Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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:
Yes
I have a weakness for books that are based on real life people and events. I would classify this book as narrative nonfiction (a book about real people, events, and includes significant facts within a story). I am planning to try and read at least one classic read per week for the next year. When I ran across the latest publication of the novel, “Mrs. Mike” by Nancy and Benedict Freedman (spouse authors) I also learned that there was a real Katherine Mary O'Fallon and Mike Flannigan who lived in the Canadian Northeast. The book includes many facts and true events but there are other parts that are fictionalized to illustrate concepts and advance the narrative so it is a true blend of the two genre.
The story follows Kathy who goes to live with her uncle for her health and to try to shake off a lingering case of pleurisy, and at 16 meets and has a whirlwind romance with a Canadian Mountie, Mike Flannigan. They are married after a brief courtship (5 meetings) because Mike is to be posted to a wilderness region of Canada. They become pillars of the community as an off shoot of his position as the only law enforcement officer in a remote village . Dealing with indigenous people, trappers, traders, prospectors and other individuals who have chosen to live unconventional lives. They withstand extreme weather, loneliness, epidemics and violence—domestic and otherwise. Their two children are victims of a diphtheria outbreak that ravages their community. Kathy descends into a deep depression and flees from Canada back to her home and family in Boston. However, she finds that she doesn’t there anymore and reconciles with Mike. They find themselves adoptive parents for three children whose family has been devastated by the disease.
This book tells the story of two extraordinary people who dared to believe that a different—perhaps better—life was possible and who braved challenges, dangers, and conflicts with courage, grace and love for each other and for their community. The book was initially published in 1947 and it is surprising how well it has weathered the years, particularly in the cases of racial prejudice against the indigenous population and in the cases of domestic violence. The grief and loss of the children was a heartfelt element. It also highlights the talents of the husband and wife author team of this book. They had their own love story and difficult circumstances to overcome. I found a wealth of information about them and their partnership with Kathy to tell this story. In an interview later in life, Nancy Freedman summed up the essence of the book’s message in the following statement.
“I don't think it's a moment of bravery when you have a rush of adrenaline. Courage is something level, a kind of force that sustains you. And that's what it takes to face difficult things, to make it through life successfully." Nancy Freedman, co-author of “Mrs. Mike. “ in “The Story of My Life”
By Peggy Orenstein in https://www.oprah.com/omagazine/mrs-mike-changed-my-life/all.
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
So, this book is amazing. We read it for my online book club, and I'm so glad we did. This book was a favorite of mine as a teenager, but it's probably been ten years since I read it. I'm just going to cut and paste a comment from over on the Nook.
*"These big things, these terrible things, are not the important ones. If they were, how could one go on living? No, it is the small, little things that make up a day, that bring fullness and happiness to a life. Your Sergeant coming home, a good dinner, your little Mary laughing, the smell of the woods - oh so many things, you know them yourself."
I love this quote. It comforts me like a hug from my Mom. I need to find peace in these little things too - I think they are the things I will crave most when they are no longer a part of my daily life. Isn't this book, as harsh as it is sometimes, sort of like a quilt? I don't know why it's so comforting and familiar to me. I've never lived in the frigid freezing, constantly at war with the elements or the nature around me. I think maybe it's Kathy and Mike and how real they are. They just want to carve a happy, safe place for themselves in a world that seems constantly at war with them. Sorta like I am.
The thing about this book, for me, is that it was my comfort book when I was a teenager. Whenever I was feeling unloved, I would read chapter four of this book (possibly twice) and feel once again like there was someone out there who was right for me. I'm not sure how many times I've read the whole thing, but it stands in my mind as a beacon of peaceful solitude. This reading, now that I am a wife and mother, was very different. I have very different priorities and my heart is full of so many other people than it was then, especially my children. This book reads VERY differently for me as a parent - not only when Kathy leaves her mother to go to the North, but for Kathy's children of her own. So glad I got to read this one again.
*"These big things, these terrible things, are not the important ones. If they were, how could one go on living? No, it is the small, little things that make up a day, that bring fullness and happiness to a life. Your Sergeant coming home, a good dinner, your little Mary laughing, the smell of the woods - oh so many things, you know them yourself."
