Sweet Thunder

By turns witty and wise, filled with non-stop action flowing over an undercurrent of humour, this is a peach of a novel. Reading this novel was, for me, more entertaining than any movie film, its characters tugged at my heartstrings and I was completely invested in the story and its outcome. Ivan Doig is indeed an extraordinarily good storyteller – and the man can write!<br /><br />Based on an actual copper mine company, the Anaconda Copper Mining Company in Butte, Montana, this story takes place in the early 1920’s. There are conflicts between Anaconda and the miners and their union. There are bottleggers, newspaper wars, political corruption and its counterpart, organized crime, and enough other conflicts of the time to dazzle any reader right back in time.<br /><br />Morris Morgan and his new wife return to Butte from a long honeymoon trip to find her boarding house well looked after by the two elderly retired miners she left in charge. They are also greeted by the news of a windfall – a large mansion in one of the richest areas of the city has been signed over to them. The ‘catch’ is that they now have a boarder – Samuel Sundison – the previous owner of the house and Morris’ previous boss.<br /><br />How Morris ends up in a journalistic writing war with a hired crackerjack journalist imported from Chicago is just one of the many coils in this magnificently engaging spiral of a story. Each time we were inched further up the spiral, when we looked across at the next coil we could see one thing – and when we arrived there, we saw another altogether.<br /><br />This is a fascinating (and have I mentioned entertaining?) story that weaves historical facts throughout a strong plot with multiple sub-plots and characters I fell in love with. In fact, I grew fond of all of the characters I met in this story – good guys, bad guys, or neutral – each one had their role to play and they played me so well I felt I was right there in the middle of the action.<br /><br />I highly recommend this novel to readers who love good, strong storylines placed in another era and peopled with characters that I, personally, will never forget.<br />

I can’t rightly say that I’ve forgotten, but it’s always a welcome reminder each time I open one of Ivan Doig’s books, just how enchantingly he writes. It’s the feeling of coming home. I’ve always found his stories in general to be wholesome and thematic, and this one is no different. <br /><br />I love to read about people who love to read – what could be better? And Morrie Morgan loves to read, loves books, loves knowledge. This particular tale finds Morrie, his wife Grace, and the lovable pair of old miners, Griff and Hoop, living together in a home filled to the rafters with books.<br /><br />Here is a passage I was particularly tickled with!<br /><br /><b> <i>Worry etched in his face, Hoop looked deep into mine and husked: “Do Huck and Jim make it?” <br /><br />I blinked that in. “Both of them, I mean,” he went on anxiously. “Because if they catch that Jim and do to him—“<br /><br />“Hoop, you’ve been reading, haven’t you.”<br /><br />“A person can’t help it in this place.” He gestured helplessly. “Every time you turn around, there’s books fit for a king. Pick one up just for a look, and next thing you know, you can’t quit.” Indeed, there were fatigue marks under his eyes testifying to late nights in the company of open pages. “Griff’s got his nose in Kipling poems. Probably safer.” He looked at me fretfully. “If the two of them don’t get to New Orleans on that raft—“<br /><br />I laid a hand on the bowed shoulder. “Rest assured, Mark Twain will not let you down.”</i> </b><br /><br />In all transparency, this third installment about Morrie is not the best of them (see <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/262545.The_Whistling_Season" title="The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig" rel="noopener">The Whistling Season</a> for that), but it was nonetheless a much-needed escape and fully recommended if you’re fan of Doig.

