The Bottom of the Sky

The Bottom of the Sky is one of the most absorbing books I have a read in a long time. The story of Levi and Lam Monroe is one filled with anguish and desperation, yet has moments of happiness, humor, and hope. These are real people. Levi struggles against the greed and corruption that pervades his profession, while his sister, Lam, seeks to overcome the sorrow of a life scarred by abuse. Although their experiences are very different, both brother and sister are the victims of the selfish, and often immoral, people who inhabit their contrasting worlds. Despite their lapses of judgment at times, and their ability to hurt and be hurt, Levi and Lam remain in pursuit of an ideal of goodness, even if that goal is not fully attainable.

The Bottom of the Sky is one of the best novels I have read. The author has a rare ability to draw the reader onto the story to feel like he / she is experiencing, first hand, the implications of poverty and abuse as well as the frustration of corporate politics. The topic of corruption in the financial industry is timely but never expressed so clearly. The characters come to life in this book like no other I have read previously. Not only could I not set this book down but I know I will get even more out of it with subsequent readings. I want more from this author.

"You think a family means more than people in it? If one might kill the other one, which one would you save, Geno?" William Pack's novel, "The Bottom of the Sky" poses this question early on... ...and answers it in such a way--two ways, actually--that I am lost for the proper word. Brilliant? No. That's on the dust cover. `page turner?' No, that's on the dust cover too. Timely? Well, yeah, but that's on the dust cover. Powerful? Poignant? Naw. People in the know already said that and were stunned. Stunned. That's it. That's me at the end. Stunned. Stunning. Stunning. The thesaurus has no suitable synonym for that. I lost count of the places I wanted to savor again. On page 314, nearly two thirds of the way through, I started taking notes: "... his guts were processing a ball of nails." You don't get this kind of writing just anywhere; hardly ever in a debut novel. Page 320: "...I lose this, I become them." Levi's struggle in six words. Page 346: "I don't want my world to contract until I'm all that counts to me." His fear. He was on the way, too. Almost becoming all that counts to himself--much, much earlier, in the parts before I started taking notes. In chapter 41, I wanted to jump through the book so I could personally strangle Dierdre, whom I started thinking of as `Devildre' because she was so... so... evil. So read the book. You're a fool if you don't. You'll be a fool not because you'll miss the word-choices, the rich, rich language few novelists dream of on their best day, even if they have a superb editor like Pack does. Not because you won't find your guts processing nails. Not because you won't confront yourself where you don't want to go in the darkest region of your fear. Or your hopes either, for that matter. And by the way, not because you won't find out what's really, really important in life: It's not the corner office. Read this book for the education you'll get while you're doing all that. You'll learn what caused the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Sound familiar? Recent? I never really understood it until I read "The Bottom of the Sky." William Pack explains it all in terms that will make you seethe even if you think 'sub-prime' is some kind of meat. Bernie Madoff-like shenanigans on Wall Street: You'll come to understand the culture that makes such things possible in the financial world. The culprits are all here, in "The Bottom of the Sky." "The Bottom of The Sky" sort of begins and ends in Two Dot, Montana. It's a real place. I've been there. It has a bank, and a hardware store, both vacant, both ghosts of something that never should have been. And a few die-hard residents who don't realize that the whole damn town is a ghost. Two Dot, Montana. Look it up on Yahoo Maps or Google Earth. It's a real place, all right. Real close to the Crazy Mountains--the bottom of the sky. Young Levi grows up in Roundup, Montana, which is just down the road a piece fr

The characters in The Bottom of the Sky are intriguing and multifaceted. I found myself unable to put the book down! The information on the financial world was new and interesting and sometimes horrifying. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and was sad when I was done.

The only way to end relationship abuse is to shine the light of day on it and refuse to look the other way. Bill Pack had done just that with this powerful and painful novel. May many people read it and begin the dialogue!