Shannon Costello

"At Land’s End I had my first view of the Pacific Ocean…The water is such a deep wonderful blue and the sound of the waves breaking on the beach and their whisper as they flow back is something to dream about."

Who says Laura can’t write?

Laura was visiting Rose in San Francisco when she wrote the letters in this book…to "Manly" from "Bessie."  It was fun fitting Laura into what was going on at the time.  She read in the papers about the war in Europe…heard Fritz Kreisler play…crossed the bay by boat since there was no bridge yet…and rode street cars through the streets of San Francisco.

On the other hand, how about the letter from Rose to Manly, warning him that Laura is getting fat, probably from eating too many scones…

It would take about 12 hours to drive from De Smet, South Dakota, to Mansfield, Missouri. Laura, Almanzo and Rose started out at 8:40 on July 17, 1894 in their wagon with its thermometer (until it got lost) and their hen coop hanging off the back.  They arrived in Mansfield on August 30.

For someone who didn’t want to marry a farmer, Laura knew an awful lot about what she was seeing. She recorded the crops they passed, commenting on acreage and quality.  This was Laura’s personal diary, and there are certainly flashes of Laura unplugged:  ”Mrs. Cooley and I went to a house to buy milk.  It was swarming with children and pigs; they looked a good deal alike.”

More pictures of the real Laura come from Rose, who wrote the introduction and conclusion, and supplied the captions for the pictures (one of which was taken by Laura herself- the thought gives me chills).  Laura whistled.  And carried a revolver.  But Almanzo wouldn’t let her use an axe…but the cross-cut saw was ok.  Rose, by the way, had her own strong personality- I wouldn’t have wanted to cross her.

They picked up a stray dog on the way, which they named, believe it or not, Fido.  The dry weather is what drove them out of South Dakota…so it was interesting that they met up with people traveling in both directions, including people specifically looking to live in South Dakota.  Laura and Almanzo apparently arranged to get their mail in Fort Scott- there were letters waiting for them there.

It is almost overwhelming to read this stuff, and to look at prints of photographs taken over a hundred years ago, and to think about what it must have been like…

Today one of my co-workers brought in her 1932 edition of Little House in the Big Woods with illustrations by Helen Sewell.  The drawings of Ma and Pa looked exactly right.

Mr. Mason.  Mr. Varner.  Eric.  Jessica.  Angela.  Mr. Banner.  Mike.  Coach Clapp.  Tyler.  Lauren. Ben Cheney.

How long did it take you to catch on that all of these are characters from Twilight?  Now compare what you know about those characters to what you know of Prue from The Hunger Games, Pol from The Thief, or the Parvarti twins from Harry Potter.

It was only after I finished re-reading Twilight recently that I was struck with how flat Bella’s classmates and teachers are as characters.  We know little about them.  They don’t contribute to the plot. They are really there so they can be a foil for Bella (the boys by conveniently falling in love with her, unlike the boys in Phoenix).  Bella herself doesn’t care about them, which makes her look bad.    Jacob doesn’t even stand out in this first book.  He is short and gullible for the first half and spends the second half carrying messages for his grandfather.  I think those people are a lost opportunity from a writing perspective.

I suppose some of the blame for the writing quality of Twilight can be blamed on poor editing:  “The room was familiar; it had been belonged to me since I was born.”

A quick scan of the first chapter reveals a lot of dashes, I think too many (too bad- I love dashes myself!).  As I read further I realized that some of the dashes replace more appropriate punctuation.  Sometimes there are word choice issues.  Here’s a sentence I don’t like:  “I pulled the faded old quilt over my head, and later added the pillow, too.”  The word ‘later’ is jarring; perhaps ‘then’ would be a better choice.  In other areas the sentences do not flow well together:  “Maybe there was a glitch in my brain.  But the cause didn’t matter.  All that mattered was the effect.  And tomorrow would be just the beginning.”