Must admit, I am surprised by my reaction to this book. I have been enchanted by every Doig title I have read since I first discovered his work, but even though Sweet Thunder finished off the "Morrie Morgan trilogy', it was not as magical or even as interesting as the first two. Let me see if I can work out why.<br /><br />The reader first meets Morrie Morgan in The Whistling Season, and gets to know him better in Work Song. But in this book, Morrie has only a few flashes of the brilliance his character showed in the other two volumes. He felt <i>less</i> than he really was, at least to me. So I did not connect with him in these pages.<br /><br />Okay, that was one issue. Another problem I had with Sweet Thunder is the way Doig spent a great part of the first six chapters reviewing the story that had unfolded in the other two books that had featured Morrie. And not in the slowly built subtle way he managed the same sort of reviewing in his Two Medicine Trilogy which I recently read. No, here, everything stops while the narrator (Morrie) reminds us all of his past adventures. And, by the way, reveals plot details of the first two books that will spoil them completely if you read this book without first reading the others. This book simply did not have that smooth Doig touch that I have gotten used to and have grown to love.<br /><br />So that is the second issue. The third strike against this book for me was that the topic was not really all that compelling. I know it was an important time in Montana's history, what with the tensions between workmen (in this case miners) and management (the giant copper corporation that owned Butte at the time). This is a struggle as old as the hills and still has not been resolved properly in our era, let alone in the 1920's of Sweet Thunder. But somehow I could never get excited about the great editorial war between the two Butte newspapers, the Post and the Thunder. We see the continuation of the struggle for fair pay and safe working conditions that began in Work Song, but the whole problem, like Morrie himself, seems distant, out of reach, less personal than before. I wondered at times how much longer the whole thing would go on, and that is definitely not a feeling I ever expected to have while reading this author. <br /><br />The three books in this 'trilogy' were written in 2006, 2010, and 2013. Doig had just one book published after Sweet Thunder, a novel that came out in 2015, the year he died of multiple myeloma (a cancer of the plasma cells, per wiki). <br /><br />I can understand now why his writing here did not have quite the same spark as in earlier books. My<br />rating is three stars for the book itself and that fourth one for Ivan Doig. I think he earned it.<br /><br />

As always, I love how Doig transports you to a different time and place. This time it's 1920s prohibition-era, copper mining town Butte. The characters of "Sandy" Sandison and Morrie Morgan are brought back from earlier books. I loved Morgan's character in Whistling Season, but this and last story he starred in aren't as memorable. The premise of the story is around Morgan working as an editor for a union supporting paper, while maintaining Sandison's mansion, and trying to win back his wife's trust. There's attempts at excitement in the form of bootlegging and threats of Morgan's Chicago gambling past, but it feels forced and empty, and often too coincidental. The complicated word choice was at times poetic and entertaining, but often went into the range of superfluous, flowery, and over the top. I'll keep returning to Doig's prose as long as he continues to publish it since about every third book is a real gem. Unfortunately, this isn't one of them.

I have enjoyed 4 of Ivan Doig's books. He captures a era gone by. However, in this novel, I found it lacking the essential things that made his works so entertaining.<br />The marriage of Grace and Morgan, separates, and he is too busy trying to rescue the town of miners to give her what she needs to win her back. Took a carefree attitude after a few feeble attempts/<br /> I didn't care for some of the passages that were [prolonged. I felt my mind gravitating to other things which to me is a signal.<br />Alas, maybe the next book I read of his will bring back the magic.

This book suffers from a lack of focus. I might perhaps have liked it more if I'd read the first two books about the narrator, but I don't know. The characters felt like caricatures and all the various plot threads felt contrived. The setting is great, I feel like I've been to Butte now.

Doig's conclusion to the Morrie Morgan trilogy has more twists, turns and jumps than a parade horse with its tail alight.<br /><br />Morrie and new bride, Grace, have returned to Butte after a honeymoon year. He takes up the everlasting fight against the evil Anaconda Copper Company. It's an age-old battle where miners are nothing but expendable expenses that cut into the overlords' profits.<br /><br />Morrie is an editorialist for a new independent newspaper providing small jabs on a daily basis. It is a one-sided affair until the company-owned paper hires a heavyweight counterpart. Butte's personality once again features large in the story, as do attempted assassinations, a school of juvenile delinquent boys, bootleggers and a contingent of soldier's from Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders, so, typical Butte.

