The Whistling Season Reviews

• Evocative, poignant and beautifully written!

  
  By A26A64X86VL1R4 on 2007-01-11
  The Whistling Season is an homage to a lost way of life, the homesteading prairie farmers and their children who attended a one-room schoolhouse. This story is told from the perspective of Paul, the eldest and most intellectually gifted son of a recently widowed dry-farmer in Montana. Paul is fortunate to have a father who is well-read and supports the life of the mind. Unfortunately Paul is haunted by dreams and nightmares that leave him perpetually exhausted.
  
  Paul's father, Oliver, and his two brothers are devasted by the death of Paul's mother and struggle to keep the household together with the loss of the essential skills of the homemaker. Hiring a housekeeper, Rose, brings not only cleanliness and harmony to the home, but a new schoolteacher to the community. The school teacher is Rose's brother, Morris. Morris' love of learning and theatrical style inspire the children in the tiny schoolhouse. Ultimately the story turns on how these newcomers fit into and transform this little community.
  
  The strengths of this novel are in its vivid portrayal of prairie life, elegant language and poignant plot. Definitely a novel that leaves me wanting to read more of this author!
  
  

• Warmth in Montana

  
  By A1RMHZSWZ7ZEQO on 2006-09-05
  This novel is about a motherless family of three boys and a widower in a very small Montana town in 1910. A housekeeper is hired and her brother tags along from Minneapolis to the frontier. There the story begins.
  
  The best way to describe the book may be to tell what it is not. It is not hokey or a father falling-in-love chic romance. Although the narrator is a teenage boy, it is not a coming of age novel. Although there is shadowing of mystery from the beginning, it is not mystery.
  
  So what is it? It is an ode to the single room school house and education. It is a frank telling of a family's year on the Montana frontier. There are relationships explored between the boy and his family, the teacher, the housekeeper and his school mates - friend and foe.
  
  Paul, the narrator, has to face adversity (beyond the death of his mother) in several different ways while maintaining his place in his small and insular world. His most difficult task, however, is to decide what to do with a secret he learns.
  
  The writing is terrific, although the book got off to a slow start. After the first 70 pages, which seemed choppy, I was worried I had picked a dud. From there on the book was captivating. Paul, and almost all of the characters, were extremely likeable with all their foibles and weaknesses exposed. The one pure "bad" guy was tangential and truly wicked.
  
  This is a great read once it started to get going. Both the story(ies) and the characters (especially Morrie, the reluctant teacher) will stay with the reader. It is entertaining and thought-provoking. Highly recommended.
  
  

• Morrie, not Rose, is the main character

  
  By A359U0JFFZ0Q04 on 2006-07-05
  There's a lot to like about THE WHISTLING SEASON. It's set in 1910 Montana; there's a one-room schoolhouse; there are three likable kids and their mostly immigrant classmates; there's a housekeeper from Minneapolis who, along with her brother, arrives when the boys' father answers her ad in the newspaper, and there's Halley's comment.
  
  Despite all of this, I had a hard time getting into the book. For one thing, Doig switches from the thirteen-year-old narrator, Paul Milliron, to Paul as a grown-up forty-some years later. He has now morphed into the superintendent of schools who must decide the fate of the one-room schoolhouse in Montana. His diction is stilted to say the least. The second problem with the book is its seeming episodic nature. There's a bully who must be dealt with. A horse steps on the youngest boy's foot; the bully's father threatens the housekeeper's brother who becomes the teacher of the one-room schoolhouse after the former teacher runs off with a preacher; an inspector of schools shows up to decide the fate of the boys' school; Paul takes Latin after school. None of this seems to be going anyplace. But then, towards the end, Doig pulls a rabbit out of his hat and everything begins to make a bit more sense. The climax is definitely the best part of the book.
  
