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    Montana 1948: A Novel
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    Montana 1948: A Novel
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    Montana 1948: A Novel
    Ebook189 pages2 hours

    Montana 1948: A Novel

    By Larry Watson

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    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    From the summer of my twelfth year I carry a series of images more vivid and lasting than any others of my boyhood and indelible beyond all attempts the years make to erase or fade them So begins David Hayden’s story of what happened in Montana in 1948. The events of that cataclysmic summer permanently alter twelve-year-old David’s understanding of his family: his father, a small-town sheriff; his remarkably strong mother; David’s uncle Frank, a war hero and respected doctor; and the Haydens’ Sioux housekeeper, Marie Little Soldier, whose revelations turn the family’s life upside down as she relates how Frank has been molesting his female Indian patients. As their story unravels around David, he learns that truth is not what one believes it to be, that power is abused, and that sometimes one has to choose between family loyalty and justice.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMilkweed Editions
    Release dateAug 1, 2010
    ISBN9781571318039
    Unavailable
    Montana 1948: A Novel
    Author

    Larry Watson

    The author of many novels, including Montana 1948 and Orchard, Larry Watson is the recipient of the Milkweed National Fiction Prize, among numerous other prizes and awards. He teaches writing and literature at Marquette University and lives in Milwaukee.

    Read more from Larry Watson

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    Reviews for Montana 1948

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    • 5/5
      What a great little book! "Little" because it's only 169 pages. But it packs an awful lot of drama and emotion into those 169 pages. And it strikes a chord right off the bat - here is a man, some 30+ years later, recalling a remarkable summer when he was 12 years old. Seems to be a point in a lifetime for many of us that is rich with memories and milestones as we began to break out of our childhood cocoons.The boy lives with Mom and Dad in a small dusty, wind-blown town in the northeastern part of the state. Dad's the town sheriff, there's one deputy, Len, who lives next door. There are also lots of Native Americans, one of whom lives in with the family, a young woman who is companion to the boy (he later learns much to his shock and chagrin that she is in truth, The Babysitter, as Mom works at the Courthouse across the street). Grand-dad lives out of town with lots of money and lots of influence. Dad's brother is Dr. Frank, a WWll hero, and the favored son.Then something happens. And all kind of issues are raised, dealing with duty, doing the right thing, and family loyalty. It seems like there is an awful lot packed into such few pages. The ending is well done and fitting.A personal note - if there is a subplot here, it deals with guns, and the extent to which guns were a part of every day life in Montana in 1948. Wherever you may stand on the issue of guns and gun controls, you might find this theme to be of some interest, particularly if you are a city bred, east of the Mississippi cowboy like me.This is an excellent story and I will read more Larry Watson. "Laura", his second book, will be next for me. I tumbled onto him after reading a review the other day for his latest book, "As Good as Gone", his 9th. I will be reading it soon also.
    • 5/5
      An excellent novel.
    • 5/5
      Great short read.
    • 4/5
      Great little book. Highly recommend. Read it.
    • 5/5
      Highly recommended to me by my high schooler, this story is a disturbing statement about how racial prejudice can permeate small-town America, where no individual with enough social power, is willing to believe what is happening among them.
    • 5/5
      Whoa.

