Reviews

A powerful, thoughtful story of what it was like to watch your farm literally blow away, move to California to start again, starve, be looked down on, be cheated, and still find a way to survive.

Babb's novel is an intimate, personal look at these events and her characters are so real, I want to look them up and see how they survived after the last page.

This should have been published in 1939 and Random House was set to do so until Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" became so popular. The world "didn't need" two books on the Dust Bowl and Depression. I call BS. They didn't want a woman upstaging a successful man. Otherwise why wait 40+ years to publish?

But go read this book and decide for yourself.

Content Warnings

kpbake427's review against another edition

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3.0

It took me a while to get into it but once I did I couldn't put it down.

hmunkster's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

tinyviolet's review

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

debs4jc's review against another edition

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4.0

This book closely examines how the events of the dust bowl affects the Dunne family. It starts by showing how they are eking out a living as farmers in the Oklahoma panhandle. They have neighbors who are doing better than them, but then they are doing better than some. Their one room dugout is cramped but they still rejoice in the hope a new baby brings when Mrs. Dunne discovers she is pregnant. But then the drought and storms start to come, Mrs. Dunne loses the baby, and they are forced to think about abandoning their farm just so they can survive. Just like refugees all throughout history, they pack up their car and head west. As they go from camp to camp following the crops that need to be picked, they are mistreated, called names, and cheated over and over again.
This book is a serious look at the hardships of the dust bowl, and as such it is not an easy read. Yet is is a powerful portrayal of those times and the issues faced, and our book group found a lot to talk about after we read it, even though most of us struggled to get through it.

locopro's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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