  The teacher, Morris Morgan, is definitely the most interesting character. He seems to intuit that the bully needs glasses; he latches on to the teachable moment when Halley's Comet passes overhead; he's willing to devote his free time to help Paul realize his full potential. But then there's the matter of the brass knuckles that materialize when the bully's father confronts Morgan. At first, I thought this was awfully convenient, but really all Doig is doing is "planting" a prop that he will use later.
  
  The ending seems awfully rushed as well and a bit unbelievable considering the superintendent's decision and the fate of Morris Morgan and his sister. I would also have liked to have known what became of some of Paul Milliron's classmates.
  
  

• A loving lament for a lost era--rough, wild, gentle, wise

  
  By A75W6T9I2S8BA on 2007-06-08
  "Whistling Season" by Ivan Doig is a deeply affecting coming-of-age novel set in the dry Montana prairie of 1910. The story is told through the memories of Paul Milliron looking back to one important year in his childhood, when he was 13. The book begins in 1950 when Paul, now Montana State Superintendent of Public Instruction, travels to his hometown of Marias Coulee with the unpleasant task of closing its one and only one-room schoolhouse. He gazes up at the night sky watching Sputnik blink across the stars and knows that a new era has arrived. He is heartbroken because this new era will wipe out all that has come before. There will be no going back.
  
  Doig knows this territory well--it is his own ancestral roots. He has researched it thoroughly and published other successful fiction and nonfiction books set in this period and place. While reading this book, I felt transported back in time--the landscape, the people, the very dust that covered everything--came alive on the page. So do the characters--the singular, bizarre, and clarion-clear characters of the Old West--Doig is, indeed, a master at creating wonderfully authentic people that you really care about.
  
  The story is poignant. Young Paul and his two younger brothers are experiencing the first year of grief following the death of their mother. Oliver Milliron, their father, is understandably overwhelmed with the task of being father, mother, and homesteader. Through the distant Minneapolis newspaper, he sees an ad by a housekeeper. In this manner, the ever-whistling, beautiful Rose Llewellyn comes into their life. She arrives unexpectedly with her brother, Morris Morgan, an eccentric, walking encyclopedia. Events unfold that push Morris toward becoming the town's schoolmaster. Although he has never done anything like that before, teaching seems a task that he was born to. His students flourish under his idiosyncratic and outrageous style. But Rose and Morris hold a secret that Paul eventually uncovers. How he handles that situation delineates young Paul's crossover from child to adult.
  
  The novel is in every way, a loving lament about the passing of uniquely American way of life--the rough, yet magical and free life of Western Montana dry-land farming homesteaders.
  
  

• I didn't want it to end!

  
  By A21NVBFIEQWDSG on 2006-05-30
  The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig is a beautiful novel, with rich and delicious prose, and characters that are detailed, complex and fully developed. I dreaded reaching the final page, wanting to spend more time with Paul Milliron, his family, Rose, Morris, and the community.
  
  Paul Milliron is the Montana state superintendent of schools in the 1950s. It is his job to determine the fate of the few rural schools that are still in use. As he returns to his home, he reminisces about the year 1909, when he was thirteen and attended a one-room school in Marias Coulee.
  
  In 1909 Paul's father, recently widowed and caring for his three sons, hires a housekeeper from Minnesota. The housekeeper's ad in the Westwater Gazette read, Can't Cook But Doesn't Bite.
  
  The housekeeper, Rose Llewellyn, arrives in Montana with her brother, Morris. She's already received several months advance on her salary and immediately begins to organize the Milliron's home and quietly insert herself in their lives. But as she said in her ad, she doesn't cook.
  
  When the local schoolteacher leaves to marry an evangelist, Morris accepts, for the rest of the school year, her job. His arrival impacts the Milliron children and their schoolmate's education in ways no one expected.
  
  I expected Rose to be the focal point of the novel, but in many ways, Morris' personality took center stage. His relationship with Paul continually broadened the young man's life and education. There are several interesting twists and turns that were unexpected and contributed to the charm of Doig's novel.
  
