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punandprose 's review for:
Walk on Earth a Stranger
by Rae Carson
3.5 stars
It started out at 5 stars, and then it kind of lulled a bit in the middle, though I can't quite put my finger on why, exactly, I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. But it's still a pretty good read, and I'd like to continue on to see what happens to Leah and Jefferson.
Oh I guess one thing that grates on me is that in stories like this (i.e., ones where young women have to act like a man for whatver reason), men are usually (emphasis on the usually) painted as drudges and as being stupid, rash, unthinking, and/or blundering. And women are usually (emphasis in the usually) painted as being logical, sane, quick-thinking, and smart.
Now let me just say that no, this particular book is NOT as bad as some I've encountered when it comes to how men are described (or degraded) and how women are exalted for being better than men. I greatly appreciated the handful of moments in this book when some of the men in the story were logical, rational, and good people (because I believe men can actually be those things and not just be idiots... though I will admit that not all of the men I've met were saints and some of them might have been rather dense at times).
Anyway, my point is to say that it got tiresome to wade through some of this stuff as I read, and regardless of whether men are or are not (or were/were not) this way, I don't like having it tossed at me throughout the story. When I read books, I generally want to escape and avoid these sorts of things, not have them demonstrated on multiple occasions throughout the story.
So... yeah. Like I said before, not a bad read, it just grew tiresome and lagged a bit. There were a lot of challenges and hardships (as to be expected for people traveling across the United States in the mid 19th century), and I guess I thought I was going to get a story containing a little more fantasy stuff, what with Lee's ability to sense gold and all that.
Overall, this book paints what I would call a realistic perspective of what it may have been like to travel in a wagon train across the country in the mid 19th century. It certainly doesn't paint a rosy picture, though I'm sure there were some good moments along the way. (I just can't remember them off the top of my head at the moment).
Content: (this list contains mild spoilers)
Two people murdered early on in the book with some descriptions of how it happened, physical abuse and beating (happens off the page), a general sense of peril as Lee travels from place to place, racism against African Americans and Native Americans, various deaths of characters as they travel from Georgia to California (some more traumatic than others), death of woman in childbirth (happens off the page) amputation of a man's leg after being trampled, several moments of hunting and killing of animals or abandoning too-weak animals, a low-detail description of labor and childbirth (Lee helps out so you get to read through the process), starvation and dehydration.
It started out at 5 stars, and then it kind of lulled a bit in the middle, though I can't quite put my finger on why, exactly, I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. But it's still a pretty good read, and I'd like to continue on to see what happens to Leah and Jefferson.
Oh I guess one thing that grates on me is that in stories like this (i.e., ones where young women have to act like a man for whatver reason), men are usually (emphasis on the usually) painted as drudges and as being stupid, rash, unthinking, and/or blundering. And women are usually (emphasis in the usually) painted as being logical, sane, quick-thinking, and smart.
Now let me just say that no, this particular book is NOT as bad as some I've encountered when it comes to how men are described (or degraded) and how women are exalted for being better than men. I greatly appreciated the handful of moments in this book when some of the men in the story were logical, rational, and good people (because I believe men can actually be those things and not just be idiots... though I will admit that not all of the men I've met were saints and some of them might have been rather dense at times).
Anyway, my point is to say that it got tiresome to wade through some of this stuff as I read, and regardless of whether men are or are not (or were/were not) this way, I don't like having it tossed at me throughout the story. When I read books, I generally want to escape and avoid these sorts of things, not have them demonstrated on multiple occasions throughout the story.
So... yeah. Like I said before, not a bad read, it just grew tiresome and lagged a bit. There were a lot of challenges and hardships (as to be expected for people traveling across the United States in the mid 19th century), and I guess I thought I was going to get a story containing a little more fantasy stuff, what with Lee's ability to sense gold and all that.
Overall, this book paints what I would call a realistic perspective of what it may have been like to travel in a wagon train across the country in the mid 19th century. It certainly doesn't paint a rosy picture, though I'm sure there were some good moments along the way. (I just can't remember them off the top of my head at the moment).
Content: (this list contains mild spoilers)
Two people murdered early on in the book with some descriptions of how it happened, physical abuse and beating (happens off the page), a general sense of peril as Lee travels from place to place, racism against African Americans and Native Americans, various deaths of characters as they travel from Georgia to California (some more traumatic than others), death of woman in childbirth (happens off the page) amputation of a man's leg after being trampled, several moments of hunting and killing of animals or abandoning too-weak animals, a low-detail description of labor and childbirth (Lee helps out so you get to read through the process), starvation and dehydration.