Customer Reviews

Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Woman behind the Legend (MISSOURI BIOGRAPHY SERIES)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

BECOMING LAURA INGALLS WILDER reads like a dissertation. Because it is an academic book, written for the history-buff crowd, it's somewhat dry. There is a great deal of information to be read here, however, and you will feel that you know "the real Laura Ingalls" after you read this book.

The author is an expert on Laura Ingalls Wilder, and spent a huge amount of time in research for this book. He basically recounts as much as he can of Laura's life, based on written accounts of her, and on her own writings. Much of his book also deals with a dominant person in Laura's life: her daughter Rose. The book also features quite a few photos of Laura and her family.

Die-hard fans of Laura should read this book only if they are ready for more than 250 pages of history. It's not a novel, it doesn't contain a lot of color, but it is worth reading if you really want to know every detail about Laura's life.

I read with interest the reader reviews on this book before I purchased it and saw mixed opinions and many comments, but the one that stood out the most was something to the effect of "this book might be too much for the casual Laura fan, but great for those who want to dig a little deeper." I heartily agree with that and think that needs to be stressed. If you've only ever read the "Little House" books, perhaps you should start with some of the lighter books and biographies about her. If you are like me, however, and can't get enough information about the true life of Laura, this book is fantastic. Its focus is a bit shaky at first, as it breezes through the first 20 or so years of her life in first third of the book. At that point it changes focus so much that it is almost like two books in one. Here is where we meet Laura the writer and witness her long path from town columnist to published national author. Throughout this section of the book her daughter, Rose, plays a pivotal part and has her own biography of sorts within these pages. While at first I was reluctant to read about the controversy over how much Rose actually helped her mother write the books, once I got into it I was fascinated and hooked. This book is a biography, a history book, the story of a young pioneer, and a look into a complex and conflicting mother/daughter relationship. And for those out there who simply can't get enough of Laura, curl up and dive in.

One other note: I learned a lot of new information about facts that were left out of the Little House books or changed to make the story flow better for children. John Miller even goes so far as to call her Little House books fiction. I don't completely agree with him on that point, but I did learn a lot and wanted to know more about the actual accurate early life of Laura. Miller makes reference in this book to Laura's first attempt at novel writing; an unpublished manuscript called "Pioneer Girl." I did a little research and found that copies are available from the Herbert Hoover Library in West Branch, Iowa. It is costly, but worth it for the biggest fan. It is definetly an adult read, though, don't plan on reading this to your children as a bedtime story.

Hope this review was helpful - enjoy!

I just re-read this book for the third time...unlike some reviewers, I am interested in what was going on culturally and otherwise in De Smet, Mansfield, etc. This book sheds more light on Laura's life after moving to Missouri than any other I have read thus far. I also enjoyed learning more about Almanzo and Laura's marriage. Along with "I Remember Laura" and "A Little House Sampler" one of my favorite LIW reads (Other than her actual books, of course!)

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 for the move, 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 still 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.

I have devoloped something of a Laura Ingalls Wilder fixation over the years. I have read many biographies, mostly ones for children that focus on her childhood and apparently describe it pretty much as she described it in her books. This is the first one to try and gain some real insight into her adult years. It is interesting enough, but alas, while we get paragraph upon paragraph about the economic situations of the various towns Laura lived in and other information of that sort, there isn't a whole lot there where the person is concerned. I guess that's understandable, since she didn't leave a whole lot of revealing writings behind like her daughter Rose, and since the book gives the impression that she was very introverted, she apparently didn't open herself up that much, either. So, I guess John Miller had only a limited amount of resources to work with, but still, her character could have been fleshed out more. There are some interesting tidbits, particularly about how she once ran for election of head of her town's township, but about the person, we get very little, which is only to be expected, I guess, but unfotunate nevertheless.

