erikars's review against another edition
4.0
After the last couple books feeling like more of the same, this book was refreshingly different. Rose travels to Louisiana to live with her aunt and finish high school. She makes new friends, learns, and starts to grow up.
The downsides of this book were that the politics were (once again) rather invasive and the scenes rather disconnected. I think that these two problems are related. The problem with the politics was not that they were there; it was that they felt like an add on. But then, to some degree, everything in the book felt like an add on. I suspect that, since this book was completed after the author's death, it is more of a raw compilation of the anecdotes the author had heard from Rose than those anecdotes woven into a story like the early books in the series.
The downsides of this book were that the politics were (once again) rather invasive and the scenes rather disconnected. I think that these two problems are related. The problem with the politics was not that they were there; it was that they felt like an add on. But then, to some degree, everything in the book felt like an add on. I suspect that, since this book was completed after the author's death, it is more of a raw compilation of the anecdotes the author had heard from Rose than those anecdotes woven into a story like the early books in the series.
matamgirl's review against another edition
3.0
Honestly this was the most interesting to me of the Rose books. Actually on the whole they improved after someone finished the unfinished manuscripts. It is possible though that this is because the subject matter was more interesting and Rose got to be more of an adult. She really does discover a whole new world out there.
The theme of these books is basically to quote from Beauty and the Beast "I want so much more than they've got planned" and it is obvious that Rose wants to explore the world and see more of what there was than her mother did.
The theme of these books is basically to quote from Beauty and the Beast "I want so much more than they've got planned" and it is obvious that Rose wants to explore the world and see more of what there was than her mother did.
xeni's review against another edition
5.0
Rose is actually the daughter that I read the most comprehensively. And her books are how I know what pioneer and frontier life was like, after the Midwest became a bit more settled.
In this book, Rose leaves her home to live with her Aunt Eliza (we first met her in Farmer Boy, in the Laura series) in Louisiana. It was wonderful to learn about the culture and the history from such a point of view! Most historical fiction books focus on the party life, but Rose has strong ideals for the future of women! She lives in a pivotal part of the turn of the century and Rose is definitely smack dab in the middle of it!
It was a great book, and I wouldn't mind reading it again!
In this book, Rose leaves her home to live with her Aunt Eliza (we first met her in Farmer Boy, in the Laura series) in Louisiana. It was wonderful to learn about the culture and the history from such a point of view! Most historical fiction books focus on the party life, but Rose has strong ideals for the future of women! She lives in a pivotal part of the turn of the century and Rose is definitely smack dab in the middle of it!
It was a great book, and I wouldn't mind reading it again!
editor_b's review
4.0
I had low expectations for this book. At first glance, it looked like an attempt to cash in on the literary legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I knew Rose Wilder was a prominent writer herself, in her day, and that her early success actually paved the way for her mother. But while this book is about Rose, it is not in fact written by her, but by Roger Lea MacBride, who was practically like an adopted grandson to her. To top it off, he died before finishing this book and it was published posthumously by his heir. Indeed, the only reason I read it at all was because of the local connection to the state where we live: this book is about how Rose Wilder goes to high school in Crowley, Louisiana.
Surprise! It's actually quite good. I was especially impressed that the story does not evade the realities of racial injustice in the early 20th century in the Deep South. We see Rose's early political awakening here. She is a passionate advocate for women's suffrage. The presidential candidacy of the famous socialist Eugene Debs figures in as well. But I think my favorite passages were those regarding the innovation of the "destroyer of distance": the telephone.
I haven't read any other books in this series but now I kind of want to.
Surprise! It's actually quite good. I was especially impressed that the story does not evade the realities of racial injustice in the early 20th century in the Deep South. We see Rose's early political awakening here. She is a passionate advocate for women's suffrage. The presidential candidacy of the famous socialist Eugene Debs figures in as well. But I think my favorite passages were those regarding the innovation of the "destroyer of distance": the telephone.
I haven't read any other books in this series but now I kind of want to.
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