  Armchair Interviews says: The Whistling Season is a wonderful and satisfying read.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• what a rare thing a good story is
  By A1YJ7AHHLKD6L3 on 2006-06-29
  With the caliber of writing as dismal as it seems to be in fiction lately, I did not expect much from this book, but I was very pleasently surprised.Coming from Nebraska, where the stories of one room schoolhouses are the stuff of folktales, this was, and will remain,a story close to my heart. If we forget the past, we lose the future, and with stories like this we never will. I reccomend this heartily
  
  
• Doig is a master!
  By A3AL1I9D8QYRQ3 on 2006-07-18
  I have been going through a Western Phase lately, I really enjoyed "One Thousand White Woman" and that let me to "Lonesome Dove" (one of the best books I have ever read!). I finally came across Doig and decided to give him a try. What a marvelous writer! A master with words. His rural Montana characters are fully fleshed folks who you soon feel as if you have known for years. The settings are rich in detail and atmosphere that tell you the author knows this place intimately. There is life here and humor, and compelling reasons to turn the page that don't rely on sex and violence. I am finding there is a rich store of literary fiction in the western genre. I also recommend "Telegraph Days."
  
  
• Old-School Storytelling
  By ADQR7Y6GIKSDL on 2007-04-15
  This is my first Ivan Doig novel, and I wasn't disappointed. The author delivers with uncluttered, straightforward diction the story of a widower and his three sons living at the turn of 1909-10 in eastern Montana. They answer an ad for a housekeeper (Rose) from Minnesota and get more than they bargained for (in many ways, as the denouement will reveal) when Rose's brother, Morrie, steps off the train with her.
  
  "The Whistling Season" suffers only two profanities in its 345-page narrative and is truly family fare in its poignant re-creation of the one-room schoolhouse culture of so many western yesteryears. Although the protagonist is the adult eldest son, Paul Milliron, looking back on his eventful 13th year, it is Morrie Morgan, destined to become the emergency teacher, who steals the show characterization-wise. Morrie makes the book especially appealing to readers who like to read about gifted teachers, schools, and learning -- specifically Morrie's specialties: science, Latin, and subterfuge. Though the plot is as steady and uneventful as Montana's gunmetal skies, the ending does feature a twist (for any O. Henry fans in the crowd). Also of note is Doig's care with description of the land. The landscapes he fondly paints, obviously informed by experience, are a strong competition for Morrie as they become like ghostly characters forged from the anvil of the author's -- and by extension, the narrator's -- memory.
  
  All in all, "The Whistling Season" is a good, solid book about good, solid people, some of whom are burdened by a secret.
  
  
• Even when it stands vacant, the past is never empty
  By A8WQOOWJPFD1M on 2006-06-12
  These, the poetic prose of Ivan Doig, are as crisp and thought-provoking in his latest novel "The Whistling Season" as they were in his debut memoir "This House Of Sky". Doig has once again delivered a dazzling read, and proven himself the king of Contemporary Western literature.
  
  As Montana Superintendent of Schools during the 1950s, Paul Milleron faces the difficult decision of closing the state's rural schools. "The Whistling Season" takes Milleron back to his extraordinary seventh grade year at Marias Coulee, a single-room school in eastern Montana. Paul, his two younger brothers, and their father Oliver, are still raw from the loss of their mother and wife. Domestic life is nearly unbearable as they practice "downkeep" instead of "upkeep", and Oliver's cooking is a significant source of depression. So when Oliver discovers an advertisement for a housekeeper titled "Can't cook, but doesn't bite", how can they not hire the woman?
  
  The lovely Rose Lewellen, however, hardly arrives from Minneapolis alone. She brings her brother, Morrie Morgan, a man of letters with a sketchy past. Through a twist of fate not uncommon for prairie schools (matrimony), Morrie is pressed into service as the new school master. Milleron's memory of the 1909-10 school year and the wonders it brought (Halley's comet for one) force him to question how closing these schools could possibly serve its students. An education of quality can sometimes be found in unlikely places.
  
