Customer Reviews

So Far From Home: The Diary of Mary Driscoll, An Irish Mill Girl, Lowell, Massachusetts, 1847 (Dear America Series)

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is one of the Dear America Series, which is a collection of historical fiction books, written in the form of diaries of young girls living during different periods in American history. This book tells the story of Mary Driscoll, a young Irish girl who comes to America to escape the dreaded Potato Famine. It is Black '47, and Mary sees the death and social damage that the Great Hunger is inflicting on her country. She then experiences emigration to America, with all of its hazards, and gets a job in a pre-safety laws textile mill.

This book is not for one wanting happy stories and happy endings. Holding back no punches, it portrays mid-Nineteenth Century life is all of its unvarnished actuality. Containing no sex or unnecessary violence, it is suitable for young readers, the 9-12 category probably being just right. I would recommend it for any reader, young or old, who wants a short, truthful look at life in 1847.

By the way, the hardcover binding is of top-notch quality, and the attached bookmarker ribbon makes reading this book a real pleasure.

Fourteen-year-old Mary Driscoll and her family have lived in terrible poverty in the Irish countryside every since the potato famine began several years ago. When Mary is offered a chance to join her aunt and older sister in America, the land of opportunity, she jumps at the chance to seek a better life for herself. But after a long, stormy, and miserable ocean voyage, Mary arrives in America to find that it is nothing like she expected. She takes a job in a textile mill in Lowell, Massachusetts, where she is scorned by most of the American workers and expected to work long hours under terrible, unsafe conditions. There are few bright spots in this account of the life faced by many girls in New England cities during the mid-nineteenth century, and most of what happened to the fictional character of Mary happened to various girls who lived back then and worked in factories and mills. I would reccomend this to readers interested in this particular time period in history, or to those readers who are fans of the Dear America series.

I love this book!It gave me a true understanding of the Irish.My father is Irish and so is my grandfather.My grandmother told me alot about what had happen to the Irish.I was amazed!I learned that Mary would miss her Mureen and may never see her and her parents again.I highly recomend this to all people who like the Dear America books and who are IRISH!

This book, So Far From Home, is really good. I love the way it is written. It's about a girl called Mary Driscoll who moves from Ireland to America because of the potatoe famine. She does not go with her parents. In America she meets really nice people and makes some friends. She works in the Mills and tries to raise money for her parents so they can join her in America. This book shows America through an immagrint's point of view and how the life of a mill worker is. Whenever I read this book I cry at the end because it is so hopeful and pretty sad. This book is just pure beautiful. That might sound corny, but it is. It has funny parts and can be sad.

You should NOT read this book if you are sensitive. This book is very sad and has some disturbing parts in it, like when people eat pig droppings. You should try this book because it ROCKS!

First of all, this story is about Mary Driscoll, a 14-year-old from Ireland who immigrates to America because her country is starving due to the potato crop blight, the Irish's main source of food and income. Mary goes to live with her aunt Nora, who has been in America for 6 years already. Mary's older sister, Kate, has been in America for 2 years. Mary starts work in a mill and plans to save enough money for her parents to come to America.

This book was a very quick read, but it didn't seem like much happened at all. It is so short! Also, it seems like something might happen between Mary and this boy she met on the ship named Sean, but they never see each other again after they get off the ship. A few letters are exchanged between Mary and Sean's uncle, Mr. Quinn, but that's it. This book was also not that good because the ending is so abrupt! I didn't even know it was the end until I looked at the next page and was surprised to see that it was the Epilogue. It seems like Mr. Denenberg just stopped writing in the middle of the story. So many more things could have happened. In addition, the Epilogue was horrible. This is a fiction book, so I don't see why the author had to make it so disappointing.

This is not one of the better Dear America books, but I think it would be interesting for nine-year-olds or around that age. I don't recommend buying it, though.

The book, So Far From Home, was one of my favorite books from this series so far. The character, Anna, is like me in alot of ways. The reason that she is like me is when she walks into a book stores and reads the back of every book and she loves to read. That's why I liked her. You should read this book if you like historical fiction. I learned alot about life in the year 1847 in Massachusetts.

Read So Far From Home if you like a book with a sad and abrupt ending. This book's end was very sad and stopped short, almost letting you dream up what Mary would do next. I must admit this book wasn't wonderful, but it gave a fantastic image of what life was like for Mary Driscoll and other Irish mill girls at that time. Read this book if you're ready for action and excitement, a well as an emotional (and surprising) ending.

This latest addition to the popular Dear America series chronicles the hardships faced by a young Irish immigrant girl working in the Lowell mills. Mary Driscoll was eager to leave famine stricken Ireland to go to America - a place where there is always enough to eat and poor Irish people like herself are paid fair wages working at decent jobs. But life in America is not what Mary expected. She must slave away long hours in a hot, filthy, crowded mill for low wages. And then, a letter comes from Ireland with terrible news. So Far from Home gives an insight into the terrible working conditions of the Lowell mills through the diary of Mary Driscoll, a young Irish immigrant who hopes and prays on the way to the "golden land," and survives terrible working condtions by keeping alive the dream that someday her family will be together again in America.

This boook was the first book I read of the Dear America part. It was sort of boring in the very start of the book but then it got realy interesting . I realy loved this book it was great. If you have read this book and you realy liked it then read some outher ones like Acros The Wide And Lonesom Prairy. It is a gerat book of sequals.There are many outher fabulas books and they are all terrific.

This is the BEST Dear America. Read about an Irish Mill Girl who's life has gone well, upside down! Also look for Dear America on HBO this fall!