Genre: Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins, 2017
Pages: 384
Rating: Do Not Recommend
Synopsis: In this novel authorized by the Little House Heritage Trust, Sarah Miller vividly recreates the beauty, hardship, and joys of the frontier in a dazzling work of historical fiction, a captivating story that illuminates one courageous, resilient, and loving pioneer woman as never before—Caroline Ingalls, "Ma" in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s beloved Little House books.In the frigid days of February, 1870, Caroline Ingalls and her family leave the familiar comforts of the Big Woods of Wisconsin and the warm bosom of her family, for a new life in Kansas Indian Territory. Packing what they can carry in their wagon, Caroline, her husband Charles, and their little girls, Mary and Laura, head west to settle in a beautiful, unpredictable land full of promise and peril.
The pioneer life is a hard one, especially for a pregnant woman with no friends or kin to turn to for comfort or help. The burden of work must be shouldered alone, sickness tended without the aid of doctors, and babies birthed without the accustomed hands of mothers or sisters. But Caroline’s new world is also full of tender joys. In adapting to this strange new place and transforming a rough log house built by Charles’ hands into a home, Caroline must draw on untapped wells of strength she does not know she possesses.
For more than eighty years, generations of readers have been enchanted by the adventures of the American frontier’s most famous child, Laura Ingalls Wilder, in the Little House books. Now, that familiar story is retold in this captivating tale of family, fidelity, hardship, love, and survival that vividly re-imagines our past.
Review: I was so excited and had such high hopes for this book, and I was disappointed on every level. The synopsis above details a book that could have been, should have been, but in reality states everything that it is not.
This is not a book about Caroline. It's a book about being a pregnant settler who ultimately delivers on the prairie.
There was no depth. Ma came across as joyless, regimented, and one-dimensional. There was too much focus on her pregnancy and sexuality. Very weird approach, and it just didn't work. This isn't the side of Ma, or at least not the only side of Ma, that readers want to know more about. Yes, it would have been unimaginably difficult to be pregnant and traveling by covered wagon. It would be awkward to have an unknown woman assisting at at child's birth. I think all women in 2017 can be grateful that we now have Kotex and Always available. Anyone who's given birth understands how painful and inconvenient letdowns of milk are. Caroline and Charles' love scene was unnecessary. Not tasteless per se, but wholly unnecessary. It also didn't feel a natural part of this book, but rather included because "sex sells."
Sadly, these underwhelming themes are what I'll remember about this book, if I remember anything. Some books should just not be published.
This is not a book about Caroline. It's a book about being a pregnant settler who ultimately delivers on the prairie.
There was no depth. Ma came across as joyless, regimented, and one-dimensional. There was too much focus on her pregnancy and sexuality. Very weird approach, and it just didn't work. This isn't the side of Ma, or at least not the only side of Ma, that readers want to know more about. Yes, it would have been unimaginably difficult to be pregnant and traveling by covered wagon. It would be awkward to have an unknown woman assisting at at child's birth. I think all women in 2017 can be grateful that we now have Kotex and Always available. Anyone who's given birth understands how painful and inconvenient letdowns of milk are. Caroline and Charles' love scene was unnecessary. Not tasteless per se, but wholly unnecessary. It also didn't feel a natural part of this book, but rather included because "sex sells."
Sadly, these underwhelming themes are what I'll remember about this book, if I remember anything. Some books should just not be published.
No comments:
Post a Comment