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Title: Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Women Behind the Legend (Missouri Biography Series) by John E. Miller, William E. Foley ISBN: 0-8262-1167-4 Publisher: Univ of Missouri Pr (Txt) Pub. Date: May, 1998 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.6 (15 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: disappointing, but if you love Laura - it's a must read
Comment: While I will never pass up any biography about LIW, I have to admit that this book is not too exciting. First, in some sections it is clear that Miller does not have enough documented sources of information. In these chapters, his writing jumps around, back and forth in time, and is very repetitive within and among paragraphs. Secondly, he provides almost no information that I have not seen before. Despite these complaints, this book seems to be very well researched and is readable throughout.
The focus on the "Rose Story," that many other reviewers complain about, is actually the most cleanly written part of the book. No doubt, this can be attributed to the fact that there are MANY extant primary sources that depict the relationship between Laura and her daughter. They apparently wrote to each other constantly. Therefore, Miller does not need to stretch his material regarding this part of Laura's life.
On the other hand, readers who love Laura and her stories want to know more about the family and other people described in the novels. We want to know about Laura's relationships with her parents and adult sisters and with the Wilder in-laws. We want to know what happened to Mary, Carrie and Grace after "These Happy Golden Years." We want to know what Almanzo was really like. These topics are not explored in depth.
In the end, my disappointment is not in Miller and his writing. It is rooted in two inescapable facts. First, most of Laura's adult life was quite ordinary. She and Almanzo, like the Ingalls family before them, were poor most of the time. The magical Laura and "Manly" of "Little House" fame did not heroically rise above circumstances and make a great success of farming. Their married relationship does not appear to have been remarkable. Their relationship with Rose seems to have been tense due to the usual generational differences. My second and most depressing disappointment is that there are no sources that have preserved the more personal aspects of the Ingalls and Wilder legacy. So, while I would like to know more of the family details, no one knows for sure what they are.
All in all, if you are a real Laura fan, you will want to read this book. However, do not expect much excitement or new information.
Rating: 4
Summary: Rose Wilder Lane did NOT write the "Little House Books"
Comment: Miller pretty well refutes the contention that Rose Wilder Lane ghostwrote the "Little House" books. There is no question that she edited her mother's manuscripts, and without her connections in the publishing industry there is a good chance the books might not have been published at all. However, the books were and are Laura's.
It's also important to remember that the "Little House" books only cover Laura's life up to her marriage, and that she in fact lived less than 15 years in DeSmet. She spent the remaining 63 years of her life in Missouri. I always thought that Missouri was an odd choice of destinations, but there in fact were compelling reasons, and Miller does explain them.
Some have criticized this book because they feel that it almost becomes a biography of Rose Wilder Lane about halfway through. A more careful reading gives an explanation for why this seems to be the case; Rose left massive amounts of personal archives, letters, and other documents when she died. On the other hand, Laura ("Mama Bess")left very little of this kind of information behind, and were it not for Rose's archives there would be even bigger gaps in the narrative. Miller does mention that a roomfull of possessions left behind in Laura's parents' home in DeSmet was discarded by the new owners of the house, and it's just possible that some of her letters were lost there.
If some people wish the book provided more in-depth detail about Laura's life in Missouri, then they should also wish for even more information about Almanzo. At the end of this book we know only a little more about him than we did at the end of "The First Four Years." He was apparently a man of few words, either spoken or written, so he largely remains an enigma. What little we do know about him comes from either Laura or Roses's writings.
One thing we do learn is that Laura never lost her pioneering spirit. In 1925 she, Rose, and a good friend of Rose's drove all the way to the West Coast from Missouri. A transcontinental auto trip in 1925 was sitll a major adventure, and even more remarkable when undertaken by three women. An account of this adventure surely would have made for good reading, but apparently neither Laura nor Rose thought of it.
This has been something of a rambling review, so I will conclude that Miller did very good work, and that any true fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder or her daughter would do well to read it.
Rating: 4
Summary: Interesting, yet flawed biography
Comment: I enjoyed this, but like others, was aching to read more about Laura and Almanzo. I guess the books of her youth were so packed with life, it's hard to believe the Farmer Boy and Pioneer Girl could lead a quiet life in their retirement years.
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Title: Laura's Album : A Remembrance Scrapbook of Laura Ingalls Wilder by William Anderson ISBN: 0060278420 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 30 November, 1998 List Price(USD): $21.99 |
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Title: Laura : The Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Donald Zochert ISBN: 0380016362 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 May, 1977 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Laura Ingalls Wilder : A Biography by William Anderson ISBN: 0064461033 Publisher: Harpercollins Juvenile Books Pub. Date: 30 May, 1995 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Ghost in the Little House: A Life of Rose Wilder Lane (Missouri Biography) by William V. Holtz ISBN: 0826210155 Publisher: Univ of Missouri Pr (Txt) Pub. Date: May, 1995 List Price(USD): $17.09 |
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Title: Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little Town: Where History and Literature Meet by John E. Miller ISBN: 0700607137 Publisher: Univ Pr of Kansas Pub. Date: March, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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