      I couldn't put this down, I read most of it in a single sitting.
    • 5/5
      This beautifully written novel tells the story of a year in the life of a Montana sheriff's family that would forever change their life and their relationships with their own family. The story is told through the eyes of the sheriff's son as he remembers events later in life. The topic dealt with in this novel is not an easy one, but Watson successfully relates the story to his readers and keeps them interested in it. The reader could almost feel the situation in which the sheriff found himself -- between a rock and a hard place. The novel is not overly long, but the author's care in choosing the right words makes the story the right length. Highly recommended; one of the best reads of the year for me.
    • 4/5
      This brief story of the Hayden family, told retrospectively from the POV of then-12-year-old David, is deceptively simple. The characters are not richly wrought but I have clear images of them in my mind. I can hear their voices and visualize the way they carry their bodies. In [Montana 1948], David's sheriff father discovers that his only brother has been molesting Indian women via his power as a physician. As the family grapples with this knowledge and the subsequent decisions they must make, David's coming of age and his discovery of the complexities of history is both figure and ground. The novel turns the myth of the great Wild West on its end, exposing the uncomfortable truths that continue to be effectively buried by white sentimentality and arrogance. It does so without rancor or apology. I appreciate Watson's simple story-telling voice but I also wish he had not felt compelled to tie the story up so neatly in an epilogue. He could have let the story end as it did.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed reading this short book set in Montana. As many of you know, I spent the summers of my youth in central Idaho living with a ranching family, friends to my family. I was there from about 1950 to 1958, I guess, so the time was similar to that described by Larry Watson. I remember the weight certain families had in the small community; families who's name was known by all, and talked about, no doubt. Of course, I was a child and only there for a few weeks so I did not get in on the gossip.Watson's book is abut such a family, and in such a small community. He explores the very human frailties we all know of and how they play out when there are scandals and tragedies in a small community and how family can be torn apart, and how the innocent can be hurt, and the guilty seemingly get off "Scott free" and yet, not really. His prose is conversational, and clean, although there were times when his descriptions sat down in the middle of the story and would not allow you to follow the action quickly. He seems to have said "the action is not the important stuff, it is the feel of the place that you want". I liked it. I recommend it particularly to those of us who love to read of the west, and how the land and the folks were when times were more simple, and life was more elemental.
    • 4/5
      A spare novella, narrated by the twelve-year-old son of the sheriff of a fictional Mercer County in northeastern Montana. The sheriff's brother is a prominent doctor in the town, who it turns out molests Indian girls in the course of 'treating' them.. Despite the effort of the father (himself sheriff before his son became such) of the doctor and the sheriff to prevent justice being dealt to the doctor, the sheriff decides that he must arrest his brother. The story is told in pristine prose and holds one's rapt attention right up to its poignant denouement.
    • 5/5
      Rarely can I say that a book leaves me speechless or searching to describe how much of an impact it registers. Montana 1948 is such a tale.Not since reading To Kill a Mockingbird, has the written word resonated on this level.Published in 1960, Harper Lee's incredible one-hit wonder marks its 50 year anniversary this summer. Recently Lee remarked to her 80 year old Monroeville, Alabama minister that there was no need to write another and stated that she wrote "a simple tale about the conflict of the human soul."While reading Montana 1948 I was reminded of To Kill a Mockingbird. The similarities are striking in many ways. There are strong characters. There is a child seeking sense of adult behaviors in difficult moral and ethical situations. There are black and white events with graduated bands of gray in their complexity.There are flawed, bigoted individuals who tenaciously hold fast to their belief of superiority. There is an overwhelming theme that choosing the "right" thing to do can have far reaching consequences that usually do not net the end result of fairness and goodness to the individual who sacrifices.Montana 1948 is indeed a story of the conflict and complexity of the human soul.Run, don't walk to the bookstore to obtain this book! Then, spend a few hours savoring each and every word and all the incredible nuances.I believe that when you finish, you will want to tell your friends, your co-workers, your family about this book. I also believe you may struggle to explain the depth of feeling, and it may be difficult to find words to describe the sheer power of its beauty.
