Ride with Me, Mariah Montana (Montana Trilogy)

I recommend that you read "Dancing at the Rascal Fair" first, before "English Creek," which was written first, and follow with "Ride with Me, Mariah Montana." Great storytelling -- plotting, dialogue first-rate, crisp, and smart. "Dancing" is sort of a late 20th century American Thomas Hardy novel, big, rich, colorful, and in important respects old-fashioned in its aversion to irony and meta-fiction; the three interrelated novels each stand alone, but are greatly strengthened by the connected narrative stream from grandfather through grandson.This is a strong, important work in American fiction, I think. The books are about family, character, and the land they inhabit and cultivate, and how all are affected by a century of Europeans living in the northern Montana front range of the Rockies. The books are quite moving in an unaffected but profound manner, and the characters, all of them including the most minor bit player, and the scenes leap off the page into memory. The books are not hurt by the fact that the author, Doig, earned a PhD in American History and once worked as a journalist who also published poetry. Everything in each of the books "feels" right and Doig expresses complex thoughts, emotions, and actions with a poet's deep understanding and love of language without ever being sappy or turgid.In "Ride with Me" Jick is turning 65 and is a recent widower. He is not a lost soul, but he is re-evaluating his role in life and his prospects. He is lassoed by his daughter and her ex-husband into a long threesome trip back-and-forth and up-and-down Montana upon the occasion of its Centennial of statehood. This sounds like so little for such a fine book. The three butt heads in ways that all families do, but this is not opera. Instead, it's about revelation and the power of Ur-memory, I think -- I won't say more for fear of spoiling your read. And DO read these books! I cannot adequately express why, but I know this trilogy to be important in the manner of the very best American literature.Bottom line: old-fashioned, excellent writing by a pro who knows the Montana north of these books like the back of his hand. If you're an American at heart, you'll admire and relish these three books whether you live big or small cities or in rural areas. That might seem a little silly, slightly overcooked statement, but read the books and you'll understand what I mean.

I'm kind of lazy, so forgive me if I review the entire trilogy here. HONESTLY, this was my least favorite of the three, BUT, very much worth the 4 stars I gave it. What does that say about the other two? Doig is not only a master story teller, but a poet when it comes to describing the Montana he obviously knows so well. All three books are a fascinating look at Montana around the time of its statehood, and in this last novel-modern times. Doig captures the state, and the people who tried valiantly to eek out a livelihood in a pretty unforgiving land. His characters are wonderfully fleshed out, and are people we truly care about. He includes small farmers, sheep ranchers, cattle ranchers-even when they become part of "corporate" ranching. Also-the men who tried keep all these groups in mind as they worked as the first federal Park Rangers. Why is THIS novel my least favorite. It's personal. The first two novels describe the early settlers, and I liked those characters a great deal. As a former History teacher, I also found it the most interesting and the least familiar to me. Ride With Me takes place in the 80s, and fills us in on the offspring of those first settlers. It is also the most "political" making sure we understand what the mining interests, corporate ranchers and others did to the state. That's FAIR, but not as interesting to me personally as the story about the VAST majority of people who loved Montana and tried to make it HOME!!! SO-I HIGHLY recommend the first two books in the trilogy, but like ME, you will probably enjoy finding out what happened to the offspring of the characters in the first two books, even if it doesn't quite have the "heart" that they did.

While Rascal Fair was my favorite I absolutely LOVED this trilogy. There were some surprises in this 3rd book, but good surprises. Montana has no better PR man than Ivan Doig.

I loved this last book of the Trilogy so much. I would read each night before going to sleep and began to look forward to visiting various places in Montana with these folks. This book took me away from the stress of life and go along for the ride in the Winnebago. I recommend reading Dancing at the Rascal Fair first, English Creek then Ride with Me. A very satisfying read.

I found this book very well written and almost poetic at times as Doig often is. It didn't have the wonderful historical quality of the first two books of the trilogy, particularly Dancing at the Rascal Fair, but the characters were well-drawn and in the case of Jick McCaskill, already known as a boy and then young man. Jick as an older man was just about what I expected him to be, wise, engaging, and still a bit shy years after the loss of his wife.Doig remains one of my favorites and I hope he will continue writing these great stories of places and people that not enough of us get to know.

I was determined to read the whole trilogy but this one was difficult to get into.However, true to Ivan Doig, I found myself on a ride along all over Montana with famiky dynamics and a pleasant ending.I enjoyed the Montana vacation.

Enjoyed his third book in the trilogy. Recommend to read if you’ve read the first two. Thanks very much. Paul’s

Doig is a spectacular writer. For me there was too much review of the other books because I had read them. It was difficult to assess all the geographical description. And there was way too much of it. For me it was like reading someone's daily journal. There were beautiful poetic phrases and sentences that I wanted to memorize. That part I loved. Also loved the character development