THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Thousand Acres
"Rousing . . . Act... read full description
Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Thousand Acres
"Rousing . . . Act... read full description
reviews
May 04, 2011
Brenda C
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The first half of the book is a wonderful, creative piece of historical fiction based on a young woman's experience in Lawrence, Kansas just prior to the Civil War. The book is a dramatic, robust depiction of what it was like to be a "Free-Stater" and abolitionist among ignorant, gun happy pioneers. Lidie, the adventurous (but not so heroic) protagonist, comes to Kansas and its raucous, intense atmosphere through her marriage to a stoic, well-meaning New Englander. She would never h
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Apr 05, 2011
Emma
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This story of one woman's turbulent life in the newly-created Kansas Territory both entertains and educates. Wanting to escape a life of household chores in her sisters' homes, Lidie marries an abolitionist passing through her Illinois town on the way to Kansas. The Kansas Territory isn't what she expected, though, and she spends the bulk of the book dealing with challenges ranging from terrible weather to violent Border Ruffians.
Unlike some other reviewers, I found this book not ju More...
Unlike some other reviewers, I found this book not ju More...
May 15, 2010
Adrienne
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Jan 13, 2010
Andrew
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Jane Smiley is one of my favorite writers, and this is my favorite of her books. A Thousand Acres got a lot more attention, including the Pulitzer Prize and an insultingly modified Hollywood adaptation, but this is the one that really blew me away.
You can't really discuss this book without comparing it to Huckleberry Finn, one of the greatest books ever written, hands down, no contest. Both concerned escaped slaves seeking freedom during the tumultuous period preceding the Civil Wa More...
You can't really discuss this book without comparing it to Huckleberry Finn, one of the greatest books ever written, hands down, no contest. Both concerned escaped slaves seeking freedom during the tumultuous period preceding the Civil Wa More...
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Nov 10, 2011
Jillaire
rated it: 
My mom insisted on buying this for me at a garage sale. I think I'd give it 3.5 stars. It was very well-written and I couldn't put it down for the last 100-150 pages (it's 400+) because I had to know what was going to happen to Lidie. There are certainly many twists and turns. I just can't give it 4 stars because the ending was a little disappointing. I don't want to be a spoiler. It wasn't poorly written or even poorly conceived; I think that, as the reader, I was invested in Lidie and ju
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Mar 12, 2009
Nomi
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I have liked Jane Smiley books in the past and looked forward to this one. Unfortunately, I think it would have been better named the Trials and Tribulations rather than Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton. I am from Lawrence, KS myself, so reading about Lawrence in 1855 was of interest to me for many reasons. I kept slogging through, hoping the story would pick up and carry me along, but ultimately I felt "message" overshadowed "story," a perspective I didn't really devel
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Feb 18, 2009
Sandra
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This was a pretty interesting book all in all. A much better offering from Jane Smiley than the others I've read. She definitely writes flawed characters (or at least characters who aren't perfect), but most of the other books have also had characters that I couldn't have cared less about.
In this one, at least you're interested in what happens to Lidie Newton. It's the story of a young, independent woman who marries an abolitionist and moves to the new Kansas Territory. Smiley di More...
In this one, at least you're interested in what happens to Lidie Newton. It's the story of a young, independent woman who marries an abolitionist and moves to the new Kansas Territory. Smiley di More...
Aug 16, 2011
Alex
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This is my second time to read this book. I had to look up Smiley's biography as she seems to understand the midwest so well and sure enough, she was raised in Missouri. This story brings to life the complex story of Bloody Kansas before the start of the Civil War in the area of Kansas I was raised in by the Missouri border. It is fascinating just to know more how a territory became a state. Lidie is an amazingly complex character showing what is was like to be newly married to a man you don'
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Aug 16, 2009
Pbwritr
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Quite an absorbing book. Read it on the cruise with Jessica. A young woman from a settled town marries and goes west with her new husband to Kansas Territory. Both are abolitionists and the primary atmosphere of the book is the pro-slave, anti-slavery or free sentiments of the period. Having learned years ago about the Missouri Compromise was sterile information compared to this. Smiley really evokes the period, of what it was like to live in such a pioneering time-frame, with the obstacles as w
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Jul 14, 2011
Dara
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This was a thoroughly enjoyable book. I was a little put off by the title because it seemed a little whimsical to me, but I think it was just meant to be a reference to the overly ornate titles of certain books in the 1800’s.
The book made me think about slavery in a different way. From my vantage point in history slavery has always seemed like a majestic moral issue. Reading this book made me realize that before the Civil War slavery was just another contentious political issue, s More...
The book made me think about slavery in a different way. From my vantage point in history slavery has always seemed like a majestic moral issue. Reading this book made me realize that before the Civil War slavery was just another contentious political issue, s More...
