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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
2014. stet
2010- This one has held up better for me than any of the previous books, the constant hymn-singing notwithstanding. There's drama, suspense, and ultimately triumph. I remembered a lot of this book but perhaps the most vivid detail in my childhood memories of it was Laura's description of the frosty nails poking through the roof of her bedroom. This is another one of the series that, like [b:Farmer Boy|8252|Farmer Boy (Little House, #3)|Laura Ingalls Wilder|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388446891s/8252.jpg|1366740] makes me hungry- but for different reasons.
2010- This one has held up better for me than any of the previous books, the constant hymn-singing notwithstanding. There's drama, suspense, and ultimately triumph. I remembered a lot of this book but perhaps the most vivid detail in my childhood memories of it was Laura's description of the frosty nails poking through the roof of her bedroom. This is another one of the series that, like [b:Farmer Boy|8252|Farmer Boy (Little House, #3)|Laura Ingalls Wilder|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388446891s/8252.jpg|1366740] makes me hungry- but for different reasons.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is my favorite book in the series. It’s great at showing the haa as es reality of winters in the plains and the sense of community. I love the atmosphere of the winter.
One of Laura Ingalls series, very fun and good to read.
The story is about Laura and her family who experienced a very long winter and almost runs out of food. But finally, the winter ends and Laura's family can live happily again.
Great story.
The story is about Laura and her family who experienced a very long winter and almost runs out of food. But finally, the winter ends and Laura's family can live happily again.
Great story.
In this installment, there’s essentially a winter-long blizzard. The town nearly freezes and starves to death (because trains can’t get through, so no new food). I was expecting a sort of Lord of the Flies-type riot, but no. Everyone was fairly well-mannered about it (until the attempted wheat-hoarding/price-jacking at the end).
It’s no secret that I hate snow, so this one freaked me out. I do think that it’s my favorite of the series, though.
It’s no secret that I hate snow, so this one freaked me out. I do think that it’s my favorite of the series, though.
The Long Winter is my second favorite Little House on the Prairie book it is a must read if you are a Laura Ingalls Wilder fan. This book is fascinating with all the problem solving that has to be done in it. Just make sure you are in a warm room when you read it because it really is a longg winter.
I'm still waiting for more interaction between Almanzo and Laura. It's nice to actually root for a couple in a book.
brr! nothing to make a Chicago winter feel warm in comparison like reading the long winter!
my only gripe is, why did Almanzo think it was ok to force that homesteader, who spent the entire long winter in his sodhouse protecting his seed wheat, to sell that same seedwheat, when Almanzo had an entire fake wall FULL of seed wheat IN TOWN that he refused to sell!
I understand not wanting to sell your seed wheat, but why did that poor man have to do it when manly didn't! Why did he make that handsome cap garland (best name ever) risk his life to get the wheat when there was so much in town!
oh yes I remember they did the math and there wasn't enough to get through march for all the families in town. nevermind.
my only gripe is, why did Almanzo think it was ok to force that homesteader, who spent the entire long winter in his sodhouse protecting his seed wheat, to sell that same seedwheat, when Almanzo had an entire fake wall FULL of seed wheat IN TOWN that he refused to sell!
I understand not wanting to sell your seed wheat, but why did that poor man have to do it when manly didn't! Why did he make that handsome cap garland (best name ever) risk his life to get the wheat when there was so much in town!
oh yes I remember they did the math and there wasn't enough to get through march for all the families in town. nevermind.
The Long Winter picks up a few months or so after the end of the previous book. The Wilder family is living in their claim shanty on their new homestead, and Pa has been working through the summer to harvest a massive crop of hay with his new mowing machine. The machine was an important investment for his land, but it was expensive. He hasn't been able to build a proper house for the family yet because all of his money and attention have been focused on turning a profit with the hay.
As the story begins, an early and brutally cold winter sets in. As their tar paper shanty house is unsuitable for extreme weather conditions, the family is forced to relocate to the nearby town of De Smet. They move into Pa's little rental property that he built at the end of By the Shores of Silver Lake to wait out the season. As the winter gets going in earnest, the town is constantly bombarded by fierce blizzards that last for days. Temperatures reach as low as minus forty degrees, making it nearly impossible to go outside. The train, which is the town's only connection to the more settled parts of the country, is unable to deliver any goods, so the town begins to run dangerously low on necessities like coal and food. With the stores empty and hunting impossible, the Ingalls are forced to survive on bread and an ever-dwindling supply of potatoes. They run out of fuel for their stove, and are forced to burn Pa's hay harvest to keep warm. As the winter stretches through May and April, almost every family in the town is on the brink of either starvation or about to freeze to death.
Just as things are looking desperate, hope arrives in the form of Almanzo Wilder. Almanzo, who has moved to South Dakota and claimed a homestead of his own, has been living in De Smet with his brother Royal just down the road from the Ingalls. Being both rich and clever, the boys have not been hurting for food at all. Just like in Farmer Boy, their food situation is suspiciously plentiful, and they have a seemingly unlimited supply of pancakes, molasses, and bacon to eat. Almanzo has even managed to completely preserve the seed wheat he brought with him to plant in the spring, a feat that no one else has been able to accomplish in the horrible weather.
As the season drags on and on, he begins to fear for this wheat. He knows it is the only large supply of food left in the whole town. He doesn't want to end up selling it to the townspeople, but he also doesn't want to see everyone starve. To save both his wheat and the people, he sets out on a dangerous journey to purchase some other wheat from a homesteader rumored to have some laid by about twenty miles away. The journey is incredibly risky, but he sets out across the frozen prairie anyway, with the hopes of the Ingalls family, and the whole town, riding on him.
