At fifty-something, environmental reporter Mitch Rozier has grown estranged from Seattle's coffee shop and cyber culture. His newspaper is going under, and his relationship with Lexa McCaskill is stalled at "just living together." Then, he is summoned by his sly, exasperating father, Lyle, back to the family land, which Lyle plans to sell in the latest of his get-rich schemes before dying. Lexa follows, accompanied by her sister Mariah, and the stage is set for long-overdue confrontations -- between lovers, sisters, and father and son. Mountain Time is distinguished by humor and a wry insight into the power of family feuds to mark individuals and endure. Set against the glorious backdrop of Montana mountain country, it is a dazzling novel of love, family, and the contemporary West.
Celebrated for his stirring, clear-eyed memoirs and novels of Montana--Dancing at the Rascal Fair, This House of Sky, and most recently Bucking the Sun--Ivan Doig vaults over the mountains in his new novel and lands in the midst of Seattle's fin-de-siècle coffee and computer culture. Mitch Rozier is an oversized, Montana-born, divorced, fiftysomething environmental columnist for a once-hip weekly newspaper on the verge of going under. Lexa McCaskill is his scrappy, earthy, no-nonsense "spousal equivalent"--a "compact Stetsoned woman in blue jeans," also from Montana and divorced, who makes a handsome living catering swanky parties for Seattle's software plutocrats. Doig has a fine time satirizing the excesses and absurdities of "Cyberia" before he abruptly shoos his characters back to Montana: Lyle Rozier, Mitch's Stegner-esque father, wants to involve his son in one more ransack-the-land scheme before leukemia kills him.
The wary standoff between father and son works on many levels: as a deeply realistic clash between two fierce, disappointed men; as a symbolic confrontation between the Old West and the new--Lyle's frank, freewheeling exploitation of Montana's vastness versus Mitch's helpless reverence for the environment; and as a brief, brilliant history of how people have lived off and with the land in 20th-century Montana. All of these strands come together in a stunning climax played out against the glorious backdrop of the Bob Marshall Wilderness.
One of the great novelists of the American West, Doig proves here that he is just as adept at conjuring up the vagaries of our shiny new cities as he is at taking the measure of rough, tough, old Montana. Mountain Time has everything going for it--great characters, breathtaking scenery, heartbreaking family feuds, wicked humor, a page-turning love story, prose so perfectly pitched you'll want to read it out loud. And there's something new for Doig aside from setting--a serene, twinkling levity. This is the work of a master having a hell of a good time. --David Laskin
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
Love the unpredictability of human behavior and the outstanding story:
This story provides the reader with characters that are so real, so unpredictable, so human, that the world around you is mirrored in each one. Not always pretty, not always rational, not always logical, just the kind of story that I love. And Doig weaves a fantastic story as he always does and it is one highly worth reading. I would not miss this modern look at Montana and its people.
Mountain Time by Ivan Doig:
Ivan Doig is an excellent writer and Mountain Time rates as one of his best. He bases his books in Montana and provides outstanding pictures of the people, attitudes, landscape, and scenery of the state. I am a native Montanan and know both Seattle and Montana's Rocky Mountain Front. Both are accurately depicted here. Doig's description of a cafe that is "somewhere between unfinished and deteriorating" would fit any number of cafes in small-town Montana. On a plot level, Mountain Time presents some unique... more info
story interuptus:
Scanning some of the reviews, I notice I felt many of the same impressions as other readers with this book. I just finished the trilogy, _Dancing at the Rascal Fair_, _English Creek_, and _Ride with Me, Mariah Montana_. The first two were the best, the last was so-so, and _Mountain Time_ just fell flat. I found the conversations annoying, especially between Mitch's daughter and Mitch.The jargon was forced and very unflattering to the characters. The book was somewhat stiff to get into, but my respect... more info
Top notch storytelling:
It's true this is not Ivan Doig's best work. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to top my favorite, Dancing at the Rascal Fair. Mr. Doig's storytelling is honest and straightforward; his wordsmithing in high form. Some of the reviews indicate trite characterization of western Washington, and an uninvolving story with unsurprising revelations. Not true if you come to this story with different expectations. Life in Washington isn't the point of this story (and what may seem trite seemed all to real to... more info
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