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134 reviews for:
Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West
Dorothy Wickenden
3.38 AVERAGE
134 reviews for:
Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West
Dorothy Wickenden
3.38 AVERAGE
I kept waiting for this book to have something in the way of plot or at least fascinating personality -- after all, it is about 2 adventurous girls having an unconventional adventure -- that would seem to be extraordinary fodder for both plot and character. Instead it's more of an atmospheric read. I learned a lot of minutiae about life in the 1850s, some of which really did not seem to relate to the larger story at all, but I never got any real sense of the women involved and even when something did happen it was presented in such a drawn-out and slightly boring manner that I didn't really care.
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced
Oh my goodness what a GREAT story!! These turn of the century, pampered princesses were brave enough to venture into the Colorado wilderness and not only survived the adventure, but flourished! I love stories about strong, determined women and this one definitely filled that bill. Definitely recommend.
Whew, this book started off slooooowly, with lots of background on CO, the men who started the railroad, the mines, etc. etc. As of page 80ish, it took off as a narrative about two Northeastern young women in the early 20th century who eschewed young marriage and home life for an adventure teaching in middle-of-nowhere rural Colorado, riding horses miles to school each morning, sometimes in blizzards, to teach the kids of the community on a central mountaintop (the kids walked up to 3 miles each way, often with little clothing to insulate them from the cold). I very much liked it, but the early parts were painfully boring to me and I had to struggle to read through instead of reading another book on my nightstand.
oh my goodness...........this books just drones on with flat facts. I just cannot force myself to read another single solitary page. Anyone really enjoying it?
Good grief, I didn't think a book could be this boring. Ever. This was worse than reading a math textbook.
The sad thing is, it had such great potential to be totally awesome. But after reading 100 pages on totally unnecessary historical facts...I mean, I love history, but none of what the author was writing related to, well, anything.
This is not a memoir. It's a collection of history facts with a couple of pages thrown in about a pair of girls. Don't waste your time. Elinore Pruit Stewart's "Letters of a Women Homesteader" is about 10,000 times better than this book.
The sad thing is, it had such great potential to be totally awesome. But after reading 100 pages on totally unnecessary historical facts...I mean, I love history, but none of what the author was writing related to, well, anything.
This is not a memoir. It's a collection of history facts with a couple of pages thrown in about a pair of girls. Don't waste your time. Elinore Pruit Stewart's "Letters of a Women Homesteader" is about 10,000 times better than this book.
The emotional impact of Dorothy and Rosamond's adventure is undermined by the historical asides that really add nothing to the reader's overall experience. I came out of this memoir feeling like I knew a lot of facts about their year in Elkhead, but nothing substantial about them as women.
This book was okay. The majority of the book took place in the fall and then all of a sudden, the last chapter covered 4 months and I thought, "Wait, what? What happened to the rest of the year!? I did think it was cool that Dorothy married some guy from Grand Rapids and moved to EGR. I'd like to look her up at the EGR library someday.
To be honest, this book was really 2.5 stars for me. While I enjoyed the many historical details and loved learning about teaching out West, I thought the author strayed from her main topic far too often. I've certainly learned a lot about education, mining and life out West though!