The book only really gets good when it talks about the creation of Laura's novels, and the collaboration between her and her daughter in seeing them to fruition. Curiously, I have never actually read any of the "Little House" books, or any of Rose's and Laura' other writings, and therefore, cannot give my opinion on who I think really wrote them, an issue that's been hotly debated in recent years. While some have claimed that Rose, a very successful writer in her own right, edited and polished them to such an extent that she was essentially the ghost writer of the novels, Miller begs to differ. He claims that Laura did know more than a little about how to write, having honed her skills for more than a decade in writing columns for a Missouri newspaper about farming. Rose did edit and polish the manuscripts, and there was much back-and-forth discusion between mother and daughter about how they should be structured, etc, but her work on them was really nothing out of the ordinary. I can't say if this is true or not, but I really enjoyed reading about it. I also enjoyed the parts in which the book tried to answer the question of whether the novels are true to life. (It says that the minute details about farm life were thoroughly reaserached and as accurate as possible, and that the family realtionships were probably not any differtn from the books, but that the facts were changed around some time, either to make the story more beleiveable or understandable or because Laura couldn't really remember them.) There appears to have been a very complex realtionship between mother and daughter, but it is yet another thing in the book that isn't really throughly documented.

This is indeed a great book for history and research projects, and for fans of the Little House books. There is some intersting information, but on the whole it's too sketchy to reveal much about the real Laura, the person, which is a shame, but can't really be helped, it would seem.

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.

Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder is a wonderfully written, detailed account of the real-life, complex woman that scores of American children grew to love through Wilder's award-winning "Little House" series of books. Author, John E. Miller is to be commended for his work, since his was no easy undertaking in telling the story of the celebrated author, who experienced more than a fair share of financial struggles and setbacks, as well as a stormy, difficult relationship with her only child, Rose Wilder Lane.

Faithful readers first got to know Laura and the Ingalls family through Wilder's charming, semi-autobiographical stories of the family's pioneering experiences, as they eked out an existence during the latter part of the 19th Century. John Miller's superbly researched biography brings to palpability the rather ordinary and unexceptional people who later became the characters in Laura's charming stories, elevated to their iconic status by the passage of time and the beauty of Laura's simplistic, unique brand of prose. Miller carefully crafts Laura's story with careful, concurrent attention to the rapidly changing world around Laura's "Little House" stories and the result provides for fascinating reading, steeped in American history. In so telling Laura's story, however, Miller also was confronted with the complicated task of exploring the rather unpleasant, antagonistic relationship shared between Laura and Rose in all the starkness and raw-nerve quality it probably is deserving of, since the information was derived primarily from journals of and correspondence between mother and daughter and not tempered by the author's personal contact, knowledge or emotional involvement with either person.

Miller (wisely) seems to side-step the loaded topic that Rose ghost-wrote her mother's novels. It appears, he himself does not personally subscribe to the idea, yet he handles the issues fairly in his presentation of some of the following facts: Rose typed and edited her mother's hand-written manuscripts, as well as converted the narrations of Laura's writings from first person (which was the style Laura was most comfortable with and therefore utilized in all of the first drafts of her books) to third person; she likewise assisted in the research of historic facts and cultural details that had long-escaped Laura's childhood memories (she was 63 years of age, when she wrote Little House in the Big Woods, the first book in the seven book series), as well as provided a good deal of encouragement and seasoned advice, that Laura most assuredly must have depended upon.

Rose's role in the complicated dynamics of her family was not an easy one. The tragic memories the Dakotas held for Laura and her husband, Almanzo, were no doubt instrumental in their final choice to move to the Ozarks and thereby place a formidable amount of distance between themselves and Laura's family, all of whom remained in various locations in South Dakota for the rest of their lives. Deprived of contact with and moral support from her tightly-knit family and partnered in a long marriage with a man who was old before his time, dour, taciturn and seemingly disappointed with life in general, Laura seemed compelled (by something almost akin to fear) to cling frantically to her only child. Rose, who by all accounts (including the observations recorded in the journal of Laura's youngest sister, Grace) was a precocious and unusually bright child; predictably she was destined to rebel against the smothering attentions her mother focused upon her.

