Reviews

The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie by Wendy McClure

ltoddlibrarian8's review

2.0

I skimmed the last few chapters. Good concept but she could have condensed it some.

spauffwrites's review

3.0

I'd recommend this book for anyone who was a fan of the Little House series or has ever wanted to revisit the books of their childhood.

marther152's review

4.0

I was a huge fan of the Little House books growing up and every now and then I will go on in-depth Laura web searches hoping to learn more about the Ingalls and the Wilders. So this book was made for me really. I loved the extra info i was given, comparisons to America Girl stores, the descriptions of the home sites, the modern day attempts to try and feel the prairie life, etc...
If you read and enjoyed the Little House books then you will enjoy this book. If you haven't read them - then you should start read those first and then read this!

barbarianlibarian's review against another edition

4.0

Cute, fun, revisiting of the Little House books. If you loved them as a child, you'll totally relate to the author as she examines the books and the people in them, and visits all the different places in the books. You'll learn about all the bits of reality that were left out of the books....

nssutton's review against another edition

4.0

I resisted reading this book at first, out of loyalty for two of my good friends. For years, they've talked about writing a cooking blog where they worked through The Little House Cookbook while traveling to Little House locations. I supported this plan, mostly because I couldn't wait to serve as tester. When I read initial reviews for this book, I was so angry on their behalf -- they had been talking about working on something like this forever, who was this Wendy McClure who got to it first.

Um, she's AWESOME that's who.

There's nothing like discovering another kindred spirit, whose childhood memories of a book are often stronger than those of her (it's always a her) everyday life. I felt the same way I did upon discovering Lizzie Skurnick -- that grateful feeling of knowing in hindsight that you weren't the only girl in the world like that. I'll be eternally grateful the internet didn't exist when I was a kid, so that I could take full pleasure in "meeting" writers like this as I grow older.

I had always considered myself a lesser Little House fan, although I read the books repeatedly as a child, because I know who others who are more into than I have ever been into anything. But reading through this book, I was surprised how many details came back to me and the urge to drop the book and pick up the series was omnipresent.

That would have been impossible to do, because I was as into McClure's story as I was that of the characters she was chasing. I loved voice of the book, the spirit of the trip and the connection her mother she discusses at the end, which was always hanging over the trip like that great Ozark sky.

And the timing of the book was great. One of my Little House devotee friends was about to embark on her own grand experience. As I read through the last half of the book, she was packing up to leave for Germany with her husband. I couldn't help but let the three stories overlap each other in my mind -- Laura, Wendy and Shruti -- all pioneers in their own right.

tmleblanc's review against another edition

3.0

A excellent memoir about trying to capture your childhood again.

estadem's review against another edition

4.0

I really liked it! Growing up in both the prairies of nothern Minnesota and the woods of central Minnesota, like the author I had fantasies of living the Laura Ingalls Wilder life. I consumed the Little House books multiple times, and even read some biographies of her in my adult life. Now that I've moved far away from Minnesota and prairies of any sort, Ms. McClure has sparked in me the want to go visit the Laura homesites (but maybe not the scary Ingalls family dolls, those sounded creepy).

chasingom's review against another edition

2.0

My disappointment in this book stems from my expectations of what it was going to be, rather than any execution of the book itself.

I was expecting something more along the lines of a "Julie & Julia" memoir; this book is more of a travelogue.

My favorite part of the book was the end, where the author considers why she undertook her journey. But her thoughts on "unremembering" and her memories of her own girlhood family travels felt sadly truncated.

heatherday916's review against another edition

4.0

I picked this book up because I'm reading the Little House books with my daughter and this sounded interesting. I was not disappointed. I never read the books as a child but I had other obsessions I could relate to Wendy's quest. I loved her humor and the seamless mix of history lesson with wry observations of the present day. This is the kind of book that I read and wish I had thought to write.

pkadams's review against another edition

3.0

Speaks to those of us who were obsessed with Laura Ingalls Wilder as a child (talking the books, not the faux TV series). The beginning particularly made me laugh out loud and made me wonder if Wendy McClure stole my childhood diary!