Jan 14, 2012
Jessica
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I really loved this book, but I could tell that it would not be universally appealing. My favorite part of the book is the author's excellent representation of the culture of the time period and the accurate and detailed portrayal of the many different settings throughout America in which heroine lives. Some readers may find some of Lidie's adventures toward the end of the novel a little far-fetched, but I felt like it added some good fun. Lidie Newton is certainly not your average heroine bu
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Apr 27, 2010
Nancy
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One reviewer called this book Little House on the Prairie for Adults. A cutsy turn of phrase, but not what I thought this book deserved.
Set in the 1850s in Kansas Territory, the story is about the people who were settling the area, how they survived the winter on the prairie and how high the feelings ran about whether or not the area would enter the United States as free or slave.
Lidie Newton comes to this Kansas Territory with her husband, Thomas, who is an abolitionist, determin More...
Set in the 1850s in Kansas Territory, the story is about the people who were settling the area, how they survived the winter on the prairie and how high the feelings ran about whether or not the area would enter the United States as free or slave.
Lidie Newton comes to this Kansas Territory with her husband, Thomas, who is an abolitionist, determin More...
Feb 01, 2009
Rachel
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Jane Smiley sets up this book in bleeding Kansas, where a long Lidie Newton travels with her abolitionist husband to help make Kansas Territory a free state. While Lidie originally imagines her life out west to be filled with grand adventures and beauty, she soon finds out that Kansas is the middle of a war zone between "slavocrats" and "those d--- abolitionists." The book is rich in description and historic detail. The details are what causes the book to be a bit slow-movin
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Sep 21, 2011
Peggy
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I'm glad that I perservered with this book. I felt the first half of the book was long and rambling. However, the second half of the book became much more intriguing as Lidie Newton embarked on travels and adventures of her own.
Lidie grows up in Quincy, Illinois, the youngest child of an elderly father. Apparently useless in the household, Lidie decides to escape her sisters' homes by marrying Thomas Newton, a young man from Massachusetts who is traveling to Kansas Territory to help More...
Lidie grows up in Quincy, Illinois, the youngest child of an elderly father. Apparently useless in the household, Lidie decides to escape her sisters' homes by marrying Thomas Newton, a young man from Massachusetts who is traveling to Kansas Territory to help More...
Apr 11, 2010
Laurie
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I really like the main character of Lidie Newton, and was interested in the history of Kansas in the 1850s, but there was maybe too much history in this novel. Parts of it seemed like a dray history book and were kind of boring. By the end, I started to feel like Lidie's life got into too many twists and turns, and she didn't seem like the character I'd liked in the beginning. Still, a well-done historical novel about Kansas and Missouri and the dispute about slavery in these two states. Also, i
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Jan 19, 2009
Beverly
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Piquaresque story that thus avoids the problems Jane Smiley has with plotting. Would have given it 5 stars if the plot had been stronger. Story of a 21 year old woman who meets her abolitionist husband when he passes through her home town of Quincy, IL on his way to Kansas Territory with contraband guns to support the abolitionist cause. Actually a story of Western pioneers and the start of the civil war. Exciting, entertaining, and very moving story of loss and hardship narrated by an level-sig
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Jul 03, 2008
Kismet
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It is 1855 and Lidie Newton is a young woman who prides herself on being useless. She has observed the life of her sister, whom she has lived with since her father's death, and knows that learning to sew, cook and care for a home is a slippery slope to a very dull life. Lidie prefers spending time outdoors, either on her own or with her younger nephew, learning how to shoot or swimming in the Mississippi. When a man from the East, passing through Illinois on his way to Kansas Territory, shows an
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Dec 26, 2007
The shortcoming of the audio book: Lidie knows how to pronounce "pince-nez" but not "Derbyshire." Which I guess might fit the character and her times, though if you Americanize the pronunciation of the county wouldn't you Americanize that of the spectacles?
This was a fine entertainment. Some bits dragged more than is ideal, but in audio, that doesn't bother me as much as in print.
I enjoy Jane Smiley almost always. Age of Grief didn't work for me, but i More...
This was a fine entertainment. Some bits dragged more than is ideal, but in audio, that doesn't bother me as much as in print.
I enjoy Jane Smiley almost always. Age of Grief didn't work for me, but i More...