After reading Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder, in my opinion, it seems probable that Laura and Rose formed a symbiotic type of partnership as Laura penned her juvenile series, that has enjoyed decades of acclaim, was adapted for a long-running television series (that took considerable artistic liberties with the actual novels), and inspired a variety of low-budget movies focusing on various phases of Laura's life. Since Rose was a successful author in her own right, the mixed feelings and open resentment she apparently harbored for her mother and her mother's ensuing success as a writer, at times seems like matters of petty jealousy, but also peculiar and prompted by a quirky sense of competitiveness. In Rose's defense, however, the real-life Laura was considerably different (as an adult) than the spunky, "little half-pint" her readers were familiar with; she was seemingly quick-tempered, extremely high-strung, opinionated, nit-picky and with a propensity for nagging. Undoubtedly, much of Laura's anxiousness and over-dependency on the free-spirited Rose was in a large part prompted by the economic uncertainty that apparently plagued Laura and Almanzo for most of their lives. It would have seemed that the financial independence Laura's success as an author provided would have been welcomed by Rose; but, in fact, it appears Rose was rather indifferent to her mother's celebrity and blasé about the critical acclaim of Laura's books.

Any true fan of the "Little House" books will revel in Miller's book. "Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder" provides its readers with a fascinating perspective as it explores the real-life characters Wilder brought to live on the pages of her stories which are rife with the sweet music of Pa's fiddle, swaying covered wagons making their way westward, the lonely howl of a wolf drifting across the dark, silent prairie and the tender comforts of a simpler life in an era long past, but (thankfully) not forgotten.

I would expect that the well known author Rose did help her mother with the editing of the Little House books.Because Laura Ingalls Wilder left very little written material behind of a personal nature, we do not get to know her as well as her daughter Rose. Rose wrote many letters to people complaining of her Mother but we do not see Laura's side of this relationship. There usually are two sides to every story. We also know almost nothing about Almanzo. Except for the some what humorous account of his driving lesson from his daughter. Rose seems to be suffering from some sort of depression which worsens when she goes back to the farm according to her letters. Rose even suspects she has manic depression. She may well have. There was no treatment for it back then and very few psychiatrists at all. I also suspect that Rose hated living on the farm with her parents and this caused the depression. She was being the good daughter. By helping Laura with the Little House books she insured that her parents would live well in their old age. By listening to her Mother's stories, she would be inspired to write pioneer stories of her own. The book is quite informative. Rose gets a letter from her Aunt Carrie requesting any garments that she might be going to give away. This gives you a hint into the plight of Carrie as she grows older. None of the books I have seen address exactly what happened to Mary in the 4 years between her mothers's death and her own. We know Mary was visiting Carrie when she suffered her fatal stroke. However of all the books I have read on Laura and her family, I feel this book gave me the most information. It is well researched and well worth reading. It even mentions a few place Laura visited like Universal studios in Hollywood, California which were not mentioned in any other biographies I read. I would recommend this book to any fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder or Rose Wilder Lane. It was most informative.

This book gives a much more balanced account of Laura Ingalls Wilder's life than other recent biographies. John E. Miller creates a richly detailed portrait of the real Laura Ingalls Wilder, one that is well supported by his documentation. The relationship between LIW and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, is examined in great detail. Miller's assertions about the relationship between mother and daughter ring true. His statements are clearly supported by his research. He does not attempt to negate Rose Wilder Lane's contribution to the Little House Series. This book gives a good picture of the complexities of the mother/daughter literary collaboration. One comes away with a better understanding of and an appreciation for both women. "Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder" is an interesting, well written, and highly readable biography. A most welcome addition to the shelf of any admirer of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books!

This book gives only a few new insights into Laura Ingalls Wilders life. You learn she was a private person and she must have been because most of the information about her life seems to be from records of what organizations she belonged to. I did not like the way that the book seemed to turn into a bio about her daughter Rose Wilder Lane about halfway through. Not only did the author talk more about her than Laura he painted a picture in my opinion of a depressed unhappy woman who did not really care for her mother deep down. I also felt that since most of us "know" Lauras' family from the Little House books the author could have given the readers some more detailed information about how their lives turned out. That would have interested me more then hearing about Roses' depressed and seemingly unhappy life.