breq's review
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
This was an interesting book--I wish I remembered who recced it to me and what the context was. A lot of it is very much of its time, but there were parts that were much more progressive than I expected. (Could just be an issue with my expectations, of course.) I was happy to see that the female love interest was an adult, with a pretty strong personality, and a skillset that meant she could exist without the male main character if she had to. A lot of their relationship was very sweet, and made me smile and giggle at their little everyday moments. I also LOVED reading all about the plants, the harvesting, and what medicinal uses they had. There were a few medicinal uses listed that I can confirm people still talk about these plants having these days.
There was definitely some weird stuff around the main character. One thing is that, in the narrative, he's fairly likeable but has some serious character flaws. However, every single character who is at all a good person absolutely loves him and declares him to be the pinnacle of manhood. It created some really strange dissonance when I was reading. There's also so much about how him living in the woods and being in tune with nature makes him better than everyone else (I weirdly felt that he was being written exactly like a Mystical Native American Character except white, unless I missed some very important information) and it was pretty exhausting.
Also some weird stuff around sex. Why was his mother so invested in his sex life before she died.
Still, this was a really interesting book that was way outside what I usually read, and I think that change was good. As a forager, the plant information was interesting, and as a hopeless romantic, many of the main characters' interactions were enjoyable.
There was definitely some weird stuff around the main character. One thing is that, in the narrative, he's fairly likeable but has some serious character flaws. However, every single character who is at all a good person absolutely loves him and declares him to be the pinnacle of manhood. It created some really strange dissonance when I was reading. There's also so much about how him living in the woods and being in tune with nature makes him better than everyone else (I weirdly felt that he was being written exactly like a Mystical Native American Character except white, unless I missed some very important information) and it was pretty exhausting.
Also some weird stuff around sex. Why was his mother so invested in his sex life before she died.
Still, this was a really interesting book that was way outside what I usually read, and I think that change was good. As a forager, the plant information was interesting, and as a hopeless romantic, many of the main characters' interactions were enjoyable.
therealestreya's review
5.0
Wonderful period romance -- 1909 Michigan. I would just *love* to find an Annotated version of this book with expanded information about the multitude of plants and medicinal herbs, seeds, roots and flowers The Harvester gathers in his work.
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