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Little Century: A Novel
A charged and eloquent novel about a young woman caught in the midst of the range wars in the American West at the turn of the century Orphaned after the death of her mother, eighteen-year-old Esther Chambers heads west in search of her only living relative. In the lawless frontier town of Century, Oregon, she's met by a sunburnt, laconic cattle wrangler: her distant cousin, Ferris Pickett. Within days, Esther is perjuring herself at the county clerk's office, swearing that she is twenty-one and ready for the rigors of homesteading. Pick leads her to a tiny cabin that shows daylight at the chinks, and Esther begins her new life on the small lake called Half-a-Mind. If she can hold out for five years, the land will join Pick's already impressive spread. Land--there's a lot of it wide-open in Century but, somehow, not enough. Esther has arrived in the middle of a range war; it's cattle against sheep, and water's at a premium. Small incidents of violence swiftly escalate; before long, blood spills on the dry ground, and the railroad starts to think twice about laying tracks through Century. No railroad means no town, something Pick and his men will go to any lengths to prevent. Meanwhile, Esther finds her sympathies divided between her cousin and a sheepherder named Ben Cruff, a sworn enemy of the cattle ranchers. As her passion for Ben and her land grows, she begins to see how at odds these things are with her cousin's own interests. She can't be loyal to both; at some point she'll have to make a terrible choice. Little Century maps our country's cutthroat legacy of dispossession and greed; it also celebrates the ecstatic visions of what America could become. Through Esther's story, which veers between triumph and heartbreak, we see the American West as it was being forged. In the tradition of classics like My Antonia and There Will Be Blood, Little Century is a resonant and moving debut novel by a gifted writer.
8 pages, Audio CD
First published June 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 228 reviews
August 22, 2017
As much as I wanted to like this book, I just couldn't get into it.
November 27, 2016
This book grew and grew on me. At one time I had no idea where it was heading and so I put it down for about a week. When I picked it up I began to give it more time and the words and story carried me to the end. Very well written book, wonderful prose, and the dialogue (although a bit spare at times) is very realistic.
This is a book about a town, a time and a girl. An 18 year old whose parents have died and who goes to live with her distant cousin in the town of Century, Oregon. He is so different from her dad, even to the point where the cousin (Pick) does not even remember much about the cousin who had died or the stories he told!
But here she is, Esther Chambers, 18 years old and put in the middle of a town that is being split apart by the cowboys and the sheepherders. Atrocities are committed by both sides, and even though Century is a cow town there are many sheep people who live and shop their. For about half of the book I think the reader is as bit confounded as Esther, as she is experiencing everything for the first time - she is a city girl from Chicago, all this is new to her.
She makes some friends among the ladies, and a few among the men, and begins weaving into the society of the town. She grows from finishing high school exams in Century to eventually working for and owning a newspaper. She overcomes her shyness and hear early thoughts and prejudices and gets to see Century and its inhabitants for whom they really are. There is no one side that is right or wrong, but the town is in a death spiral that will only reverse itself if a train track comes through, but the town cannot even put away its divisions and work together for that.
The ending is quite nebulous, and that has some readers a bit upset, but I think that adds to the book i that we are now 16 years from when Esther arrived in Century and she is now in San Francisco and it allows us to fill in the years and the story as we wish or think it should end.
Not a fast read, and it did sit on my shelf for almost 4 years until I picked it up, but if you enjoy a well-written novel, a novel that draws you into the lives of many varies characters, and one that will slowly grow on you as you begin to appreciate the authors style, then you will enjoy this book. I never thought I would write this when I put it down for a week, but the book just grew on me the more I read it and the more I became familiar with the citizens of Century.
This is a book about a town, a time and a girl. An 18 year old whose parents have died and who goes to live with her distant cousin in the town of Century, Oregon. He is so different from her dad, even to the point where the cousin (Pick) does not even remember much about the cousin who had died or the stories he told!
But here she is, Esther Chambers, 18 years old and put in the middle of a town that is being split apart by the cowboys and the sheepherders. Atrocities are committed by both sides, and even though Century is a cow town there are many sheep people who live and shop their. For about half of the book I think the reader is as bit confounded as Esther, as she is experiencing everything for the first time - she is a city girl from Chicago, all this is new to her.