It may be only fair to mention here that Stephenie Meyer specifically calls herself a story teller and not a writer.  That may be why I get the feeling that sentences don’t move beyond utilitarian to artistic.  (In contrast I’m thinking of Shannon Hale’s writing, where it is not surprising when one bumps into some gorgeous sentences.)

There are some minor plausibility issues (besides the whole plot itself!).  Edward tells Bella that she can’t smell blood and is surprised when she can.  Where does his idea come from?  Bella, by the end of her first week at school, can recognize most of the 300 students in her school.  Really? And why must they take Bella back to Arizona?  Couldn’t they hide her at their house and go on the offensive with the tracker?

There are definitely some telling versus showing problems.  Edward sometimes speaks “with unfamiliar cadences and phrases that better fit the style of a turn-of-the-century novel…”  I don’t remember any examples of that at all. I don’t even see how a speech of Edward’s, taken out of context, could be distinguished from a speech of Bella’s.  I think it is Jane Austen who is supposed to be really good at writing distinguishable character speeches.

Turning back to character, why does Bella fall for Edward so unconditionally and irrevocably?  Since Twilight is supposed to parallel Pride and Prejudice, let me point out that Darcy first begins to contemplate Elizabeth’s fine eyes and, along with the rest of us, is completely won over by her lively character.  He later admires her for how she helped him see his own faults. In contrast, Edward initially stays away from Bella because he wants to kill her, but decides that he is so attracted to her he is going to try to be close to her anyway.  This makes him look weak.

Elizabeth is turned off by Darcy’s pride, but as she gets to know him she begins to do his character justice.  And it doesn’t hurt that he saves her family from complete disgrace.  Bella, on the other hand, is never really turned off to Edward.  While Elizabeth’s and Darcy’s characters help drive the plot in Pride and Prejudice, in Twilight the plot unfortunately appears to be driven by hormones.

My own romanticism is such that I will naturally prefer a book set in an imaginary world full of kings, queens, thieves, and spies to a book that imagines a future for North America that is truly horrifying and, in certain senses, all too close to reality.  Diplomatic intrigue and uncertain loyalties are more fun than a desperate scrabble for survival.

With my natural bias safely acknowledged, I’m going to rate The Hunger Games as a 9.5 out of 10.  But The Thief gets a 9.8.

Both are well-written books that easily pass multiple re-readings. Each gets you asking questions from the very first line and jumps quickly into the plot without getting bogged down in exposition (in looking at them I realize that my November novel is completely bogged, no, cemented down in exposition- what was I thinking?).

The Thief has a better opening line:  "I didn’t know how long I had been in the king’s prison."  We immediately know something about the setting of the novel and are faced with a compelling question- what on earth is Eugenides doing in prison?  On the other hand, The Hunger Games begins with "When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold."  Yes, questions are raised, but the other person could just be reading upstairs.  The Hunger Games quickly makes up for this difference in the plot exposition.  Repeated ominous references to the Reaping have the reader wondering what it is that Katniss hates and dreads so much.  Important background information is provided in small chunks that are relevant to character movement in the first chapter.  And the ending of chapter 1, with Prim’s name getting chosen, is explosive.  Eugenides is stuck in the king’s prison and can’t move around as much, though we are given intriguing tidbits about his past and the plot gets going ten pages more quickly.

Both authors create characters that seem to live, starting with the protagonists and keeping it up right through the supporting characters to the antagonists.  We know them, their actions, and how they matter to the plot.  All I have to do is say their names and images come to mind.  Haymitch.  Sophos.  The Magus.  Prue.  I do think Eugenides is a more unusual and intriguing character.  That may be partially because he doesn’t trust or acknowledge the reader enough to tell most of what he is thinking.  Katniss never shuts you out.  And Eugenides is driving the plot while Katniss is doing her best not to drown in it.  Not her fault, of course- The Hunger Games is certainly a plot-driven novel.

