book. I have given it as gifts to several family members, all who have raved about it. Thanks, Ivan, for special memories and sharing your life.
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