Ivan Doig - This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind

Ivan Doig's book is, superficially, what might be described as a memoir or autobiography. It covers, for instance, Doig's life in part of Western Montana known for the toughness of its soil and the difficulties it presents for farmers and cattle producers. Hard winters, relentlessly hot and dry summers and soil that barely produces enough food for cows or sheep. Doig grew up with his father - his mother died when he was six, and much of the book covers the story of how his father, like the generations before him - almost fought the land to survive. Doig relates the stories of the drinking dens in White Springs where his Dad sought relief, the endless stream of ranchs that they worked on - the horses, cows, chickens and cattle that kept them alive with food or payment. Doig tells how he goes to school, but learns on the ranch, gets work, more work, different work and then eventually breaks out into writing and college.

There are some great set piece descriptions - looking after sheep in the snow, and the heat. But if that were the only thing about this book it would be interesting enough - and Doig's writing is wonderful enough to draw the reader into the minutiae of life, the hardships and the jokes, like countless other memoirs of life in agricultural communities.

But what makes This House of Sky stand out are two other aspects. Doig's love for the landscape of Montana and the way he shows how life is tied up with the very soil, water and mountains. The fight to make a living is a fight to be human. Secondly, and what makes the book truely special, is that this is a book about love - the love children have for a deceased parent, for a father who fights for them even if he cannot articulate it, and for those other friends, family and community who make us all the individuals we are. Particularly, in Doig's case, this is about his father and his grandmother (on his mother's side) - the latter a singularly independent woman whose life on the prarie began when her grandfather arrived as an immigrant and worked to shape the land for a slice of its bounty. But who, though losing her family and her daughter, eventually becomes a simply inspiring woman, who gives her everything for Doig.

There's no real way to describe This House of Sky that does it justice. If you're heading out to Montana, it is, perhaps, one of the great books to read about the state. I suspect it will also be a gateway to Doig's novels.

Related Reviews

Doig - Bucking the Sun
Doig - Winter Brothers: A season at the edge of America
Spence - Montana: A History
Carlisle - Lentil Underground: Renegade Farmers and the Future of Food in America

Lause - The Great Cowboy Strike: Bullets, Ballots & Class Conflicts in the American West