The Big Sky by A. B. Guthrie Jr. Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Big Sky
Book Review: Vivid storytelling may disappoint
Summary: 3 Stars
Guthrie's story of the 1830s-1840s American northwest frontier, while drawing the reader in with excellent descriptions and characterizations may disappoint some readers.
The main character, while no doubt a faithful representation of a man driven by a need to be free developing into a rugged mountain man, becomes an unlikeable and unsympathetic character as the story progresses. In fact, he finally becomes downright despicable by the novel's end. Of course, that may have been part of Guthrie's goal; to describe a man surviving in the wild places turning into a selfish human being with the ethics of an animal.
The story is completely told from the point of view of men from that era, so the contemporary female reader may be offended by the lack of substantive, strong willed or independendent-minded female characters. In fact, one gets the impression that, to the men in this novel, the sole purpose of a woman is to provide sexual gratification.
In spite of these subjectively perceived "flaws," the story is well told and worth reading. It is refreshing in the sense that finding contemporary, quality authors who can write historical fiction as well as Guthrie is difficult.
Book Review: Wild in the Country
Summary: 5 Stars
"...a heart beats wild in the Country..
and part of the wild, wild Country....am I.."
The story belongs to the mountain country and the early days of the fur trade - where men with many different reasons for leaving home left it anyway and made their way West, following instinct and the rivers. From the the Missouri that finds the Yellowstone and on through the caldera of the geysers where the birth of the Snake begins to wend it's way to the Tetons, it was the beaver that drew them, but it became something else that held them, something that is still there.
It's more than a gathering misfits, renegades and outlaws that make Guthrie's work such a splendid example of a novel based on history. It's a tale of wisdom born of necessity, where "nature favors no man" and a well-placed mistake may be the only one you get; and of surging youth and energy coming in behind it, everything unknown and everything larger than life. Primitive life, love, hate, friendship, jealousy mixing freely with no law to temper it, survival of each day being the only thing that mattered, and any thing that could be done during that day should be done, especially if it felt good.
The reader follows Boone Claudill as he leaves home with no where to go after an altercation with his abusive father, but he knows he has an Uncle who went out West and hopes to eventually find him, although he has no idea of the vastness of the undertaking; fate leads him to fall in with another man who will befriend him throughout his life, until unreasoning tragedy comes between them. We see him grow through several stages; from a hesitant, clumsy and starved teen runaway to a green but budding and capable mountain man trying his wings; and on into a life with a Blackfoot Indian girl he saw as a beguiling child and never forgot; but we also see his adoration move from hesitant infatuation while he is unsure of her, but later, she is merely another piece of his property, like his gun. We see other things happen to him too, the ravages of a mindset coming on that allows suspicion and jealousy to overwhelm him.
It's diverse character insights give the reader a glimpse into the soul of another of Boone's mentors, Dick Summers - a weathered, seasoned beaver-seeker coming to grips with the knowledge that he is no longer a young man, and he can see the times changing up ahead of him; no way to turn it back - he is filled with sadness at the approach of something he never thought would happen - the end of life as he had known it. If he is to go home at all, it must be now. His agony as he reflects on his earthy freedom in the wilderness while making the hardest decision of his life in deciding to leave it behind, is one of the highlights of the human emotion that is it's theme throughout.
For me, it was storytelling at it's finest and most honest; the blending of the love affair between a beautiful, unspoiled wilderness and it's first people; a way of life and a land that supported that life intertwined as one.
Book Review: a girl's point of view
Summary: 3 Stars
When I saw Pulitzer Prize winning author, and "The Best Novel of the American West" by the Western Literature Association I had high hope for this novel. I have made it to page 128 of this book and can bear no more. I'm the daughter of a muzzleloading and flintlock enthusiast who instilled in me a love of wild nature and as an adult, I'm a horse enthusiast so I thought this story would be made to order but this story falls flat. Granted the fur trade was run by men, but every woman in this story is treated as a one dimensional food maker (Boone's mother) or sex object (Indian squaws did a whole lot more than have sex for trinkets) and hearing about Boone's case of the clap isn't exactly what I think of as good entertainment. The feeling of negativity emitting from Boone's character is overwhelming and frankly, I believe that most frontiersmen dwelled upon positive possibilities rather than negative outlook. The text is well written but Mr. Guthrie's story leaves me cold. For a good read, try Jack Warner Shaefer's Monte Walsh instead. I'd rather read a book with a more positive outlook and men with integrity and respect.Book Review: as good as The Way West
Summary: 5 Stars
I felt this novel could just as easily won the pulitzer.Guthrie has a way of knowing his characters deep down and portraying all that and more to the reader.