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The Personal History Of Rachel DuPree (2010)

by Ann Weisgarber(Favorite Author)

4.42 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0670022012 (ISBN13: 9780670022014)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Viking Adult

review 1: Well written historical fiction novel. Set in the Badlands of the Dakotas in the early 1920s, this story focuses on Rachel, a black woman who is the mother of 5 kids. Her life is extremely tedious, lonely and filled with hardships. Weisgarber does an excellent job describing daily life during this time period. I am so thankful I did not live Rachel's life. The weakness for me was the relationships in this book. I felt disconnected from Rachel. Throughout the story, I felt I knew her only at a superficial level.
review 2: This book surprised me--I thought it would be another simplistic "rah, rah, homesteaders were so tough and awesome" story, which is why I didn't read it when it first came out, but it's actually a LOT more complex than that. It paints an unfli... morenching picture of how hard it was to try to make a go of it in South Dakota in the early 20th century, while creating sympathy for both Rachel (who, after fourteen unforgiving years, is rapidly losing enthusiasm for the whole project) and for her husband Isaac (who sees homesteading as one of the only available routes to overcome racial prejudice and to give his children a secure future, and is therefore absolutely determined to succeed regardless of the risks and costs). Ever since I finished the book I've found myself thinking about the characters and what I think the future held in store for them. After reading and loving Weisgarber's "The Promise" last month, I'm now a definite fan and will look forward to reading anything else she publishes! less

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