43 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A thoroughly enjoyable trip down memory Lane-- both McClure's and mine, April 14, 2011
This review is from: The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie (Hardcover)
First Line: I was born in 1867 in a log cabin in Wisconsin and maybe you were, too.
Thus begins Wendy McClure's memoir of her attempt to relive her obsession with a series of children's books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. As a child, she loved the Little House books and dreamed of showing Laura the modern world. As an adult, she begins researching online, obtaining books written about the author and her family, and making pilgrimages to many of the Little House sites. Having missed the television series starring Michael Landon as a child, she watches all the episodes and finds other films based on the much-loved books.
McClure has a witty turn of phrase, as when describing Laura's arch enemy Nellie Oleson (who was actually a composite of three people) as "some kind of blond Frankenstein assembled from assorted bitch parts," and her list of things she learned from buying a dash churn on eBay is laugh-out-loud funny. She didn't stop with learning how to churn butter; she also bought an antique coffee grinder, ground seed wheat, and made bread just like Laura and her family did in The Long Winter. Throughout it all, she had the support of her husband, Chris, and that makes him a pretty special guy.
It's not necessary to be a Little House fan to enjoy this book, which is by turns thoughtful and funny. The book has a lot to say about how we react to momentous events in our lives as well as the power of obsession. However, as an older fan who read all the Little House books in hardcover and imagined herself in Laura's world, I think The Wilder Life will have special meaning for fans. As I turned the pages of McClure's books, I found myself remembering my own Little House days and what an impact those books had on my own life.
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37 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A series of disappointing roadtrips, April 28, 2011
This review is from: The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie (Hardcover)
I pre-ordered this book many months ago after reading a little promo on Jezebel and loving the idea of a grown woman making her own Little House journey. I enjoyed the book but I was left with a sense that the author didnt really do enough to make it book-worthy.
McClure writes well, she is funny and full of pop-culture references and not too reverent about what some might consider sacred Laura territory. But the writing also seems a bit disjointed, jumping around subjects and full of confusing mini-chapters that dont always break up one train of thought.
My main disappointment is that although McClure travels to most of the famous sites and has a crack at butter churning - it probably didnt warrant a book. When I first read the synopsis I imagined a modern woman trying to build a whatnot, taking a fiddle lesson, trying to sew a nine-patch or a dress, buying a Godeys Ladies Book, sticking an apple full of cloves or making pancake men. Something a little more project-y and a little less travelogue-y. I know McClure made some food but the descriptions were lacking, and all the places they visited just ended up seeming like they disappointed her - which in turn disappointed me.
I loved the idea of this book, and I enjoyed the writing.. I just wish there was more substance to it. But hey, maybe I'll write my own book and try all of those things!
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loving Laura, Living Laura, April 14, 2011
This review is from: The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie (Hardcover)
In this new nonfiction book, Wendy McClure does a great job presenting her adventures "with" Laura Ingalls Wilder. Clever, wise, funny and insightful, her journey on the path of discovery with the Little House on the Prairie books is also an excursion of self-appreciation and understanding.
I sometimes come across unusual books that remind me of my own history. The Wilder Life is one of those special treasures. My own mother was reading the Little House series to my three sisters when she was pregnant with me. At 13, 11, and 8, my sisters were still enthralled by the novels penned by Laura Ingalls Wilder. When given a chance to help choose my name, 'Laura' was a resounding favorite. Knowing that backstory, I have always identified with Laura, and been proud of that bond. Ms. McClure takes the path I have often longed to take--an actual trip to the locales mentioned in the books and in other works by or about Laura. In her journey, she realizes some truths about her own relationships, and beliefs. The culminating discovery of peace and completion brings her to say to her boyfriend, "We're done with the Laura trips...I'm home."
McClure was caught in the Little House wave of the 1970's, when the nine-book set was re-issued. Writing about Laura Ingalls Wilder and the books, she remembers "...the uncanny sense that I'd experienced everything she had, that I had nearly drowned in the same flooded creek, endured the grasshopper plague of 1875, and lived through the Hard Winter." It was a feeling shared by many girls, but McClure's passion for Laura's life experiences and writing continued to follow her to adulthood. She likens the place she calls the "Laura World" to Narnia or Oz--a complete world, "self-contained and mystical" and yet as real to her as her own day-to-day existence. She was determined to flesh out the real Laura, and flush out the real stories.
So McClure went on the road. Sometimes alone, often with her boyfriend, she sought out the places in the Little House books that still exist in one form or another. Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin were on the itinerary, with stops scheduled where there were annual pageants, museums and reconstructed log houses and soddies. Was the "real" Laura to be found in any of these places?
Reading The Wilder Life was both a rejuvenating and a cathartic experience for me. While it may be true that today's flurry of activity keeps most of us from reenacting yesterday, the understanding of those past experiences are, in themselves, important. It wasn't enough for McClure that she merely visits the places of meaning and importance in Laura's life. McClure wanted to reconcile the fictional Laura with the real one, to find her in places with the intention of experiencing Laura's vivacity, courage, and adventuresome essence for herself. In doing so, she reconnected to her own late mother, and found a way to walk on her own path, knowing that, "...we would know all the little houses, a bright NOW in everyone." McClure's entertaining humor, skillful writing and belief in the purpose of her adventures brings those little houses within the reach of all of us.
by Laura Strathman Hulka
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
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