She makes some friends among the ladies, and a few among the men, and begins weaving into the society of the town. She grows from finishing high school exams in Century to eventually working for and owning a newspaper. She overcomes her shyness and hear early thoughts and prejudices and gets to see Century and its inhabitants for whom they really are. There is no one side that is right or wrong, but the town is in a death spiral that will only reverse itself if a train track comes through, but the town cannot even put away its divisions and work together for that.
The ending is quite nebulous, and that has some readers a bit upset, but I think that adds to the book i that we are now 16 years from when Esther arrived in Century and she is now in San Francisco and it allows us to fill in the years and the story as we wish or think it should end.
Not a fast read, and it did sit on my shelf for almost 4 years until I picked it up, but if you enjoy a well-written novel, a novel that draws you into the lives of many varies characters, and one that will slowly grow on you as you begin to appreciate the authors style, then you will enjoy this book. I never thought I would write this when I put it down for a week, but the book just grew on me the more I read it and the more I became familiar with the citizens of Century.
July 24, 2012
Century is a frontier town in Oregon where the resources and pastureland are being fought over by ranchers and sheepherders. Esther, a nineteen year old orphan, comes to this town to seek out her third cousin, her only living relative once her mom dies. This cousin, Ferris Picket, is a rancher who is trying to claim the land for cattle. The fighting over the land escalates and Esther falls in love with a sheepherder-- an enemy of her cousin Pickett.
I liked the romance element in this book but there was not enough of it. I would describe this as a slow-moving plot-driven novel. The writing was too formal and ponderous, and too much passive voice. The ending made a huge difference between 2.5 stars and the 1 star that I gave it. I naturally wanted to know if Ester would end up with her sheepherder but the reader is denied that satisfaction. Decide for yourself; I think you will agree this is a horrible ending:
That is the suckiest ending ever!
I liked the romance element in this book but there was not enough of it. I would describe this as a slow-moving plot-driven novel. The writing was too formal and ponderous, and too much passive voice. The ending made a huge difference between 2.5 stars and the 1 star that I gave it. I naturally wanted to know if Ester would end up with her sheepherder but the reader is denied that satisfaction. Decide for yourself; I think you will agree this is a horrible ending:
"Let one not be delivered into an ending, even a happy one. Let one not tell everything-- whether she and Ben remained together, or separated and met again, or never met again, whether her daughters are his daughters, their young brows hilariously dire...There is no ending, happy or not, and no one is completely lost...And Century is tiny, after all. Look how the mind can hold it, rock it, like a child."
That is the suckiest ending ever!
July 28, 2013
When her mother died, Esther traveled by train from Chicago to her distant cousin's ranch in Century, Oregon. The western frontier state was a shock for a city girl: "Before her are miles of gray plain roughened with brush, rising into a blurred olive band of vegetation and other bands of smake and slate blue too far away to be consequential...Esther has never imagined a land so fruitless."
At her cousin's urging, she stakes a clain on a piece of property next to his ranch. The land will be hers if she stays there for five years. The spunky Esther quickly learns how to live in her new Oregon home, but things are far from calm in Century. There is competition between the cattlemen and the sheepmen for grazing areas and water for their animals. The railroad is planning on laying rails in the area, and all the small towns are hoping it well run through their centers to carry their cattle to market. When people have disputes, the law is taken into their own hands. Esther's loyalties are divided between her cousin's interests and those of a young shepherd. Will the town survive, or will it destroy itself with its lawlessness?
The author's descriptions transported the reader to a Western town around the turn of the century. This was an absorbing story with an interesting cast of characters. Although everyone was hardworking, many had greed and other fatal flaws that contributed to their downfall.
At her cousin's urging, she stakes a clain on a piece of property next to his ranch. The land will be hers if she stays there for five years. The spunky Esther quickly learns how to live in her new Oregon home, but things are far from calm in Century. There is competition between the cattlemen and the sheepmen for grazing areas and water for their animals. The railroad is planning on laying rails in the area, and all the small towns are hoping it well run through their centers to carry their cattle to market. When people have disputes, the law is taken into their own hands. Esther's loyalties are divided between her cousin's interests and those of a young shepherd. Will the town survive, or will it destroy itself with its lawlessness?
