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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
This was by turns inspiring and a bit of a melodramatic drag.
If you loved Where the Crawdads Sing you will love this book. Such a great book about nature, reconciliation, and love. I loved this book!!
hopeful
inspiring
My reaction to this book after 35-40 years...Still the same. Horrified by the early portrayal of her mother, happy--though unconvinced by her transformation. And I STILL think the melodrama at the end about her marrying is just silly.
And now I'm going to look for moths.
And now I'm going to look for moths.
This book has been recommended to me repeatedly, because my husband collects and raises moths and butterflies, some of which he frames and I make into jewelry. People have some very fond memories of this book, and I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more when I was younger. It's the same basic genre as the [b:Anne of Green Gables|8127|Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1)|L.M. Montgomery|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1390789015l/8127._SY75_.jpg|3464264] series, but I think my beloved, spunky Anne Shirley would stand up better to my criticisms as an adult reader.
Let's start with our heroine, Elnora Comstock, who we follow from ages 16 to 21. She's such a Mary Sue.
It was a compound of self-reliance, hard knocks, heart hunger, unceasing work, and generosity. There was no form of suffering with which the girl could not sympathize, no work she was afraid to attempt, no subject she had investigated she did not understand. These things combined to produce a breadth and depth of character altogether unusual.
Seriously, this girl has NO FLAWS. She's kind, patient, humble, a veritable genius, gorgeous, etc., etc. There's really not much else to say about her, because -- other than her extensive knowledge of the "swamp" (really wetlands or marsh) -- she's super boring.
In contrast, her mother (Katharine Comstock) who won't sell off timber and "drain the swamp" to buy Elnora all the dresses she NEEDS to fit in with her townie classmates, is a bitter, short-tempered hag (because her name is Katharine), until she suddenly realizes the error of her ways and embraces Elnora full-heartedly, also undergoing a physical transformation that makes her worthy to be Perfect Elnora's mother.
The first part of the book is all about Elnora's struggle to enroll in, finance, and navigate high school. Really, we only see her freshman year, and then suddenly we skip to graduation, when she once again doesn't have the right dresses. There are also hints of menace from a gang of ruffians who wander the "swamp," but nothing ever really happens.
The middle section was the best, focusing on Elnora's attempts to complete various moth collections to pay for her college education. This is the part where mean ol' Mrs. Comstock comes to her senses and becomes a good mother. It's also, unfortunately, where Elnora's wet noodle love interest shows up.
The third part of the book is focused on the romance between Elnora and Philip Ammon, who has been betrothed his entire life to the most gorgeous, narcissistic girl in the world. Of course, Elnora is such a Mary Sue that she'd never steal another girl's man, so the story gets prolonged with chaste drama.
I would have liked this book much more if it was half the length and contained less romance and discussion of dresses.
My book group picked this one because it was recommended as being similar to [b:Where the Crawdads Sing|36809135|Where the Crawdads Sing|Delia Owens|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1524102644l/36809135._SY75_.jpg|58589364], which everyone else liked better than I did. The comparison is actually pretty funny, though. Other than featuring a nature-savvy girl who grows up in a wetlands area, they have almost nothing in common.
Read for book group, July 2019.
Let's start with our heroine, Elnora Comstock, who we follow from ages 16 to 21. She's such a Mary Sue.
It was a compound of self-reliance, hard knocks, heart hunger, unceasing work, and generosity. There was no form of suffering with which the girl could not sympathize, no work she was afraid to attempt, no subject she had investigated she did not understand. These things combined to produce a breadth and depth of character altogether unusual.
Seriously, this girl has NO FLAWS. She's kind, patient, humble, a veritable genius, gorgeous, etc., etc. There's really not much else to say about her, because -- other than her extensive knowledge of the "swamp" (really wetlands or marsh) -- she's super boring.
