Rating: 
Summary: 40 years later, I STILL love this book!
Review: Looking at the reviews here, I see that I'm apparently the only person who seriously disliked "Freckles." I expected to like it. Parts of it are memorable. But overall, it combines an awareness of the natural world, a joyous fascination with all forms of wildlife, with a distressing anti-democratic elitism, and a disturbing notion that it's literally not possible to rise above the station in life that you're born to.The hero is a foundling, raised in a Chicago orphanage. Since infancy, he's never heard any language but American English. Yet we know he's Irish -- because he speaks with (Stratton-Porter's notion of) an Irish accent. And not just *any* Irish accent: one character, on hearing him, is certain that "somewhere before accident and poverty, there had been an ancestor who spoke cultivated English." "Freckles" -- he refuses to use any other name, because the name he was given in the orphanage isn't "really" his -- falls in love with a beautiful girl, whose name we never learn (she is referred to only as "The Swamp Angel"; her father is "The Man of Affairs." Stratton-Porter was strange about names). But he refuses to marry her, or even to admit his love, because his birth-mother apparently beat him, cut his hand off, and abandoned him on the steps of the orphanage. What has this to do with his love for the Angel? Why, that he *cannot* rise any higher than what his ancestors were. And if his mother (and father, but the unspoken implication is that only an illegitimate child would be abandoned by its mother) could do such a thing, that makes her child -- who never knew her -- automatically unworthy of love. It is regarded -- by Freckles, by all the other characters, and clearly by the author -- as much better for him to make himself *and his love* unhappy, than to court her "without knowledge of honorable birth." The Swamp Angel does manage to convince him that he is worthy of love. How? By convincing him that his *parents* were upright, upstanding, and probably well-to-do people: that his talent for singing is incontrovertible evidence that "somewhere in your close blood is a marvelously trained vocalist," that his "tact and courtesy" are "a direct inheritance from a race of men that have been gentlemen for ages, and couldn't be anything else." Even his rejection of the Angel, his determination that it's better to make them both suffer than to love her as the lowborn foundling he thinks he is, is regarded as evidence of his "fineness." And yes, in the "happy" ending, Freckles does find that he's the nephew of "Lord O'More," and *thus* worthy of the Swamp Angel's love. Never -- not once -- is it suggested that he prove himself worthy of her, *regardless* of what his ancestors may or may not have been. Merely being *himself* a good, decent, upstanding human being is not enough. And there lies the central theme of the novel. You are, and can only be, what your *ancestors* were. It's an almost medieval notion of the Great Chain of Being, a notion that it's utterly wrong and inappropriate to try and rise above your proper "station" in life, to improve yourself or your situation in any way. The "good" characters in the book are divided into two groups: the ruling class, elites such as Freckles's employer ("The Boss had never exacted any deference from his men, yet so intense was his personality that no man of them had ever attempted a familiarity. They all knew him to be a thorough gentleman, and that in the great timber city several millions stood to his credit") and the Swamp Angel's father; and the "lowborn," like the Duncans, the humble happy hard-working peasantry who protect Freckles and provide him a foster-family in the lumber camp, but who "know their place" and do not presume to try and rise above it. In "Freckles," we see the first hints of the profoundly elitist attitude that, for Stratton-Porter, reached its zenith in the disgusting racism of "Her Father's Daughter."
Rating: 
Summary: A lone dissenting voice
Review: Looking at the reviews here, I see that I'm apparently the only person who seriously disliked "Freckles." I expected to like it. Parts of it are memorable. But overall, it combines an awareness of the natural world, a joyous fascination with all forms of wildlife, with a distressing anti-democratic elitism, and a disturbing notion that it's literally not possible to rise above the station in life that you're born to. The hero is a foundling, raised in a Chicago orphanage. Since infancy, he's never heard any language but American English. Yet we know he's Irish -- because he speaks with (Stratton-Porter's notion of) an Irish accent. And not just *any* Irish accent: one character, on hearing him, is certain that "somewhere before accident and poverty, there had been an ancestor who spoke cultivated English." "Freckles" -- he refuses to use any other name, because the name he was given in the orphanage isn't "really" his -- falls in love with a beautiful girl, whose name we never learn (she is referred to only as "The Swamp Angel"; her father is "The Man of Affairs." Stratton-Porter was strange about names). But he refuses to marry her, or even to admit his love, because his birth-mother apparently beat him, cut his hand off, and abandoned him on the steps of the orphanage. What has this to do with his love for the Angel? Why, that he *cannot* rise any higher than what his ancestors were. And if his mother (and father, but the unspoken implication is that only an illegitimate child would be abandoned by its mother) could do such a thing, that makes her child -- who never knew her -- automatically unworthy of love. It is regarded -- by Freckles, by all the other characters, and clearly by the author -- as much better for him to make himself *and his love* unhappy, than to court her "without knowledge of honorable birth." The Swamp Angel does manage to convince him that he is worthy of love. How? By convincing him that his *parents* were upright, upstanding, and probably well-to-do people: that his talent for singing is incontrovertible evidence that "somewhere in your close blood is a marvelously