Customer Reviews

The Horizontal World: Growing Up Wild In the Middle of Nowhere

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This terrific collection of personal essays is part memoir, part social history, and part appreciation for the lunar topography of the author's home state, North Dakota, where reminders of its geological past are everywhere in the flat expanse of inland seafloor, the rolling terrain of glacial morrain, and the rocks that surface each year in the fields and need to be cleared by hand. Marquart, descendant of German-speaking immigrants from Russia, tells of the generations of her family, who have farmed the same homestead since the late 19th century. Born the last of five siblings, she grows up driving tractors and pickups and doing chores from an early age, while yearning, always yearning, for escape - life being ever elsewhere.

With a career as a singer for a heavy metal band behind her and currently teaching creative writing at Iowa State, she looks back over the years, aware that her identity is still linked to her roots "in the middle of nowhere" and to a family that cannot comprehend any of the life she has lived since she left home. Most poignant are her memories of her father, whose funeral begins the book, while an episode on an out-of-state trip with both elderly parents ("To Kill a Deer") is a groaningly hilarious tribute to the impossibility of communicating across generations. Other subjects covered are the special trials of growing up female in a farming community, including the imagined trauma of being among its first settlers from the Old Country, as well as the tenuous self-esteem of North Dakotans whose most well-known celebrity is Lawrence Welk.

Marquart is a fine, entertaining, and moving writer, an eloquent voice for the diminishing number of those who grew up on small family farms on the Great Plains. Also recommended: Judy Blunt, "Breaking Clean"; Kathleen Norris, "Dakota"; Bobbie Ann Mason, "Clear Springs"; and Kent Meyers, "Light in the Crossing."

Here's your chance to find out about life in a rural town in the most rural state of the lower 48 from farm girl turned rebel turned academic turned author Debra Marquat. A descendant of German-Russian farmers, she grew up as your typical, albeit unusual for that area, rebellious, farm girl. Through excerpts from other works and a series of ordinary but interesting anecdotes, she enlightens the reader with facts about her native state, her ancestors, farmers, farm life and family - from the lengths folks will go to in order to keep land in the family; to the monotony of farm chores; to "the horizontal life," to an unfortunate encounter with a deer and the predictable aftermath; to a father's failing heart, death, and funeral; to a hundred other details that will ring true to anyone who has spent time in a rural area in that part of the country. Although one may question the her choice to include information about her sex life in a book which will undoubtedly be read by conservative farmer-types, and her decision not rush home to see her dying father, she freely admits to being a rebel and never professes to always do the right thing. The references to and inclusion of text from various works of fiction and non-fiction are sometimes welcome, but more often detract from the pleasant flow of her writing, although probably highlight her "academic" side. A comparison of her great grandfather to "land-hungry father Larry Cook" - from A Thousand Acres, when readers of it will remember his big secret, sticks in my mind as particularly distracting.

This is the most engaging book I've read in several years. Written with all the power that could be expected of an Iowa Writers Program Professor, it tells it's own story while exposing the desperate truths of all who've violently wrenched themselves out of home ground to find a life that fit. Blunt, funny, ironic and wry, its bravely openhearted look at a younger self made me look clearly at my own 20-year-old self, that I've disowned for over 35 years, and invite her back in.

As someone who grew up in the middle of nowhere I can attest to the fact that Debra Marquart's writing is spot on. She describes a very specific subculture of the U.S. (i.e., the upper Midwest) with humor, grace and uncanny truth. She gives voice to a kind of life that is rarely spoken of by those who have endured it. Her insights made me alternately crumple on the floor in tears and laugh out loud shouting "Yes!" Simply put, she gets it right. To top that, she's done her research, too; she mixes lots of interesting background information with excellent storytelling. I am giving this to all my exiled Midwestern friends for Christmas!

Funny and bittersweet, this memoir captures the difficult relations between children and parents and will resonate with many American young women who took a path their parents didn't anticipate and struggle for recognition both at home and in the equally tough wider world of adulthood. Debra Marquart's a fine, fine writer--one to watch.

Wow! Debra Marquart very accurately portrayed the essence of growing up "wild" in North Dakota in the 70's. She touched my heart and validated my experiences and memories of that time, too. I want more, more, more!

I was so excited to order and read this book, having spent quite a lot of time in the area she writes about and living on the plains myself. But, she just comes across as a rebellious, self indulgent diva in a lot of ways. Not what I know the people from that part of the world to be like at all. I see the book has many great reviews, which partly influenced my purchase. I guess it is to each his own, but after a while the general theme seemed to be why she hated growing up there and how every day of her life she couldn't wait to get the hell out and put North Dakota in her rear view mirror. After a while I was like, ok, I get it, you didn't like it there---isn't there anything else to say about living there other than that?? It seems every story she tells is painted with a negative light about living there. She seems very proud of herself and what a rebellious brat she was because she felt the need to punish her parents because 'nobody asked her if she wanted to live/work on a farm' A good chunk of the book is about how she enjoyed making those around her miserable because she was unhappy. She dedicated the book to her late father and to her mother, who was still living when it was printed. With that thought in mind, I was a little surprised at how very proud she was of her fourteen year old non virgin self who stated, and I quote:"She's explored a endless variety of back seats, quietly undoing snaps and zippers and tricky belt buckles, slipping her hand deep into the moist pants of a local boy. The horizonal life has not completely eluded her". She writes this particular passage in the third person, for whatever reason, the only place in the book she does that--I found it odd. I suppose I was more hoping for a book about someone who had at least a few things good to say about where they are from and who wanted a little more from the story than the shock and awe factor. It just wasn't for me.

I grew up in southwestern Minnesota, still on the plains, but not as harsh plains as the one in North Dakota that Marquart grew up on. I relish her account of growing up in a small community, knowing your place in that community, and her ruminations on it all. The book sticks with you. I found the running over the deer incident both poignant and hilarious.

The freshest language from the Upper Midwest, about growing-up female in these regions, that you will ever find. Altogether funny, disquieting and perfectly true, Marquart's narrative is never too self-conscious and not even once contrived.

As a possible distant relative of Debra, I will be a bit biased about this review. Although the author wrote of life in Nodak as a young girl and then an older woman, I still was able to connect with her thoughts, feelings, and how she has evolved over the years into the person she is now. As a past resident of Montana and now of California I still return to Nodak for visits and as a place to retreat to from the rest of the world. Also, I hope it remains at least somewhat the way I remember it from years ago. A book like Debra's is a snapshot of life in a place different from what many others know but is important not only to us who lived it but maybe to others that they might better understand life growing up in small towns in America. Thank you Debra for bring back many emotions - sad, and happy, hope to read more of your work in the future.. wlk