The Big Sky by A. B. Guthrie Jr. Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Big Sky
Book Review: Story of the Independent Spirit
Summary: 4 Stars
This fictional novel truely is worth the Pulitzer Prize that was awarded to the novel. Though it is not a book of historical events, it truley conveys the sense of comradery and respect of personal decisions that are now for the most part lacking in the modern day society. And of course there is a girl.Book Review: The Beautiful Wild West
Summary: 4 Stars
For the past few years, i've been riveted by all sorts of books on the old West. I just love a good tale that has cowboys and indians, and western frontier, and mountain men. Man - what am i doing living in New Jersey? Anyway - I got hooked on the Western genre ever since finishing the best novel ever written - Lonesome Dove -and have never looked back. Unfortunately, nothing i've read since Lonesome Dove has been quite as engaging, for obvious reasons. But after finishing the Lonesome Dove prequels, and a passel of Louis L'Amour books, as well as some non-fiction tales of the West, i finally got a hold of The Big Sky, by Guthrie. The description is second to none - the author really paints a picture. It's like you're really there. The book is a far cry from Lonesome Dove, and totally different, but it has it's positives. The characters are gritty, but don't show much emotion, nor is there much dialogue. But the realistic portrayal of those times in our history is riveting and powerful. It does not hold back, and stays true to the times. This is a must-read for all lovers of the splendor of the West.Book Review: The Beginning of an Adventure
Summary: 5 Stars
Take the plunge and read the whole series. I found this book by accident and was drawn in by its lonely main character, Boone, from the start. The language is a little odd to get used to at first, as Guthrie's characters talk in the syle of men of their ilk and era. It transports the reader to a time when Indians and trappers lived freely. I think if you stay with it you will be richly rewarded. To me, Guthrie's characters are like characters in many McMurtry books I have loved; I remember them as if they were real people I have known. Also I found Guthrie's plots to be surprising and moving. After finishing this book I continued with four more, reading them in order. Guthrie chronicles the West, returning to Montana after The Way West, a wagontrain journey to Oregon, from the early unsettled times of The Big Sky to post World War II. Some characters, or their decendents, thread their way through each novel. This was an extremely rich reading experience that left me with a deeper understanding of the "progress" we have made.Book Review: The best of the West
Summary: 5 Stars
The Big Sky is the CLASSIC story of the opening of the West. The history is accurate, the characters are true to life and the story line is involving from the very first page. You can't consider yourself "well read" until you've finished this book!Book Review: Tragic End of an Era
Summary: 4 Stars
I confess: I am an absolute sucker for good western novels. But they have to ring true, like a hammer on an anvil, or a bullet ricochet off a rock face. Something about the natural romance of the western frontier, its challenges, its essential story of strong willed men in an untamed environment, the natural appeal of the indigenous Americans, has cast a spell over me since childhood. I never got it out of my system, and would not want to. I finally got around to reading A.B. Guthrie's sprawling saga during a long trip out west. I must admit to some ambivalent feelings about the book. The characters were fascinating, the scenarios true and evocative, and the story unfolded in a rhythmic, episodic manner. To me, the great climax of the novel is when they are snowbound in the mountains and Jim is dying and it could not be more grim, and Boone makes his way out on homemade snowshoes and kills some mountain goats with his last ebb of strength. Your heart swells with admiration for the prowess of such a man, in moments like this--but then later on, his treatment of Teal Eye, Jim, the riverside farmer with a big mouth, and even the young neighbor back at the home place of his youth--all paint him as a very unsympathetic figure in a declining spiral. A body out of balance bound for doom. I get the sense that Guthrie was trying to be true to the principal of character as destiny--but it was disturbing, nonetheless, and a rare form of inverted picaresque. The reader is left not only with a sense of profound sadness for Boone, but also for the indigenous Americans displaced by relentless settlement, the despoiling of a pristine land by insensitive hands, the inevitable juggernaut of 'manifest destiny'. Like Boone, you were left with the sense that it had all been 'ruint'--and a raving nostalgia for what had been lost, and a sense of unsatisfied curiosity at how in the world Boone would ever be able to redeem himself in his own eyes. The man had grown lower than a worm.