Free Land

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Summary: When I was your age, sony, I slept on the floor...
Review: Free Land reminds me of the stories my parents would tell me about their lives when they were getting on their feet. Ostensibly, the intent of the story is to entertain. But there is also an underlying lesson about the virtue of hard work and determination.

Lane keeps the action moving, her characters come alive, and the story is compelling. I especially loved the incidental tid-bits about what daily life was like in the late 1800's. I look forward to buying more of her books.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful author
Review: I have to disagree with the reviewer who said Rose was not capable of writing longer fiction -- that basically she should have stuck with short stories! This is a fine novel. Taking some of Laura Ingalls Wilder's memories and making a novel out of them does not make Rose Wilder Lane a lesser writer; it makes her imaginative and creative! (Don't many writers take stories from their family's past & create fiction?) I have read this novel and "Let the Hurricane Roar" and both are excellent, hard-to-put-down novels...as worthy to be on the same shelf as any of Laura's. You can't compare the two writers (although everyone always does). They both have distinct styles. I recommend Free Land very highly & hope others will explore Rose Wilder Lane's work. It's very good & MEMORABLE.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful author
Review: I have to disagree with the reviewer who said Rose was not capable of writing longer fiction -- that basically she should have stuck with short stories! This is a fine novel. Taking some of Laura Ingalls Wilder's memories and making a novel out of them does not make Rose Wilder Lane a lesser writer; it makes her imaginative and creative! (Don't many writers take stories from their family's past & create fiction?) I have read this novel and "Let the Hurricane Roar" and both are excellent, hard-to-put-down novels...as worthy to be on the same shelf as any of Laura's. You can't compare the two writers (although everyone always does). They both have distinct styles. I recommend Free Land very highly & hope others will explore Rose Wilder Lane's work. It's very good & MEMORABLE.

Rating:
Summary: Didn't really hold my interest, personally
Review: It was interesting to hear about life in the 1800's, especially some of the harshness of prairie life and settling into new territory. It was also interesting to see how some of the characters resembled those in the "Little House" series. But this book did not hold my interest and I had to quit reading it after the first 100 pages. It seemed to dry and bland, not enough character development. But this book was written in the 1930's and books written then may have taken a different approach than those written today. Again, this might make a good little history book of the 1800's, but for me, it just wasn't too interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Didn't really hold my interest, personally
Review: It was interesting to hear about life in the 1800's, especially some of the harshness of prairie life and settling into new territory. It was also interesting to see how some of the characters resembled those in the "Little House" series. But this book did not hold my interest and I had to quit reading it after the first 100 pages. It seemed to dry and bland, not enough character development. But this book was written in the 1930's and books written then may have taken a different approach than those written today. Again, this might make a good little history book of the 1800's, but for me, it just wasn't too interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Rose Wilder Lane - Ghost Writer
Review: One way that Rose Wilder Lane earned her living was by ghost writing. There is compelling evidence that she ghost-wrote the Little House books. I recommend the book "The Ghost in the Little House - A Life of Rose Wilder Lane", by William Holtz. She was a facinating woman who should not be lost to history.

Rating:
Summary: Rose Wilder Lane - Ghost Writer
Review: One way that Rose Wilder Lane earned her living was by ghost writing. There is compelling evidence that she ghost-wrote the Little House books. I recommend the book "The Ghost in the Little House - A Life of Rose Wilder Lane", by William Holtz. She was a facinating woman who should not be lost to history.

Rating:
Summary: An easy, but slightly disappointing read
Review: Rose Wilder Lane was a famous journalist then novelist long before her mother, Laura Ingalls Wilder, ever started the Little House books. She was Laura's inspiration, writing coach and editor. Meanwhile Rose conducted her own research and wrote Free Land during this time. It's about the period in the 1880's when there was a homesteading rush in the plains. This book tells the story of one unnamed community in Dakota Territory and its settlers. If I had never read the Little House books and didn't know very much about Laura Ingalls' family-I might have really, really enjoyed this story. It's compelling, not overly dramatic or romanticized and historically accurate. The "heroes" of the story, the Beatons and the Peters, are ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Without giving away spoilers, the only technical problem I had with reading is the anti-climatic ending. On the other hand, I have read the Little House series plus documented speeches given by Laura. Rose's novel is a complete retelling of Laura's Dakota stories (plus others)-with some fictional embellishments. Some of the names are the same, some are altered slightly-and a couple of relationships are switched around. But it's Laura's story alright. She even inserted stories that Laura was prohibited from doing (to keep her books appropriate for children). So, while I already felt for the characters while reading. I couldn't help but feel that Rose cheated her mom. The writing styles are definitely different. I can say that I "enjoyed" Laura's style much more. She has a flair for detail, which makes the mundane very exciting-and tangilble. Whereas Rose skips a lot of detail to tell more story, to give more meat to the plot.

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Summary: The Price of Free Land
Review: The Homestead Act promised people "free land" if they lived on it and worked it for five years. This book by Rose Wilder Lane, daughter of Laura and Almanzo Wilder, is about the enormous price of that free land.

Though Rose clearly draws her source material from the experiences of her parents and grandparents, she tell a far different tale than that of Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" books. I always visualize this story as being that of a young couple living on the far opposite side of town from the Ingalls. One might expect to see Pa, Ma, and Laura in the distance walking down the street, but this is not their story. Many tales you may read about in biographies of Laura are told here in fictionalized form.

"Free Land" is somewhat darker than the Little House books, and is an adult's story (though nothing is terribly inappropriate for younger readers, very young children may not care for it) with some of the harsher aspects of the pioneering life shown more vividly. It is also told from a young adult male's point of view, and so deals often with his struggles to be a responsible provider for a growing family--you can see both Almanzo Wilder and Charles Ingalls in him--while balancing against his desire for freedom and adventure.

Rose and Laura were very different writers and, in reading this book, you'll probably find yourself doubting--as I do--the claims that it was Rose who really wrote the Little House books. Their styles are too different. Rose Wilder Lane is a fine writer in her own right and this book, and her others, are well worth reading.

"Free Land" is a worthy novel in its own right, and as a suppliment to the Little House books it is a fine reading experience.

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Summary: Correction for the previous reviewer!
Review: This book originally was written in 1937-38, and published in 1938. The first "Little House" book came out in 1932, and the books in Laura Ingalls Wilder's series dealing with her South Dakota years, beginning with "By the Shores of Silver Lake" were first published in 1937. So it is more likely that Rose, while editing her mother's books for publication, used (I hate to use the term "plagarized" but it almost fits) her mother's children's books as ideas for her own (she also did this with "Let the Hurricane Roar"). Both "Free Land" and "Hurricane" (reissued in the 70's as "Young Pioneers") are probably only of interest to those interested in Rose Wilder Lane, whom I believe was better at editing other people's material and writing short stories than actually writing entire books on her own.