A review by trulybooked
Old Town in the Green Groves: Laura Ingalls Wilder's Lost Little House Years, by Cynthia Rylant
1.0
I seem to be in the minority, but I didn't enjoy this book.
The whimsy and magic of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books were in the details rather than the overall plot and this book proves it. People remember the small moments in the books like Pa making bullets or Laura twisting hay to make fuel for the fire. These small moments breathe life into each book. and they're missing here.
This book has a lot of things happen, but it doesn't feel lived like the other books do. It feels like a list of events with things filled in around them. There's very little description of the places that they live or the chores that they do. There are many instances where the characters don't feel like themselves. Maybe they're closer to their real-life counterparts, but it didn't fit the tone of the other books.
The last thing I'll say is the simplicity of the language. This book is written with a simplicity that fits closer to Little House in the Big Woods than something after On the Banks of Plum Creek. The language has a childish bent to it, but without the whimsy of the first book. Because of that, it draws attention to just how simple it is. For example:
Laura smiled. Mary had always been the best one at learning. Mary had always been the best at everything. She was kindest. She was the most patient. She minded Ma better. And she wasn't a tomboy, like Laura was sometimes.
Maybe it's because I just finished reading through the entire series, but this version stands out and not in a good way. It's not fair to expect perfection or for someone to perfectly mimic the Laura writes/Rose edits goodness of the original series, but... I loved the recent Caroline novel and I expected something new, but it's own kind of good. (But what do I know? It's got a lower overall score than this book).
The whimsy and magic of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books were in the details rather than the overall plot and this book proves it. People remember the small moments in the books like Pa making bullets or Laura twisting hay to make fuel for the fire. These small moments breathe life into each book. and they're missing here.
This book has a lot of things happen, but it doesn't feel lived like the other books do. It feels like a list of events with things filled in around them. There's very little description of the places that they live or the chores that they do. There are many instances where the characters don't feel like themselves. Maybe they're closer to their real-life counterparts, but it didn't fit the tone of the other books.
The last thing I'll say is the simplicity of the language. This book is written with a simplicity that fits closer to Little House in the Big Woods than something after On the Banks of Plum Creek. The language has a childish bent to it, but without the whimsy of the first book. Because of that, it draws attention to just how simple it is. For example:
Laura smiled. Mary had always been the best one at learning. Mary had always been the best at everything. She was kindest. She was the most patient. She minded Ma better. And she wasn't a tomboy, like Laura was sometimes.
Maybe it's because I just finished reading through the entire series, but this version stands out and not in a good way. It's not fair to expect perfection or for someone to perfectly mimic the Laura writes/Rose edits goodness of the original series, but... I loved the recent Caroline novel and I expected something new, but it's own kind of good. (But what do I know? It's got a lower overall score than this book).