lindasdarby's review against another edition
4.0
Disclaimer - yes this book is kind of corny but I LOVED it! I loved the history and people and really everything about the book. I like that it starts in New York and you get to see how they traveled across the country and I think you get a pretty good idea of what it was like and how difficult it must have been(although it made me think the mormons sucked at crossing the plains after reading this book). I loved the history of California and of course Garnet is the best character. I loved her perspective even when having to deal with extremely disappointing realities. I loved it.
jbethke's review against another edition
5.0
I picked this book up because it came up as related to one of my favorite books, These Is My Words. It does have so many similarities, and so much of the adventure and essence of early America.
Gwen Bristow is an author I will be visiting again, and I can only hope her other books have such rich, complex characters. She has a way of making me unsure about a character, then bringing me around to compassion, and then angry with then the next page.
I love how there are not two dimensional charcters. No one in this book is pure good or evil, they're all, just complicated enough to make you keep wondering.
I will be hunting down more of Bristows work in the immediate future.
Gwen Bristow is an author I will be visiting again, and I can only hope her other books have such rich, complex characters. She has a way of making me unsure about a character, then bringing me around to compassion, and then angry with then the next page.
I love how there are not two dimensional charcters. No one in this book is pure good or evil, they're all, just complicated enough to make you keep wondering.
I will be hunting down more of Bristows work in the immediate future.
sarahunsaker's review against another edition
2.0
Not as good as I hoped. When I realized I didn't care one bit about what happened to the characters, I knew it was time to move on.
jjena13's review against another edition
5.0
Read one summer of junior or senior year - happened to get a really well loved hardcover version...seemed it had been enjoyed by many people. I had to tape the bindings to hold it together. Ever since, I have kind of had this feeling that some of the best books are the ones in the library that are falling apart.
sunshine_ghost's review against another edition
5.0
I started this in early 2019, got a few chapters in and forgot about it, to only pick it back up a couple of weeks ago. I'm **so** glad I did. I love, love, love novels that are about journeys through wild and beautiful landscapes that paint really vivid scenes in my mind - this did that wonderfully.
What I didn't expect was the author's astounding ability at characterisation. Each character in the main cast is multi-faceted, flawed, interesting, fully fleshed out, intricately developed and just so very, humanly real.
I got to the end of this 850-page epic and, as is the way of all great stories, was devastated I wouldn't ever find out what happened next.
*It has to be noted that this was written in the 40s and published in 1950. There is some egregious racism with regard to several groups of America's native people. It is not the focus of this novel, it occurs in passing, but still, it brought me to a stand still; I'd never even heard of the term "digger" before, and they were described terribly - a little googling and I found a interesting scholarly article titled 'The Digger Indian Stereotype in California' by Allan Lonnberg that delved into who the so-called diggers were (turns out it was a catch-all term) and what they were actually like, and how the awful stereotype came to be. Well worth reading if you read this novel, simply for the history lesson alone.
What I didn't expect was the author's astounding ability at characterisation. Each character in the main cast is multi-faceted, flawed, interesting, fully fleshed out, intricately developed and just so very, humanly real.
I got to the end of this 850-page epic and, as is the way of all great stories, was devastated I wouldn't ever find out what happened next.
*It has to be noted that this was written in the 40s and published in 1950. There is some egregious racism with regard to several groups of America's native people. It is not the focus of this novel, it occurs in passing, but still, it brought me to a stand still; I'd never even heard of the term "digger" before, and they were described terribly - a little googling and I found a interesting scholarly article titled 'The Digger Indian Stereotype in California' by Allan Lonnberg that delved into who the so-called diggers were (turns out it was a catch-all term) and what they were actually like, and how the awful stereotype came to be. Well worth reading if you read this novel, simply for the history lesson alone.
rachelreadwhat's review against another edition
4.0
Considering this book was written nearly 70 years ago, the female characters are surprisingly strong and showed completely believable character growth. I really enjoyed reading this.
Giving it a solid 3.5 stars (and it would be higher, except for the dehumanization of native people, which was ridiculous and took away from the story.)
Giving it a solid 3.5 stars (and it would be higher, except for the dehumanization of native people, which was ridiculous and took away from the story.)
nadoislandgirl's review against another edition
4.0
A tale of California BEFORE the gold rush. It starts and seems to be a love story, but it really an adventure story spanning the continent. Sweet characters and a new setting I hadn't read about before.
msmandrake's review against another edition
4.0
Another book I'd read a million times but not for years. It's held up pretty well. Always fascinating to imagine what Los Angeles was like 170 years ago. And the characters are all memorable. I had forgotten a lot of the plot, but none of the characters. And what refreshingly feminist overtones for a book written in 1950.
krisis86's review against another edition
4.0
I'm so glad I finally got a copy of this book in my hot little hands! It's very hard to find (at least it was for me) so I was excited to find a copy in a dilapidated old library.
It's really an engrossing read. You can't help but fall in love with Garnet right away. Her ideals, her personality, even her naiveté is so charming and delightful. The story covers a LOT more ground than I expected first going in, which was a little offputting for a while, but I got over it. Until the ending, when it is freakishly abrupt.
I loved all the characters and the pacing was good, although a little slow at times. I love how Garnet grows throughout the novel. I'm definitely going to be seeking out more books by Gwen Bristow!
It's really an engrossing read. You can't help but fall in love with Garnet right away. Her ideals, her personality, even her naiveté is so charming and delightful. The story covers a LOT more ground than I expected first going in, which was a little offputting for a while, but I got over it. Until the ending, when it is freakishly abrupt.
I loved all the characters and the pacing was good, although a little slow at times. I love how Garnet grows throughout the novel. I'm definitely going to be seeking out more books by Gwen Bristow!