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The Beet Fields
by
Gary Paulsen
For a 16-year-old boy out in the world alone for the first time, every day's an education in the hard work and boredom of migrant labor; every day teaches him something more about friendship, or hunger, or profanity, or lust--always lust. He learns how a poker game, or hitching a ride, can turn deadly.
He discovers the secret sadness and generosity to be found on a lonely...more
He discovers the secret sadness and generosity to be found on a lonely...more
Paperback, 176 pages
Published
February 8th 2011
by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
(first published September 12th 2000)
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I thoroughly enjoyed the build-up of this story and the descriptions of the boy's jobs and adventures along the way. I felt the opening was so well written where we get a brief but telling glimpse of the boy's disfunctional family life - BUT - I did not like the ending, not because of the topic of teenage sex, which Paulsen did a good job with, including his inexperience not seeming stupid or funny, but just ... normal. I did not like the ending because it felt disconnected from his previous jou...more
SCHOOL LIBRARIAN REVIEW:
By having the name "Gary Paulsen" on the cover, most librarians/readers would assume that this book is another great read for boys. Hatchet is one of my go-to books for middle school boys, and if they like that - well there are a ton more where that came from. I say, "Here are the Gary Paulsen books if you want to read more by him." and let them browse.
This book is not meant for middle school boys.
* First off, it's a slow story. There are moments of 'adventure' but for t...more
By having the name "Gary Paulsen" on the cover, most librarians/readers would assume that this book is another great read for boys. Hatchet is one of my go-to books for middle school boys, and if they like that - well there are a ton more where that came from. I say, "Here are the Gary Paulsen books if you want to read more by him." and let them browse.
This book is not meant for middle school boys.
* First off, it's a slow story. There are moments of 'adventure' but for t...more
Dec 06, 2010
Raylee Gifford
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
runaways-first-job-carnivals
This novel follows the story of the boy as he works during his first summer on his own. He runs away from home when he is 16 and finds a job thinning beats. He learns a lot from the migrant workers that he works with as they take care of eachother and he finds a family of sorts. As a group they move from farm to farm until he finally leaves them for a tractor job. After working on this farm for a while he is taken in by the local police for being a runaway. After stealing all of his money the de...more
Nov 26, 2012
Evan Hall
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
english-420-young-adult-literature
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Gary Paulsen/ Country/boy teen fiction
A teenage boy runs away from a disturbing and broken family to make his own way in the world by working out in the beet fields. He works hard only to be taken advantage of, thus needing to move on once more. He catches a ride from a stranger which ends in disaster, works for an old woman, then becomes a carnie where he finally loses his virginity. The end.
That's what the book is. One summer of a boy who comes from a weird family and lives a weird life. The b...more
A teenage boy runs away from a disturbing and broken family to make his own way in the world by working out in the beet fields. He works hard only to be taken advantage of, thus needing to move on once more. He catches a ride from a stranger which ends in disaster, works for an old woman, then becomes a carnie where he finally loses his virginity. The end.
That's what the book is. One summer of a boy who comes from a weird family and lives a weird life. The b...more
This was a real good book if you like the outdoors and farming. It was about a boy who ran away from home because his parents love to drink all the time. He was young with no food, or home,and he was living on the streets with no money. He came to a farm that needed help on the beet fields. The farm owner gave him a job and he was working in the fields everyday from dust till dawn. He worked with a family of Mexicans who didn't really talk to him, until one day and he became close to them. Whan...more
This short autobiographical book is similair to Paulsen's novel Tiltawhirl John.
I loved both. Paulsen describes, in the third person, his sixteenth summer.
He runs away from home, works in the beet fields and then for a farmer. He has his money stolen by a cop and escapes from prison. While hitchiking, his driver is killed in a freak accident by a pheasant smashing through the windshield. Then he gets picked up by a mentally unstable old lady who tries to make him a surrogate son. When they go vi...more
I loved both. Paulsen describes, in the third person, his sixteenth summer.