The Hunger Games stops more than it ends- a pet peeve of mind.  It isn’t as bad as some- Katniss has made it home, but her relationship with Peeta is fully unresolved and that is very much on Katniss’ mind.  And larger questions have been raised- it seems that winning will not be the guarantee of security Katniss had expected.  These are important questions.  I resent not having the answers in my hands.  There are unresolved questions at the end of The Thief , but they are reasonable.  Weddings are questions of the more distant future- there are definite feelings to act on yet.  And Eugenides has stepped back from the whole story and processed it.  There is a definite feeling of an ending.  You are pleased to find out there are more books, but they are a gift from the author to you- a glad surprise rather than a must-have.

The FDA pyramid site has just made me grumpy.

They list all those fine dairy products that will provide calcium to keep my bones from becoming dangerously brittle.  Fine.  They recommend using low-fat yogurt, cheese, etc.  Fine.

About the cheese and yogurt.  If you don’t use low-fat, the extra fat calories come out of your daily discretionary calories (somewhere around 250 for a 2000 calorie diet).  Ok ok.

Oh, and, about that yogurt?  If you use sweetened dairy products like yogurt, the extra sugar calories come out of your daily discretionary calories.  ARRRRRGGGHHHH!

I’m just going to give up and re-name this category "The Well-Rounded Me". 

Like the Little House books, this biography is aimed at young people.  And like the books, it is still very interesting.

Laura certainly simplified her family’s moves.  For example, the family lived in the little house in the woods of Wisconsin, moved out to Indian territory, and moved back to Wisconsin after they were nearly forced out of their house.  It helped that the people who were going to buy it wanted out of the deal.  Later on they headed west again.  Do you remember the scene where Pa takes Mary and Laura to the deserted Indian camp and they find all those beads?  That was the day Carrie was born- they spend all day away from the house and when they come back, there’s the baby.  I read that and all of a sudden that scene made sense in a new way.  Ma and Pa needed Laura and Mary out of the house.

So Laura was actually much younger when they were in Indian territory.  Her Pa and Ma had told her all those stories and she remembered them and later made them into a book.

I’ve got to speculate just a bit about Ma.  She always sounds so perfect, but two photographs of her appear in this biography.  The first is in 1860, just after her wedding.  You can see her hair, nicely arranged over her ears in smooth dark wings- no surprise there.  Her features seem thicker than I expected, though.  She doesn’t look so thin that Pa could have spanned her waist with his hands…but the shadows in the portrait make it tough to tell.  Ok, now skip ahead to 1894.  Ma is now matronly , positively plump!  I’m not sure that Mary isn’t a little larger herself.  But best of all, Ma’s ears are showing.  It is clear from this picture (a family portrait) that the style involves pulling one’s hair back but leaving lots of short tight curls in the front- everybody from Ma to Grace is wearing their hair like that.  Well, not Pa.  He continues to have that amazing beard- it juts out at least six inches from his face- quite scary-looking, really.

Further speculation about Ma.  She allowed Laura to write the following poem:  We remember not the summer/ for it was long ago/ We remember not the summer/ in this whirling blinding snow/ I will leave this frozen region/ I will travel farther south/ If you say one word against it/ I will hit you in the mouth.

Shock.  Shock.  Laura?  Really?  Well, maybe.  But Ma?!

Laura went back to De Smet in 1902 to see Pa before he died.  She was there a month or so and then went back to the Ozarks.  She didn’t get back to De Smet until after 1924, when Ma died.  The last 20 years of Ma’s life, and they didn’t see each other at all.  Same with Mary- Laura never saw either one after 1902.

The move to Missouri was done by wagon.  Later on Laura and Almanzo owned a Buick and then they drove all over- several times to De Smet…they even went to Yellowstone.  I wish that, when I saw Old Faithful, I’d known that Laura had been there once and seen it too.

I love the pictures of Laura.  As a teen she looks like her personality- prepared to tough out whatever comes.  (I find myself looking at the pictures of Mary and comparing them to Garth Williams illustrations- he makes her look blind.)  Her hair is completely white when she is old, and she looks beautiful.  And there is a picture of her all dressed up, with a very nice hat, signing books in a book store, surrounded by girls.

