The Bartender's Tale

By: Ivan Doig

Narrated by: David Aaron Baker

Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Nominee, Fiction, 2013

Time and again, Ivan Doig has proven himself to be a treasure of American letters. Critical darlings and New York Times best sellers, his novels target the heart of the human experience and never miss the mark.

The Bartender' s Tale stars Tom Harry and his 12-year-old son, Rusty, who live alone and run a bar in a small Montana town in the early 1960s. Their lives are upended when Proxy, a woman from Tom's past, and her beatnik daughter, Francine, breeze into town. Is Francine, as Proxy claims, the unsuspected legacy of her and Tom’s past? Without a doubt she is an unsettling gust of the future, upending every certainty in Rusty’s life and generating a mist of passion and pretense that seems to obscure everyone’s vision but his own.

As Rusty struggles to decipher the oddities of adult behavior and the mysteries build toward a reckoning, Ivan Doig wonderfully captures how the world becomes bigger and the past becomes more complex in the last moments of childhood.

©2012 Ivan Doig (P)2012 Recorded Books

a sweet listening

I love this book from beginning to end. this is how you tell a story.

A great telling of a typical Montana tale

This is best Doig novel yet. I enjoyed the complex plot & how well the story reflects it's setting.

A Wonderful Introduction to Ivan Doig!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Wallace Stegner is my favorite author, period; Angle of Repose my favorite book, with Crossing to Safety a close second. I followed BJ's recommendation and now have a new favorite author, Ivan Doig. The Bartender's Tale is a perfect introduction and now I am making my way through his other works!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Father, son and eventual barkeep partner are all memorable.

Have you listened to any of David Aaron Baker’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I don't know, but this performance was perfect.

Ivan Doig has out-done himself.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this book (audible and written) to any of my friends who are serious readers.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Delano and Zoe.

Which character – as performed by David Aaron Baker – was your favorite?

Delano. He makes a lovely story, really exceptional. He made this story so much richer than it could possibly have been otherwise. I would have been really upset if he'd died in the flood. Zoe is a totally cool kid, who set the stage for Delano.

If you could rename The Bartender's Tale, what would you call it?

I'm not sure, but this is not a bartender's tale.

Any additional comments?

I would recommend this book (audible and written) to any of my friends who are serious readers---not those who want an easy, run-of-the-mill, best seller novel (which can have
their place in the world of entertainment!) I have been a fan of Ivan Doig for many years, but this book is his best example of story telling, and his best example of his ability to turn a phrase, use a word to describe a momentary happening, to use lingua Americana as a part of the story telling, but also as a part of one of the most significant parts of this book. Kudos, Doig! I really want you to top this!

Coming of Age

A really good coming of age story. A little mystery, a little romance, a little heroism. It's a satisfying story all the way through.

Amazing

Ivan Doig is a National treasure! As many have said, you just don’t want the book to end!

An incredible story

How could you not love this tale of growing up in Montana. Very Special.

Exceptionally good story! Very well read.

The story starts out simple and slow, but because it is beautifully written (and read), it is engaging from the first moment. However as the book goes on, the story becomes so much richer, and it keeps building in a way that is totally unexpected, with more and more plot twists. I absolutely loved it. I finished it in about five days, and was beyond sad when it was over. I felt like I had lost a very good friend.

Ivan Doig is an immensely talented writer, and this is the best of his books that I have read so far.

An absolute favorite

A great series of tales, reminiscent of the style of The Lincoln Highway.
So well written.

Great Story, very well done

A wonderful story ABOUT a good father and his son. It’s lighthearted entertainment with real meaning.