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henryarmitage 's review for:
These Happy Golden Years
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
I'm trying to make it through the whole series, but I have to say, this was heavy going.
Other than a cool event near the beginning involving a crazy woman with a knife, there's very little to relieve the monotonous happiness of Laura, her perfect family, her budding career as a teacher, all culminating in her marriage to Almonzo.
There are a few episodes of bad weather and natural disaster, but they only strike nearby without seriously impacting Laura and those close to her (unlike the cool plague of locusts that completely wiped out the Ingalls' crops in [b:On the Banks of Plum Creek|7882|On the Banks of Plum Creek (Little House, #4)|Laura Ingalls Wilder|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1266449569l/7882._SX50_.jpg|1402758], or, of course, the long winter of [b:The Long Winter|8282|The Long Winter (Little House, #6)|Laura Ingalls Wilder|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1266449683l/8282._SX50_.jpg|3327855]).
I realize that this is a fictionalized autobiography, but there really needs to be some suspense or conflict to make the story interesting.
Almonzo is the perfect gentleman in a quaint, old fashioned courtship. Laura stays in denial for the first half of the book or so, still seeing this full-grown man 10 years her senior as squiring her around as a favor to her father for reasons she can't understand. Then, almost with the turn of a page, Laura seems to sort of fall in love, though it is all very subdued and chaste. Laura and Almonzo both seem to be serious introverts as it is mentioned several times that scarcely a word is said on their dates (in stark contrast to Nellie Oleson, whose tongue never stops flapping).
The evil Nellie puts in a brief appearance trying to steal Laura's beau. She is the Frank Burns of the TV series and I hoped to see her be the victim of some cruel prank putting her in her place, but nothing like that happens. I guess everyone is getting too old for those hijinks.
Laura's family is so perfect, it is a major struggle for her to tear herself away. When we see the homes of other families, the author often takes the opportunity to highlight what squalor other families live in due to their laziness and bad character.
There are a few interesting historical details. I like the use of 'boughten' to describe store-bought furniture and other fancy items, as opposed to the handmade stuff. Laura's uncle tells an amusing story about intruding into Indian country with some other colonists. They build a stockade fort which keeps them safe, but they are essentially trapped there by the aggressive Indians who surround the place and harass them any time they try to go out to hunt or farm. They rejoice one day when the sound of bugles tells them the Army is near, but instead of driving the Indians away, the soldiers arrest the colonists and drag them away.
This is just a very girly book. There are lots of intricately detailed descriptions of dresses, jewelry and the like.
One more to go!
Other than a cool event near the beginning involving a crazy woman with a knife, there's very little to relieve the monotonous happiness of Laura, her perfect family, her budding career as a teacher, all culminating in her marriage to Almonzo.
There are a few episodes of bad weather and natural disaster, but they only strike nearby without seriously impacting Laura and those close to her (unlike the cool plague of locusts that completely wiped out the Ingalls' crops in [b:On the Banks of Plum Creek|7882|On the Banks of Plum Creek (Little House, #4)|Laura Ingalls Wilder|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1266449569l/7882._SX50_.jpg|1402758], or, of course, the long winter of [b:The Long Winter|8282|The Long Winter (Little House, #6)|Laura Ingalls Wilder|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1266449683l/8282._SX50_.jpg|3327855]).
I realize that this is a fictionalized autobiography, but there really needs to be some suspense or conflict to make the story interesting.
Almonzo is the perfect gentleman in a quaint, old fashioned courtship. Laura stays in denial for the first half of the book or so, still seeing this full-grown man 10 years her senior as squiring her around as a favor to her father for reasons she can't understand. Then, almost with the turn of a page, Laura seems to sort of fall in love, though it is all very subdued and chaste. Laura and Almonzo both seem to be serious introverts as it is mentioned several times that scarcely a word is said on their dates (in stark contrast to Nellie Oleson, whose tongue never stops flapping).
The evil Nellie puts in a brief appearance trying to steal Laura's beau. She is the Frank Burns of the TV series and I hoped to see her be the victim of some cruel prank putting her in her place, but nothing like that happens. I guess everyone is getting too old for those hijinks.
Laura's family is so perfect, it is a major struggle for her to tear herself away. When we see the homes of other families, the author often takes the opportunity to highlight what squalor other families live in due to their laziness and bad character.
There are a few interesting historical details. I like the use of 'boughten' to describe store-bought furniture and other fancy items, as opposed to the handmade stuff. Laura's uncle tells an amusing story about intruding into Indian country with some other colonists. They build a stockade fort which keeps them safe, but they are essentially trapped there by the aggressive Indians who surround the place and harass them any time they try to go out to hunt or farm. They rejoice one day when the sound of bugles tells them the Army is near, but instead of driving the Indians away, the soldiers arrest the colonists and drag them away.
This is just a very girly book. There are lots of intricately detailed descriptions of dresses, jewelry and the like.
One more to go!