Customer Reviews

The Personal History of Rachel DuPree: A Novel

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The best novels put you not just in a place and time other than your own, they put your soul inside the soul and body of another. You live this person's pain, sorrow, fear, confusion, satisfaction, enlightenment, and joys with them. And when you're done, you're changed. The story you have finished is now, in part, your story. It's become a part of your DNA.

This is Ann Weisgarber's singular achievement in The Personal History of Rachel DuPree. You come away from her vivid, moving, tough, and tender novel exhausted by the trials of a young African-American wife and mother scraping out a living in the Badlands of South Dakota in the early years of the Twentieth Century. You also come away stronger, wiser, and with a bigger heart.

Weisgarber has a remarkable eye for detail. The grit, dust, relentless heat, and hard-heartedness that Rachel and her family endure are rendered with such exquisite granularity, that after each chapter you feel it necessary to shake the dirt off your clothes.

Novels about tough women who triumph over seemingly insurmountable challenges are a dime a dozen. This is not one of those novels. There is nothing formulaic, forced, or forgettable about this story. It is priceless.

The Personal History of Rachel DuPree was nominated for Britain's prestigious Orange Prize, alongside works by Toni Morrison (Nobel Prize) and Marilynne Robinson (Pulitzer Prize). When you read the book, you'll know why.

I've recommended this book to everyone I know, and everyone loves it. Absolutely loves it. My book club, my sisters, my husband. Everyone is wondering when the sequel will come it. Unfortunately, I don't think a sequel is planned but it is still a great read and interesting to consider what might come next. It starts off in a very tense situation and continues to grab the readers attention. The story is that a young black mand and woman in Chicago in the early part of the 20th century want to ranch out west. Well, he wants to ranch out west and she wants to get out of Chicago and experience adventure with this life and with this intense man. It is a hard, lonely life, and the husband is willing to sacrifice almost anything to acquire more land and more cattle. I liked being taken to that time and place. It felt like I was there. It is a short book and the pages turn very quickly. Cancel your plans for the evening if you start reading this book today.

I haven't written many (or any?) book reviews before.

I selected this book because I lived in South Dakota for a long time, and I still have family there, so I was very familiar with the setting. I was surprised that someone wrote a story involving the Badlands from the POV of an African-American woman named Rachel living on a struggling ranch.

When the story began with Rachel's daughter, Liz, being lowered into a dried up well, I knew then I wouldn't be happy unless I read the entire book right away. There was never a point where I felt I could put the book down. Each chapter introduced another level of Rachel, as well as her life with her husband, Isaac.

I was expecting her to have lost some children, just because of the time period, but the descriptions of the family's thirst and hunger was extremely upsetting. Even the farm animals suffering was described in detail...it made me feel like I was experiencing the drought myself. After reading about one hardship after another, I wondered why she would have stayed with Isaac for so long, when the original agreement was not a traditional marriage proposal.

I was suspicious of the pregnant Indian woman with the mixed-race little boy, but Rachel's reaction was unpredictable. She was a very complex character, and Isaac seemed more like a shadow of a person compared to Rachel. It was disappointing to see them being just as racist with the Native Americans, as the white people were to them.

I was very pleased with the way Rachel handled herself in the end, but I was disappointed that the story didn't continue onto the train.

This novel was written as if Rachel herself was writing it; I thought the flashbacks made the story stronger too.

Ironically, I wouldn't compare this story to The Color Purple, but maybe Their Eyes Were Watching God...the concept of a family struggling with a new environment reminded me of The Calligrapher's Daughter.

I think Ann Weisgarber did an excellent job of telling Rachel's story.

This is a fantastic book. You will love the main character from the start and be rooting for her every step of the way. It's also a fascinating look into life on the Badlands and what it took to survive. Author Ann Weisgarber's gift for detail makes you really feel like you are there with this brave and stubborn family. Filled with complex characters...there are no easy answers in this story. You will not be able to put it down.

Twenty-five year old Rachel Reeves worked in Mrs. DuPree's boarding house for African-American men since she was seventeen and never laid eyes on Mrs. Dupree's son, Isaac. When he comes home from fighting in the Civil War and she sees him for the first time, she immediately falls in love. She is fascinated with his dream to ranch in the Badlands of South Dakota and his proposed plan to take her along. If she agrees to marry him, he will be able to double his land, but she must forfeit her share of land.

Several years and five children later, pregnant Rachel and Isaac are in the middle of a drought. There hasn't been water for many months and the dust is so thick you can't cut it with a knife. The animals are slowly dying and their food supply is next to nil. Isaac leaves Rachel in search for food and water, and she comes to the conclusion she can't take living on an isolated ranch anymore. She wants much more for herself and her children, but she knows Isaac will never leave his ranch.

Ann Weisgarber paints a vivid portrait of Rachel's struggle in the Badlands. She illustrates clear images of the ranch built in the middle of nowhere, the raging gusts of blowing dust, to the hunger and thirst her family endures. Weisgraber allowed me to enter into Rachel's world and witness her role as the backbone of the DuPree family as she mustered more strength each day to do what was necessary to take care to her children. There were a couple of predictable events, but THE PERSONAL LIFE OF RACHEL DUPREE is a tender novel of survival, love, determination, with a small insight on African-American homesteaders.

