Sweet Thunder: A Novel

By: Ivan Doig

Narrated by: Jonathan Hogan

Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

In the winter of 1920, a quirky bequest draws Morrie Morgan back to Butte, Montana, from a year-long honeymoon with his bride, Grace. But the mansion bestowed by a former boss upon the itinerant charmer, debuted in Doig’s best-selling book The Whistling Season, promises to be less a windfall than a money pit. And the town itself, with its polyglot army of miners struggling to extricate themselves from the stranglehold of the ruthless Anaconda Copper Mining Company, seems - like the couple’s fast-diminishing finances—on the verge of implosion. These twin dilemmas catapult Morrie into his new career as editorialist for The Thunder, the fledgling union newspaper that dares to play David to Anaconda’s Goliath. Amid the clatter of typewriters, the rumble of the printing presses, and a cast of unforgettable characters, Morrie puts his gift for word-slinging to work. As he pursues victory for the miners, he discovers that he is enmeshed in a deeply personal battle as well - the struggle to win lasting love for himself.

©2013 Ivan Doig (P)2013 Recorded Books

Butte at its best!

Haven't been there and may never visit that City of Copper but no matter, I've lived there now for a week or two and so, will henceforth think of myself as a true Buttean. And I'd suggest you do too.

can't miss with I. Doig

I always enjoy the story the prose and the humor. And also love the reader.

Butte vs Anaconda

Having grown up in Anaconda and always being warned by my parents to be careful of THOSE people from Butte. I found the book a great perspective from those Butte characters.
Diog captured the culture of Butte in a manner that respected the hard working and family caring people.
I found the comment about the scoundrel who estimated the poundage of the ore to be interesting as that was my Dad's job for over forty years. He would make comments that the goofy guy in Butte didn't know what they were talking about when it came to the poundage!
My grandfather was recruited by the ACM to work in Anaconda. He and three brothers came from Ireland. They traveled by train to Butte stopping in Chicago for a beer. The story brought back many memories of good people and the struggles of living in a union city.

Delightful yarn with historical realities undergirding.

Well read and well written, representing tall tale adventure, grounded by grim mining community conflicts, this story is Sweet Thunder.

Morgan #3

Another Morrie Morgan tale told by that wonderful story teller, Ivan Doig. We leave Morrie with a quieter life as a librarian instead of a mob-fleeing man of adventure.

An asset to your library

Ivan Doug is an amazing writer, his description of turn of the century Montana is uncanny. An asset to your library.

Enjoyable but not enough punch

I enjoyed learning a little about the copper industry in Montana, but I did feel that the story could have been much more dramatic.

I liked the characters of Russian Famine and Grace but ultimately felt that their actions were not consistent with the way they were drawn out initially. I needed more plausible reasons for their actions.

I thought the ending of the book - Famine's resolution and Grace and Morrie's situation - were weak. I enjoyed the book while listening to it but ultimately wish it had somehow packed more punch.

Ivan Doig another great book

Ivan Doig is my favorite western author. I sparse his books out and listen to one when I need to feel grounded and lifted up. I enjoy the connection of characters between books. The descriptions of Montana. I can’t recommend his books enough.

Enjoyable, entertaining, humorous.

This was the third book containing the same character that seems to attract trouble. In this book he finally has absolution in quite a witty way.

Least favorite of The Whistling Season trilogy

Morrie Morgan was running out of lives, and I was running out of patience. Way over the top with near-death experiences, Grace’s disgust with her husband, and Morrie the savior of every difficult situation faced by the miners, the town library and the newspaper. Entertaining at times, I couldn’t wait for it to end.