The author's descriptions transported the reader to a Western town around the turn of the century. This was an absorbing story with an interesting cast of characters. Although everyone was hardworking, many had greed and other fatal flaws that contributed to their downfall.
April 11, 2013
Using lyrical prose, author Anna Keesey tells the story of Esther, an eighteen year old orphan from Chicago who travels west to Century, Oregon, a frontier town in the early years of the twentieth century, to live with her distant cousin, her only known relative.
Against the backdrop of the range wars between cattle ranchers and sheep farmers, Esther must live in her cousin Pick's cabin for five years, which will automatically add it to his spread.
Not your ordinary Western, nor your typical romance novel, Little Century taught me about the struggle to survive in a land where water is scarce and the promise of free land if only you can work it is fast disappearing. When we are about to lose our livelihood, we become desperate, and some of us become violent. Keesey managed to portray the struggle for land with empathy for both sides, and, just like life, with no easy answers.
Her writing is entertaining, educational and thought-provoking, even philosophical. Read sentences like this: "Whoever grasps territory on a plain of dust, a green island, or a rich field in France grasps sand...liberty must move inside, to be found in the mind." You just have to stop and think about that before you can read on. And there's plenty more where that came from.
Against the backdrop of the range wars between cattle ranchers and sheep farmers, Esther must live in her cousin Pick's cabin for five years, which will automatically add it to his spread.
Not your ordinary Western, nor your typical romance novel, Little Century taught me about the struggle to survive in a land where water is scarce and the promise of free land if only you can work it is fast disappearing. When we are about to lose our livelihood, we become desperate, and some of us become violent. Keesey managed to portray the struggle for land with empathy for both sides, and, just like life, with no easy answers.
Her writing is entertaining, educational and thought-provoking, even philosophical. Read sentences like this: "Whoever grasps territory on a plain of dust, a green island, or a rich field in France grasps sand...liberty must move inside, to be found in the mind." You just have to stop and think about that before you can read on. And there's plenty more where that came from.
August 1, 2012
I enjoyed this read for many reasons - the characters, including many of the secondaries, were well-drawn, without resorting to stereotypes or extremes. As a main character, Esther is naive, but trustworthy, creating just enough empathy in her relationship with readers. The story was precisely paced with a slower build-up - but overall a book that held my attention throughout. And Keesey is a gifted writer; she has an ear for dialogue and the rare gift to show more than tell.
Besides all that, another reason I enjoyed the book so much was because it reminded me of the area where I live, so I could picture it so well. The story may be set in Century, Oregon, but she might have been writing about southern Idaho. High desert - check. Tensions between cattleman and sheepmen - check. Small frontier town that dissolves as other interests come into the area at the turn of the 20th century- check. The setting - the physical, political, and emotional - resonated far more with me than other westerns, and I appreciated a look at a region often overlooked in tales of the Wild West. Besides, it had an ending just fit for me - justice, vagueness, and not necessarily happy.
Besides all that, another reason I enjoyed the book so much was because it reminded me of the area where I live, so I could picture it so well. The story may be set in Century, Oregon, but she might have been writing about southern Idaho. High desert - check. Tensions between cattleman and sheepmen - check. Small frontier town that dissolves as other interests come into the area at the turn of the 20th century- check. The setting - the physical, political, and emotional - resonated far more with me than other westerns, and I appreciated a look at a region often overlooked in tales of the Wild West. Besides, it had an ending just fit for me - justice, vagueness, and not necessarily happy.
February 19, 2013
This book goes far beyond being just a “western” and a romance. As 18-year-old Esther arrives in eastern Oregon at the turn of the century to stay with her male cousin, her story shows what homesteading was like for both women and men. On top of the resentment and violence between the cattlemen and sheepherders, the members of this small community also burn with guilts, shames, or unexpressed desires that Esther gradually learns of. Her cousin has a shadow in his past. So does the schoolteacher. The postmistress is hiding a secret. And so, finally, is Esther.
Keesey has filled her story with details of life on a rangeland, such as what it meant to publish a local newspaper. What made it stand out for me is the complex characters, the mix of loyalties they struggle with, and the way the characters begin to deal with the issues from their past. The writing offers lovely images, of the rangeland itself, and of Esther’s mind: just as tulips when they emerge may not show the color of the final bloom, Esther reflects that her mind “has not changed at all, really. It was called red too early, before it ripened into its final character.”