  Doig has always been my favorite author. I savor his every word. Of grave markers, he says, "The patience of stones. How they await us." He has no equal in Contemporary Western literature.
  
  
  
• This book is what good writing is all about!
  By A2TFT6CWE0T871 on 2006-08-15
  I read so much trash that sometimes I forget what real fiction writing is all about. This book is a little masterpiece. Doig Brings Simplicity of style, character development, and his mastery of dialog to tell a beautiful story about the end of days for Montana's one room school houses. Everyone should read Ivan Doig, he is one of America's best writers of the 20th (and now 21st) century!
  
  
• Ivan Doig takes a new tack
  By A3GT177OWR4GG7 on 2006-09-06
  I was fortunate to see Ivan Doig at a book reading for Whistling Season. Certainly he draws upon his real life experience at a one room school and with a father widowed with young children. However, I think that in this new book, he goes beyond his real life experience (at least as described in his biographies, House of Sky and Heart Earth) to create a fictional environment. This new tack is, in my opinion, a good one, and I found this a very enjoyable book.
  
  
• a pleasure
  By ADSVALYHEFEEI on 2006-10-03
  What a wonderful gentle, plainly-told tale this is to sit back in a comfortable chair and simply enjoy. The proverbial "slice of life" read, the focus on a loving but motherless home and a one-room Montana schoolhouse: ". . .the trails in the grass that radiated in as many directions as there were homesteads with children, all converging to that schoolhouse spot where I stood. . ."
  
  I began reading Ivan Doig years ago, having gotten the only book available from a local book store. Others? I was told my best bet was to go to the Northwest. By coincidence, I was flying there in 2 days. Obviously, when I got there I bought everything and feasted for some time on Doig's stories. They are unmatched for beauty and warmth.
  
  If you by any chance are unfamiliar with Doig, I can only urge you to treat yourself to an excellent experience.
  
  There is one scene in Whistling Season where the protagonists watch a man on a steel-grey horse chase down a wolf. It is violent and repellent but so expertly written that one sees and feels the whole scene and is left open-mouthed. This is part of the West.
  
  And the West is beautifully described after one man says, while standing on a high bluff, "Extravagant scenery." "Farther west, the tips of the Rockies were white with first snow, an iceberg flotilla that seemed to go on forever under the dark blue sky of late afternoon. All the hills in the world were stacked in shade of tan between there and where we stood. Almost at our feet, juniper patches pintoed down the breaks in the rimrock of the bluff, and lower still, wild roses blew gently in the wind." Hard to beat that.
  
  
  
• Word Play
  By A1RDICEF7NSVHV on 2006-12-23
  With the passing some years ago of Wallace Stegner, Ivan Doig is probably the writer who now most personifies the West. English Creek, Dancing at the Rascal Fair, and Ride with me Mariah Montana are among my favorites. It was with great enthusiasm that I began to read his latest, The Whistling Season. It was for that reason, perhaps, that I was initially disappointed. It had the tone of a juvenile book, at first. There's nothing wrong with that--I write juvenile fiction myself. But this seemed just a note off from where it belonged.
  
  True, the book is about a juvenile, through his reminiscence 50 years hence. There was something that did not ring true. I don't know if I got over it, or if the book improved. More likely I was picking something up in the audio narration that wasn't just right.
  
  Ultimately, the book is not a disappointment, though not his best work. Early on you could see the happy ending rolling toward you like a train in the distance: recently widowed farmer with three boys sends for a housekeeper on the basis of a cryptic ad. Surprise, surprise, she's quite good looking. The real surprise is that she brings her brother with her. He turns out to be much more than we expect, and in many ways is the center of the book.
  
  Much of the novel takes place in a one-room Montana schoolhouse, beginning in 1909. There are several sub-plots that provide the action. The real story is about the kind of education one could get in that kind of setting. A couple of years ago I was privileged to have the opportunity to edit the history of a similar school in Idaho. That kind of grade-spanning education, all but lost today, had much to recommend it.
  