    • 5/5
      This is a must read book. Phil Jackson, coach of the championship LA Lakers who chooses books for all his players every year (so they'll have something to read on the team bus/plane) chose this one for Kobe Bryant. It is a stunning, short, exquisite portrait of a young man's (David Hayden) coming of age in small town America just after WWII. It tells the story of his family's relationship with Marie Little Soldier, his mother's housemaid (and his unofficial nanny), and how her illness and subsequent death had such an impact on his parents, grandparents, and particularly his uncle the town doctor.The concise, clear prose tells the story from David's point of view as he struggles to make sense of how the adults in his life are acting, reconciling their actions with their words (or their silences), trying to balance their overt prejudice against his own experience of friendship and love. His father, a lawyer by education, but town sheriff by employment must face unpleasant truths and is asked to sacrifice his moral sense to please his family. The shattering events, the moral dilemmas, and the astonishing ending make this a truly poignant, anguished story of love, hate, betrayal and redemption. It's hard to say much more without spoiling future readers' enjoyment of this gem.I listened to this on audio because I love the format but also because the audio was available and there was a wait of several weeks for the print version. Besides, Beau Bridges did the narration, and I figured I couldn't go wrong with that. It was excellent. This is one that I will be buying however because it is one I will want to read again and again. It belongs on all high school reading lists right up there with "To Kill a Mockingbird." It's that good.
    • 5/5
      Montana 1948 is a quietly powerful story, one that doesn't need a lot of bravado to tell its tale, but one that still packs a mighty punch that will leave you setting the book aside and taking a moment to think about it and what it means. It is a coming of age story, but not only for the narrator David Hayden, but also for his mother, his father, his family as a whole. David discovers that life is not always quite black and white, his mother proves her strength, his father finally stands on his own, learning the difference between the loyalty of family and his loyalty to the law.The Hayden's housekeeper, Marie, falls ill and when David's uncle, Frank, is called in to check on her, it is discovered that Frank has been molesting his female Indian patients. A war hero and member of the respected Hayden family, it is hard to believe that Frank has done these things, and his brother, David's father, the sheriff, has a harder time deciding what to do: be loyal to his brother and try to keep the secret quiet or uphold the law and take his brother into custody. David's grandfather, the previous sheriff of Mercer County, doesn't make things easier, thinking his clout in town will be enough to keep his son safe. What follows tests and proves the strength of every member of the Hayden family.Montana 1948 is not a very long book, but tells a story that fills its pages to brimming. It won't take you long to read it, but I'm pretty sure you'll be thinking about it far after you've moved on to other books. I'll be on the lookout for more by Larry Watson in the future.
    • 5/5
      This is a spectacular gripping book. It's a concise, tale with complex characters and moral dilemmas told from the perspective of an adult remembering his twelfth year.
    • 4/5
      As perfect as a small, self contained recounting of a horrible injustice and its impact on a small town could be. At 169 pages, there are no extra words but an overwhelming knowledge of the feelings of most of the families involved. "Most" is a flaw.Young David's family is the law in Bentrock, Montana. His father and grandfather have been the sheriffs for generations. His uncle is the town doctor. There are Sioux residents in town whose lives intersect rarely with the whites. Marie Little Soldier is David's companion and the housekeeper. When Marie falls ill, she refuses to allow David's uncle Frank to examine her. When she confesses her fears to David's mother Gail, everyone is impacted and ruined and lives end.The narrative is David's, but we also hear the internal thoughts of his mother and father. Notably missing is Marie Little Soldier's brave voice.But this is still a very strong and simple work of brilliance.
    • 4/5
      A very well done story that seems much larger than the couple of hours it took me to read. This story calls to mind The Thornbirds and We Were The Mulvaneys, and in a good way. Some events effect an entire family as much as the family members directly involved in a situation. While it would be nice to read about GOOD THINGS accomplishing this, it was still nice to read another sad story about a family changed forever by a moment.