I love this quote. It comforts me like a hug from my Mom. I need to find peace in these little things too - I think they are the things I will crave most when they are no longer a part of my daily life. Isn't this book, as harsh as it is sometimes, sort of like a quilt? I don't know why it's so comforting and familiar to me. I've never lived in the frigid freezing, constantly at war with the elements or the nature around me. I think maybe it's Kathy and Mike and how real they are. They just want to carve a happy, safe place for themselves in a world that seems constantly at war with them. Sorta like I am.
The thing about this book, for me, is that it was my comfort book when I was a teenager. Whenever I was feeling unloved, I would read chapter four of this book (possibly twice) and feel once again like there was someone out there who was right for me. I'm not sure how many times I've read the whole thing, but it stands in my mind as a beacon of peaceful solitude. This reading, now that I am a wife and mother, was very different. I have very different priorities and my heart is full of so many other people than it was then, especially my children. This book reads VERY differently for me as a parent - not only when Kathy leaves her mother to go to the North, but for Kathy's children of her own. So glad I got to read this one again.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
3.5
I've avoided this book for several years even though so many women I know love it. The title put me off, and made me think that the book would frustrate the feminist in me, which it did. Three or four chapters into the book, I almost quit. Why? The love story between Katherine and Sergeant Mike is so lopsided at the beginning. He is 27, and she is 16. He is smart and strong and all-knowing, and the authors (and Mike) treat her like she is a silly, petulant, overly-emotional little girl who knows nothing and has to be guided and taught about the world by her wise and patient boyfriend (soon husband). I kept reminding myself that it was written in 1947, but that didn't make me feel any better about it.
Thankfully, I didn't quit. After the first few chapters, the story gets much deeper and richer as Katherine begins to grow up and come into her own. She and Mike live in the far north in Canada in the early 1900s where he is a Sergeant working on behalf the Canadian government. His job takes them to remote villages and settlements where there are few people other than Indians and trappers. Mere survival is a struggle. It's a brutally cold and harsh environment where the comforts of civilization don't reach. Here is where the story begins to gain its emotional power. The extreme hardships these settlements face bring the people living there together because they need each other so much just to survive. The friendships that develop are touching and beautiful. These same hardships deepen Katherine and Mike's love for each other, giving their relationship little more balance and complexity and making it a more satisfying love story for the reader (or at least this reader).
I've avoided this book for several years even though so many women I know love it. The title put me off, and made me think that the book would frustrate the feminist in me, which it did. Three or four chapters into the book, I almost quit. Why? The love story between Katherine and Sergeant Mike is so lopsided at the beginning. He is 27, and she is 16. He is smart and strong and all-knowing, and the authors (and Mike) treat her like she is a silly, petulant, overly-emotional little girl who knows nothing and has to be guided and taught about the world by her wise and patient boyfriend (soon husband). I kept reminding myself that it was written in 1947, but that didn't make me feel any better about it.
Thankfully, I didn't quit. After the first few chapters, the story gets much deeper and richer as Katherine begins to grow up and come into her own. She and Mike live in the far north in Canada in the early 1900s where he is a Sergeant working on behalf the Canadian government. His job takes them to remote villages and settlements where there are few people other than Indians and trappers. Mere survival is a struggle. It's a brutally cold and harsh environment where the comforts of civilization don't reach. Here is where the story begins to gain its emotional power. The extreme hardships these settlements face bring the people living there together because they need each other so much just to survive. The friendships that develop are touching and beautiful. These same hardships deepen Katherine and Mike's love for each other, giving their relationship little more balance and complexity and making it a more satisfying love story for the reader (or at least this reader).
Read this book as a child. It was awesome. I highly recommend it!
If this was my first reading I would have given this 3.5, but it gets an extra 0.5 for nostalgia. I think this is my third reading, but I hadn’t read it for at least a decade. I don’t remember it being so depressing! It was relentless towards the end there. But it is still a very interesting book, and I love Kathy and Mike. I am sure I will read it again in the future.
This is my favorite book I've read this year and I laugh because it was written in 1947. It was wonderful, full of everything that makes a story touch my heart. Love in the wilderness, weather, loss, joy. It was all there and more. Truly a classic and one that will remain with me for a very long time.
Read this book back when I was in high school and it has always stayed with me. A wonderful love story set in the Canadian tundra with all its dangers and tragedies.