Customer Reviews

Work Song

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Some stories are just stories. Some are tales. This is a yarn. And by that I mean a tale told well, with lots of connecting threads.

Ivan Doig has a masterly hand when it comes to spinning stories about the West. You can feel the grittiness of a mining town, the vast blueness of the skies, the diversity of the people who made up the towns that sometimes came fast and went just as fast. This story takes place in Butte's early days, when those skilled in mining came from every conceivable place - Cornwall, Wales, Italy, Finland, Germany, Ireland - and each group gravitated to their own part of town.

Enter Morris Morgan - the name he adopts for his time in Butte. He is a literary man, trying to lose himself in the miasma of humanity in rough-and-ready Montana (his story continues from an earlier book, in which he's milked the Chicago mob for some money, and really needs to become someone else, somewhere else). He lands in Butte sans luggage, which was sent somewhere else; and presents himself at a local boarding house with only satchel in hand. Initially suspicious, the landlady eventually accepts him into her home, populated by herself and two retired miners, and Morgan sets about getting gainful employment.

His adventures bring him to both an undertaker in need of assistance and a library, into which he is lured by his love of books - and into the employment thereafter of the larger-than-life curator of the library, Sandy Sandison, a former rancher who seems to have absorbed the town library by brute force, but whose personal collection is beyond compare. He sees something in Morgan that he approves of, and so Morgan finds a home at the library.

Butte, however, is not without its troubles; it is basically under the strong control of the Anaconda Mine, and Anaconda is constantly at odds with the union. Morgan follows the comings and goings at the mine with a journalist's eye, while at the same time attracting the unwelcome attention of a pair of thugs in the employ of the mine who think he is an agitator. The story revolves around the growing tensions between the miners and the owners, and Morgan becomes an integral part of the labor movement in ways he accepts reluctantly.

This book sweeps you along with the power of a great writer. The allusions to Morgan's prior life only add spice to his existence in Butte, and weaves the yarn further along, fleshing out the characters and creating some of the most memorable and outrageous protagonists I've read in this genre of fiction. Morgan's employer, Sandy Sandison, and his equally redoubtable wife Dora, come across as a couple not to be trifled with; the two retired miners at Morgan's boarding house, Griff and Hoop, seem joined at the hip; the landlady herself, a widow named Grace, manages by sheer will not to be pushed around by the mine owners, who want her land; and a former student of Morgan's shows up, with her union-organizer fiance, full of liberal-woman verve and ready to take on anybody politically.

I was introduced to Ivan Doig by a friend a few years ago, and for good Western fiction post-1890s, he is unsurpassed. You can certainly see the landscape he paints with words, and hear the voices of his characters. I look forward to his next work.

Morgan Morris, once a teacher in a one room school house in Marias Coulee, Montana,("The Whistling Season")moves on to the wild recesses of Butte, Montana, copper capital of the world. Post WWI Butte is scene of depravity and desire. Gambling halls, entire streets of prostitution, and speakeasies that scream attract the hard driving miners to their respites. Fighting the crooked companies through their unions take most of these workman's souls and these wild streets are their fortifications.

Morrie is a man of words, the prairie poet, the intellectual who takes up residence in a quiet boarding house owned by Grace, working in the town's library. However, he cannot blind himself to the violence and foreshadowing of even more to come. Meeting a former student of his and her Union husband catapults Morris right into the flames that threaten to bring Butte burning to the ground.

Ivan Doig is a poet. A writer that can evoke emotions, sights, tempers, images, and conversation with the magic of his pen. Incredible wordsmith, he transport you back into Butte's heyday with the smell of cabbage in one neighborhood and marinara sauce in another. He unites you with the clash of angered hungry men against the cold, ruthless greed of mine companies. Flowing with beautiful English, he shares an ugly story that demands your attention and understanding.

In my reader's opinion, Ivan Doig is pure genius. If you long for a fantastic story that is written with eloquent, descriptive, thought-provoking prose, then treat yourself. The pages of perfection are there gifted by a man who was born to write.

Doig's genius is character development, particularly quirky characters. That statement might be the kiss-of-death for some readers, but only if they haven't been introduced to Doig. Getting to know the men, women, and perhaps especially the children, who populate his stories is as much fun as reading a fast-action thriller.

In Work Song, Doig plucks a secondary character, the mysterious teacher Morrie Morgan, from an earlier novel and sends him on an adventure of his own with only a passing reference to his back story. Morgan, escaping an unseemly former life, has landed in Butte, Montana. In no time at all, he becomes entangled in the lives of his landlady, the local union organizer, a skinny little kid who can run like the wind, and the town's gruff and fearsome librarian.

