The Entire Sky

by Joe Wilkins

With echoes of Demon Copperhead and Plainsong, a poignant story about a troubled boy on the run, an aging rancher, and a woman at a crossroads, who find unexpected solace and kinship in the family they make.   With his long hair and penchant for guitar, teenage Justin is the spitting image of his idol, Kurt Cobain—a resemblance that has often marked him an outcast. When the long-simmering abuse from his uncle finally boils over, Justin has no choice but to break free, in a violent act that will haunt him, and try to make it on his own as a runaway.   Meanwhile, in rural Montana, Rene Bouchard, a rancher nearing retirement, grieves the recent death of his wife. Her passing has revealed precisely how fractured the family has become—particularly the relationship between Rene and his daughter, Lianne. As old wounds ache anew, father and daughter begin to doubt the possibility of reconciliation, even as they each privately yearn for it.   Justin’s wanderings bring him to the Bouchard family ranch, and soon Rene and Lianne take the boy in as their own. But before long, Justin’s past threatens to catch up with him, jeopardizing not only his new bond with Rene and Lianne but also the home he’s finally been able to claim. With its lyricism, tangible evocation of place, and piercing insight reminiscent of the novels of Barbara Kingsolver and Kent Haruf, The Entire Sky is an unforgettable piece of modern, American fiction.  

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Audiobook, Book Club, Westerns, Found Family, Family

384 pages, Hardcover

First published July 2, 2024

About the author

Joe Wilkins was born and raised on the Big Dry of eastern Montana and now lives in the foothills of the Coast Range of Oregon. He is the author of a novel, Fall Back Down When I Die, praised as “remarkable and unforgettable” in a starred review at Booklist. A finalist for the First Novel Award from the Center for Fiction and the Pacific Northwest Book Award, Fall Back Down When I Die won the High Plains Book Award and has been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, and German. Wilkins is also the author of a memoir, The Mountain and the Fathers, and four collections of poetry, including Pastoral, 1994, and When We Were Birds, winner of the Oregon Book Award. His second novel, The Entire Sky, is out now with Little, Brown. Wilkins directs the creative writing program at Linfield University and is a member of the low-residency MFA faculty at Eastern Oregon University.

Reviews

[Ben Donovan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I waited a week to read the last chapter bc I didn’t want the book to end. This books is far from perfect, but I could not care less. I hope this books becomes a classic and I hope everyone I know reads it and I hope in 20 years I can give this to my children and family and discuss masculinity and the end of the American west and teaching middle school and the beauty of human touch and our duty to nature and suicide and elder care and being a teenager and family 'secrets' and homelessness and Seattle and ‘home’ and everything else this book is about. Idk yo, I think I’ll read this book again pretty soon and then pretty soon again after that.

Jan 25 reread - it asks questions about the line between surviving and living, and what is essential for each vs limits each. Second full read, best parts are better than I remembered, slow parts are essential for the full picture, and a few parts stuck out more than before. I love this book a lot

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I need a reading boost I usually head west. This is a new author to me and he hit it out of the park. The place and the people make this just the right read for me.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

ay a boy up and offers the inside of himself, and no one, not even his family, knows how to make sense of what they see. Say a boy holds it all in. Jesus, what chance did some boys have? from The Entire Sky by Joe Wilkins

Montana’s gorgeous open spaces, the brutally hard work of ranching, the toxic masculinity that targets boys who are different, sensitive, who wore their hair long. The beauty of the land. The men who respect the land and those who torture it. The ones who left and the ones who remained, and those who return. The Entire Sky encompasses it all, told in resonant imagery and heartbreaking honesty.

It is a story about runaways. Rene, his aged body complaining, having just buried his wife, his tortured soul giving up, takes off for his ranch, planning his demise. And Justin, the unwanted boy, who had lashed out against his torturer and ran away, now ready to just lay down and die. A boy too much the son Rene had failed to understand. Fate brings them together.

Rene enlists the boy to help with the spring lambing. Justin marvels at the new life, learns quick and works hard. It is death that the boy has trouble accepting.

Ranching was life distilled: birth and death, the hard winter giving away to spring, and spring to the heat and fast black storms of summer. from The Entire Sky by Joe Wilkins

Rene’s daughter had left for college, married, and had children. She returned to help when her mother was dying. She is rethinking her life decisions, planning on staying. Discovering her father missing, she know where he has gone, and gives him a few days alone at the ranch. She accepts a substitute teaching job in town, and reconnects with her first love. And she thinks about her brother, how she had failed him.

Rene offers Justin a safe haven. He encourages the boy to return to school come fall. Justin makes a friend. But the danger for boys like him can not be escaped.

This book will break your heart and mend it again.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Entire Sky is such an outstanding novel. Joe Wilkins deploys beautiful, lilting language to serve his setting and characters who deserve nothing less. The story says redemption is possible, no matter how late it seems. Along the way, the prose sings and evokes masters who have written the West and proves Wilkins belongs among them.

[Kari Ann Sweeney · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE ENTIRE SKY was Kari Catnip. It checked all the boxes.

"𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨, 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘯, 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦." SOLD!!