  There is some entertaining wordplay throughout the novel. We come dangerously close to learning a little Latin. In the end, the entire book turns on the definition of a word. A bold step that a lesser writer might not have pulled off. Doig does it with ease.
  
  
• This was a great book!
  By A2ZWOSXTV0UVO1 on 2006-07-05
  If you're looking for sex and violence, skip it. But if you like finely drawn characters and a picture of a place and time that really was -- this is for you.
  
  It was very well-written, amusing, had a story to tell. And I found it thought-provoking. Can't do much better than that.
  
  
• Ivan Doig Does It Again
  By AGFYRKP8T9N6Z on 2006-07-08
  It's 1957, and Paul Milliron, Montana's Superintendent of Schools, finds himself forced by the legislature to close the state's remaining one-room schools. On the way to perform his task, Paul takes a trip back to 1909, when he attended a rural, one-room school like the ones he must now close, and he relives a school year that shaped his life. We get to know his family, consisting of his widower father and his two younger brothers, plus an eclectic array of classmates, all brought to life by the author's masterful descriptions. When Paul's father hires a housekeeper from a newspaper ad, she comes with a surprise, and the action really begins.
  
  Sure, some of the events are pretty predictable, but all are delightfully so. Doig wraps it up with some deft twists to the predictable, however, as Paul shows a somewhat different side of his character in dealing with the dilemmas of both the past and present.
  
  The reader is left wanting to know more about what happened to Paul's brothers and classmates. But Doig does not clutter the story with that information, leaving it for our imaginations--or perhaps another trilogy as good as his English Creek, Dancing at the Rascal Fair and Ride with Me, Mariah Montana series.
  
  Wonderful reading and inspirational as well.
  
  
  
  
  
• Lux Desiderium Universitatis
  By A2T1B8LGQRYCEA on 2006-09-07
  All the things that make a good book, or a book good, can be found in Ivan Doig's "The Whistling Season". It is at it's very core a good and gripping story; it provides an interesting historical setting, well developed characters, humor, heart, a mystery, a romance and a comet! Who could ask for more?
  
  
• Great Characters, Writing & Commentary
  By A32LV24S9JT58A on 2007-04-30
  What's not to like in this story? There are quirky, lovable characters, written with depth. There are sentences that are simply artful. And, there is a lasting contemplation evoked long after the last page is turned as you think about the evolution of the public school system from a one-room schoolhouse, to segregated schools, to integrated schools, to inner-city kids bussed to the suburbs, to the exodus to private schools for those "fortunate" enough to have that option. For me, it was ultimately the reminder of the impact ANY teacher with a passion for learning can have on all students, from the most reluctant to the most eager. All in all, a great book.
  
  
• Literary charm
  By A2EVLR11ZKRXRU on 2006-08-09
  This certainly is the most charming book I have read in recent years and may be the most charming book I have ever read. I was introduced to Ivan Doig with his "Bucking the Sun" and was impressed then with his ability to capture the conversations of children. that ability is so wonderfully displayed in "The Whistling Season".
  
  
• Delightful & different
  By A11NL2A0RDEGF on 2006-07-03
  This is so different than much historical fiction, but it was pure delight. These characters became so real and the setting was genuine. The author's depiction of the "politics" of a one room school in a remote rural area was funny and seemed right on target. At times I laughed out loud.
  
  Seeing Paul as both the state superintendent of schools and as a young student was so effective. Who would have thought that a bureaucrat's decision to close a small school would provide such a compelling concept for a novel. The effect of Haley's Comet on the school provides a perfect parallel for the effect of Sputnik many years later.
  
  The writing is clear, direct, and meaningful-- just like the characters. Highly recommend this for anyone.
  
  
• Sweet story
  By A35GAVKP2MEOSU on 2006-08-23
  This is a wonderful book about a vanished time. Fine characterization, wonderful setting, lovely writing, and a good story. What's not to like?
  