Sep 23, 2011
Lanea
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Jane Smiley's The All-True Trials and Adventures of Lidie Newton is historical fiction done pretty darn well. Set in pre-Civil War Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas Territory, the novel follows Lydia Newton through her marriage to an abolitionist; their homesteading in Lawrence, Kansas and its environs; and her subsequent travels around Missouri. Lidie is a thoroughly sympathetic character: a bright, honest woman who dislikes rules for rule's sake, pretension, cruelty, and inaction. Throughout t
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Aug 23, 2009
Lori
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Highly recommended. A historical novel that avoids the usual pitfalls of historical novels. Often, they focus around romance between characters in trite, overdone plots. This novel, however, manages to mix the personal and the historical in equal measures to keep the writing interesting. The heroine, Lidie, is a misfit who goes to Kansas as a settler. I won't give the plot away, but slavery, states' rights, North versus South, feminism, and other issues are central to this novel.
Jun 30, 2011
I'm sorry but I'm not going to finish this book. It's full of details and gives me a great picture of what Lawrence, KS in 1850 was like. But the title was misleading. The book started off with interesting opinions and observations by Lidie but then I wished she would continue to have opinions, it was as if once she got married she stopped thinking. I have heard the second half of the book has some more adventure in it...but I am going to pass. Sorry!
Apr 05, 2009
Laurie
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I finished this book wondering what the point was, which I guess was the point, the basic pointlessness of most of the Kansas-Missouri violence even in a Civil War context...nonetheless it's not exactly an ideal feeling to leave a book having. Lydia was an extraordinarily uncomfortable heroine, and despite her exploits seemed to have no real personality - she was just a canvas for events to be imprinted on. Everyone around her had actual convictions about things which made her lack of them prett
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Jul 10, 2011
Almeda
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This is a GREAT book! A very informative peek into the life of a woman who made the move with a newly acquired Abolitionist husband to Kansas Territory. It's a depiction of the trials and adventures of those immigrants, some imposed by the physical setting, others by their controversial political opinions. It's set just before the Civil War, when the decision was in the making about whether Kansas would be a free or slave state, and emotions ran high.
Jan 29, 2012
Lynne
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I've had this book for years - it was a big paperback and put me off reading it. It is difficult to read at times, I found the writing a little bit long winded, but that's possibly because the author was writing in the the 'language' of the mid 1840s to give the book an authentic feel. The book has a lot of characters which I did find confusing at times but it's a great adventure story of Lidie Newton who after her father's death finds herself at the mercy of her elder sisters, who aren't impr
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Dec 28, 2009
Phair
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Listened to an abridged edition and I have to wonder...did all the good parts get abridged out? Started out well with good reading by Mare Winningham. Some bits were a little tedious, esp her early life on the prairie. By the last tape it was starting to get good again when, poof, it was over. It never went anywhere, just kind of fizzled out. Usually this type of novel would be just my cup of tea but this one was disappointing.
Aug 13, 2009
Marvin
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Smiley is an amazing writer. She somehow manages to evoke the style & tone of 19th-century writers such as Mark Twain or Dickens without imitating them; that is, she still has her own, contemporary voice at the same time. I don't know the history of territorial Kansas well, but the experience she evoked rant true to me (& was confirmed as remarkably accurate by my friend, Virgil Dean, the editor of Kansas History).
Jan 28, 2012
Pamela_b_lawrencemsn.com
rated it:
Is there anything this woman cannot write about? I loved A Thousand Acres and Barn Blind and chuckled my way through Moo - still laugh about some things from that book - and this one is equally spectacular. Lidie Newton, a most unlikely heroine, destined to be a burden on her family until an abolitionist headed for the Kansas territory marries her. She narrates, wryly and unsparingly, the difficulties of prairie life and the upheaval of 1855 and 1856 as Missouri tries to ensure that Kansas
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Sep 15, 2010
Kathy
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Actually 3.5 stars. This was a library book club selection. I was out of town when it was discussed but decided to read it anyway after reading Lincoln: A Photobiography I was a good novel to learn more about the time period. Lidie marries an abolishionist and moves west with her new husband who hopes to keep Kansas Territory free from slavery. Many trials and hardships await them there.
Oct 17, 2010
emi
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Lidie Newton was an interesting tomboy of a character, and her All-True Travels and Adventures taught me a lot about American history prior to the Civil War, specifically as it took place in K.T. or Kansas Territory between Free Staters (Abolitionists) and the Slavers.
Lidie's constant wavering between ideals and sides and opinions, although realistic, grated my nerves towards the end. I liked reading about a lot of the supporting characters more than her, and after 452 pages I was More...
Lidie's constant wavering between ideals and sides and opinions, although realistic, grated my nerves towards the end. I liked reading about a lot of the supporting characters more than her, and after 452 pages I was More...
Jan 19, 2009
Debbie
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fantastic book that charlotte doyle reminds me of. i created this poorly speelled shelf because i realize women's historical fiction, previously uncreated shelf ,is something i love. anyone care to join me on this shelf? this book specifically is written in the voice of a madcap lucille ballesque character it would be fun and challenginng to have as a friend!
