Customer Reviews

Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Writer's Life (South Dakota Biography)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I can hardly say enough good things about this book. It's exactly the sort of Laura Ingalls Wilder biography I've been wishing for: straightforward non-fiction (footnotes and everything!) with a steady focus on Laura, giving equal weight to both the true details of her life and to her writing.

As an author of children's historical fiction herself, Pamela Smith Hill gives ample insight into the craft of Wilder's writing, drawing attention to a great many elements of the structure and theme of the Little House books that I'd never put together myself. Based on those observations, Hill presents a compelling case that despite being steeped in historical and autobiographical details, Wilder's books are indeed fiction -- a personal history consciously trimmed and molded to fit the form and countours of the novel.

Hill also tackles the fascinating editorial partnership between Laura Ingalls Wilder and daughter Rose Wilder Lane, pointing out with concrete examples how the combination of each woman's natural strengths and gifts contributed to the overall shape and tone of Wilder's novels. Thankfully, Hill manages to keep Rose's dynamic and voilatile personality from overpowering the second half of the book, all the while giving an uncluttered assessment of Rose's role in bringing the Little House stories to print.

I have no complaints about this book. Not a single one.

I read this book out loud to my husband as we are both Laura lovers, and we were both fascinated. It was nice to learn the facts about how biographical the little house series is and isn't after years of hearing that it was her true story and then all the complaints that it wasn't.

After reading this book, I feel that I know and understand Laura much better. It turned her from a literary character into a real woman who lived the life of a farm wife. Such facts, like the true story of the long winter, were amazing. I only felt that it sort of left Almanzo out of the picture most of the time while concentrating on Laura and Rose. In my mind, you just can't have Laura without Almanzo, and I would have liked to hear more about him.

Over the years I've read everything I could get my hands on about Laura. I have also visited all the sites in her books as well as Mansfield, MO a number of times. I thought I knew all there was to know, but this book proved me wrong.

This was an enjoyable, non-fiction read that Laura Ingalls Wilder fans will appreciate. The excerpts from letters, newspapers, and many references paint an interesting picture of the journey to create the Little House series. It was a unique perspective to focus on Wilder's life as an author, not her day-to-day life which is well documented in other books. I also liked that it included information about Wilder's daughter and her impact on Wilder's writing.

I stumbled over the author's writing style at times. The comparisons between Wilder's actual childhood and her stories sometimes read like a high school essay. And it'd be a richer read with a little more research on details from outside Wilder's immediate world, such as the market for authors at that time, who was successful, what were other popular books, etc. Last, I also thought the author worked in her own conclusions about Laura and Rose's relationship that weren't actually documented.

Critism aside, I really enjoyed reading this and learning more about Wilder's experience as an author. It is a very nice addition to biographies about Wilder for adults.

This is, I think, the fifth Laura Ingalls Wilder biography I've read, and I'm still not totally satisfied that everything that could be written about her has been written.

A WRITER'S LIFE is by no means a bad biography - but... I did feel that the author was somewhat harsh in her judgments about Rose Wilder Lane, and about the quality of Rose Wilder Lane's writing. This biography of Laura reveals that RWL was a deeply conflicted woman (conflicted in her feelings about her parents, and about her childhood)-and what did Laura's (and Almanzo's) parenting methods have to do with that? It's an interesting question that is, obviously, not to be fully explored in a biography of Laura - but it bothered me that the author was uniformly tough on RWL's writings in the interests of praising Laura's writing to the hilt (although she does give RWL kudos for her fine editorial work on the Little House series). Her view of RWL, both as a person and as a writer, lacked objectivity, I thought.

But it must be said this biography is very fine in its research, in its discussion of Laura's growth as a writer and exploring the creation of the Little House series.

