Rating: 
Summary: GREAT! "Little House on The Praire" for Grown-Ups
Review: Another great read by Jane Smiley! I first heard about this novel after an Austrian friend's daughter told me how much she liked it - and that she was writing a book report on this novel for her American history class! I read this while down with a bad flu and enjoyed every page. Some of the comments about the book mention the slow pace of the novel. I thought that this was perfectly appropriate for the time - Smiley's talent brings you back and lets you imagine what it would be like for us to live 150 years ago; daily life was so much more physically difficult and repetitive. Still the people in her novels will remind you of people you know while you learn about another time and place from a woman's point of view. Great book!
One comment must be made about the so-called review by "SC" of November 5, 2004. It's fine, SC, if you don't agree with Smiley's opinion piece/political analysis of the red state/blue state divide **PUBLISHED IN SLATE.com, NOT THIS BOOK!** but criticizing THIS book for a political opinion published elsewhere is ridiculous. It is completely inappropriate of SC to leave this sort of negative and completely irrelevant comment about Smiley's OTHER WRITINGS when SC is supposed to be reviewing THIS BOOK!
For example, in my opinion (and in my dad's, as well!) William F. Buckley has contemptible political opinions. Nevertheless, my dad loved his books and would never mix his dislike of Buckley's politics with his criticism or praise of Buckley's fiction.
SC has posted this "thought-police" comment for EACH AND EVERY ONE of Smiley's books. SC's review has no place here - it is clearly contrary to the intent of the rating program.
Rating: 
Summary: But still not sure what to think...
Review: I just finished "Lidie Newton" last night and I have to say I'm still divided on whether I'd recommend this book. I guess the best way to qualify it is that I'm not sure I'd suggest it to a friend, but I'd definitely like it if my daughters read it.I make my home in Kansas City and so the historical aspect was particularly interesting to me, probably much more so than for someone who did not grow up here. Having a first-person account from a character as interesting as Lidie also made it more appealing. She's a great character -- more confused than noble, plain, funny, selfish on one hand and tender on the other, smart about some things and really ignorant on others. Jane Smiley knows how to write great characters and Lidie was a much better history lesson than any I remember getting in school. (I had to refresh my memory on the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Missouri Compromise when I read this). However, I do agree with readers who complain that the book drags in places... it does. Those slower places may reveal some interesting tidbit but what could have been said in one page seemed to go on for five. The temptation to skim was really overwhelming, especially after she leaves K.T. for Missouri. People who are looking for a satisfying ending will not get one, as the book just seems to abruptly stop with no hint of what or where Lidie's life will be made. This is what keeps it from being a "five star" book and an unqualified "must read". Because sometimes I had to MAKE myself read it. That being said, I'm glad I did. It really made me think about the beliefs and the behaviors of the people who settled here -- some, my own relatives. While most of the book is understandably pro-Kansas, anti-Missouri, Ms. Smiley does try to offer some explaination of the seemingly indefensible views of Missourians (and "true" southerners). The novel itself goes a long way in explaining the animosity that existed here between Kansans and Missourians -- a real life-or-death conflict that only remains today as the KU/MU college rivalry. Just expect that when you close the book for the last time, you'll be as exhausted as Lidie must have been at the end of her travels.
Rating: 
Summary: Historical fiction?
Review: This is the only novel by Jane Smiley that has taken me 6 months to get through. It was hard to pick up the book and continue on because nothing was grasping my curiousity or interest. This novel is an attempt to tell U.S. history through the eyes of a ficticious character, but it does not work. The characters are shallow - you never know anything useful about any of them. Smiley attempts to dig deeper into Liddie's psyche after the death of Thomas, but it is a little too late. You find out about what she thinks of everyone else, but you never know what she is thinking. Too bad, Liddie could be a very like-able character. And as for Thomas Newton, we knew so little of him the novel probably could have succeeded without him. And how much of the history in this novel are we to believe? Are we inclined to go to the public library and research the Civil War because of this novel? - I think not. A book like "Cold Mountain" made me want to research the Civil War because it was captivating. Smiley did so well in "A Thousand Acres" with her Shakespearean motif, and did well with "Moo" - in both novels you could relate to the characters, sympathize with them. Both of those continue to be two of my favorite novels, but "The True Adventures...." is one that will sit on my bookshelf and never be read again. Smiley should take a little more time to write something unique and imaginative, not a history essay. She is a great author when she doesn't try to write something that is out of her league. She is no James Michener.
Rating: 
Summary: A Pleasant Variation in Historical Fiction
Review: I read a lot of historical fiction, and am by training an historian, so I feel qualified to give this book a solid thumbs-up review. Smiley has chosen an historical period and locale not frequently visited by modern novelists. Her exploration of the antebellum Kansas frontier reveals many little-known events and interesting historical figures. I found it admirable that Smiley allowed the central character, Liddie Newton, to be shaped and changed by the events of her life. Many authors create a rock-like character and bounce events off of them, but Liddie is very realistically painted. Knowing something of history and of the complexities of public opinion in the pre-war period will help readers enjoy this book more, but I think anyone who likes a good story told gently will appreciate Liddie Newton.
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