National Book Award Finalist: A “beautifully written, deeply felt” memoir about growing up in the American West (Los Angeles Times). Ivan Doig grew up in the rugged wilderness of western Montana among the sheepherders and denizens of small-town saloons and valley ranches. What he deciphers from his past with piercing clarity is not only a raw sense of land and how it shapes us, but also of the … shapes us, but also of the ties to our mothers and fathers, to those who love us, and our inextricable connection to those who shaped our values in our search for intimacy, independence, love, and family.
A powerfully told story, This House of Sky is uniquely American—yet also universal in its ability to awaken a longing for an explicable past.
“Engrossing and moving.”—Time
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Ivan Doig is my favorite author right now. His books make me want to visit Montana.
A memoir to savor, especially the pages about sheep herding. When we lived in Idaho we encountered a sheepherder who didn’t speak English. The wagons they lived in were a curiosity, which was certainly satisfied by this book.
But I also enjoyed the juxtaposition of personalities (two of them head-butters) of his family members during his …
A fine autobiography and family memoir of ranching in Montana through the early 20th century. Such a hard-scrabble life on barren land, through storms and drought, creates crusty, tough and people full of grit and character. We visit the smalltown bars, schools, far-flung ranches and a few cozy homes and their inhabitants.
I’m glad Ivan Doig was …
Marvelous memoir. None of the above descriptions are descriptive enough.
I love Ivan Diog’s stories.
His writing is so graceful and evocative of time and place.