Thank you NetGalley, author Joe Wilkins, and Little, Brown, and Company for allowing me to read this incredible novel in advance. The Entire Sky is powerfully dramatic and filled with poetic language that I devoured from beginning to end. Set in rural, beautiful Montana, and filled with scenery that draws readers way in, this is a story of lost souls searching for home and striving to find family on their individual paths towards healing. The Entire Sky is remarkably unforgettable. The characters possess depth and stay with you even when the story tragically ends. Teenager Justin tugs at the heartstrings as he navigates profound themes (absent fathers, abuse, family dysfunction, safety, longing, toxic masculinity, teenage angst, love, fighting for your land) and his world collides with recently widowed rancher Rene Bouchard and his daughter, Lianne on their family ranch. Justin’s search for belonging and peace is somehow poignant and heartbreaking, as his past threatens every fiber of his being. Will he find solace in the Bouchard family ranch? Will Rene reconcile with his daughter Lianne before time runs out? Rowdy, Wendell, Viv, and Franklin also leave emotional impressions as characters...and the ending! This novel is unlike anything I have read in a long time, especially in regards to the emotional character connections and depictions of the vast Montana sky. “These things we’re always carrying. That carry us.” Amazing novel. I will read anything this author writes and caanot wait for his next novel. 4.5/5

A love song to the Montana landscape, this heavily drawn yet affecting tale pits sweet, sometimes misunderstood characters against one-dimensional thugs (generally male). The good guys have upstanding moral values but usually regrets, too. It’s all rather simple, however Wilkins delivers his parable with commitment and a painterly eye, as well, unfortunately, as a taste for creating verbs out of nouns. I suspect this will be a popular hit.

I really tried to read this book based on the description. Halfway through I gave up because there was hardly any dialogue and I couldn’t figure out what was going on and I had a hard time following the characters.

Thanks to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for the chance to read and review 'The Entire Sky'
by Joe Wilkins.

I very much enjoyed this novel.

A young Kurt Cobain-loving and lookalike drifter arrives - through a series of events and an already tough life - at the ranch of recently widowed Montanan, Rene Bouchard, whose family has long moved away and who, himself, feels he has very little left to live for.

Hot on Justin's heels arrives Lianne, the much beloved only daughter of Rene and his wife Viv who, herself, is lost and, having temporarily left her husband and two boys behind in Spokane, is looking for clarity and direction and not really expecting it to find it in her childhood home.

What follows is a meeting of ages, generations, and lifestyles in which the superficially very different experiences of Rene and his family and the teenaged Justin are shown to be not that different at all. Throughout the telling of the tale, a Bouchard family tragedy emerges, one which connects much of the emotion and experience of the characters.

Although sometimes a little purple - especially in descriptions of nature and landscapes - the writing in the book is lovely and evocative.

Highly recommended.

Absolutely loved this intense book about resilience, family, abuse, and reconciliation. Justin, who looks a little like Kurt Cobain, runs away from an abusive household and winds up at the Bouchard ranch. Rene just lost his wife and is glad to have to help with his sheep and horses. As Justin finds himself learning from Rene, Rene and his daughter Lianne begin to mend their relationship. Lianne says to Justin we need to find a way for you to stay. After a branding session at a friend’s, Justin is threatened by a man down the road and hurts him. Justin runs away taking Rene’s truck and dog. Will Justin return to Rene’s ranch where he knows this is the place that felt like home?

Overall this book was not what I expected. I thought that it would be a story about rural America but I and left with something to be desired. Something about the dialogue and the characteristics of the situation did not sit right with me.

Engaging and immersive. A recommended purchase for collections where American literary fiction is popular.