Doig's writing is masterful and I found myself transported to Butte with absolutely no effort on my part except to open the book and start to read.

I really loved everything about "Whispering Season." And as I well know, sequels to novels--"Work Song" is the sequel--sometimes do not work well. Morrie was a wonderful character in the first novel. But he really is not believable in this book. Not at all. The book is set in Butte, Montana, when copper was king and workers were exploited. Unlike the first book where Morrie become a wonderful school teacher, in this one he works in a public library that just isn't believable. Not even close. Of course there is a love story, but not at all believable as was the wonderful love story in "Whispering Season."
Ivan Doig is a master craftsman of sentences and dialogue. But I have to say I become a little annoyed with the overuse of the em-dash. And I think the em-dash is a great tool. I use it a lot in my own writing. But...
The book is loaded--and I mean loaded (see my em dash usage!)--with literary allusions. The reader is to believe that Morrie has memorized everything ever written in the English language, again something that just isn't that believable. But in the other novel--and I do highly recommend that one--his love of languages, especially Latin, is very believable as he sets out to educate a very inquisitive young man.
I suspect Mr. Doig was pressured by his publisher to write this novel. I hope in the future he will not feel compelled to do so because it didn't work for this novel.

1919 was one of the benchmark years in the history of the United States. I felt that well before I read John dos Passos' 1919. Workers in the US were struggling against big money, big business, and to recover from the effects of World War One, as well as to fight off the symptoms of the Spanish Influenza pan-epidemic that was sweeping the world. In my home city of Seattle, more than 65,000 workers walked off their jobs in February of that year in one of the first General Strikes in US history, and two months later steel workers struck in and around Pittsburgh, and in other steel mill areas. Industries lashed back against strikers, unions such as the WFM, IWW, and AF of L, and any person, organization, or company that showed any sympathy to them.
While WWI had meant growth in many areas of American industries, the end of the war meant that prices and demand suddenly hit the skids. Subsequently, many industries and companies tried to decrease wages, none more notoriously than the copper industry, which was dominated by Anaconda of Butte, Montana.
"Work Song" continues Ivan Doig's series of Montana-related novels, and is a worthy addition to the series. Morris Morgan, who we met in Doig's Whistling Season, a Novel, has returned to Montana after years of self-imposed exile in Australia and Tasmania, but rather than returning to the setting of the previous book, he has fetched up in Butte, home of "The Richest Hill On Earth" and of the Anaconda Copper Company. Butte was not a "company town" per se, but was still almost totally dominated by Anaconda. Morgan arrives in Butte two years after the infamous Speculator Mine fire, and the lynching murder of Frank Little, an IWW labor organizer, and strangers in Butte are suspect.
I traveled to Butte three years ago, and was fascinated the city's architecture and history. The skyline is still dominated by the headframes of the mines, "glory holes" still dot the area, and of course, the Berkeley Pit is just north of downtown. Having watched the 2002 documentary "An Injury To One", about Frank Little's murder and the environmntal concerns around Butte, and having read Fire and Brimstone: The North Butte Mining Disaster of 1917 made "Work Song" even more enjoyable, and made me want return to Butte and explore more.
Except for one book, I've thoroughly enjoyed everything I've ever read by Ivan Doig, and even the one I didn't enjoy so much was well done.

I have been a fan of Ivan Doig for a number of years so I was thrilled when Vine afforded me the opportunity to review a pre-publication version of Doig's latest work. While "Work Song" sees the return of Morrie Morris and Rabrab from one of Doig's last books "The Whistling Season", it is not necessary to read "The Whistling Season" first as each work can easily stand on its own. In addition to the two returning characters, "Work Song" introduces a number of other interesting characters in a story centered centered around the struggle between the Anaconda Mining Company, the union and the IWW which is trying to make in-roads with the workers. As with all of his previous work, Doig adeptly draws the reader into the story and his unique style allows one to easily visualize Montana life in a bygone era; if I am ever fortunate enough to visit the state of Montana, Ivan Doig's rich descriptions will be a primary driving factor. It was with bittersweet pleasure that I finished this book in near record time -- I was torn between wanting to spend every free moment engrossed in the book and wanting to savor the experience. I just hope that Ivan Doig rewards us with his next treasure in fewer than a two years.