Keesey has filled her story with details of life on a rangeland, such as what it meant to publish a local newspaper. What made it stand out for me is the complex characters, the mix of loyalties they struggle with, and the way the characters begin to deal with the issues from their past. The writing offers lovely images, of the rangeland itself, and of Esther’s mind: just as tulips when they emerge may not show the color of the final bloom, Esther reflects that her mind “has not changed at all, really. It was called red too early, before it ripened into its final character.”
August 2, 2015
I kind of want to run around yelling EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS! It really is magnificent.
February 7, 2013
Who knew that a story about feuding cattle ranchers and sheep herders in turn-of-the-century Oregon could be so good? I really enjoyed reading this--especially since the writing was tight and polished, and the characters were interesting. I loved the main character Esther and how she came of age to make up her own mind about what is right and wrong. I guess I love a good western with a strong female protagonist! Also, I loved how the story was not only about the demise of the town Century, but really the end of the West in the nineteenth century. I think I liked this too because there is something about living alone on a little homestead in a cabin with no one but my horse for company that is appealing. Sometimes.
Here is my favorite quote:
"For how large the mind is! The whole desert is nothing to it. Whoever grasps territory on a plain of dust, a green island, or a rich field in France grasps sand. That old settlement is finished, and liberty must move inside, to be found in the mind. O that inexhaustible Oregon we each enclose. And Century is tiny, after all. Look how the mind can hold it, rock it, like a child."
Here is my favorite quote:
"For how large the mind is! The whole desert is nothing to it. Whoever grasps territory on a plain of dust, a green island, or a rich field in France grasps sand. That old settlement is finished, and liberty must move inside, to be found in the mind. O that inexhaustible Oregon we each enclose. And Century is tiny, after all. Look how the mind can hold it, rock it, like a child."
November 14, 2012
Took a bit to get totally interested in the story but the writing is gorgeous and loved the central Oregon setting.
dnf
April 19, 2020DNF na 62 blz.
Ik weet nog niet hoe ik deze prompt ("37. A Western") ooit ga halen, maar dit boek was het in ieder geval niet voor mij. Wat saaaai.
Tips voor een goede Western zijn welkom!
Ik weet nog niet hoe ik deze prompt ("37. A Western") ooit ga halen, maar dit boek was het in ieder geval niet voor mij. Wat saaaai.
Tips voor een goede Western zijn welkom!
September 16, 2012
It’s been several days since I finished Little Century, but the images are still fresh. I have a vision of Oregon at the turn of the 19th century, the smell of the land — sage and juniper and pine — on the high desert around Bend. Yes, I was actually close by last month, in the mountains between the Willamette and Deschutes Rivers. It’s Keesey’s vivid writing, though, that brings the land alive; and my recent visit, as well as growing up in the West, allows me to simply confirm: Little Century is the closest to the real thing you will get, without actually going there. And the story itself — a girl coming of age and falling in love while being pulled in opposing directions by the range war rivalry between sheep herders and cattle men — is fascinating. I remember reading a review of this book, and thinking, “should I? Should I not buy it?” I had decided against it, in part because this is her debut and I was unsure a “western” would get checked out by our patrons. But after reading it, I bought it for the library. It’s a can’t miss. And I wouldn’t call it a “western” — Little Century crosses genre boundaries. It’s literary, but so easy and delicious to read; it’s historical fiction; it’s a romance; it’s a mystery; and it should truly appeal to both men and women. Highly recommended!
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December 3, 2012
I love a good western with a solid female lead character and this book doesn't disappoint on this score. True Grit is one of my all-time favorite books, so I'm always looking to recreate the experience of reading that engrossing and deceptively simple novel. The main character, Esther, is a city girl, young and alone when she heads west in search of a distant male cousin to call family. Her sense of adventure and pointed searching for some place to call home rings genuine to me. The cast of characters from the dirty and nearly desolate small town of Century, Oregon is Dickensian to me and therefore, very rich in flaws and endearments. There's a love story component, turf wars over grazing and watering rights that result in a murder to solve. I won't insert any spoilers, but this is a very well-written, lyrical and engaging novel.