  
• Doig is no Wallace Stegner
  By A1U8ZKBNH66JZ2 on 2006-09-27
  I bought Bucking the Sun out of the Bargain Bin a few years back. Here's another Doig title that I shouldn't have paid full price for. My bookmark is collecting dust between 138 and 139. There's just nothing to lure me back to the lifeless story or the boilerplate characters who seem to be cut and pasted on to the page. Maybe this story is going somewhere. I'm just not sure I want to be there when it does.
  
  
• Evocative and worthy of your time
  By A28OEW3ASFQ82H on 2006-11-27
  This is the fourth Doig book I've read and I never fail to be impressed. As a long-time teacher I've read hundreds of books that sometimes blur together, but I can absolutely remember every one of Doig's. Like Wallace Stegner, Doig has a way of evoking a time and place (the West) that is accurate while being truly lyrical and memorable. What I like about Doig is that you can "see" it all just so clearly. If you have an interest in life for some at the turn of the century, this book is for you. If you ever wondered about rural education and how the teacher coped, this book is for you. If you like hisorical fiction that is one hundered percent accurate while telling a good story, this book is for you. Ultimately, if you like quality writing that is worth reading in and of itself, this is time well spent. You will find yourself wanting to read other Doig novels. Like me, I know you will find them truly satisfying.
  
  
• Ivan Doig at His Best
  By A3APCS2TVVHGKA on 2007-09-10
  The problem with reading Ivan Doig is that I can read his books faster than he can write them. I never want the book to end because I know that my trip to the bookstore will be a let down as I decide what to read next. I've read all the other authors that are described as Doig-like: Haruf, Enger, Proulx, West, and a few others. They're all good authors in their own right, but they are not Ivan Doig. I'll admit that I'm a bit biased given the fact that I was born in Montana and have spent many vacations in my last 48 years breathing the pure air of Big Sky country. That emotional connection notwithstanding, Doig is a masterful author. His prose is meaty and strong; his phrasing is creative and memorable (though not 'cute'), and his characters are well-developed, believable, and for the most part, endearing. Particularly enjoyable characters in the book are narrator, Paul; teacher Morrie; and the lovely housekeeper, Rose.
  
  This book is so well crafted that once finished I went back and read several passages at length that were brick work (unbeknown at the time) that eventually shaped the book into being more than merely a 'good read,' but real literature.
  
  This is a keeper. You really can't go wrong with it. I don't know if Doig would ever allow his books to be movies, but the right director would have a smash hit motion picture with this book. It is the one book of his (I believe) that would really lend itself to a great film.
  
  Happy reading.
  
  
• Engaging, enjoyable, entertaining
  By A24H4WUFUDPTAA on 2006-06-27
  The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig is an engaging story of rural life in 1909 Montana. Oliver Milliron has recently lost his wife and needing a housekeeper for his three boys, is intrigued by a newspaper advertisement "Can't Cook But Doesn't Bite" for a housekeeper from Minneapolis. Soon Rose Llewelyn arrives with her brother Morris Morgan. Rose lives up to her word about cooking, but soon fills the house with her cheerful whistling as she cleans up the Milliron's lives. Morgan, in the meantime, takes on the job of schoolteacher when the latest teacher runs off with an itinerant preacher. The story is told from the perspective of 13-year-old Paul who is haunted by terrible dreams and an amazing intellect. There is no great climax or action in this book, it's just a quiet enjoyable read about a community, its one room school, and the people who are trying to make a living off of land that doesn't want to give an inch. Doig captures the politics of the schoolyard admirably. There's a slight twist at the end that ties things up almost too neatly, but Paul's ironic narrative more than capably makes up for it.
  
