Reviews - The First Four Years

The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

361 reviews for:

This book was a draft and lacks the details and tone of the first eight volumes in the "Little House" series. From her biography, I understand that Laura had wanted to write this story for the adult market, but her daughter, Rose, had co-opted much of the material for her own book, "Free Land."

mmvaughnindc's review against another edition

2.0

My least favorite of the Little House books, for the reason others say the same - this doesn't truly feel like one in the same series, due to it having been an unfinished manuscript. Looking forward to reading Pioneer Girl next to read more of what happened to Laura and Almanzo after the start of their marriage.

rachael2's review against another edition

2.0

I didn't like this one as much as I did the others.

willa_jane's review

4.0

hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

wildwoila's review against another edition

2.0

Early marriage and a steep learning curve on stubborn husbands, capricious weather & farming as a price-taker. Much less idyllic than the prior books.

monsterfemme's review against another edition

2.0

this one is by far the most poorly written & constructed of the nine books (unsurprising, since it was published very posthumously from a pretty rough draft). this one also illustrates repeatedly and starkly how fucked up ridiculous the colonial settler way of life is/was to impose on the prairies: like yes you stupid motherfuckers, your crops keep failing & you keep dying in blizzards and cyclones because the way this land was meant to be lived on & tended was migratory. all the books illustrate this point, but because this one has so much less romanticization of holidays and learning, and so much more repetitive descriptions of failing at farming, it really hits the point home.

also the moments when laura has her babies are seriously disturbing: devoid of embodiment and emotion, even when the second baby dies. when rose is born, laura has been fully drugged unconscious with no warning, but it's presented in this matter-of-fact way that is so upsetting.