Last Train Home : An Orphan Train Story

by Renee Wendinger

LAST TRAIN HOME, an orphan train story, is a Dickensian novella about cultural identity and family history set during the nineteenth century, at a time when America received an enormous influx of immigrants, and a quarter of a million children whose fates would be determined by pure luck were sent west from East Coast orphanages by orphan train. Would they be adopted by kind and loving families, or would they face a childhood and adolescence of hard labor and servitude? The narrative highlights a little known, but historically significant moment in our country's past by tracing the individual journeys of two children, Johnny and Sophia, bringing about the "placing out" distinction of these children to find families and homes. History, culture, and geography celebrate the survival of these children, by weaving their stories into triumph over tribulation building strength of mind and character into an incredible reserve.

Genres: Historical Fiction

194 pages, Hardcover

First published February 24, 2014

Reviews

[Angie Kaelberer · Rating 1 out of 5]

The one star I'm giving this book is for the research that the author obviously did and the fact that I can see glimmers of what could have been a good story in it. Wow. It very much needed a good editor, not only to fix the huge number of grammatical, spelling, and typographical errors, but also to turn it into a readable story. I'm assuming that it was written and self-published or published by a vanity press without anyone else reviewing it before publication. I'm not sure why it's called a work of historical fiction, either, because the stories of the two children appear to be rooted solidly in fact, and many pages read like a textbook. The author's disjointed writing style veers from very dry, factual accounts to flowery description, with a number of parenthetical explanations that interrupt the narration and often add nothing to the reader's understanding. I'm not a fan of footnotes, but that would have been a better solution if she really had to include this information. The author includes stories of two children who rode the orphan trains--Johnny, who immigrated from Italy, and Sophia, who was born in New York and came to the Midwest on a "baby train." Sophia's story is a better read than Johnny's, probably because she is the author's mother and was able to help her flesh out more of the details. The author does include primary sources such as letters, which add to the reader's understanding somewhat--maybe concentrating on those would have made for a better story.

Just an example of one overwrought sentence--I had to read it several times to understand what she was trying to say:

Too young to comprehend the spectra of an unprotected past, her chin-length orphanage bob, the shade of ancient oaks sheltering a forest pool, escaped randomly under the brim of a delicate white eyelet as her head somberly rested against the nuns [sic] spiritual black sleeve.

And there's plenty more of that. I'm sorry--just cannot recommend this one at all.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Last Train Home: An Orphan Train Story has some problems. It is a self-published oral history of two orphan train riders, John Arsers and the author's mother Sophia Kaminsky, and it is an important historical work on those merits. Family oral histories are great and future historians will thank Renee Wendinger for her work. But reading Last Train Home as a novel is very confusing. The book starts with general information about the orphan trains and the Italian padrone system, interspersed with quotes from Johnny in a different font. One wonders if book will only be research interspersed with quotes. Then Johnny gets to Iowa and his narrative becomes a meandering shout-out to small towns and family friends in Iowa. Johnny becomes a clarinet player and band leader around northern Iowa and southern Minnesota. It is very much the stuff of oral history, but not novels. Sofia's story is harrowing, and what a brave woman to survive her foster mother and make a life for herself, but the conventions of a novel are still weird. "The unfurling of the girl's self-possession shared gentle emergence and the dramatic breaking of shells." She meets a boy at a dance, he squires her home, a year and half later she's in Minneapolis and he suddenly writes her a letter about bird doctors. What? Where did he come from? Were they in contact this whole time? Avian medicine? What? They do get married, and good for them, but the narrative structure is so choppy. No one edited this.

[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you enjoyed reading 'The Orphan Train' then I strongly recommend this book, too. It is based on the real life stories of two children who traveled on the orphan trains, their lives after leaving the train, and orphanage, and how they overcame many obstacles. It's a quick read and very informative. I especially enjoy historical fiction, and with the setting of a good part of this book in Minnesota, it was an awesome read. I give it a strong recommendation!

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Last Train Home by Renee Wendinger gives a short history of the orphan trains that ran from New York to the West in the late nineteenth century through the early twentieth. I was completely unaware of this happening. The facts are astounding, other 250,000 children were moved on the trains to be adopted by families, sometimes a welcome additions to families, sometimes to help with the work on the farm. The places that took children under their care were spilling over. Children were found on the streets after being abandoned by their parents, mostly because they could not provide for them.

The main part of this book is about this program and the rest is profiles of two children who rode the orphan trains. The two were real people and the stories are based on their stories. Johnny Arsers started out in Italy, his mother died, his father married again and then sold him for some stew. He was mistreated and shuffled from one family to the next and then kidnapped enslaved by a patrone system. He lands in New York. The author paints the picture of the landing with facts and photos of what pre Ellis Island Immigration procedures and requirements. Some of the details are very chilly and disturbing. His life is followed up to the end of his life. The profile is of Sofia Kaminsky. She was kind enough to sign my copy of this book at the age of 99. Her story is of being sent on the orphan train and eventually referred to old but very cruel woman who could easily stand in for a Charles Dickens villain. Just reading these two profiles makes you aware of the tremendously different ways, a child brought out on the orphan trains could end up.

I highly recommend this book to all who love history, especially want to learn about our forgotten history.

I received this book as a win on FirstReads but that in no way influenced my thoughts or feeling in this review.

[Pam Fossen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I went to hear Renee Wendinger speak thru the Hutchinson MN One Book, One Community "Orphan Train" event in February 2014. I had never heard of the Orphan Trains prior to this and was very interested in learning more. I was able to watch the PBS documentary and also read other books about this. It's sad that there are so few survivors left of the over 200,000 children that rode the orphan trains to tell their stories. Thankfully Renee was able to write down her mom Sophia's story and get her blessing.
I would definitely recommend going to hear Renee tell her heart wrenching stories.

[Meg Gherson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a beautiful book! The story drew me in and took me to another time, I recommend this for many ages!

[Sheila Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Won from a goodreads giveaway. Very interesting book. Very detailed and you learn a lot of things that you never knew before. Very eye opening.

[Jody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read.