Bachelor Girl (Little House)

Rating:
Summary: A stunning portrait of a young woman ahead of her time
Review: "Bachelor Girl" was a nice closing episode to the 'Rose' series of books. It was a well-chosen ending place to the story as Rose clearly is leaving the child world and entering that of the adult at the end.

The 'Rose' series, overall, makes a nice compliment to the original 'Laura' series--not as good, mind you, but a decent sequel. The series starts off a bit slow and uneventfully, but picks up in the later books. I'd recommend them to young readers who've read the 'Laura' books and want more of the story. They don't have, and won't give, the same historical sense as the original series, however, as they lack that element of first-hand flavor Laura was able to give to an era she actually lived through.

Now the nit-picking critique...I found myself questioning the portrayal of Rose's personality in this 8th book. In the previous books she'd been pridefully, almost arrogantly, confident in her intelligence and educational achievements. Though she hadn't socialized well with kids her age she had been bold and out-going in other ways (dating a college man, etc.). Now, grownup and on her own, Rose is suddenly shy and uncertain, letting herself be trod upon and looked down upon. And tell me, would a girl who had managed to learn fluent Latin in less than a year have to look up the definition of "inhibitions"? Laura, even when she was being a proper young lady, always held onto her inner rebelliousness--Rose's seems to have been nearly snuffed out in most of this book.

I also wondered about her sudden interest in being a housewife. Flirting with the idea of playing house with Paul could have worked better if it had been clearly battling inside her with her desire for independence. The entire Paul relationship was not quite as deftly worked as it could have been. Its resolution was foreshadowed in a clunky, predictable way. It was interesting to meet Rose's future husband (and future ex-husband), Gillette Lane. He was not fully fleshed out as a character, but one could see how he would both fascinate her with his flash and style and, regrettably, the traits that could make the relationship fall apart later.

Oddly, San Francisco didn't come to life in the story. A curious omission was the cable cars. I never quite felt I could place her within the City even though several specific places were mentioned (including places where the, mentioned, street cars would have been cable cars). The atmosphere was missing.

Something I would have liked to have seen hints of was Rose's future career as a journalist. Though she wrote many letters (were these historically authentic? ), the inclination to a writing career didn't come through.

Though these books were written as children's or young adult's stories--fiction based on fact-- I would dearly have loved to have seen an "historical notes" section at the end.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but not as entertaining as the rest
Review: Although I was interested to read about this part of Rose's life, this volume wasn't as well written as the rest of the series (it was published after Roger Lea McBride's death and may not have been fully completed by him). It reads a little strangely (especially because it is written at an easy-read level but covers an adult period of her life) and sadly ends fairly abruptly, too, at a major turning point for Rose.

To read more about Rose's life, try "West from Home : Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder, San Francisco 1915," which tells you what Rose was doing nine years after the end of this book and how things turned out for her.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful end to a wonderful series
Review: If anyone out there has hesitated to read the Rose Wilder Lane entries into the extended Little House family as they felt as I once did they would be pale copies of the original series, please don't hesitate any longer! This series has a voice of its own, and is very, very well written. I wish it was longer. I loved this last book. Rose is very different than Laura and in fact I think most women of her day. She is very strong willed and intelligent, and determined to make her own way in the world. I was especially struck by the descriptions of the early day of her life both in Kansas City and San Francisco---just how lonely and desolate life could be for a career girl starting out in those days, and how strong she was to persevere. Her growing awareness in this book that the life she always saw for herself---as a contented wife to Paul in a small world---is not really what she wants is very well done. The message sent to girls who might read this book is powerful. I also very much liked the way this series "grew up" like the original series. This last book is quite adult, though certainly not inappropriate for those who also read the early ones.

Rating:
Summary: Poor ending for outstanding series
Review: This has been a great series, but it ends just when it's about to get really interesting. Although most people know Rose Wilder Lane only as Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter, she's far more interesting in her own right. Rose became a well-known author, traveled all over the world, was briefly a Communist but was disillusioned by her trip to Soviet Russia, and eventually decided that the only revlution worth caring about was not the Russian Revolution but the American Revolution. She finally became a free-market anarchist and a major influence on the 20th-century libertarian movement. Her best nonfiction books are _The Discovery of Freedom_, _Give Me Liberty_, and _The Lady and the Tycoon_. (Tragically, all but the first are out of print, I believe.) She was a great fighter for liberty, and an incredibly delightful prose stylist, with a sharp mind and a sharp tongue. One of my favorite quotes from RWL (as her fans call her): "On Patriotism: I do not go into rhapsodies about `my country,' its rocks and rills, its super highways and wooded hills.... This whole world is almost unbearably beautiful; why should I love Oak Creek Canyon or California's beaches or Washington's Sea Island counties any more than the Bocca di Cattaro or Delphi or the Bosphorus? Because *I*, me, the great RWL, was born in the Dakota Territory? The logic seems weak, somehow, don't you feel? My attachment to these USA is wholly, entirely, absolutely to The Revolution, the real world revolution, which men began here and which has -- so to speak -- a foothold on earth here. If reactionaries succeed in destroying the revolutionary structure of social and political human life here, I care no more about this continent than about any other. If I lived long enough I would find and join the revival of the Revolution wherever it might be in Africa or Asia or Europe, the Arctic or Antarctic. And let this country go with all the other regimes that collectivism has wrecked and eliminated since history began. So much for patriotism, mine."

Rating:
Summary: Not an Original Work
Review: This is an indirect copy of a fictional serial Rose wrote around 1918-1920: "Diverging Roads." It was republished by Roger Lea MacBride as "Rose Wilder Lane: Her Story," back in the 1970's. Unfortunately, it WASN'T her story: after giving the book that misleading title, MacBride explains in the introduction that many details were changed from Rose's real life. I compare this pitiful effort to William Holtz's staggering portrayal of Rose, and it is obvious which of these two men had more scholarly respect for Rose Wilder Lane. Even though I do not agree with many of Mr. Holtz's conclusions about Rose and her relationship with her mother, his work is fully researched, the information sound. The same cannot possibly be said about MacBride's attempts to pass off fiction as fact.

In the serial, here's what eventually happened to Helen (Rose's character): she doesn't marry, but joins forces with other women who are writers/journalists, and realizes that she wants a life of freedom and independence. That part was never published by MacBride, and I have often wondered why that was so. I personally don't understand why the "Rocky Ridge" series ended in such an adult fashion. MacBride could have concluded with Rose traveling to Kansas City to pursue a new career; Rose ended her book "Old Home Town" that way, with her character Ernestine (a young Rose in disguise) going off to business college to learn happily ever after. But no, it is much easier to copy Rose's original text than it is to come up with your own. Yes, I realize MacBride may have already passed on by the time this volume was approached, but anyone with background information on Rose and half an imagination could have finished the series with more success. Actually, that goes for the whole set of books, not just this one.

Rating:
Summary: Not a very good ending to the series
Review: Thoroughly charming, but rushed at the end. Having read a previous volume written by Mr. McBride, I realize, however, Rose's life quickly becomes more adult, and thus, less appealing for children. She is just as fascinating as her mother.