I didn’t know when I recently read “Work Song” that author Ivan Doig had already published a third in the Morrie Morgan series, namely “Sweet Thunder.” I found the latter soon enough on the library shelves and finished out the trilogy.<br /><br />I gave “The Whistling Season” 5 stars, the next book 4 stars, and for this last one I can only manage 3 stars. Maybe it’s because I was on Morrie overload by midway through “Sweet Thunder.” The story seemed to drag on and on with Morrie running into one obstacle after another, if not causing complications himself. By the time the story ended, there were a few too many loose ends tied up a bit too neatly and quickly for my taste.<br /><br />Still, the Morrie series is entertaining light reading, and Doig’s writing is captivating. I kept wishing I could construct beautiful, tight, and descriptive sentences like he does.<br /><br />In “Sweet Thunder” Morrie and his new wife Grace return to Butte, MT, the scene of “Work Song,” after a fabulous year-long honeymoon. Most of the characters from “Work Song” play major roles in this novel too, and much of what occurred in “Work Song” is referenced here. Fine by me, but I wondered how those who hadn’t read the previous book fared with all those allusions.<br /><br />Morrie’s latest occupation -- after teacher and library assistant -- is editorial writer for the union-supported Butte newspaper, “Thunder.” It’s not an innocuous position, for Morrie’s anti-mining company rants attract dangerous attention and just increase the number of enemies he has cultivated with his various schemes. Foes, or so it would appear in 1920, never drop the intention of revenge, no matter how long ago the perceived slights took place. This causes suspense for the reader (not to mention aggravation for Grace) but eventually becomes tiring -- especially since some of the threats have continued through three novels.<br /><br />Two characters shine in “Sweet Thunder”: Sandy Sandison, the Butte librarian who hired Morrie in the last installment, and Armbrister, the mince-no-words editor of “Thunder.” I rejoiced each time Sandy or Armbrister appeared on the page.<br /><br />One last comment: I’ve never felt any attraction to Butte, but after reading these two novels featuring the “Richest Hill on Earth,” I’d really like to see the place for myself -- especially the library made famous by Doig, should it actually exist, that is!<br />

In the first few sentences of this novel, before I realized I met Morrie in The Whistling Season, my impression is that his scruples were a bit off-base but I was going to like him anyway. I wasn't wrong.<br /><br />Morrie has had to reinvent himself again, a chameleon on a barber pole, and there are consequences. Of course. But he has a wonderful bride, a mansion to maintain, and is fighting the good fight to protect Butte, Montana miners whose lives are controlled by the Anaconda Copper Mining Company.<br /><br />As with Doig's earlier works, the characters are rich, the writing is straightforward and beautiful, and the story is engrossing. I read The Whistling Season shortly before I read this one, not realizing that Work Song was the second in the trilogy. While I want to read Work Song, I wasn't lost in this story by skipping that one; this one can be read as a self-contained novel that is enhanced by reading the others. Still, I recommend reading them in order.<br /><br />While I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and give it a four-star rating, especially in comparison to most books of the genre, I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I enjoyed The Whistling Season. That one was really special, while this one is a good read and well above average, but didn't affect me as much as the earlier book.<br /><br />I was given an advance copy of the book for review.

A fun read with quirky characters (how can you go wrong with a skinny orphan named Russian Famine?), a surprising and well-connected plot, and a good presentation of the battles between Anaconda and the miners in 1920's Butte, Montana. My problem with the book was that you have to savor these separately: the characters don't seem appropriate for their roles, the fictional action seems improbably related to the historical setting, and much of the story revolves around a confusion of persons that is Shakespearean in its improbability.<br /> Still, you have to love a story where a librarian is one of the heroes (however improbably):<br /> "Samel Sandison himself was nearly geographic, the great sloping body ascending from an avalanche of midriff to a snowy sunmmit of beard and cowlick. Glacial blue eyes seemed to see past a person into the shadows of life. Attired as ever in a suit that had gone out of fashion when the last century did, and boots long since polished by sagebrush and horsehide, he appeared to be resisting time in every stitch of his being. Description struggled when it came to his mark on history, cattle king turned vigilante turned bookman and city librarian." (p. 11)