Old Home Town

This book is wonderful, funny and hearwarming. My great aunt was born in the same era and used to tell me similar stories in this fashion. What a life women had in the olden days, there are not many real life accounts in print that are honest and true. This one is. What a fun book to read.

This delightful collection of short stories was based on Rose Wilder Lane's life as she was growing up. She accurately described the issues women faced at around the turn of a century, especially that of being an old maid! An old maid if you're not married by your mid-20's? Wow! The stories in this book was a combination of humorous and some seriousness. The characters were realistic and seem to come to life for that time period.

I bought my copy at the museum in Mansfield because I always wanted to read Rose's work. This book is a gem. The essay introducing the book is worth getting the book but each story is a gem on its own. Her voice is fresh and rings well today. You would not know she lived in the first half of the 20th century. I have loaned this book out to 2 people now and all of us are knocked out at how good Rose was. Purchase it, read it. Rose was well known in the early part of last century for good reason. Let's bring this author back to the audience she richly deserves today.

Lane's collection of short stories centers on a unnamed small town in the American Midwest. Beginning with an introduction that lays out for us geography and social codes, Lane invites us to walk the streets and enter the houses with her, helping us to see how the small town at the end of the 19th century became the foundation for mid-20th-century American life.Lane brings to life a rich cast of characters, many of them recurring throughtout the book. Each story is filled with telling details, strong character development and plot. Many of the stories detail the traps into which women fall -- marriages of convenience, the struggle against poverty, the subversion of natural desires to social convention.Without denying the narrowness of small-town life, these stories brim with affection for the small town and its people, with all their genuine concern for one another. Hardship and hilarity, gossip and grace, these small-town characters see and experience it all.Staying close to her small town while traveling far beyond it, Lane succeeds in setting down the details of a time and place long gone, yet populated with easily-recognized characters. A fine read, filled with the pleasure of nostalgia, yet not in the least soothing. Her view is too sharp for sedation.