Mary Barmeyer O'BrienCritiques

Interesting and easy-to-read collection of stories about women with a variety of experiences during their westward, wagon-trail trek.

Interesting, page-turner, historical fiction; quick and easy to read. Ms. O'Brien used an interesting technique to write the narrative, moving from the perspective of one character to another, while also incorporating the text of letters that Mary wrote to her mother.

The Powers family survived a harrowing migration from Wisconsin to California and Mary was forced to move from being a submissive wife to a decision-maker as her husband seemed mentally incapable of handling the situation.

How many other families had similar experiences that have never been exposed? Perhaps more than we realize.

Bought sight unseen from a catalog, this slim book seems oriented toward “young adult” readers. It’s a collection of short accounts written by (or about) various women who trekked west in wagon trains. Every one of the ten stories has some tragedy: children die or oxen starve or cherished possessions have to be abandoned on the way west. I wonder if this assortment of stories was deliberately chosen for the pathos; there must have been a few women whose travel diaries recorded a pleasant trip from Council Bluffs to the Willamette Valley. Accounts of moderate interest were those of Julia Archibald, believed to be the first non-native woman to climb Pike’s Peak; Clara Brown, a freed slave and a local (Denver, Colorado) celebrity; and Mary Peters Ringo, mother of Johnny Ringo, the gunfighter. A good map of the various journeys in the front matter; the bibliography lists the original diaries and accounts that were excerpted and condensed her. I think anybody with more than a casual interest would be better off with the originals.

A lovely easy read with short accounts of some of the brace women who bravely crossed America in the mid 1800s.

I loved this book. However, I have to admit that there were nights that I didn't pick it up because I was so afraid of what the trail would bring to Mary's family in the next chapter. I must admit that I acutually have a 3-gr-grandmother who made the trek from Wisconsin to Lassen County, CA, so that makes me even that much more interested in the story. However, I found this book (that is actually based on a woman's real letters/diary) to be riveting without my personal interest.

I have a soft spot for narratives of pioneer women. This is a fictionalized account of a True Story, of a woman on the California Trail in 1856. As things started to go wrong, her husband went into a severe depression and was just *useless* and so she basically had to take charge and make sure they got there. Great story, especially since you know it's based on actual letters and journals - but the writing was a little cheesy and sensationalized, and the editing was TERRIBLE. I feel a strong...more I have a soft spot for narratives of pioneer women. This is a fictionalized account of a True Story, of a woman on the California Trail in 1856. As things started to go wrong, her husband went into a severe depression and was just *useless* and so she basically had to take charge and make sure they got there. Great story, especially since you know it's based on actual letters and journals - but the writing was a little cheesy and sensationalized, and the editing was TERRIBLE. I feel a strong urge to call this press and offer my emergency services as a copy-editor.

I love any books about the Oregon Trail, and this was a good one.