In contrast, her mother (Katharine Comstock) who won't sell off timber and "drain the swamp" to buy Elnora all the dresses she NEEDS to fit in with her townie classmates, is a bitter, short-tempered hag (because her name is Katharine), until she suddenly realizes the error of her ways and embraces Elnora full-heartedly, also undergoing a physical transformation that makes her worthy to be Perfect Elnora's mother.
The first part of the book is all about Elnora's struggle to enroll in, finance, and navigate high school. Really, we only see her freshman year, and then suddenly we skip to graduation, when she once again doesn't have the right dresses. There are also hints of menace from a gang of ruffians who wander the "swamp," but nothing ever really happens.
The middle section was the best, focusing on Elnora's attempts to complete various moth collections to pay for her college education.
Spoiler
It doesn't happen. Everything gets repeatedly screwed up, and in the end Elnora is told that college would SPOIL her, which considering the depiction of women's college as endless sorority gatherings, is probably true.The third part of the book is focused on the romance between Elnora and Philip Ammon, who has been betrothed his entire life to the most gorgeous, narcissistic girl in the world. Of course, Elnora is such a Mary Sue that she'd never steal another girl's man, so the story gets prolonged with chaste drama.
I would have liked this book much more if it was half the length and contained less romance and discussion of dresses.
My book group picked this one because it was recommended as being similar to [b:Where the Crawdads Sing|36809135|Where the Crawdads Sing|Delia Owens|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1524102644l/36809135._SY75_.jpg|58589364], which everyone else liked better than I did. The comparison is actually pretty funny, though. Other than featuring a nature-savvy girl who grows up in a wetlands area, they have almost nothing in common.
Read for book group, July 2019.
I am in grad school, reading 200+ pages of dense technical writing per week per class, and I miss narrative. That said: I cannot read any more words, my eyeballs are full. I remembered this book, randomly, and found an audiobook on Libby, so I happily listened.
I first read this book learning to speak English, and it holds a special place in my bookish little heart because it's that genre of turn-of-the-century New World kids-lit that has too many words, hits you over the head with MORALS, there's a lot of praising capital-G-god all the time, AND is mostly a romance*, BUT: this one is super into bugs, and exploring the woods. And I am also into bugs and exploring the woods.
Apparently Stratton-Porter explicitly wrote this as ecology propaganda to save her swamp, and it did not work. This seem unsurprising, because her idea of preservation definitely included bug collecting for profit, logging, and oil wells (please insert your own side-eye here). As a kid, I read this and liked it; Freckles (the semi-prequel) which left no impact on me, and another book by Stratton-Porter that was so stunningly racist (Her Father's Daughter) that it's really soured me on her work and her as a human being.
Anyway: this is one of the two "early 20th century romances enjoyable for their explicit ecology themes" books I know.
I probably won't be in a hurry to revisit it.
*See also: Little Women (et al), Anne of Green Gables (etc)
I first read this book learning to speak English, and it holds a special place in my bookish little heart because it's that genre of turn-of-the-century New World kids-lit that has too many words, hits you over the head with MORALS, there's a lot of praising capital-G-god all the time, AND is mostly a romance*, BUT: this one is super into bugs, and exploring the woods. And I am also into bugs and exploring the woods.
Apparently Stratton-Porter explicitly wrote this as ecology propaganda to save her swamp, and it did not work. This seem unsurprising, because her idea of preservation definitely included bug collecting for profit, logging, and oil wells (please insert your own side-eye here). As a kid, I read this and liked it; Freckles (the semi-prequel) which left no impact on me, and another book by Stratton-Porter that was so stunningly racist (Her Father's Daughter) that it's really soured me on her work and her as a human being.
Anyway: this is one of the two "early 20th century romances enjoyable for their explicit ecology themes" books I know.
I probably won't be in a hurry to revisit it.
*See also: Little Women (et al), Anne of Green Gables (etc)
It's an interesting lòk at how the concept of "a naturalist" has evolved. Many folk from the 19th and 20th Centuries that were naturalists had some rather unnatural ideas.
