Critics agree that Ivan Doig's old-fashioned storytelling tilts more toward sentimentality and occasional cliche here than in previous works. Doig, who normally writes smaller- ranging stories set in Montana and the American West, may have overextended himself in this novel. The structure that sends the protagonist in search of missing teammates all over the world results in fractured storytelling and characters who disappear too quickly to be developed. While most critics recognize Doig's strong capacity for lyrical, descriptive writing, the consensus is that he is better off focusing his laser on the intimate lives of the American West than he is developing a wider focus in setting and in scope. Copyright 2008 Bookmarks Publishing LLC
Description:
From Publishers Weekly
In the solid latest from veteran novelist Doig (_The Whistling Season_), 11 starters of a close-knit Montana college championship football team enlist as the U.S. hits the thick of WWII and are capriciously flung around the globe in various branches of the service. Ben Reinking, initially slated for pilot training, is jerked from his plane and more or less forced to become a war correspondent for the semisecret Threshold Press War Project, a propaganda arm of the combined armed forces. His orders: to travel the world, visiting and writing profiles on each of his heroic teammates. The fetching Women's Airforce Service Pilot who flies him around, Cass Standish, is married to a soldier fighting in the South Pacific, which leads to anguish for them both (think Alan Ladd and Loretta Young). Meanwhile, Ben's former teammates are being killed one by one, often, it seems, being deliberately put into harm's way. Doig adroitly keeps Ben on track, offering an old-fashioned greatest generation story, well told. (Oct.)
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From Bookmarks Magazine
Critics agree that Ivan Doig's old-fashioned storytelling tilts more toward sentimentality and occasional cliche here than in previous works. Doig, who normally writes smaller- ranging stories set in Montana and the American West, may have overextended himself in this novel. The structure that sends the protagonist in search of missing teammates all over the world results in fractured storytelling and characters who disappear too quickly to be developed. While most critics recognize Doig's strong capacity for lyrical, descriptive writing, the consensus is that he is better off focusing his laser on the intimate lives of the American West than he is developing a wider focus in setting and in scope.
Copyright 2008 Bookmarks Publishing LLC