Kent Haruf vibes.
Coming-of-Age story.
Found family
Set in Montana in 1994. ( I love Montana & graduated high school in 1994. Win-win.)
Broke my heart and put it back together again.
Redemption and second chances.
I am a naturally fast reader, but I just wanted to savor this one. I didn’t want it to end.
Gorgeous, atmospheric writing.
Captivating story.
Unforgettable characters.
Read in print and audio- excellent in both formats.
Grateful to @jenny.felici for putting it on my radar.
Absolutely a standout book of the year.

[Drew McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me longer to finish this than I expected but that was with good reason. I didn't want it to end. Joe Wilkins is an amazing writer. His characters are real people, people we all know, people we've all seen, people I'm sure we see in ourselves. This book flat floored me, and I had to finish the last few pages through blurred eyes, real tears for these real people and their story. Joe, thank you for this book and the ones before it. Your prose, your steady hand of guiding a story and the reader along with such an incredible control of language is a thing of perfection. Thank you!

[Abi Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable story about good people dealing with the hard realities of life under the sun. When I say that I want to read more stories about dysfunctional/chosen families, this is what I mean. Human nature is laid bare in this book, for better and for worse. All the characters felt so unbelievably real to me. I did have to make a character list to keep up with everyone, but it was well worth it. I will be thinking about this book for a while. 

[Caroline Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can appreciate that this was well written, but unfortunately the content was just not the sort of thing I generally enjoy. If this weren’t for book club it would be a dnf. The last third picked up a little bit, but I take some issues with the pacing & it needs to be put in gratuitous flashback jail.

[Novel Visits · Rating 4 out of 5]

@littlebrown | #gifted THE ENTIRE SKY by Joe Wilkins sat on my shelf for well over a year and I just never found the time to get to it. That changed a couple of months ago when @bookaddictpnw shared a great review of this book, thus bringing it to the forefront of my TBR. All I can say is, “Thank you Laurie!”⁣
⁣
This is a story of three lost souls whose lives intersect in unexpected, yet comforting ways. The story takes place in 1994, important to both the story and to one of its main characters. That character happens to be a runaway, but so are the others, just different ways.⁣
⁣
Justin, a long-haired, Kurt Cobain loving teen has fled an abusive situation and there’s no turning back. He misses his mom and the rough life they shared in Seattle, but that life is no more for him. His options are few.⁣
⁣
Rene, a hard scrabbled, Montana sheep rancher, has just lost his wife of many years and has little desire to carry on. His world has shrunk even though his responsibilities remain. Fate alone has his path crossing with Justin’s.⁣
⁣
Lianne, Rene’s only daughter, is all at once grieving her mother, worrying about her father and regretting the life she gave up for a marriage she’s no longer sure of. Rene gives her the perfect excuse for lingering in Montana.⁣
⁣
These three lives wrap around each other in such deep, meaningful ways. The rural Montana setting, the 1990’s era, and the richly drawn characters make The Entire Sky a book I’ll long remember and one I definitely should have read sooner! ⁣⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

[Julie Dannenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars, rounded up for Good Reads. This book needed trigger warnings, and about 40 less chapters. Trigger warnings: suicide, family physical abuse, the harsh use of a synonym for gay (rather not type it), and lots of trauma. I wanted to fall hard for this book as someone who has lived in Montana my whole life. It was highly recommended by a small bookstore here in MT. Sadly, this book missed the mark. The first twenty chapters could have been condensed into about half that. The whole book drags.

[Marshall Stowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my rare reads when I’m not racing to the climax. I didn’t want it to end.

[Dawn Brintnall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devastating. Hopeful. Wrapped up in the intensity of backdrops only the west can offer, this is one of the most artfully crafted and soul-baring works of fiction I have ever read. Wilkin’s story -threaded through with poignant lessons for us all- is irrevocably bound to replay in the corners of my mind for a great while.

[Denise Shircel · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️
Tragic but hopeful story with tough topics that many authors shy away from. The characters were flawed and real-Rene & Justin were especially likable. A slow start is the only reason I didn’t give the book 5 ⭐️.

[Brenna Price · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bittersweet, well-written,and one of the more accurate depictions of Montana I've found. Having grown up in Eastern Montana in the 90s, this book was easy for me to get lost in.

[emmilina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joe Wilkins gives us gorgeous prose, a wonderful, heartfelt story and characters that come to life in this awesome book. I know I really love a book when I still think about it after finishing it, or find myself putting it down near the end to delay finishing it. Thanks Joe!

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is going on my favorites list. The beauty of a teen run away finding solace and healing through the love of an old rancher who also needed healing and space to grieve- just incredibly beautiful. And in wide open space where the prairie and creek were alive in my imagination.

[Alexandra Schilling · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second Joe Wilkins book I’ve cried through the ending of.

Captures every piece of Eastern Montana so perfectly. I wish I could read it again for the first time.

[Markus Riemer]

fantastic. Wilkins cooked.

[Stacie]

This book is a beauty!

