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A review by sde
Mrs. Mike by Benedict Freedman, Nancy Freedman
4.0
This was a pick for our book club. How had I never heard of it before??? After finishing it, I read several articles another club member sent me on how popular it has been over the years. When I picked up the old and faded library copy, I had no idea how much I would like it. (Reading about the snowy North during an especially humid country didn't hurt either.)
I was appalled, amused and touched at various points in the story. When the 16 year old Kathy goes off and marries someone she has just met in a place she has just moved to, I thought "Wow, weren't there any adults to keep her from doing that?!?" I know people got married younger then, but it sounds like most people were in their early 20s, not 16!!
But Kathy becomes quite intrepid living through conditions where I wouldn't last a day. I was so tired just lying in my bed reading about all she had to do every day. She was very astute for a teenage girl, and could often understand why she was feeling the way she did.
The way Indians and "half-breeds" are described in the story sounds jarring to our 21st century ears, but I think her point of view was actually quite progressive for both the time period when the book took place and when it was written. She saw these people as fully human, admired them, and made friends with them. The story of why she called one woman Sarah was moving to me, and I am going to have to go back to my Bible to remind myself of the full meaning of that story. At the end when Kathy finally realizes what Constance meant when Kathy first arrived and Constance said they were alike because they were the only two white women there was also moving. Constance wasn't saying the two women were better than the others. She was saying that they could really understand each other because they were the only two women who had experienced other places and still chose to come to this remote outpost.
I was appalled, amused and touched at various points in the story. When the 16 year old Kathy goes off and marries someone she has just met in a place she has just moved to, I thought "Wow, weren't there any adults to keep her from doing that?!?" I know people got married younger then, but it sounds like most people were in their early 20s, not 16!!
But Kathy becomes quite intrepid living through conditions where I wouldn't last a day. I was so tired just lying in my bed reading about all she had to do every day. She was very astute for a teenage girl, and could often understand why she was feeling the way she did.
The way Indians and "half-breeds" are described in the story sounds jarring to our 21st century ears, but I think her point of view was actually quite progressive for both the time period when the book took place and when it was written. She saw these people as fully human, admired them, and made friends with them. The story of why she called one woman Sarah was moving to me, and I am going to have to go back to my Bible to remind myself of the full meaning of that story. At the end when Kathy finally realizes what Constance meant when Kathy first arrived and Constance said they were alike because they were the only two white women there was also moving. Constance wasn't saying the two women were better than the others. She was saying that they could really understand each other because they were the only two women who had experienced other places and still chose to come to this remote outpost.