He runs away from home, works in the beet fields and then for a farmer. He has his money stolen by a cop and escapes from prison. While hitchiking, his driver is killed in a freak accident by a pheasant smashing through the windshield. Then he gets picked up by a mentally unstable old lady who tries to make him a surrogate son. When they go vi...more
This is a good book because some of the thing you don't even see coming. because first he is working with some Mexicans. and he learns how to eat like them. because he was eating the samwiches he had to buy from the farmer and they weren't very good. so he started to eat with the Mexicans. but he didn't have any money to put in and so the would clime up in the barn and kill pidgins. and then after that farm. they moved to another and he had to work on the tractor.And he saw the farmers daughter...more
Gary Paulsen, you crazy author! I did not expect as much from this book as I got out of it. Paulsen is awesome, and this story, which veers away from what you think of when you think "Gary Paulsen" (i.e. Hachet, Tucket, Iditarod), is a real history lesson wrapped into fiction. The main character, who has no name, is a 16-year-old boy trying to escape a bad life and make some money to both survive and move on to better things. What he learns over this summer in what I'm guessing is sometime in th...more
Ok?
That was my reaction when I finished this book. It's your typical YA novel of a troubled youth searching for identity and redemption. His dad is lost at war, his mom's a drunk and he runs away in an adventure full of arbitrary encounters resembling Holden Caulfield's own search for self in Catcher in the Rye. Gary Paulsen claims that in writing this book he achieved a greater sense of honesty than in his other novels. And perhaps it is an honest reflection of disillusionment in life. By the e...more
That was my reaction when I finished this book. It's your typical YA novel of a troubled youth searching for identity and redemption. His dad is lost at war, his mom's a drunk and he runs away in an adventure full of arbitrary encounters resembling Holden Caulfield's own search for self in Catcher in the Rye. Gary Paulsen claims that in writing this book he achieved a greater sense of honesty than in his other novels. And perhaps it is an honest reflection of disillusionment in life. By the e...more
Jun 09, 2010
Lindsay
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
young-adult-literature
The only other Gary Paulsen book I have read is The Hatchet, and I read it in fifth grade. Choosing this book I decided to look for something a little different. This book is definitely different from the typical books by Gary Paulsen. The book follows the story of a young boy who runs away from home. In order to survive, he works on a few farms, with an older woman, and eventually in a carnival. It is a coming of age novel where he learns about hard work, friendship, and lust.
This is short book...more
This is short book...more
Book Review:
The Beet Fields
Star Rating: 4
Hook: You are in a police station because you are a runaway and the cop takes all of your money that you had worked hard for for a whole summer. This is the life of the boy in this story.
Paragraph: In this book, a boy runs away from home in search of a new begining. He is 16 and he decides to work in the fields of the mid west. Here he meets a variety of people including a Carnival Manager who he gets a job with and that is how the story ends.
Recomendati...more
The Beet Fields
Star Rating: 4
Hook: You are in a police station because you are a runaway and the cop takes all of your money that you had worked hard for for a whole summer. This is the life of the boy in this story.
Paragraph: In this book, a boy runs away from home in search of a new begining. He is 16 and he decides to work in the fields of the mid west. Here he meets a variety of people including a Carnival Manager who he gets a job with and that is how the story ends.
Recomendati...more
May 25, 2012
Stephen
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
teen-reads,
books-read-in-2012
This book by the author of Hatchet will probably appeal to slightly older boys but NOT to their parents. This book is grittier and tells of a young man's coming of age but involves that taboo subject, sex. It also involves working as a migrant laborer, being cheated by white farmers but being aided his fellow laborers, being robbed by a crooked policeman, being sheltered by an old woman who's lost a son and even, for a time, working as a carny.
At just 160 pages, this book is a fast read and wil...more
At just 160 pages, this book is a fast read and wil...more
Feb 05, 2010
sweet pea
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
banned-books,
young-adult
this memoir chronicles a rather tumultuous summer with molesting moms, agricultural work, deadly pheasants, crazy ladies, and work as a carny. while the individual elements were engaging, the transitions were abrupt and disconcerting. the series of families he creates he leaves without notice. the final sentence angered me greatly. that was the only lesson you learned? an interesting if somewhat scattered read.