What it lacks, for me, is what all biographies of Laura seem to lack - the "real" Laura. I don't want, really, to read any more about how she used her childhood experiences in the Little House series, and what she left out and what she changed. I don't want to read any more about her dealings with publishers, her fans, and her adorable little-old-lady behavior at library and literary functions. I don't want to hear her praised (although as a writer she is worthy of it, I'm just tired of biographers who ladle it on). I want to know why she and Almanzo only had two children and these early in their marriage, and why they slept in separate beds. What was their married life REALLY like? Did she have a bad temper, and was Almanzo "whipped"? What was the dynamic in the marriage - was it Laura who wore the pants, and if so, is there anything to tell us how she felt about that? Is there really NO information to be gleaned about Laura's emotional life from any of the sources that are available? And in connection with that, why was Rose such an unhappy woman in HER personal life, and what part did her upbringing by Laura and Almanzo have to do with that? Were they emotionally cold as parents, and why did Rose strike out on her own so early? Was it really all due to the lack of opportunity in Mansfield and Rose's wanting to lead a city, not a country, life? And what was Laura's relationship with her sisters following her marriage - are there letters or diaries that could be quoted that would give the reader some inkling of the depth of their feelings for each other (or lack thereof)? What about Laura's relationship with HER mother? They lived in different states for 30 years, surely there are letters between them, which would give the reader some knowledge of their feelings toward each other? Why doesn't some publisher publish a collection of the letters between the family members, if enough of such letters exist - I feel confident there is a market of readers who would snap up Ingalls-Wilder family letters.)

These are just some samples of the kind of intimate detail I want in a biography of Laura, which this biography (for all its fine qualities) does not provide - but then, neither does any other, to date. The ones I've read, including this one, explore the creator of the Little House series very thoroughly, but they lose something when it comes to exploring the woman behind the writer. I wonder if it's because Laura was a children's book author that her biographers can't take a hard look at her and see her (and reveal her) as she truly was, warts and all.

I received this book for Christmas from my husband -- he knows what a lifelong Wilder fan I am -- and I read it in one gulp. Wonderful!

I have read several other biographies of Laura [though not yet the John Miller] and this is the first one that satisfied me as to scholarship and in disentangling the very, very complicated and intense relationship between Laura and her daughter Rose (who edited her mother's Little House books and has at various times been credited with being the actual writer of them). This book was very even-handed and fair to both women and the author's conclusions were both humane and convincing.

(I must say I am baffled by the negative review posted here -- a "piece of garbage" by a "jealous little girl"?? This biography is so far from a hatchet job on Laura I am left wondering if the poster actually meant to be reviewing THE GHOST IN THE LITTLE HOUSE.)

The book is a bit scholarly for a mainstream biography but conversely extremely well-written for a state historical series. Kudos to the author!

I've read this book over and over and there's always something more to learn in this look at Laura Ingalls Wilder's life and writing process. The author makes a serious attempt to show the real woman behind the writing of the Little House books. The research is thorough, the writing clear and fresh, and best of all, the author allows Laura to shine through her own words. A pleasure!

Having been a longtime fan of Wilder's books but never a scholar of her life except from a casual perspective, I found this book to be a revelation. I'd no foreknowledge of the conflict between Lane and Wilder nor Lane's aggressive editorial nature of Wilder's books but this book opened my eyes to their relationship. On that front, I should note the only minor qualms I have about this work revolve around what may in fact be due to my own ignorance of Lane's personality and her relationship with Wilder; the author portrays Lane as quite condescending and even malicious and selfish with regards to furthering her own career literally at the expense of her mother's. This may well be true, and if so, is rather depressing to consider. It's difficult to imagine a daughter of Laura Ingalls and Almanzo Wilder being a ruthlessly ambitious careerwoman hell-bent on furthering her own literary career no matter who she had to hurt along the way or whose work she usurped to attain the fame she seemed to desperately desire.

All told, though, this is a fascinating look at how Laura's career and works evolved over time. Heartily recommend this book to all Laura fans and scholars!

This really covers the real back story of beloved author Laura Ingalls Wilder. A very interesting read.

A truly wonderful and warm book about a courageous woman. Life certainly was a challange back then and her recollections were heartwarming,painful as well as unforgettable. A good read especially if you were "prairie" follower.

WONDERFUL book. Very in-depth, intriguing, detailed. Have to say, it is the best biography I've read on Laura Ingalls Wilder.