General Mac Arthur pushed for Laura’s books to be translated into German and Japanese after WWII.

A word about schooling.  The first school Laura mentions is the one where Laura meets Nellie Oleson (not her real name- she appears to have been a combination of two people…and Laura only changed the names of the really unsavory characters- the Brewsters appear to have been the other ones who got a name change.)  Laura has a story similar to Almanzo’s about a teacher who was threatened by students.  This student tripped the boy who was coming up to his desk to cause trouble and whipped him (ruler?) while he was down.  The kid left and never came back.  Triumph and tragedy right there.

I had read this before but had forgotten:  You weren’t allowed to teach school if you were married.  Wait a minute.  I think I know of a certain Christian romance novel writer who missed that little fact.  :)   (Shannon, ranting:  Well, what was a woman supposed to do instead….sit home and KNIT?!)

I feel like the unknown little kid who wrote on the last page of a well-thumbed library copy of one of the little house books:  "I love you, Laura."

This is the book I am least familiar with…and yet, it comes unedited from Laura’s pen.  Rose’s lawyer ended up with the notebooks it was written in and it was eventually decided to publish it as is, almost 30 years after the previous book.

Laura is an adult now, with adult problems.  She doesn’t want to marry a farmer.  Her infant son dies suddenly.  Her house burns down.  She and Almanzo are in debt.  The Boasts, old family friends (Laura’s family, Laura and Almanzo, and the Boasts celebrated major holidays together- Mrs. Boast is the one that gave Ma the chicks to start their own flock), offer her their best horse in exchange for Laura’s daughter, since Laura will be able to have other children and they never will.  Laura is horrified and tells Almanzo to drive away, but she also feels badly for Mr. Boast, standing there, and Mrs. Boast, inside but knowing that her husband was going to ask that question.  The Boasts don’t get another mention.

The other books tend to cover a year’s worth of time, and they are longer.  This book races through four years.  This different treatment of time and Laura’s adult perspective are two major reasons the books are so different.

There’s another difference I’m not sure I can put my finger on.  It might be how unvarnished the whole thing is (since Laura never edited this the way she did her other books).  There is less apology for herself, for both her good and bad characteristics, than may be seen in the other books, less care for what others might think (Almanzo’s and Laura’s age difference is unedited in this one).

There are similarities.  Laura still writes about herself in the third person and she still quotes a lot of songs.  And Laura is the same- brave in the face of danger, with a mind of her own, a lover of the outdoors.

There exist studies that conclude that a teacher’s expectations for a student can influence that student’s performance.  If I expect my female math students will be less competent than my male students…this is why a necessary quality for every new teacher is supposed to be that they believe that every child can learn.

Laura motivates Clarence when he falls behind by treating him as if he can’t do too much.  Clarence’s pride can’t live with that and he quickly catches up to his classmates.   I don’t know that these are the same types of situations.  Maybe you would have to argue that Laura really did have high expectations and that Clarence understood that.  Actually that makes sense- Laura certainly wasn’t giving up on him.

Laura teaches for a few months and then goes back to school herself.  She technically never graduates.  Her teacher could have graduated her but he waited so he could graduate the whole class together and by then it was too late- Laura was getting married.  A teacher who is also a student who never graduates…such an interesting tension there.  And of course these days teachers are required to take so many classes every few years in order to maintain their certificates.  Laura never gets a permanent certificate, by the way- she has to re-test every so often.  It appears that bureaucracy got an early hold on our education system…

One day the superintendent visits the school.  Laura is upset because two of her students return to their seats without first asking permission- what a terrible demonstration of Laura’s discipline.  It took me a surprisingly long moment to realize that this was an observation.  Even then…

I am, by the way, very glad that I have never had to board somewhere in order to teach.  Of course the Brewster situation is over the top.  I wonder if Laura ever told Ma and Pa about the scene with Mrs. Brewster and the knife…