I've had this checked out to see if it's OK for our library, but I didn't really feel like reading it. Down to my last 3 books, I finally got through it. It wasn't bad for a coming-of-age story (Paulsen's writing is always good), but the ending was a little over-the-top for middle school. There's also a brief but horrible car wreck. Plus, I don't think they'd be really interested in it. It's probably fine for high school.
Itinerant farm work in the beet fields is eye-opening for a teenage boy in 1955 and yet the story is vitually timeless. He learns, connects with the Mexican farm families, and grows into a man. The Beet Fields is honest, well-written and a reminder that life is lived not behind a computer, but by engaging in real work, allowing relationships and situations come and go and moving on.
Lovely.
Lovely.
Gary Paulsen's books about dog sled racing and the Ititarod are among my favorites, so picked this up at a library book sale. No dog sled racing in this one! It's nice to read YP book every so often and this was no exception. Quick read, interesting idea of a 16-year-old running away and managing to live on his own, three very different ways he makes his way in the world.
Autobiographically based, Paulsen shares his summer working in the beet fields with a Mexican family who welcomes them into their fold and his first encounter with "love" with a circus hootchie-kootchie dancer. Beautifully done coming of age story that will resonate with teenage guys. Sadly, this one did not get the attention it deserved. I think it is one of Paulsen's best.
An episodic novelistic memoir of Gary Paulsen’s that may not be appropriate for the young teens and tweens readers of Paulsen’s other books. It’s got the language of cable tv, and the unnamed main character is obsessed with sex. I’m glad for veracity’s sake that he didn’t tone down either, but I didn’t love the book.
This book was about a boy ho worked on a farm with other people and he learned lots of things from them.
This book is a memoir.
I think kids around 12-15 years old should read this book. I didn't really like this book because it was just like talking about the boy and how he felt and i thought it was kind of boring.
This book is a memoir.
I think kids around 12-15 years old should read this book. I didn't really like this book because it was just like talking about the boy and how he felt and i thought it was kind of boring.
this was a very good book. I basically love every book that Gary Paulsen has written. The boy had a troubled life, and he turned that all around and made something for himself
This book kind of got inappropriate towards the end, but I liked it. The thing that frustrates me the most, though, is that I never learned the main characters name.
My first Gary Paulsen book...and come to find out it is partially based on his own experiences. Interesting. His style reminded me of Steinbeck's style.
I have no memory of reading this book - the only Paulsen I've read, despite working at Wonderland for 5 years. Seems like other reviewers found it similarly unmemorable
A very quick read. 6 days. Officially a kids book but also got “not suitable for younger readers” warning on it as it does deal with sexual issues.
I don't know. it's hard to really define this book. It's original, told about one summer. They never reveal the MC name, he's just "the boy" which I think serves to keep him apart from the reader. The writing is sparse, so a little description goes a long way.
I think this was written for middle school boys... but I think it was a bit more sexual than I was expecting.
I think this was written for middle school boys... but I think it was a bit more sexual than I was expecting.
Wondered why I didn't have this in my school library collection. Now I know.
Shockingly good. Makes me want to read everything Paulsen's ever written.
coming of age for boys. interesting ending, one the boys would like.
The end is totally inappropriate.... It wrecked the book for me...
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evokes Hemingway? | 1 | 1 | May 25, 2012 08:39am |
Although he was never a dedicated student, Paulsen developed a passion for reading at an early age. After a librarian gave him a book to read--along with his own library card--he was hooked. He began spending hours alone in the basement of his apartment building, reading one book after another.
Running away from home at the age of 14 and traveling with a carnival, Paulsen acquired a taste for adve...more
More about Gary Paulsen...
Running away from home at the age of 14 and traveling with a carnival, Paulsen acquired a taste for adve...more
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May 25, 2012 03:46pm