You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
133 reviews for:
Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West
Dorothy Wickenden
3.38 AVERAGE
133 reviews for:
Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West
Dorothy Wickenden
3.38 AVERAGE
This book was definitely not what I expected it to be. I was expecting just an account of two women moving to Colorado in 1916 and the experiences they had while they were there. I expected it to be a little more of a fictionalized account or a collection of biographical sketches. Instead, I got a lot of history of Colorado and about the people the women met while they were there. i found it to be very dry and tedious at points, but then at others couldn't put it down. In the end, I liked it. I just had to get over my initial expectations and accept it for what it was.
This was an okay read, but had some structural issues that held it back. Pieces felt like a research paper, with an overabundance of quotes and several tangents down historical rabbit holes.
The pieces that are truly the stories of the two women are interesting, but short-lived for the early portions of the book. A lecture style form of writing often returns intermittently, making things feel stiff and caused me to quickly lose momentum in my reading.
The story did gain steam as it went along, getting more focused and enjoyable. However, there were a lot of minor characters that were used to pull in additional bits and pieces of history. These bits and pieces were interesting, but having that many names peppered throughout the narrative made things muddy. There was also still a good smattering of tangential storytelling. There was a lot of good historical information, but it made the central story feel weaker.
The book could have been pared down by about 100 pages, focused solely on Dorothy, Ros, Ferry, & Bob, and been a lot stronger. It wasn't a bad read, but it felt fairly mediocre. There wasn't anything overly gripping or enthralling other than some piqued interest in historical events and the difficulties of frontier life even into the early to mid-20th century.
The pieces that are truly the stories of the two women are interesting, but short-lived for the early portions of the book. A lecture style form of writing often returns intermittently, making things feel stiff and caused me to quickly lose momentum in my reading.
The story did gain steam as it went along, getting more focused and enjoyable. However, there were a lot of minor characters that were used to pull in additional bits and pieces of history. These bits and pieces were interesting, but having that many names peppered throughout the narrative made things muddy. There was also still a good smattering of tangential storytelling. There was a lot of good historical information, but it made the central story feel weaker.
The book could have been pared down by about 100 pages, focused solely on Dorothy, Ros, Ferry, & Bob, and been a lot stronger. It wasn't a bad read, but it felt fairly mediocre. There wasn't anything overly gripping or enthralling other than some piqued interest in historical events and the difficulties of frontier life even into the early to mid-20th century.
I have to agree with many of the other reviewers. I kept looking back at the jacket to remind myself of the author's credentials. The story was fascinating, but the many side-trips were overly-detailed and often irrelevant to the story. I've read much history in the last few years that felt like reading a novel; they were so fascinating: David McCullough and David Lavender come to mind. I'm afraid this book didn't come close. Still, I finished the book which I usually don't do when the writing isn't up to snuff. And I did enjoy it once I'd lowered my expectations.
This one was tough for me to get into. I'd have never made it if I hadn't been "co-reading" with another book to keep me awake. There were interesting parts to the story of these nice two society girls who went to a primitive area of Colorado to teach for a year, and one ended up marrying a local man. Nice story, just a tad dull especially in the early chapters.
This was an entertaining book, albeit a little slow at first. Ros and Dorothy are well illustrated but the first chapters are a little bit rocky as the author juxtaposes the building of the town with the girls' European adventure and eventual decision to move west. The research was well done and the narrative interesting but this could have definitely been fine as a long essay or a kindle serial.
Oh my goodness this took me such a long time to finish. It was interesting while reading, but just didn't have the draw to come back to it like other books do. It was a fascinating true story of two society girls who come out west for a year to teach school, it just was a bit too detailed with other things than the immediate story.
I always enjoy stories of unconventional women. However, this is not exactly a pioneer story. These women arrived after electricity and automobiles. Not that they didn't go through some hardships, it just wasn't what I was expecting.
Charming book. Very readable. Can't wait too see how the adventure ends.
Being a teacher and lover of nature, I loved this story. Two young NY society women take on an adventure out west to be teachers in a new school in the wilderness of Colorado.
Super interesting. Based real events, from letters that one of the women wrote to her family.
Super interesting. Based real events, from letters that one of the women wrote to her family.