Having read and loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as a child, I was interested in McCure's book from the first. She's my age, has read the Little House series over and over, and, like me, never really watched the tv show, and when she did, saw it as something very different from the book series. Along with her devoted and supportive husband, McClure goes to all of the Little House sites in the Midwest (of which there are maybe 5? 7? I lost count). Her takes on the sites vary from excitement to disappointment as she searches for that personal thing that she is trying to get back from her own childhood, the feeling that the 'Laura World' always gave her. I like McClure well enough, she's funny and doesn't take herself or her search too seriously. Her companion also keeps things light as they tour yet another dugout house, watch another Little House Pageant, or sleep in a covered wagon through a bone-rattling thunderstorm. But there were just too many of the same kinds of visits described for me. The hardcore Little House fan would probably enjoy this level of description and detail of the various places where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived, but not having been to any of these places myself, they all kind of ran together.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
The Wilder Life by McClure
Having read and loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as a child, I was interested in McCure's book from the first. She's my age, has read the Little House series over and over, and, like me, never really watched the tv show, and when she did, saw it as something very different from the book series. Along with her devoted and supportive husband, McClure goes to all of the Little House sites in the Midwest (of which there are maybe 5? 7? I lost count). Her takes on the sites vary from excitement to disappointment as she searches for that personal thing that she is trying to get back from her own childhood, the feeling that the 'Laura World' always gave her. I like McClure well enough, she's funny and doesn't take herself or her search too seriously. Her companion also keeps things light as they tour yet another dugout house, watch another Little House Pageant, or sleep in a covered wagon through a bone-rattling thunderstorm. But there were just too many of the same kinds of visits described for me. The hardcore Little House fan would probably enjoy this level of description and detail of the various places where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived, but not having been to any of these places myself, they all kind of ran together.
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1 comment:
I loved Little House the way you did. I can't imagine visiting the sites, they must be so incredibly different now. Lydia went to one of the museums in WI and liked it, but her favorite is Farmer Boy (set in NY, I think).
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