false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168331509m/32096.jpg 32096 22 Jane Smiley's game heroine prides herself on being useless, ill-tempered, and not that well behaved; in Illinois, circa 1855, a plain, penniless, parentless young woman should be anything but. Lidie, however, can ride a horse--and not sidesaddle, either--walk forever, write, and argue. All of these abilities will stand her in good stead when she and her new husband, Thomas Newton, make their way to K.T. (Kansas Territory) with a case of Sharps rifles and a desire to keep Kansas from slavery. Alas, "In K.T., it was often the case that every version of every story was equally true and equally false." <p> <i>The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton</i> is a <i>Little House on the Prairie</i> for grownups. Lidie's accounts of homesteading, from buying a new stove to coming upon the finest horse in the territory (and among the finest in literature), combine character, charm, and social history. (Smiley's chapter titles alone--which include "I Eavesdrop, and Hear Ill of Myself" and "Papa Is Cordial"--are worth the price of admission. "Papa," by the way, is an aged anti-abolitionist who wants to marry her.) But there is also menace. Early on, for example, Lidie pastes her home with "leaves of <i>The Liberator</i> and some other papers that Thomas had brought with him from the United States. This, he said, would serve the threefold purpose of advertising our views to our visitors, reminding ourselves of the arguments to be made in the cause, and keeping out the wind. Every leaf, according to the new laws of Kansas Territory, was treasonable." <p> Though Lidie once conjured up paradisiacal images of a "(weathertight and cozy) cabin," surrounded by fruit-laden trees, pure streams, and verdant grass through which she'd dally, "perhaps in pursuit of a pretty little cow," their tiny home is freezing and their situation fraught with fear. The Newtons' first months are filled with the exhilaration of new marriage and the difficulties of life in a hostile environment. Winter kills off several of their fellow radicals and "the southerners" seem bent on violently removing the rest. Lidie unfortunately makes the mistake of finding the season more formidable: "The prolonged frigid weather made even the prospect of being hanged, shot, dismembered, killed or otherwise cleared out rather an abstract one. The possibility of being frozen to death was distinctly more likely." <p> In her acknowledgments, Smiley thanks David Dary, the fine historian of the West, and <i>The All-True Travels</i> is a superb reinvention. Who would have thought that a shipboard meal would be more like a pitched battle, or that--as Lidie soon discovers--sentiment would turn out to be "a cruel joke in K.T."? At a certain point in the novel, however, the historical and social fabric becomes almost overwhelmingly dense. But after her hero and heroine are ambushed by southerners, Smiley pares down the details and explores Lidie's character and conscience (as she is forced into a series of memorable guises), and her "all-true travels" take on emotional and ethical complexity. 700226 1998 The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle) total:434|5:68|4:167|3:136|2:54|1:9| 434 1533 596 71 1 0 false false Tue Mar 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 12 03:18:13 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 12 03:25:58 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Feb 18 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 06 08:01:04 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 08:25:57 -0800 2009
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This was a ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Sep 24 11:05:23 -0700 2007 Wed Jan 28 10:16:48 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Aug 23 10:03:55 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 23 10:09:19 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1998 Mon Aug 24 17:51:07 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 24 17:51:42 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Apr 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 29 18:56:01 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 05 08:13:14 -0700 2009 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 ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jun 30 00:00:00 -0700 1999 Thu Aug 13 08:59:26 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 09:00:02 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Aug 02 00:00:00 -0700 2001 Mon Jan 19 04:36:07 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 19 04:42:15 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Nov 04 20:38:12 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 06 20:41:15 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Aug 12 19:57:40 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 19:59:19 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Fri Jan 23 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 17 10:02:40 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 23 10:05:09 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 05 15:44:07 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 05 15:45:39 -0700 2009 4 0 true false Sun Jul 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 14 10:29:59 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 05 13:46:30 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 27 14:31:11 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 27 14:32:47 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 09 08:57:44 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 10 04:19:21 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=32096