Grass of the Earth: The Story of A Norwegian Immigrant Family in Dakota

by Aagot Raaen

An engaging, richly detailed biography of a family of Norwegian immigrant homesteaders in eastern North Dakota in the late 1800s. Educator and world traveler Aagot Raaen wrote this reminiscence late in her life. Like Giants in the Earth and Old Jules , Grass of the Earth deals frankly with a darker side of pioneer life on the prairie.

Genres: History

272 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 1994

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

My grandmother knew Aagot and remembers how they would sit on the porch and read this book, laughing because they knew the actual characters. I finally picked up a copy a few years ago and couldn't put it down. The writing is not spectacular -- think Boxcar Children, but darker -- but to hear the haunting stories told through a simple child's perspective, I think makes them more poignant. Fortunes change with the seasons, good years follow bad ones, and your only dream is to someday gain an education and rise above the subsistence farming lifestyle.

One highlight of the book: I remember when I was young, hearing a story about how the men would take the harvest into town and blow the money on whiskey and gambling. The women (my great-great grandmother included) got fed up and raided the saloons with hatchets and rifles, dragging their drunk and indebted husbands back home.

It's interesting to read the dates on a gravestone and realize that no matter how mundane or flawed, the life lived between those two numbers was book-worthy.

[Ami Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Background reading for me, but not very good.

[Jennifer Mortt Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This evening finds me turning the last page of this wonderful book. It was an autobiography of a Norwegian immigrant family who lived in North Dakota. The story starts in the 1870s to about the late 1890s.

This story centers around a family. The author is a daughter and her writings from her personal papers are the essence of the book. It reads like a novel, with short chapters covering many different parts of Norwegian immigrant farming life.

What I liked a lot about this book is that it covered so many parts of their life including the difficult parts. The father goes through periods of alcoholism, and how the family handles it is discussed. The family also signs a mortgage on their farm which causes them great distress trying to keep up to the payments and having to make difficult decisions to honor this agreement.

But through it all, the family had immense love for each other, and really cared for each other. The children took turns coming home and spending time with her sick parents as they became adults. They stay connected even as they all ventured off into their own lives.

The children and parents all worked so very hard. I marveled at how much work it took just to live each day. They were very poor, and despite this hardship, they continued to work toward their goals.

The children were also very smart and pursued higher education. There was much philosophical thought in her writings about why things are the way they are. They were always learning and always questioning.

This book showed people were hearty, fully human, curious, full of life and deeply connected to one another and their community. It was a very lovely book, and I actually miss this family already.

[Glenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard life on the prairie in northeast North Dakota. Enjoyed reading this book and thinking about what our ancestors went through. So many times I wanted more information or to have questions answered (and so many times wish I had asked more questions from my elders). Book went fast.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Memoir of a childhood on a homestead in North Dakota. This book was referenced in The Children’s Blizzard, which my book club read earlier this year. The writer presents a blunt appraisal of the happy and sad times the family experienced as they struggled with poverty and loss, some far beyond the typical pioneer story. The writing isn’t amazing, but the story drew me in, well worth the short time it took to read.

[Diane Mast · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story of Norwegian immigrant pioneers who lived along Goose River in eastern ND, beginning in 1874. Very descriptive of living conditions and the values that helped them survive. Based on the authors life.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A darker story of the immigrant life...