Reviews for Five Skies by Ron Carlson
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Booklist Review: /*Starred Review*/
Three men, all emotionally damaged in different ways, come together at the edge of a remote chasm in Idaho. Their task is to construct a ramp from which a motorcyclist will launch herself, a la Evel Knievel. Two are naturally taciturn, and their personal pains make them almost mute. The third is a callow 19-year-old; all three are seeking a refuge from their anguish. The summer-long project of building the ramp, healing themselves, and helping the young man mature, is the subject of this fine and moving tale. Neither ranch foreman Darwin nor engineer and contractor Arthur Key is the kind of man who can articulate feelings, and young Ronnie Panelli simply doesnt yet understand his feelings. As a result, their dialogue often glances off what is really gnawing at them, and the effect is initially disconcerting but ultimately affecting. Additionally, the barren high desert and the weather it spawns are so beautifully rendered that it can be seen as a fourth important character. Carlson, critically acclaimed for his short stories, has written a note-perfect novel that will challenge and reward all who care about literary fiction. -- Thomas Gaughan (Reviewed 04-01-2007) (Booklist, vol 103, number 15, p23)

Publishers Weekly Review: /* Starred Review */
Two stoics and a teenage misanthrope are brought together in Idaho's Rocky Mountains to build a ramp to nowhere in Carlson's first novel in 25 years, a tour de force of grief, atonement and the cost of loyalty. Darwin Gallegos, spiritually bereft after the sudden death of his wife, is hired for one last job at Rio Difficulto, the sprawling ranch where he had lived and worked for years. The job: construct a motorcycle ramp that will launch a daredevil across a gorge (the event is to be taped and bring in a pile of money). Darwin hires for the job drifters Arthur Key, a large and quiet man hiding from his recent past, and Ronnie Panelli, a wiry teenager on the lam from minor criminal mischief. As the men work from late spring through summer, their wounds come slowly to light: the seething fury that took root in Darwin after his wife died; Arthur's career as the go-to Hollywood stunt engineer that he abandoned after betraying his guileless brother; and Ronnie's short lifetime of failure, atoned for as he learns the carpentry trade. Carlson writes with uncommon precision, and this return to long-form fiction after four well-received story collections is stunning. (May) --Staff (Reviewed March 5, 2007) (Publishers Weekly, vol 254, issue 10, p36)

Library Journal Review: /* Starred Review */
In Carlson's first novel in 30 years, following several excellent story collections (e.g., At the Jim Bridger), three psychically wounded men find themselves building a stunt ramp together at the edge of an Idaho gorge. Foreman Darwin Gallegos is angry at the universe after the death of his wife in a plane crash and is unable to return to the ranch where they lived. Arthur Key, the owner of a company that constructs Hollywood special effects, feels responsible for his brother's death and is unable to forgive himself both for getting him work as a stuntman and for secretly betraying his trust. Ronnie Panelli is a youthful Chicago thief who has disappointed everyone close to him. Through the solitude of a spring and summer spent outdoors and the simple joys of cooperative work done well, each gradually reveals himself and ultimately finds a measure of self-forgiveness and renewal. This is a simply told, quietly moving tale yet one that, in its use of time, nature, and the seasonal round, carries an archetypal resonance. Recommended for all public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 1/07.]???Lawrence Rungren, Merrimack Valley Lib. Consortium, Andover, MA --Lawrence Rungren (Reviewed April 15, 2007) (Library Journal, vol 132, issue 7, p71)

Kirkus Reviews
An emotionally bleak novel by noted short-story writer Carlson (A Kind of Flying, 2003, etc.) develops a strong, touching bond among three male workers on an isolated building crew in the Idaho mountains.

Three men of very different backgrounds end up working closely over a period of two months on a stunt-ramp construction project out in the wilds of the West: Darwin Gallegos, a widower and 40-year foreman at the Rio Difficulto ranch, is the project manager, who decides perhaps too impetuously to hire two laborers loitering in Pocatello, Idaho, and bring them west to the canyon river site outside the ranch. Arthur Key is hugely built, has considerable experience constructing movie sets in L.A. and is fleeing trouble back in California; his brother, Gary, a film stuntman, has been recently killed in an accident, leaving Key full of guilt for the affair he was conducting with Gary's wife and eager to take on any work that allows him to forget the tragedy. Ronnie Panelli is a hapless 19-year-old fresh out of juvenile jail for stealing cars, a former golf caddy who knows little about construction or roughing it and is constantly getting hurt. Gradually, the men warm to the rigors of the work and each finds his specialty—Darwin is the chef, Ronnie the carpenter and Arthur the canny figurer of plans. Ronnie's troubles include being punctured in the shoulder with a long splinter while they are setting telephone poles and embroiling himself romantically with a local girl. The townies from Mercy get wind of the crew's work and attempt to disrupt it. The increasing trust among the men engenders a heartfelt and healing friendship, especially for Arthur, whose filial protectiveness for Ronnie reflects the way he once cared for his younger brother. Flashbacks fill in Arthur's affair with Gary's wife. The ending, however, is harsh and grim.

A thinking man's novel, containing all the rugged elements of Western allure.
(Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 2007)

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