trained vocalist," that his "tact and courtesy" are "a direct inheritance from a race of men that have been gentlemen for ages, and couldn't be anything else." Even his rejection of the Angel, his determination that it's better to make them both suffer than to love her as the lowborn foundling he thinks he is, is regarded as evidence of his "fineness." And yes, in the "happy" ending, Freckles does find that he's the nephew of "Lord O'More," and *thus* worthy of the Swamp Angel's love. Never -- not once -- is it suggested that he prove himself worthy of her, *regardless* of what his ancestors may or may not have been. Merely being *himself* a good, decent, upstanding human being is not enough. And there lies the central theme of the novel. You are, and can only be, what your *ancestors* were. It's an almost medieval notion of the Great Chain of Being, a notion that it's utterly wrong and inappropriate to try and rise above your proper "station" in life, to improve yourself or your situation in any way. The "good" characters in the book are divided into two groups: the ruling class, elites such as Freckles's employer ("The Boss had never exacted any deference from his men, yet so intense was his personality that no man of them had ever attempted a familiarity. They all knew him to be a thorough gentleman, and that in the great timber city several millions stood to his credit") and the Swamp Angel's father; and the "lowborn," like the Duncans, the humble happy hard-working peasantry who protect Freckles and provide him a foster-family in the lumber camp, but who "know their place" and do not presume to try and rise above it. In "Freckles," we see the first hints of the profoundly elitist attitude that, for Stratton-Porter, reached its zenith in the disgusting racism of "Her Father's Daughter."
Rating:
Summary: READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: My father read freckles to me and my sisters 3 years ago. I have loved it ever since. The sweet innocent love between Freckles and the Swamp Angel gets me every time. I recommend this book to anyone with a pulse
Rating:
Summary: READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: My father read freckles to me and my sisters 3 years ago. I have loved it ever since. The sweet innocent love between Freckles and the Swamp Angel gets me every time. I recommend this book to anyone with a pulse
Rating:
Summary: My Father's favorite book as he grew up.
Review: My father was born in 1906, in 1910 his father died, and he was sent to be raised by an Aunt and Uncle. While he was there he was horribly injured, and never returned home. He found and read "Freckles" during this exile, and felt very strong empathy for this loney young man, raised separate from his birth family, maimed ,and sure no woman would ever love him, as he was. He learned many of the important lessons of life from this classic book, honesty, perserverence, hard work and most of all, that there is a wonderful woman waiting somewhere that would judge him, not by his scarred body, but by what is in his heart. It was always his favorite, as it shall always be mine.
Rating:
Summary: My Father's favorite book as he grew up.
Review: My father was born in 1906, in 1910 his father died, and he was sent to be raised by an Aunt and Uncle. While he was there he was horribly injured, and never returned home. He found and read "Freckles" during this exile, and felt very strong empathy for this loney young man, raised separate from his birth family, maimed ,and sure no woman would ever love him, as he was. He learned many of the important lessons of life from this classic book, honesty, perserverence, hard work and most of all, that there is a wonderful woman waiting somewhere that would judge him, not by his scarred body, but by what is in his heart. It was always his favorite, as it shall always be mine.
Rating:
Summary: A true love story
Review: Suffering from the "unfairness of life" a young man makes choices. Abandoned at birth with only one arm, Freckles chooses to love....and love He does! He finds the world about him the object of his intense love. He finds the people about him worthy of love. Finally, he finds himself not worthy to love one special girl and is surprised in the end with her response. We are led into a magical world where love is not yet tarnished with selfishness. A joy to read again and again and a very special foundation to preteen and teen training in love.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful!!
Review: This book is so sweet! The story is classic and very charming. The main character, "Freckles" has an indomitable spirit. I found this story inspiring in that a person could go through so many trials in such a short life and still have such a trust for the rest of the human race. The book has a rather simple story with a few good twists that keep the reader intrigued. My only caution about this book is that it is written in the way a young immigrant would speak. This sometimes makes the reading a little slower, but if you are willing to try it is well worth the effort. I would definitly recommend this book to any young person. "Freckles" is a fresh change to the violence and bloodshed that is so popular today. I first read this book in grade school and I think I enjoyed it as much now as I did then.
Rating: 
Summary: I will never get enough of this book
Review: This is a wonderful entertaining book that really makes you think.It has a little romance to please the girls,and adventure to make guys happy.It will make you laugh and cry.I like it better than Girl of the Limberlost,because it has more action.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite book in the world after the scriptures, serious!
Review: This is indeed my favorite book. I just read it to my family and they loved it too. It was my third time. Freckles is the type of boy I want my three boys to be, and the examples of courage, loyalty, and love will be in their memory a long time, I'm sure. I read many books to my children, and rate them all 1 through 10. I rarely give a 10 but Freckles is a 10 and a half!
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