Reviewed by Sharon Lewis
of The RAWSISTAZ(tm) Reviewers

It's the early 19 C. and 25-year-old Rachel Reeves has been cooking at Mrs. DuPree's boarding house for eight years, sharing her wages with her parents. She's had her share of potential suitors but they have all been "slaughterhouse men" like her now-crippled father. She knows from experience that killing animals could turn a man mean and bitter or lead him to drink and that's not the life she wants.

When handsome, light-skinned Isaac DuPree, the son of the boarding house proprietor arrives to visit his mother, Rachel is immediately smitten. Even though his mother wants a wife of higher means for her son, he wants to homestead and since the best land is all claimed, he ends up in the Badlands of South Dakota and wants all the land he can lay his hands on. He eventually makes an agreement with Rachel. If she will turn over the 160 acres she can get as a single woman to him, he will marry her. It's mainly just a marriage of convenience for Isaac but Rachel wants to get out of dirty, smelly Chicago and marriage and homesteading is her ticket. She has no idea how desolate and lonely her new home will be.

The book then fast forwards 14 years. Rachel is still toughing it out in the Badlands with Isaac and their children. But a drought has enveloped the area leading to the death of many cattle and the family having to resort to perilous means to get the little water they can from their well.

Although over the years Rachel has impressed Isaac with her ability to stick it out and not only that become quite the help to him on their ranch, after several tragedies, the drought, and Isaac needing to go to Lead over 100 miles to the northwest, to find work in the winter, leaving Rachel and the family alone, she begins to wonder if enough is enough.

Ann Weisgarber's debut is a doozy of a novel. Having already won several awards, THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF RACHEL DuPREE is a novel readers will have trouble putting down once started. It is a testament to the author's writing skill that this reviewer stayed up into the wee hours reading two nights in a row and finished the book in two days. This is, simply put, an outstanding novel about pioneers not much has been written about - those of the Negro families trying to tame the western frontier. Rachel isn't perfect, but she is admirable with the strength to deal with more than anyone could dare imagine. This book is highly recommended to anyone who enjoys a well-written story that isn't predictable. Although women will likely enjoy this the most, there's a lot in the book that will even have men reading it. I loved the story and would highly anticipate the opportunity to read more about Rachel and her family in a sequel. Thanks, Ms. Weisgarber, for a terrific read.

Ann Weisbarger's debut novel focuses on a piece of history that hasn't really been explored much in fiction: the experiences of African Americans homesteading on the frontier around the turn of the century. Rachel Reeves is a 25-year-old working as the kitchen help in the boardinghouse of Mrs. DuPree, a well-to-do African American woman. When Mrs. DuPree's son Isaac comes home to visit, Rachel falls in love with him and agrees to a marriage of convenience. Isaac will commit to one year of marriage to Rachel if she agrees to claim land through the Homestead Act-- land which becomes Isaac's with their marriage.

Rachel's choice takes her to the Badlands of South Dakota; as the novel opens, Rachel is pregnant with her eighth child and the family is facing a severe drought. Rachel's voice moves back and forth in time, illuminating both her life in the Badlands and her young adulthood in Chicago, before her marriage. Rachel struggles with issues universal to frontier wives; however, she also confronts issues unique to being an African American woman at the turn of the century. The novel poignantly illustrates that at this time in America's history, there was no truly safe place for African Americans.

One of the author's greatest strengths is the ability to write the prose in such a way that you almost feel Rachel's feelings. This novel is a great example of how history can sometimes be experienced much more powerfully in fiction than in nonfiction. The reader experiences what it would have felt like to be this person, during this time period.

At a little over three hundred pages, this is a very quick read but one that stays with you. I devoured it in one day. Very highly recommended, and I look forward to more from this author.

This was a very engrossing, realistic novel of a young (although her youth doesn't last long) black woman who marries and homesteads in South Dakota. Life is NOT easy. The book takes place around 1915 - a long time ago, but not ancient history. The hardships faced by these settlers are heartbreaking. The racial element is interesting - they are black and treated as 2nd or 3rd class humans, but they consider themselves better than the native americans... this is a subject I have not run into much and adds to the story. One wonders how or if today's generations would survive a life like Rachel's. The decisions she makes are often life or death - no turning back, no second chances. Very interesting and different than many of the pioneer-type books I have read. Strongly recommended.

A tale of a young woman's journey from being the hired help at a local boardinghouse to becoming the wife of a rancher in the Badlands. Rachel Reeves thought she would be a spinster, but when the son of her employer came for a visit spewing tales of the great horizons and abundant opportunities the Homestead Act can offer Negroes, she saw it as an her opportunity too. Bargaining her claim to land for marriage, Rachel leaves her life and family behind to stake her claim. Years later, the badlands haven't been so kind and the opportunities aren't so abundant and she's faced with some decisions about her and her family's future.

Weisgarber's storytelling is attention grabbing from the beginning until the end. She spins Rachel's tale in first person, causing the reader to become the character and identifying with her. The historical account of facts during the time was intriguing and assisted with the flow of the story.

I recommend this book, with some hesitation. The writer has set up kind of an odd situation with the marriage of Rachel and her husband. As long as the reader is willing to put up with it, this is a good read. I'd compare it with Willa Cather's _O Pioneers_.

The supporting characters in the book are especially well-done. The writer also did a good job of re-creating the historical and social conditions. A special bonus is an appearance by Ida B. Wells.