I feel a little bit split on this novel. For the most part, I really enjoyed it. It's a true survival story with extremely high stakes for the family. They very nearly starve during this winter, and the way Wilder writes about the extreme cold and dwindling supplies was disturbing and engaging. These are very wholesome, loving characters that readers have followed for five previous books by this point, and to see them brought so low is jarring. This was definitely one of the better entries in the series.
What I didn't like as much in this story was Almanzo's storyline. He takes a big risk to try and save the town, which is admirable, but at the same time, he takes this risk to preserve his own wealth. He could have easily fed the town his own seed wheat to get them through until the spring thaw, but instead, he chose to take a treacherous forty mile round trip journey to convince another homesteader to do it instead. Does this make him a hero? It probably makes him a distinctly American hero - one that's always looking out for the bottom line. Something about the whole setup felt wrong to me, although I can't really criticize Wilder's portrayal of it. The story is based on her real life, after all. This is probably exactly what happened in reality. There were a few other moments where capitalism prevailed in a strange way over people's genuine need to survive, and the more I think about it, the stranger a lot of the plot towards the end of the novel seems to me.
As with most of the other books, there were a few red flag sentences. Enjoy two examples:
"[Ma] did not like to see women working in the fields. Only foreigners did that. Ma and her girls were Americans, above doing men's work."
"'What Indian?' Ma asked [Pa]. She looked as if she were smelling the smell of an Indian whenever she said the word. Ma despised Indians. She was afraid of them too."
It wasn't as bad as Little House on the Prairie though, so that's something.
On the whole, The Long Winter is a solid entry in the series and one of my favorites so far. The seriousness of the plot and the survival aspects of the story were engaging and enjoyable. I'm glad that the series is becoming more mature and complex as it goes on. I'm interested to see where Laura heads next from here.
As the story begins, an early and brutally cold winter sets in. As their tar paper shanty house is unsuitable for extreme weather conditions, the family is forced to relocate to the nearby town of De Smet. They move into Pa's little rental property that he built at the end of By the Shores of Silver Lake to wait out the season. As the winter gets going in earnest, the town is constantly bombarded by fierce blizzards that last for days. Temperatures reach as low as minus forty degrees, making it nearly impossible to go outside. The train, which is the town's only connection to the more settled parts of the country, is unable to deliver any goods, so the town begins to run dangerously low on necessities like coal and food. With the stores empty and hunting impossible, the Ingalls are forced to survive on bread and an ever-dwindling supply of potatoes. They run out of fuel for their stove, and are forced to burn Pa's hay harvest to keep warm. As the winter stretches through May and April, almost every family in the town is on the brink of either starvation or about to freeze to death.
Just as things are looking desperate, hope arrives in the form of Almanzo Wilder. Almanzo, who has moved to South Dakota and claimed a homestead of his own, has been living in De Smet with his brother Royal just down the road from the Ingalls. Being both rich and clever, the boys have not been hurting for food at all. Just like in Farmer Boy, their food situation is suspiciously plentiful, and they have a seemingly unlimited supply of pancakes, molasses, and bacon to eat. Almanzo has even managed to completely preserve the seed wheat he brought with him to plant in the spring, a feat that no one else has been able to accomplish in the horrible weather.
As the season drags on and on, he begins to fear for this wheat. He knows it is the only large supply of food left in the whole town. He doesn't want to end up selling it to the townspeople, but he also doesn't want to see everyone starve. To save both his wheat and the people, he sets out on a dangerous journey to purchase some other wheat from a homesteader rumored to have some laid by about twenty miles away. The journey is incredibly risky, but he sets out across the frozen prairie anyway, with the hopes of the Ingalls family, and the whole town, riding on him.
I feel a little bit split on this novel. For the most part, I really enjoyed it. It's a true survival story with extremely high stakes for the family. They very nearly starve during this winter, and the way Wilder writes about the extreme cold and dwindling supplies was disturbing and engaging. These are very wholesome, loving characters that readers have followed for five previous books by this point, and to see them brought so low is jarring. This was definitely one of the better entries in the series.
What I didn't like as much in this story was Almanzo's storyline. He takes a big risk to try and save the town, which is admirable, but at the same time, he takes this risk to preserve his own wealth. He could have easily fed the town his own seed wheat to get them through until the spring thaw, but instead, he chose to take a treacherous forty mile round trip journey to convince another homesteader to do it instead. Does this make him a hero? It probably makes him a distinctly American hero - one that's always looking out for the bottom line. Something about the whole setup felt wrong to me, although I can't really criticize Wilder's portrayal of it. The story is based on her real life, after all. This is probably exactly what happened in reality. There were a few other moments where capitalism prevailed in a strange way over people's genuine need to survive, and the more I think about it, the stranger a lot of the plot towards the end of the novel seems to me.
As with most of the other books, there were a few red flag sentences. Enjoy two examples:
"[Ma] did not like to see women working in the fields. Only foreigners did that. Ma and her girls were Americans, above doing men's work."
"'What Indian?' Ma asked [Pa]. She looked as if she were smelling the smell of an Indian whenever she said the word. Ma despised Indians. She was afraid of them too."
It wasn't as bad as Little House on the Prairie though, so that's something.
On the whole, The Long Winter is a solid entry in the series and one of my favorites so far. The seriousness of the plot and the survival aspects of the story were engaging and enjoyable. I'm glad that the series is becoming more mature and complex as it goes on. I'm interested to see where Laura heads next from here.