This is story of a Navajo Indian set in 1915. A surprisingly good and
balanced story. Much shorter in length and scope than the Pearl Buck's
book, it gives us and insight to a culture foreign to ours. Take the time
to find and read this forgotten book.
I liked this book when I read it the first time. And I liked
it again on the re-read. According to the front notes this was
one of the first novels to show Eastern people as regular folks.
I liked the way she set the story in one man's life and takes you
through the good and the bad. This is a straight forward story with little
moralizing.
The story of a young girl and her family scratching out a
living on a farm during the depression. Another "Land" story. It appears
that all writers in the 30s are obsessed with the idea of land ownership and
being "of the land". Hmmm. Anyway, not a book I particularly liked.
Johnson has an odd style that I don't like in a novel. It was more lyrical than
narrative, at least in the first third of the book.
Another depression era story. This on about a young boy who leaves home.
It is set in Oregon, so it caught my interest. I thought I would like it better
but it plodded along a little. If you like Craig Lesley, you should like this.
It is a word painting of Oregon and its people of the time as much as it is a
novel.
Easily the most famous novel so far. (And possibly in the whole list).
The epic (1000+ pages) story of Scarlet O'Hara in Civil War Georgia. This
has been my favorite book of the group. Mitchell has an easy style and doesn't
stint with getting to the exciting bits. It is interesting to note that she is
writing about events that took place 75 years before (1861) and that the book
itself is 75+ years old (1937) The mark of a good writer to me is that they can
suck you into their story and make you believe that you are in that time. Whether
it is 150 years ago, or 500 years in the future. I guess that is why I like
historical fiction and science fiction over any contemporary fiction (e.g.
anything on the Oprah list).
This is written in the style of a memoir even though it is fiction. It harkens
to the early books on the list. It is all about class, wealth and family. I
suspect that these sort of books were more relevant 70 years ago. I didn't think it
was all that great.
Another must read from Jr/High School. This is the first book in the list
really use dialect. The story is set in Florida in the 30's and she writes
the dialog like the backwoods people actually talked. Although I liked the
book, it is a straight ahead story, not at all twisty and multilayered like
the next book I read (All the Kings Men). I suppose that is why it is used
in secondary school.