The Limberlost swamp and it's moths are beautifully described but usually their fate is a pin in a mounting board. The use of finite natural resources is described in terms of profit and it is that attitude that lead to the swamp being drained no doubt.
This book won a lot of awards for "wholesomeness," and it is easy to understand why. Everyone talks paragraphs about stuff before they do it.
All the back and forth over this decision and that decision gets tedious as does the implicit way the standards of the time (patriarchal, sexist, racist, classist) keep getting morally reinforced.
I was hoping for a lot more nature and a lot less romance. The Limberlost sounds like a beautiful place that has been restored back to a wetlands thank goodness.
Towards the end I skimmed through the preachy dialogs.
The Limberlost swamp and it's moths are beautifully described but usually their fate is a pin in a mounting board. The use of finite natural resources is described in terms of profit and it is that attitude that lead to the swamp being drained no doubt.
This book won a lot of awards for "wholesomeness," and it is easy to understand why. Everyone talks paragraphs about stuff before they do it.
All the back and forth over this decision and that decision gets tedious as does the implicit way the standards of the time (patriarchal, sexist, racist, classist) keep getting morally reinforced.
I was hoping for a lot more nature and a lot less romance. The Limberlost sounds like a beautiful place that has been restored back to a wetlands thank goodness.
Towards the end I skimmed through the preachy dialogs.
Not quite sure what to make of this book, really. I went into it not really knowing what it was about, except that a girl collects moths to pay for school, which sounded strange to me
Elnora Comstock is a girl in the early 1900s who wants to go to high school, despite the wishes of her mother. She's poor, & discovers she must pay her way through school & to buy her own books, & that her mother knew this the whole time. Mrs. Comstock is bitter & cold & blames her husband's death on Elnora (I won't spoil it). Elnora is resourceful. She collects moths in the Limberlost swamp near her home & sells them to collectors. She's basically financially independent. But she encounters setbacks when she needs to pay for college - she needs a pair of rare moths to complete a collection, but she can't find any. Her only other option is to become a teacher. Of course, I can't spoil the ending. What really baffled me was that halfway through the book, it turns into a romance, which I don't usually enjoy, making the book a bit of a slog. It wasn't a cheesy romance, at least. It almost felt like I was reading another book entirely.
A Girl of the Limberlost is actually the sequal to Freckles, but is more well known. I wish I'd read it first, because characters from it play a part, but I was a bit lost as to why they were so significant, & I wanted to know more about the swamp Angel, & Freckles' room in the middle of the swamp.
I liked the book, yet I feel indifferent about it.
Elnora Comstock is a girl in the early 1900s who wants to go to high school, despite the wishes of her mother. She's poor, & discovers she must pay her way through school & to buy her own books, & that her mother knew this the whole time. Mrs. Comstock is bitter & cold & blames her husband's death on Elnora (I won't spoil it). Elnora is resourceful. She collects moths in the Limberlost swamp near her home & sells them to collectors. She's basically financially independent. But she encounters setbacks when she needs to pay for college - she needs a pair of rare moths to complete a collection, but she can't find any. Her only other option is to become a teacher. Of course, I can't spoil the ending. What really baffled me was that halfway through the book, it turns into a romance, which I don't usually enjoy, making the book a bit of a slog. It wasn't a cheesy romance, at least. It almost felt like I was reading another book entirely.
A Girl of the Limberlost is actually the sequal to Freckles, but is more well known. I wish I'd read it first, because characters from it play a part, but I was a bit lost as to why they were so significant, & I wanted to know more about the swamp Angel, & Freckles' room in the middle of the swamp.
I liked the book, yet I feel indifferent about it.
Old-fashioned, but still good even after all these years. Nice for the nature-lover or the girl who struggles in her relationship with a neglectful mother.
I simultaneously disagreed with most of the book's priorities, this time around, and understood wholeheartedly why it would have appealed to me an been such a consolation when I was young. Definitely glad I reread it.