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suzemo's review against another edition
5.0
This book was pretty damn phenomenal.
Letty, young woman of 18 years has lost her mother, and with no money or near relatives to live with in her native Virginia, goes to live with her cousin and his family at a ranch near Sweetwater, TX in the 1880s. She's lived a privileged white life, with her mammy taking care of her and she's never done any hard work/labor. She comes to a bleak land devoid of any water, dust is everywhere, and the wind never ceases. She has no skills, no training, and no hardiness to deal with the barren land, and is incredibly sensitive to the ever persistent wind. She has to live a life she never imagined nor wanted, with skills she's never had. She's young, and naive. She's a precious doll, and she is destroyed by the land and wind that takes life, light, and cheer as it will.
The wind is just as much of a character in this book as any living, breathing person. It reminds me of A Woman in the Dunes (a fantastic film, that I adore), where the relentless elements drive a person to insanity and there's no escape from the endless torment of nature.
The fact that this book was written by a woman is wonderfully evident, and the battle between Letty and her cousin's beautiful, stereotypically strong and stoic frontierswoman wife is beautifully played, instead of becoming a pathetic cat-fight. Letty is not only feeling trapped by her life and her sex, but at odds with the one woman who might have been able to guide her through her new life.
I loved it - the stark awful landscape blasting a sensitive woman to the bone, the desperation, the hopelessness... the fatal mistakes and the constant thoughts towards what her life should have been. And the wind taking what it wants, and refusing to bow down to any will of man or woman.
Letty, young woman of 18 years has lost her mother, and with no money or near relatives to live with in her native Virginia, goes to live with her cousin and his family at a ranch near Sweetwater, TX in the 1880s. She's lived a privileged white life, with her mammy taking care of her and she's never done any hard work/labor. She comes to a bleak land devoid of any water, dust is everywhere, and the wind never ceases. She has no skills, no training, and no hardiness to deal with the barren land, and is incredibly sensitive to the ever persistent wind. She has to live a life she never imagined nor wanted, with skills she's never had. She's young, and naive. She's a precious doll, and she is destroyed by the land and wind that takes life, light, and cheer as it will.
The wind is just as much of a character in this book as any living, breathing person. It reminds me of A Woman in the Dunes (a fantastic film, that I adore), where the relentless elements drive a person to insanity and there's no escape from the endless torment of nature.
The fact that this book was written by a woman is wonderfully evident, and the battle between Letty and her cousin's beautiful, stereotypically strong and stoic frontierswoman wife is beautifully played, instead of becoming a pathetic cat-fight. Letty is not only feeling trapped by her life and her sex, but at odds with the one woman who might have been able to guide her through her new life.
I loved it - the stark awful landscape blasting a sensitive woman to the bone, the desperation, the hopelessness... the fatal mistakes and the constant thoughts towards what her life should have been. And the wind taking what it wants, and refusing to bow down to any will of man or woman.
maryehavens's review against another edition
5.0
Rebecca’s NoName DeWinter meets the woman in The Yellow Wallpaper with a side of Shirley Jackson thrown in. I don’t think I’ve ever read Gothic Texas and I LOVED IT!!!
I rolled my eyes numerous times when Letty couldn’t get it together. I felt some sympathy for her but she literally blamed her downward spiral on the wind without really being honest at all. As the story went on, I started seeing that Letty resembled a character out of Gone With the Wind — but one of the characters who folded after the war, not persevered. And while not everyone can be strong all the time, Letty never seemed to find any way to function or accept her fate.
The ending: YAS!
I think my favorite part of the entire novel was the foreword. Dorothy Scarborough was a woman WAY ahead of her time! I would love to know more about her/visit her grave in Waco, etc. I really liked how the foreword included Scarborough’s efforts to maintain authenticity (folklore research) and her attempts to demystify the West by illustrating the actual hardships.
This darling is out of print and I was lucky to get it at Half Price books. A few libraries in Texas have it. I’m hoping it’s copyright doesn’t renew so it can go in the public domain :)
I rolled my eyes numerous times when Letty couldn’t get it together. I felt some sympathy for her but she literally blamed her downward spiral on the wind without really being honest at all. As the story went on, I started seeing that Letty resembled a character out of Gone With the Wind — but one of the characters who folded after the war, not persevered. And while not everyone can be strong all the time, Letty never seemed to find any way to function or accept her fate.
The ending: YAS!
I think my favorite part of the entire novel was the foreword. Dorothy Scarborough was a woman WAY ahead of her time! I would love to know more about her/visit her grave in Waco, etc. I really liked how the foreword included Scarborough’s efforts to maintain authenticity (folklore research) and her attempts to demystify the West by illustrating the actual hardships.
This darling is out of print and I was lucky to get it at Half Price books. A few libraries in Texas have it. I’m hoping it’s copyright doesn’t renew so it can go in the public domain :)
ury949's review against another edition
1.0
It compares with stories featuring a stranding or starvation - long, tedious, rambling pages to demonstrate the desperate and hopeless feelings of the situation. And often, I've seen this done well, but somehow this one wore on me until I was apathetic. It may have to do with the era in which it is written - one when it is expected that the female must play a role of supporting housewife. Letty, meanwhile, our protagonist, is a miserable wretch, ruminating and self criticizing, terrified of anything different, scared of any little sound or saying - even scared of bugs, unable to do anything for herself, unwilling to learn and strengthen her character. I saw no change, no coming-of-age for her, because half the narrative is her reminiscing about Virginia and flowers. Her logic is hideous, her whining is grating; it's a wonder any of the men liked her. Her depressing self-pity goes on and on and on; it is the very definition of rumination with no let up. Some whole chapters would consist of only a few lines of dialogue and the rest her tiresome babble, wondering and wishing, and never doing anything!
I was going to set this book down after 100 pages and give it an "it was ok" rating, but then decided to read it to the end since I saw it had so many good reviews - I thought maybe I'd miss out on something worth while at the end. But no. One star.
I was going to set this book down after 100 pages and give it an "it was ok" rating, but then decided to read it to the end since I saw it had so many good reviews - I thought maybe I'd miss out on something worth while at the end. But no. One star.
sampulham's review against another edition
5.0
You can listen to an in-depth discussion of this novel on Sherds Podcast: http://www.holdfastnetwork.com/sherdspodcast/17/6/2018/9-the-wind-by-dorothy-scarborough
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