.
They lived.
.
And they wrote about it.
.
In this book, their story is retold in a new way.
.
I often lament how most people are clueless about history, that it just doesn't feel real to them, most likely because it was poorly taught in a politically correct social studies class when they were kids. Booooorrrring. That's why I love Historical Fiction, as well as historical reality shows like Frontier House History is brought to life in a very personal way and you can see and feel that these were real people, just like us, and they lived and loved, just like us.
.
In any case, this novel starts with Rose in her golden years. She'd given birth to one baby who died and that was it for biological motherhood. But, that didn't stop her from mothering many others. The story opens with Rose preparing for a visit from Norma Lee and her husband, honorary family whom she'd mentored and mentions many others in passing. She even paid for at least one's postsecondary education. She's also working against a deadline, editing her now-famous mother's book, By the Shores of Silver Lake Rose and Norma Lee have a discussion about Rose's involvement with the creation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's now-famous books. Norma Lee thinks Rose does too much and doesn't get enough credit.
Laura Ingalls Wilder may have lived a simple life, despite being a gifted storyteller. But, her was a worldwide traveler who got out there and made a career for herself with only self-education beyond high school. It's an interesting progression to watch the apple fall from the tree and grow up a gifted storyteller, like her mother, and then so much more too. Not to say one was better than the other. Laura preferred the simple life. Rose did not.
.
Nevertheless, according to this book, Rose's friends claim she was at her mother's beck and call. Personally, I find this interpretation 21st Century. A hundred years ago, adult children were socially at their parents' beck and call anyway. Add to that the fact that Rose was Laura's only child. But, the author has clearly done a lot more research than I have. It was way ahead of her time for Rose to get a divorce and just because the marriage wasn't working out too.
.
The book starts out in 1939, but then goes back to Albania 1928. Rose is there with a friend and learns that her parents are sick. Of course, she must go back to take care of them. Back then, adult children rarely thought of doing anything else with sick, elderly parents. It was a family thing. Like daycares, nursing homes were a long way off still.
.
As Rose prepares and proceeds home to Missouri, she remembers her life from learning telegraphy after high school through her adventures to Albania and such. She also goes all the way back to when she was three and blames herself for setting their house on fire, which led to homelessness and financial hardship. In other words, she's on a guilt trip too.
.
During a time when family farms were dependent on large broods of male offspring, Rose had been born a girl. Her only sibling, a brother, had died. And her father was disabled by illness. She grew up poor and moving around a lot. And she blamed herself a lot.
.
It's not unusual for children to blame themselves for family hardships.
.
In the following chapters, she talks about her career in relation to her mother writing down her now-famous stories.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/on-the-banks-of-plum-creek-laura-ingalls-wilder/1100538559?ean=9780064400046
.
This is a good and entertaining narrative for anyone who already loves the Little House stories and intrigued by mother/daughter tales. It's a typical dilemma for all historical writers, write exactly the way things are or write so that a 21st century reader can understand and enjoy it. For example, do you write about a fabulous love affair between two Vikings with all the hair, sweat, dirt, sheep poo, and puss-filled injuries? How romantic is nookie with someone who hasn't bathed since falling into the river as a kid?
.
Obviously, this author did her homework, but it is told through the lens of 21st century. For example, Rose is stunned to read her mother's mention of a baby brother dying. Well, a hundred years ago the infant mortality rate was so high that it was pretty typical for children who died in infancy never to be mentioned again. In some places, parents were only expected to mourn children if they died over the age of six. It's a sad commentary on the era which we have so little comprehension of now, because of modern medicine. It was a way of protecting their hearts from the pain of so much death.
.
Anyway, good book and a great Christmas present for a fan of such things.
.
Much love.
No comments:
Post a Comment