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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
Given that, during their best days, the Ingalls family was playing with pig bladders and corn cob dolls and, during their worst, almost starving and sinking into depression/madness during eight months of blizzards, it's pretty amazing how much I wanted to be Laura as a child.
This book is more traumatic than I remember when I read it as a kid. You get a good glimpse at Almanzo's character in this story. I constantly worried about the family getting scurvy. I would be so sick of bread and potatoes. It's like the Martian was a retelling of this traumatic blizzard filled winter, set in space.
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
FEBRUARY 2015
In this book the situation seemed dire. The trains couldn't come through from November to the last day of April, leaving the town of De Smet without supplies. The Ingalls family ran out of coal, so their only source of heat was the stove that they had to heat by endlessly twisting straw together to make sticks. This made Laura and Pa's hands bleed. They also ran out of food for steady meals. At first there was flour to make bread and a potato to eat. But then they ran out of flour, so they had to ground seed wheat into flour to make their bread. And then they ran out of potatoes, so they were just left with bread. They grew frailer and thinner and more disheartened by the endless cold and the endless blizzards. They all became so tired from the cold and Laura couldn't think properly. They seemed almost hopeless, with all the days running together until they couldn't tell them apart.
But yet, despite all the horrors they had to go to, I wish I was snowed in from a blizzard as long as I had stocked up on food and was in an abundance of blankets and books.
You hear that, God? Next winter send me a blizzard or two!
JANUARY 2016
I read this book every Winter, and even though I know it was an awful situation, I want a blizzard like theirs, something that keeps me stuck indoors for three days or more. Is it sad that I make a To Do List in case there's a blizzard some time? As long as I had tea, books, my cat, and an endless supply of cookies in the cookie jar, I could outlast any blizzard!
In this book the situation seemed dire. The trains couldn't come through from November to the last day of April, leaving the town of De Smet without supplies. The Ingalls family ran out of coal, so their only source of heat was the stove that they had to heat by endlessly twisting straw together to make sticks. This made Laura and Pa's hands bleed. They also ran out of food for steady meals. At first there was flour to make bread and a potato to eat. But then they ran out of flour, so they had to ground seed wheat into flour to make their bread. And then they ran out of potatoes, so they were just left with bread. They grew frailer and thinner and more disheartened by the endless cold and the endless blizzards. They all became so tired from the cold and Laura couldn't think properly. They seemed almost hopeless, with all the days running together until they couldn't tell them apart.
But yet, despite all the horrors they had to go to, I wish I was snowed in from a blizzard as long as I had stocked up on food and was in an abundance of blankets and books.
You hear that, God? Next winter send me a blizzard or two!
JANUARY 2016
I read this book every Winter, and even though I know it was an awful situation, I want a blizzard like theirs, something that keeps me stuck indoors for three days or more. Is it sad that I make a To Do List in case there's a blizzard some time? As long as I had tea, books, my cat, and an endless supply of cookies in the cookie jar, I could outlast any blizzard!
adventurous
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
When I read and re-read and re-read these books as a kid, I don't think I ever got all the way through this one and I see it's for good reason - pretty much 2/3 of the story is the family stuck indoors while blizzards rage outside. Even the one exciting story about two folks going to get some wheat rumored to be in a cabin out of town is met with pages and pages of horses falling in the snow and having to be dug out.
But - something about the repetition is actually rather calming and, of course, we're rewarded by Spring at the end. It's difficult to imagine the kind of hardship these families went through at that time but also inspiring to watch their frugality reward them.
Of course, the whole "how we go to the bathroom" situation is completely ignored and oh man - that must have SUCKED.
A great re-read but one I probably wouldn't revisit over others in the series.
But - something about the repetition is actually rather calming and, of course, we're rewarded by Spring at the end. It's difficult to imagine the kind of hardship these families went through at that time but also inspiring to watch their frugality reward them.
Of course, the whole "how we go to the bathroom" situation is completely ignored and oh man - that must have SUCKED.
A great re-read but one I probably wouldn't revisit over others in the series.
I liked the long winter. It's about how Laura and her family survived it when the trains couldn't get through. They burned hay instead of coal.
This might be my favorite LH book yet, because it captures the true "never give up" spirit. These people amaze me, how they kept on going through blizzards for seven months, no heat to warm by, eating sparse bread and water - I'm a rich, spoiled pansy in comparison.
I had not read The Long Winter in a long time and had forgotten what a classic children's book it was. Like The Force Awakens, The Long Winter felt like a throwback to the earlier books, with the return of Mr. Edwards, stories of Pa's childhood told by the fire and his nightly songs on the fiddle. It was like an old friend had come home.
Laura, while only fourteen has grown up and with school and farm work has taken on more responsibility and showed that she could be relied upon and therefore much more mature than its five predecessors.
I also liked that Almanzo had a bigger role in this novel, introducing the readers to a man who had grown up and was no longer a Farmer Boy. He was a strong character who did what he felt was right rather than take the easy way out.
Of course the main event of the book was the seven month-long winter and desperately read to learn of the Ingalls' fate and how they survived the blizzard and their resilience made for a fantastic story.
Laura, while only fourteen has grown up and with school and farm work has taken on more responsibility and showed that she could be relied upon and therefore much more mature than its five predecessors.
I also liked that Almanzo had a bigger role in this novel, introducing the readers to a man who had grown up and was no longer a Farmer Boy. He was a strong character who did what he felt was right rather than take the easy way out.
Of course the main event of the book was the seven month-long winter and desperately read to learn of the Ingalls' fate and how they survived the blizzard and their resilience made for a fantastic story.