Mountain Time

By: Ivan Doig

Narrated by: Scott Sowers

Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Often hailed as the heir apparent to Wallace Stegner, Ivan Doig is among the finest chroniclers of the contemporary American West. In Mountain Time, Mitch Rozier, who has spent half his 50 years writing an environmental column for an alternative West Coast paper, finds himself back under his father's roof, caught up in the ordeal of obligation - you can't not go home again when someone is sitting there dying.

The sisters Lexa and Mariah McCaskill wrestle with a past that has driven them away from domesticity and as far from their roots as they can get. Lexa has long been ready to settle down with Mitch; Mariah, a photographer who uses her camera to shield herself from the world, lands more reluctantly. And the figure from the generation that produced them, Mitch's father Lyle, both beguiles and exasperates as he attempts to rewrite events in his life before he leaves it.

©1999 Ivan Doig (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

“ Mountain Time will not dissuade those who rank Doig among the best living American writers." ( San Francisco Chronicle)

Character development

The flawed but fascinating way characters were presented. Doig is a treasure who we can appreciate in written or audio forms.

Great characters.

The characters are great and they follow the story line of his other books. The book itself kinda dragged along in the middle with too many family arguments and too much drama. Minor storyline that didn’t add much to the plot. Doig always manages to come up with a great ending that makes finishing any of his books worthwhile.

A Time in the Mountains.

Ivan Doig, another Great Story!

The end is not unfamiliar to many of the boomers generation.

The discovery of Decades worth of secrets that adult aged children have NO business hearing. Yet I feel as though a goodly portion of us are being "let in on" the secrets as our parents pass into the next stage of their existence. Some parents pass away after laboring their children with these secrets, some drift into dimentia or alzheimer's but leave a memory these boomers would have been better off without ever thinking about, let alone having the details confirmed. Confirmed? Are the memories actually a recalling of real events or are they the passing parent's imagination as they pass into another rehlm? These belabored boomers can never get a completely factual answer.

Upon the finishing of Mountain Time (the first time) I wonder if these revelations made to us by our dying parents are true or a fantasy that the parents have had for scores of years.

My second (& no doubt, third) read will be to listen CLOSELY to the details.

I highly recommend this book, especially if you've been bestowed a "secret"!

Bill Nelson

Slow start

The story starts slow, but picks up beautifully after Lyle and Mariah show up and location moves to Montana. Not my favorite Doig book, but a good read.

Loose ends are tied togather in the suprise ending

I really enjoy how all of this author's books seem to tie together in the stories overlap. like being part of a small town.

Not Wallace Stegner, that's for certain

Ivan Doig's other books were great stories. I listened to this for 6 chapters (almost 2 hours) and there wasn't a plot in sight! There was a lot of convoluted writing and word play, but if Doig thought he had a Stegnerian book, he was WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. He even references Stegner, but that reference is as close as this book comes to being on par with one of the 20th century's great American writers. The reader's style does not assist this book, either -- only adds to the confusion of "plot."

not much story line

What would have made Mountain Time better?

Story line boring

What was most disappointing about Ivan Doig’s story?

Too too long to get to the point

Which character – as performed by Scott Sowers – was your favorite?

All

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Scott Sowers is an excellent narrator