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A review by meesha84
Let the Hurricane Roar by Rose Wilder Lane
3.0
Who influenced who?
I’m still in two minds about that. I have grown up reading my mum’s copies of Laura’s books and have progressed into reading anything that I could get my hands on - including the spin-offs, biographies etc.
Obviously the biographies go into quite a lot of detail about Rose “assisting” her mum with the writing of her books, critiquing and editing them, to shape the stories we know and love today.
Let The Hurricane Roar (originally published as Young Pioneers) appears to have been published the year after Little House In The Big Woods (published in 1932, compared to Rose’s 1933 publication date - although this was serialised before it became a book.) You can see a lot of Laura’s storytelling in this, and it’s very much a variation on the Charles & Caroline story. Which in my opinion, could only have been told to Rose by her mum. She would have grown up hearing about this and also perhaps been influenced by the early years of her parents marriage.
It’s based around Molly & David, who marry and move west, to get a homestead. They have to live and work the land, for 5 years, before they can legally own it. Their homestead is called Wild Plum Creek, and just as they’re about to harvest a lot of wheat and have some money behind them - along come the grasshoppers to ruin everything.
Sound familiar?
You will recognise this from Laura’s books and also from the tales told in her biography or something like Pioneer Girl.
It is a very heartwarming story, with Molly left behind with a young son, while David seeks work, travelling where he can, for months at a time. It’s also a very simplistic story, there’s no raciness and it will be suitable for perhaps the young generation who are looking for something else to read after reading Laura’s books.
Would I be interested in reading other Rose books? I think so but from the ones I’ve seen (Free Land and Old Home Town spring to mind), they are not the best prices online, plus Free Land seems to be an older version of a similar story told in this. I also feel a lot of the depression that plagued Rose throughout her life appears in this book, as occasionally there are some dark thoughts in it - Rose seems to be putting perhaps a lot of her own fears and worries into Molly’s character.
I would definitely recommend this if you’re an avid fan of anything Laura, just for comparison’s sake. (Plus, it’s a thin book, only 120 pages, so it will not take long to read.) Obviously we will never know now, how heavily Laura was influenced or whether Rose wrote everything, and there are aficionados who will fight strongly for both sides. I will remain on the fence.
I’m still in two minds about that. I have grown up reading my mum’s copies of Laura’s books and have progressed into reading anything that I could get my hands on - including the spin-offs, biographies etc.
Obviously the biographies go into quite a lot of detail about Rose “assisting” her mum with the writing of her books, critiquing and editing them, to shape the stories we know and love today.
Let The Hurricane Roar (originally published as Young Pioneers) appears to have been published the year after Little House In The Big Woods (published in 1932, compared to Rose’s 1933 publication date - although this was serialised before it became a book.) You can see a lot of Laura’s storytelling in this, and it’s very much a variation on the Charles & Caroline story. Which in my opinion, could only have been told to Rose by her mum. She would have grown up hearing about this and also perhaps been influenced by the early years of her parents marriage.
It’s based around Molly & David, who marry and move west, to get a homestead. They have to live and work the land, for 5 years, before they can legally own it. Their homestead is called Wild Plum Creek, and just as they’re about to harvest a lot of wheat and have some money behind them - along come the grasshoppers to ruin everything.
Sound familiar?
You will recognise this from Laura’s books and also from the tales told in her biography or something like Pioneer Girl.
It is a very heartwarming story, with Molly left behind with a young son, while David seeks work, travelling where he can, for months at a time. It’s also a very simplistic story, there’s no raciness and it will be suitable for perhaps the young generation who are looking for something else to read after reading Laura’s books.
Would I be interested in reading other Rose books? I think so but from the ones I’ve seen (Free Land and Old Home Town spring to mind), they are not the best prices online, plus Free Land seems to be an older version of a similar story told in this. I also feel a lot of the depression that plagued Rose throughout her life appears in this book, as occasionally there are some dark thoughts in it - Rose seems to be putting perhaps a lot of her own fears and worries into Molly’s character.
I would definitely recommend this if you’re an avid fan of anything Laura, just for comparison’s sake. (Plus, it’s a thin book, only 120 pages, so it will not take long to read.) Obviously we will never know now, how heavily Laura was influenced or whether Rose wrote everything, and there are aficionados who will fight strongly for both sides. I will remain on the fence.