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Set in the great wide open of 1930s Montana, Bucking the Sun could be called a family saga. A WPA project -- a great earthen dam across the Missouri River -- is being built, and the family Duff is inextricably involved in its construction.
Owen Duff is an engineer, and his first big break means he will have to uproot his own family from their soon-to-be-flooded valley farm. His younger twin brothers take the change easily, but the bitterness between him and his father festers, despite the jobs they acquire working on the massive project. His long-suffering and strong-willed mother makes the best of her situation, but even she is torn emotionally asunder with the arrival of her husband's leftist brother from Scotland. Stir in this mix a trio of wives, a murder mystery, and the conflicts and temptations of a booming, brawling construction town alongside the dam, and you have the makings of an engaging story, even in the hands of an adequate novelist.
Ivan Doig is far from merely adequate. He has a unique turn of phrase, echoing the cadences and syntax of his native Montana, and (I'm guessing here) perhaps the voices of Scottish ancestors as well, for the narrative voices of the characters ring true. Everything about Bucking the Sun reflects the truth, whether it's the way boisterous people can sometimes be shy, or how a cold wind can make you lean unconsciously.
Work is what this novel is about. It is the driving force of the plot, as it was the driving force of FDR's alphabet organizations. Work permeates the lives of everyone, and it is no different between these pages; the populace of Fort Peck is bound together by what they do. Most striking, Doig depicts perfectly the self-righteousness of people. Let's face it, most people honestly believe they do the right thing, and the people of Bucking the Sun are the same way. The good and the bad rationalize what they do, and sincerely feel they are in the right -- just as in real life.
Ivan Doig deserves to have a bestseller with this entertaining novel, and if there is any justice in the world, he will.
©1996, ProMotion, inc.