[Sarah Lavender Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

More people need to know about and read Joe Wilkins! And we need more male authors with male-centered stories like this. I savored this book. What a gorgeous, original novel this is, and a much-needed antidote to "the manosphere." I checked out the book from the library, then ordered a copy to give to my 24-year-old son with an urging to read. My son is a wrangler and farrier, hardly ever reads, hanging out with ranch guys in northern Colorado and Montana doing horse work. He and other young men need a novel like this to see Western good-guy and bad-guy role models, the good-guys personified by the characters Rene and Ves, who are equal parts kind and tough, fully in tune with the land while also caring and respectful of the women in their lives. This book takes place in 1994 and thus captures a world right before the proliferation of email and mobile phones, which changed everything. People relate to each other face to face and through phone calls, and they follow the rhythm of the seasons. In that respect, the novel offers a view of a more natural and simple way of living, but also, a more backward and nativist time when homophobia was more acute (implicitly offering a warning of how we could so easily lapse back into that hatred toward gay people, immigrants, or any "others"). I felt entranced by the trio of main characters—the aging widowed rancher, his daughter following her heart, the abused adolescent—and admired how the plot went back and forth between spring of 1994 and what happened before. It's just lovely, heartfelt, beautifully written.

[Carla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw one single review about this book, went straight to my Libby app and requested it. I saw it was published last summer, and with only 80 reviews, it has a 4.5 Goodreads rating. The description compares it to Demon Copperhead and talks about the big Montana sky, ranching, and heartbreak...I was ALL IN.

This book was incredible. The writing, the character development, the heart of the story. It deals with some tough issues - toxic masculinity, death and grief, and tortured souls - but it's also a story of second chances, healing, found family, and love. It's heartbreakingly beautiful and I'm not quite sure why more people haven't read it and aren't talking about it.

I think it was nice going into this story blind, but also know that this could be tough subject matter for sensitive readers. Also, this is not a quick read. I read fast and this one still took me several days. It could be that I wanted to stay in this world for as long as possible, but I truly do believe the pace is slow. For me, it didn't matter. I loved the characters so much and wanted more Rene, Justin, and Lianne.

[PetaAshleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5⭐️

Wilkins paints the Montana prairie with such richness that it transcends mere setting to become a living, austere and immense presence. His descriptions are so textured and precise that they do not read as ornamentation but as immersion. Having stood beneath that same unbroken sky, I recognised the cadence of it, the smell of dry grass and dust, the way distance itself becomes a character.

This is a book rooted deeply in place, one that understands stoicism not as cliché, but as inheritance. That cowboy countenance… It understands shame, pride, loneliness and the complicated weight of homecoming. The land is not a backdrop, it is the marrow.

At the level of language, Wilkins words often read like poetry. There are sentences that feel deeply evocative. Violence flares without warning, sudden and raw, yet it is followed by moments of astonishing tenderness. That oscillation up between brutality and compassion gives the novel its pulse. The characters are morally grey in the truest sense: greedy, wounded, prideful, capable of both cruelty and grace. They are not softened for the reader’s comfort but are rendered honestly.

What I admired most however, is Wilkins’ refusal to offer neat closure. The novel does not cinch itself tight at the end, instead leaving room to sit with the weight of decisions, with the anger and longing.

This is a beautiful, bruised work that I found expansive without being indulgent and tender without being sentimental.

Favourite quote:
“Ranching was life distilled: birth and death, the hard winter giving way to spring, and spring to the heat and fast black storms of summer. There was a violence in it, a violence you tried in all ways to diminish but a violence you nonetheless had to know and hold. In this tilting world, when so many had gotten away from anything resembling the actual, were living what Rene thought of as supermarket lives, ranching at least kept you close to what mattered, to what was real.”

**Has some profanity, infidelity and mild LGB themes.

[Jodi Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could barely put this book down. It is amazing. The story of this young man was told in such a heartfelt way and what he has gone through in his life and what the people he comes in contact with have gone through in their lives. I love the story of those that are content with nature and their lives in tune with nature. I highly recommend this book.

[TC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommended.

Review posted at Tzer Island book blog:

https://www.tzerisland.com/bookblog/2...

[Eden Wondra]

Sad story, but I thought it was beautifully written written, and the message was important to write down and bring light to. I loved the way he included all the little real details of life and weaved poetry into his writting.

[Shannan Reichenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartfelt.

[Karen Sokoloff · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a haunting and beautiful book about loss, land and family - what makes a family? Forgiveness, acceptance, listening, second chances. A cast of characters you won’t soon forget. More than anything, there is hope, redemption and understanding. And I learnt more about sheep than I needed to, but I’m ok with that.

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful writing plus a decent story. This one will stick with you for awhile.

[Henry Gates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Demon Cooperhead meets Montana. Enthralling read that kept me entertained the whole way. Who doesn’t love a new age western w/ a little Nirvana thrown in there for good measure.

[Abby Bowling · Rating 5 out of 5]

i could go on about the way that joe wilkins writes prose. the simplicity of syntax that could only be crafted by someone who truly respects the stories they tell, but i’m just gonna leave it at this. this is a book about lost family and found family, and the ending is so satisfying after the book tears you into two.