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jocogr's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Pregnancy, Racism, Violence, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Death of parent, Animal death, Blood, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Death, Gore, and Suicidal thoughts
alyse_turns_pages's review
adventurous
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
-historical fiction
-strong character development
-forbidden love
-grief
-two cultures at odds with moments of understanding, grace and peace.
A journey following Naomi and her family to California via the Oregon Trail.
Reading about the dangers travelers faced while making this trek gave me anxiety. From Cholera, to giving birth, inclement weather, and wagon malfunctions…so many things can and often didn’t wring for these people.
My favorite part of this book is near the end and I won’t give spoilers but the tenderness, compassion and understanding that was given to these characters at the end was touching and meaningful.
I will say the beginning of this book was a tad slow. Setting the scene and building momentum. Once I hit about 60% I knew I was hooked in until I finished it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Kidnapping, Grief, Violence, Rape, and Racism
cc0906's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Kidnapping, Child death, Violence, Gore, Sexism, Death, and Racism
amw23's review
emotional
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Rape, and Death of parent
Moderate: Kidnapping and Animal death
awebofstories's review
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Grade: C
I admit that I am clearly in the minority here. I also admit that expectations may have greatly affected my disappointment. Not only is this book very highly rated by readers, but it is also (incorrectly) about the Oregon Trail, and I am looking for the great Oregon Trail novel!
First things first, this book is not actually about the Oregon Trail. It's about the Overland Trail, which is the sections of the Oregon and California trails that overlap. The families in this book are headed toward California, not Oregon. While this was not a big deal to me, I feel it is important to say as the marketing materials are misleading.
There were things I enjoyed. Harmon's prose is lovely and easily digestible. While I have complaints about this book, I never felt the reading was hard going. I also feel Harmon did a good job describing many of the trails people faced when traveling on the Overland Trail.
My problems fall into three categories. First, I felt that the narration had its problem. Like so many novels, this is told through the alternating viewpoints of the two main characters, Naomi and John. This is fine, but my issue was the two voices were indistinguishable. Naomi sounded exactly like John and vice versa. Many times, I realized as I was reading that I was seeing things through the wrong set of eyes.
Secondly, the structure of this book does not do it any favors. We begin with a prologue with a "big event," then travel back in time to the beginning of the characters' journey with the first chapter. By doing this, Harmon robbed the narrative of any anticipation for me. I knew what would happen because the author flat-out told me before the story even began! Instead of wondering what would happen, I was impatient for what I knew would happen.
Finally, I was uncomfortable with some of the depictions of Native Peoples. While some of the Native characters were portrayed in a positive light, others were not. I'm not saying that Native characters always have to be heroes. Still, the ways the antagonistic Native characters were portrayed were very reminiscent of how Native characters appeared in early and mid-twentieth-century Western films, which is not good. Harmon is a non-Indigenous author, and when non-Indigenous authors carelessly portray Indigenous characters, it leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.
So, no, this book was not for me. However, I recognize it is obviously for many other readers. I can only say that readers should know what they will and will not accept in historical fiction before starting this one.
I admit that I am clearly in the minority here. I also admit that expectations may have greatly affected my disappointment. Not only is this book very highly rated by readers, but it is also (incorrectly) about the Oregon Trail, and I am looking for the great Oregon Trail novel!
First things first, this book is not actually about the Oregon Trail. It's about the Overland Trail, which is the sections of the Oregon and California trails that overlap. The families in this book are headed toward California, not Oregon. While this was not a big deal to me, I feel it is important to say as the marketing materials are misleading.
There were things I enjoyed. Harmon's prose is lovely and easily digestible. While I have complaints about this book, I never felt the reading was hard going. I also feel Harmon did a good job describing many of the trails people faced when traveling on the Overland Trail.
My problems fall into three categories. First, I felt that the narration had its problem. Like so many novels, this is told through the alternating viewpoints of the two main characters, Naomi and John. This is fine, but my issue was the two voices were indistinguishable. Naomi sounded exactly like John and vice versa. Many times, I realized as I was reading that I was seeing things through the wrong set of eyes.
Secondly, the structure of this book does not do it any favors. We begin with a prologue with a "big event," then travel back in time to the beginning of the characters' journey with the first chapter. By doing this, Harmon robbed the narrative of any anticipation for me. I knew what would happen because the author flat-out told me before the story even began! Instead of wondering what would happen, I was impatient for what I knew would happen.
Finally, I was uncomfortable with some of the depictions of Native Peoples. While some of the Native characters were portrayed in a positive light, others were not. I'm not saying that Native characters always have to be heroes. Still, the ways the antagonistic Native characters were portrayed were very reminiscent of how Native characters appeared in early and mid-twentieth-century Western films, which is not good. Harmon is a non-Indigenous author, and when non-Indigenous authors carelessly portray Indigenous characters, it leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.
So, no, this book was not for me. However, I recognize it is obviously for many other readers. I can only say that readers should know what they will and will not accept in historical fiction before starting this one.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Colonisation, Kidnapping, Murder, and Rape
voyage_of_a_time_wanderer's review against another edition
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Grief, and Death
lostinpaper's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
So sad and heart wrenching but a really good read. Loved having John and Naomi's points of view. Seeing how hard life really was crossing the Oregon and how real it was brought it to life.
“The more you love, the more it hurts. But it’s worth it”
“The more you love, the more it hurts. But it’s worth it”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Child death, Kidnapping, Rape, Violence, and Death of parent
teacupsandfirereads's review
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is my first book from Harmon. I have heard such great things about her books. I definitely enjoyed learning about a different history than the wars. I appriciate the characters and story. However, I was not emotionally drawn to it. I found it rambled along in a way that often lost me. The ending did leave me with a feeling of satisfaction that I cannot explain completely, so I headed a half star for that.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Kidnapping, and Sexual violence
gloriazthompson's review
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Loved this book so much. Couldn’t put it down and didn’t want it to end
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Child death, Death of parent, Slavery, Racism, Pregnancy, Murder, and Kidnapping
Minor: Sexual content and Rape
in_love_with_bookish's review
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I’m blown away by how much I didn‘t care. I sure as hell surprised myself with my reaction to this story. I felt underwhelmed, distanced, and indifferent and I just don’t know where all of it came from.
We spend our lives complicating what we would do better to accept. Because in acceptance, we put our energies into transcendence.
Where the Lost Wander is the type of story that should rip my heart to pieces and make me sob but I felt nothing. The disconnection was unreal and as much as I tried to care, I simply couldn’t. I knew how I was supposed to feel about the story but I did not feel any of it.
I understand what people are loving the story, It is a story about loss, family, grief and it’s an epic love story as well. A lot of people can relate to that easily and Amy Harmon has a beautiful writing style that just hits hard and deep.
It is impossible to explain to someone who is surrounded by their own language and people just how lonely it is to not understand and to not be understood.
For me, I really struggled to engage in the story and to invest in the characters and their journeys. I also didn’t really feel the love story the way I should. Honestly, I was also bored and kept getting distracted easily. The story failed to captivate me and keep me intrigued so the reading experience was a hard one for me, I kept rereading chapters because my mind kept wandering. I kept forgetting characters' names because there were many of them and the author didn’t develop them that much to make them different. I just struggled big time and that cost me everything.
But I’ll say to take this review with a grain of salt. This is a well-loved story and It has a lot of elements I’m sure will appeal to a lot of readers. If you can connect to the characters, you’ll definitely enjoy it way more than me.
If nothing matters, then there’s no point. If everything matters, there’s no purpose. The trick is to find firm ground between the two ways of being.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, and Violence