The Bartender's Tale, Synopsis

Doig, Ivan. The Bartender’s Tale.

Riverhead, 2012, 387 pages.

 The Bartender's Tale is a riveting look at the father-son dynamic. Russell, called "Rusty" by virtually everybody all the time, deals with being a "between the sheets mistake" which led to his mother leaving both him and his father. This is a story worth telling. The author lets it simmer and takes his time. I can say with some certainty that the reader will burst out laughing half a dozen times over the first two chapters.

Rusty is sent to Arizona to live with his aunt Marge, uncle Alvin and two cousins one four, the other six years older. His father sends a stipend to help out. He also visits on occasion and he and Rusty often travel to the Grand Canyon on vacations.

At one point Rusty's father shows up and announces that he and Rusty will be returning to Montana where he owns a saloon. Rusty is about to start school in Phoenix, Arizona but decides that going back with dad might turn out for the best.

On the way "home" Rusty takes the measure of his father and is impressed with how he is physically in terms of his features and his ease in dealing with the public. He sees in his father a man born in the heart of the Great Depression. Rusty sees a man who in a small way is an example of someone who came through the experience as one who defined his generation. Rusty wonders what his own legacy might end up looking like. The author cites Lincoln, Grant and Lee along with Teddy Roosevelt and Mark Twain as men who defined their respective generations.

The scene is Gros Ventre, Montana, where Rusty and his father arrive amidst a herd of sheep being rounded up and headed out. This is a common occurrence in Montana. They meet a Dode Withrow, a sheep rancher. Dode asks if they are taking part in the upcoming "derby". Rusty is thinking ‘soap box derby’ and asks why he wasn’t told about it. His father tells him the derby was meant to be a surprise.

The Saloon is called the Medicine Lodge. Its painted sign says “BEER––SOFT DRINKS–– FULL BAR AND THEN SOME”. Rusty's father lives in a two story home behind the bar.

Rusty's initial experience in Gros Ventre is a trip to a reservoir. He is taught by his father to bait hooks with chicken guts, which nauseates Rusty not a little. This episode becomes a fail at. Too early too cold and no fish. This is topped only by the actual event the next day, where at the Fishing Derby a gust of wind triggers flying poles, bait, hooks and near miss injuries. Unfortunately for Rusty, the near miss is an actual hit and he ends up with a hook embedded in his ear.

A trip to the doctor and an encouraging word from his father smooth things over. The primary issue dealt with is the question ‘This doesn't mean you are sending me back to Arizona does it?’ His father responds, "What kind of an ess of a bee do you think I am?” and remarks, “School starts Monday, we need to get you some pencils and tablets. . .”

Eventually Rusty gets to help his father with an inventory of everything from soda pop to beer to various other spirits. He is then allowed to have eyes and ears to the world as there is a vent that allows him to hear virtually everything that goes on in the saloon, and to see most things. It is during this time that he gains an appreciation for what his father really does: run a social establishment where the idea does not center on getting drunk.

His father wears many hats:  bar keep, accountant, bouncer, trader/merchant, civic-minded member of the community, and oh yeah, single parent. The year is 1960 and everything in Rusty's twelve year-old world is about to change.