It was with a certain regret that I closed the cover on Ivan Doig's "Work Song," his charming and insightful follow-up to what has to become a classic of sorts, "The Whistling Season." First, a comment on the latter book: "The Whistling Season" is one of the best books I've ever read and enjoyed, my initial introduction to this amazing writer. How I hated to see it end! And then I went into Amazon to order five over-sized paperback copies of the book to share with or give to friends, such was my fondness for the story and its memorable characters. Now, in "Work Song," Doig brings back Morrie, returning him, if not to the first book's locale, at least to the state of Montana and the mining town of Butte right after the end of WW I. Morrie was a highlight of the first book; he is the focus of the second, a charming, disarming, enormously bright and caring man. With his arrival in Butte, Morrie soon finds himself employed in an absolutely perfect setting, the town library, under the thumb of Samuel Sandison, a man with a dubious past, a man whose greatest "joy" is the purchase of rare and beautiful books, his collection the centerpiece of the library's inventory, a man with whom Morrie forms a fascinating relationship. What made Morrie such a remarkable character in "The Whistling Season" carries over into "Work Song," for once again, Morrie seems to be the "voice" for those who need that voice the most...in this case, those who work the mines. Without giving any of the story's unfolding away, just let me say that you won't be disappointed with time spent in Butte, Montana; I would suggest you first read, though, "The Whistling Season" for a fuller appreciation of Morrie and an incomparable introduction to one who must be one of our country's finest writers. The language has never been in better hands.

Typically, I read historical books, but if more novels read like this one, I'd read more novels.

Overlooking the fact the book was a novel I'd typically reject right off, I picked this book to read because of Amazon's description of its historical setting which I thought sounded interesting.

By the time I was done reading the book, I realized its setting didn't really matter that much, that the book instead succeeded just for the simple reason the author told an excellent tale. The characters are interesting and likable. The story moves along at a brisk pace. It is clean (no cursing, unneeded sex). Part of the ending is predictable, but there are twists and turns that keep one wondering. It is very well written and entertaining throughout.

This is the type of book that makes reading fun. This is the type of book that makes one ask, "why didn't I ever hear of this author before." This is the type of book that makes one sad when it is over because it was so enjoyable to read that you just wish it continued on for awhile longer.

I will read more books by this author, novel or not.

This novel is my first exposure to the work of Ivan Doig, the author. After reading it, I can assure you it will not be my last.

Butte, Montana - the setting for this story - was at one time a city of over 100,000 individuals. (Today it is something just north of 32,000.) The setting here would be shortly after WWI, and things there in Butte were 'lively' to say the least. The Anaconda Copper Company pretty much had a choke hold on the entire town and basically did whatever they damn well pleased. See, they had the jobs that paid well... and money IS power, right?

During these halcyon days in Butte's history, the town was divided up in boroughs the way New York City once was. The Italians had their neighborhood, the Poles, the Germans, the Irish, the Welshmen, the Chinamen, etc - all had their space with pretty distinct borders according to their nationality. There was also a flourishing Red Light district that at one time or another served ALL the nationalities present.

The Anaconda Company pretty much owned the judges and the Police and the newspaper, so an individual could feel pretty powerless given the right circumstances. Against the company and its 'goons', a single man soon found himself in a hopeless situation even if he was right.

Anaconda was also abusive in their business conduct. They KNEW they were powerful and they were happy to throw their weight around, but the miners would go on strikes to get the company to accede to safety procedures, etc. One man might be powerless but all together? That's a different story... and one this book deals with in some meaty, interesting detail.

The story line maintains a good, healthy level of suspense for the main character on a couple of fronts - both personal and business. Being a native Montanan and having visited Butte numerous times over the years, it served to fill in a lot of gaps I had in understanding why the city is the way it is today. Butte natives are very proud of their family heritage AND their direct ties to the city. Even today, it retains much of that lively character from its past although the young adults now are not nearly as friendly as their parents and grandparents.

Butte has seen some very tough, very lean times over the past 50 years or so and it survived. The average Butte resident has true grit and real staying power when it comes to staying and living in their home town. Theirs is a truly American story with a western slant.

If you like a good historically-based yarn, you would be hard-pressed not to thoroughly like and enjoy this one. It's one great read.

Ivan Doig is at his usual best as a story teller in this tale of "The Richest Hill on Earth"! I grew up in Butte,Mountana a little later than the time of "Work Song". So, I especially looked forward to hearing about the city and its history. I wasn't disappointed! Doig presents well developed characters in a plot that intermixes the social customs, politics and attitudes of the various groups of inhabitants as they struggle to make a life in this vibrant and boisterous town.

If you like history presented through the lives of ordinary people, this book is for you!