      This book adds another silly, melodramatic exclamation to my vernacular, the second this week. "Don't blame Montana!" Combined with "Kung Fu Treachery" from Black Dynamite, I'm having quite the week!
    • 5/5
      This was a heart rending, touching, infuriating read about a family. Most members of the family were good and just and kind. But there is always someone, isn't there? The story is told from the POV of David Hayden. It is the story of his twelve year old self, in Montana, in 1948. It is the story of his family. It is the also about Marie Little Soldier, a young woman of the Souix tribe who was their housekeeper at the time. This was not an easy time to belong to an Indian tribe. In fact, I doubt it has been for at least a couple of centuries. Perhaps justice is something that was not expected then, or even now?David's father was a lawyer, who did not practice, instead he was the laid back sherrif of their small town. It was a job that had been in the family for years. His mother worked at the courthouse, and Marie looked after David. Thier safe and quiet world was shaken one day, shaken to the core. It was the sherriff's brother who was caused the upheaval. It was time that the townsfolk had to learn to stop looking the other way. Who would be the one to make them see?
    • 4/5
      A moral struggle witnessed by a 12-year-old boy, recounted by the mature reflective man he became. The story is clean and simple, although the events it relates are neither. It has many of the same elements found in To Kill a Mockingbird...a child's summer marred by adult concerns, racial tensions and sexual crimes. But David Hayden's recollection of the summer of 1948 conveys none of the nostalgia or childhood innocence of Jean Louise Finch's reminiscence. Although David's parents and other adults constantly try to protect him from knowledge of the events unfolding in his own home and community, he sees, hears and understands far more than they realize. This was a fast read, with a compelling story line, but minimal character development. We learn only what we need to know, and only at the point in the story where we need to know it, about any given person. By the end I felt I understood David and his parents well enough, but I didn't like any of them very much, and I didn't long to know more about their lives. In fact I could have done without the epilogue, which blunted what I felt to be the true end of the story. I give it 3 1/2 stars.
    • 5/5
      Excellent. Powerful use of words. He can convey SO much in a little volume.The Hayden brothers, Frank (a doctor) and Wesley (an attorney and sheriff) live in the shadow of their larger-than-life father, Julian. Wes is sheriff - a position inherited from his dad. When Wes's family helper, Marie Tall Feather, gets ill he calls on his brother to make a house call. But Marie's panic brings out a truth that sets the Haydens (and the town) on a path they would rather not be on but MUST follow.The book reminds me of [To Kill a Mockingbird].Book club # 1 read in Feb 2005; Book club # 2 chose it for July 2005 and invited the author to join us. What a treat!
    • 4/5
      Well written and thought provoking.
    • 4/5
      This book was published almost 20 years ago; I came across it in a list of recommendations by a blogger whose opinion I have come to respect.The narrator, David Hayden, reflects on his childhood in Montana forty years earlier. The Hayden family housekeeper, a Sioux woman named Marie Little Soldier, falls ill but doesn't want to receive treatment from Frank Hayden, the local doctor. Wesley Hayden - David's father, Marie's employer, Frank's brother and the town sheriff - learns that his brother has been sexually molesting Native American women. He and his family are torn between loyalty and justice as Wes must decide what to do.The novel is a coming-of-age book, showing David's journey from innocence to experience. It also tackles other issues like racism, the abuse of privilege and power, and the omission of stories from the historical records of communities.The narrative is not perfect. So much of what is happening David learns through eavesdropping; surely the author could come up with another technique? Wesley's actions are sometimes not logical, especially when he becomes convinced of his brother's guilt; as a consequence, the nature of Frank's fate is totally predictable. This book tends to be classified as young adult fiction, and with its themes, imagery, and symbols, it lends itself to being taught in English classes. It is young adult fiction, however, only in the sense that "To Kill a Mockingbird" can be seen as young adult fiction. It definitely gives adults some things to consider as well.
    • 2/5
      This was featured at my local MI library, so I checked it out.
      Complex interplay and done well enough to inspire me to read more by this author.
      Read in 2006.
    • 4/5
      The story of the tragic events which begin a young man's coming of age in post-WWII Montana. Well done and with a remarkable eye for telling detail. Curiously unaffecting, though, and that may be because the ending was predictable without feeling inevitable. Recommended for the execution and the detail. This is also a perfect one-sitting read, and lends itself very well to that kind of reading.
    • 5/5
      Engrossing, told in retrospective, with some asides as perspective/explanation from his older self. Davy takes us thru one week when his family changed profoundly. His father is a sheriff and discovers that his much admired older brother has been abusing Native women. Does he follow his moral values or protect his brother? Davy eavesdrops and imagines protecting his family.
    • 4/5
      In Montana 1948 by Larry Watson, our narrator looks back 40 years on life-changing events that occurred when he was 12 and growing up in northeast Montana in the summer of 1948. A young Indian woman from the reservation is the family's housekeeper and David's babysitter. She contracts pneumonia and is wildly afraid to see the local white doctor, Frank Hayden. Frank is the brother of David's father Wesley. Wesley is the town sheriff, and the young woman's concerns force him to investigate his doctor brother. What transpires changes 12 year old David's views of himself and his family and adults in general, as he learns that some he has idolized have clay feet, and others are not what he thought. The questions raised may cause permanent fissures in the tight family and community he has innocently enjoyed his whole brief life.This short book is written in simple, eloquent prose, and packs quite a punch. It belongs up on the shelf with your Norman MacLean and Kent Haruf books. Thanks to Mark for pushing me to read it.
    • 4/5
      Beautiful story of love and loss set against a bleak Montana setting.
    • 4/5
      A short novel dealing with family secrets. A young boys uncle, the town doctor, is molesting Native American Indians girls. His brother, the local policeman, discover what is happening and finds out that many people know but have covered it up. The doctor is accused, but he murders the woman. Themes: prejudice, power, secrets.
    • 4/5
      Very readable and compelling 'detective story'. A young boy's experience of law and order as demonstrated by his father, the sherrif, in what is apparently something of an allegory about the relationship between european settlers and native americans.
    • 4/5
      I really liked this book. It was good historical fiction, it had a moral, and it took place in Montana--what's not to like?
    • 5/5
      A poweful rendering of both social issues and family dynamics and the small ways in which big events echo down the generations. The life young David Hayden knows in the sleepy little post-war town where his father is County Sherrif, is turned upside down when his war-hero uncle is accused of the sexual abuse by an Indian girl. A brief but poignant story told in terse harshly-lit language - almost like a parable. Loved it