The Long Winter

"I listened to the audiobook version.<br/><br/>Man, I don’t think I would have been able to survive almost a year of blizzards, the stress and worry of wondering if I had enough to eat including five other family members, staying civil with other people in a town especially when supplies and goods are scarce with no hope of the trains coming, the constant cold with fingers scratched from making hay sticks that doesn’t last too long to keep the fire going, still having to do chores and keep up on homework/studies, and having to stop using candles/kerosene and going to bed early because it was too dark to do anything…<br/><br/>It was almost like a cabin fever, I think I would have gone crazy and feel the way Laura felt after a while of feeling dumb and in a long stupor.<br/><br/>I can only say, they were able to survive and it really showed how Laura and her family could keep their sanity, their civility, and endure hardships as best they could when their physical and emotional well-beings were tested to their limits.<br/><br/>I was glad they received little blessings here and there of being able to get food as soon as they would run out of supplies. Somehow someone had something for Pa to bring food to his family."

"The pioneer experience as horror movie. Wilder's anything but nostalgic look back at a devastating Dakota winter cries out for the Steven King treatment. All the elements are there: creepy warnings from a wise old Indian, odd and disturbing animal behavior, nature perverted in deeply upsetting ways: the cattle suffocate when their own breath freezes them to the ground, an ordinary school day turns instantly into a struggle for survival. Even the reliably unflappable Pa becomes unhinged and screams at a wind that has become the personification of unrelenting, uncaring evil. <br/><br/>There's little of the Michael Landon warm fuzzies in this book. Although Wilder's story has its heroes, (notably her husband Almanzo) she makes it clear that surviving the pioneer experience depended on luck as much as skill or intelligence.<br/><br/>"

"Read this to Claire. She really loved it! Extremely repetitive unfortunately. "I liked that they survived but I didn't like it that they haded to eat bread. I was uncomfortable with them just having bread" (her review)"

"Yes! I remember the first time i read it!! The thing i love most about Laura Ingalls Wilder's books is that she wrote it in such a way that she makes it feel like you were there too!! She really had quite the life! Great book!"