  
• Beautiful writing, unrealistic environment
  By AB3BO2XSZ3UFS on 2006-08-02
  There's no doubt about it, Doig is a masterful writer, and in this book, he puts his vast knowledge of words to work in a challenging way for the reader. I could indeed picture the environment of the story (I happen to love Montana) and I rather enjoyed the characters. However, there's something too "goody-goody" about the scenario. It is set at an earlier time in the 20th century, yes, but read in today's world, it feels like a real stretch. So much so, that I was anxious to finish it toward the end. Enough goodness for me.
  
  
• This book draws you in and surprises you
  By A32AAZ31LJRF7B on 2006-10-28
  Another intreging look at life in Montana and the struggles faced by a family left to themselves after the loss of the mother. What evolves is full of surprises and the characters come alive in the small farming community. I love Doigs writing and he is masterful in his weaving of a good story. I loved this book and would recommend.
  
  
• Nostalgic Glimpses of Old Montana
  By ANEDXRFDZDL18 on 2007-06-04
  Have you ever read a book which makes you long for a time when things were simpler? The whistling season is one such book. When I read this novel I truly got the feeling that I was living at the beginning of the 20th century.
  
  That said, this storytelling method the author used (first person with flashbacks) is perhaps my least favorite method to read. The omniscient view irked this reader as I really felt the brief glimpses of the present were uninteresting and unnecessary to the story flow. If the author truly felt the need to include such musings, why not write an epilogue?
  
  Also, I thought the story suffered from a bit of heavy handedness in the form of Morrie and Rose characters. From the moment Rose arrived with her dubious brother Morrie in tow I was suspicious. These two characters soon dominated the story much to my chagrin. If the author truly felt the need to write about Morrie and Rose, why not make them the protagonist? In truth, Rose wasn't really that interesting but Morrie was clearly the star of the show. I alternated between loving the character and being annoyed he was taking so much of the spotlight.
  
  Overall, this was a fine solid read, but I didn`t care for the ending which seemed rushed and forced. 4 stars.
  
  
  
• Just a really lovely little book.
  By A2I3TKKHF6INI6 on 2007-07-13
  I won't go into the details of plot or character much, as others have done so admirably.
  
  I think I liked this novel in much the same way I like the movie "A Christmas Story" - it's nostalgic without being saccharine, without being maudlin, and without being mean-slash-smart-alecky. Its characters don't have anachronistic vocabularies or habits (a common fault in period fiction, I find) and their lives are ordinary in a believable, interesting way.
  
  I loved the Paul character the most, though Morrie was good too (anyone else keep picturing Dr Bombay from "Bewitched"?). I loved the setting -- more fiction should be written about the folks on the prairie. My family hails from prairie country and the little I have experienced while visiting grandparents always thrills me with its unique romance.
  
  Interesting note (well, interesting to me, anyway): During the spelling bee sequence, Morrie is trying to stump Paul, who is normally not permitted to participate in classroom bees due to his dominance. One of the words that Morrie wisely chooses to test Paul is "pharaoh" -- a tough word almost always misspelled -- but the author has made the ironic error of spelling it "pharoah" in the book. If the word were truly spelled that way, p-h-a-r-o-a-h, then it *wouldn't* be a good spelling bee word, as that's the way everyone misspells it. Anyway.
  
  Highly recommended to lovers of quiet, medium-weight American fiction.
  
  
• Doig Fascinates Again
  By A1GNM2QWG41ERO on 2007-08-23
  Ivan Doig has written another captivating account of life on the homesteads of eastern Montana in the early 20th Century. This book is centered on one of the old one-room schoolhouses that were common in rural areas of the west through the first half of the last century. The book is a fascinating account of life in those days, with some surprising twists. A book to savor, but one that is very hard to put down. At least as good as his other early Montana stories.
  
  
• This should be a Movie!
  By A156N06SZ255B3 on 2006-07-23
  Although movies from books rarely do justice to the book, I would love to see this made into a movie. Told from the adult Paul's perspective, the beautiful writing would not be lost. Parents could take ALL of their children to enjoy this wonderful story of a real family. This has to be one of my all-time favorite books. Thank you, Ivan Doig!
  
  

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