January 30, 2013
I didn't exactly roll my eyes in the first few pages of this book, but I came close. The set-up was just so tidy: an orphaned 18-year-old goes West to her only living relative, a handsome cattle rancher who may or may not a wastrel. The landscape is cold and sere, but, oh look, there is brutal beauty! The old ranch hand is kinder than his scraggly beard would suggest!
But somewhere in the first 50 pages or so, my opinion began to shift. This is a deep novel, a story that works as fable and as a specific recounting of one young woman's experience. And the writing is gorgeous. I would flatter myself by saying I didn't notice at first because it's such unshowy writing, but I think it's just that I was initially too dismissive.
A keeper. I'll buy her next book the week it comes out.
But somewhere in the first 50 pages or so, my opinion began to shift. This is a deep novel, a story that works as fable and as a specific recounting of one young woman's experience. And the writing is gorgeous. I would flatter myself by saying I didn't notice at first because it's such unshowy writing, but I think it's just that I was initially too dismissive.
A keeper. I'll buy her next book the week it comes out.
August 15, 2012
The high desert town of Century, Oregon is the turn of the century setting of high drama between those who raise cattle and those who raise sheep and the violent greed over free range land which seems to be anything but free. Young Esther Chambers is living with her only relative, a distant cousin of means who is a cattle rancher. Anna Keesey has portrayed her as a woman of poise, ethics and morals far beyond her years. At times, it seems she is the only sensible being in the town. The author has crafted a beautifully written novel, sometimes stark but always compelling, with richly developed characters. Her descriptions of the evolving west and the tensions of a hardscrapple life feel very true. This is one book I wish was longer; I could have followed Esther forever!
January 31, 2013
A delicious read! Some of the most beautiful prose I have ever read. The characters are incredibly rich. Some of my favorite passages:
P. 95 - Fused together by a merriment so colossal it mimicked the effect of drink, the people of Chicago ... went arm in arm about the town like crabs, tipping sideways, making a dance-hall step of their lost balance. In the big houses . . . women enjoyed the liquid drag of silk dresses on stairs.
p. 130 - She has been waiting , she realizes, for that explosion into spring that one can expect in Illinois. The return of heat and softness. The change of tree, narrow and brown and crouching in ice, into a dancing girl, the overnight decision by the redbud to turn itself inside out and display its brilliant underclothes.
P. 95 - Fused together by a merriment so colossal it mimicked the effect of drink, the people of Chicago ... went arm in arm about the town like crabs, tipping sideways, making a dance-hall step of their lost balance. In the big houses . . . women enjoyed the liquid drag of silk dresses on stairs.
p. 130 - She has been waiting , she realizes, for that explosion into spring that one can expect in Illinois. The return of heat and softness. The change of tree, narrow and brown and crouching in ice, into a dancing girl, the overnight decision by the redbud to turn itself inside out and display its brilliant underclothes.
September 9, 2012
There was basically nothing I disliked about this book. The prose is spare and tense and poetic but still enthralling. The story feeds my craving for obscure history "lessons" told through fiction. The love triangle (something I usually hate) plays out realistically, and everyone is so real and flawed and human that I didn't once question a character's motives. Recommended for fans of good writing and grittier historical fiction and those with no patience for romances of the Twilight variety.
July 21, 2016
So disappointing given the reviews. The story was superficial and the characters were one dimensional. Perhaps I read it too soon following The Orchardist and it suffered by comparison. Regardless, though I did finish it, I felt that I was just going through the motions of reading and never found the plot engaging.
February 24, 2013
Set during the "wild west" era in eastern Oregon, a young woman is orphaned and sent to live with her cousin, the only family she has yet she has never met and soon is embroiled in frontier wars between sheep-herders and cattle ranchers. I'm not normally into westerns but I really enjoyed this one.
June 10, 2012
Like it a lot. Good ending -- not what you'll be expecting.
August 21, 2018
Read first in 2012, again in 2018. Beautiful.
October 29, 2018
I would give this one 3.5 stars. It took me a long time to get through it, and there were stretches where I was ready to put it down, but there are frequent spots of beautiful writing, and the story overall is satisfying.
The basic plot of cattlemen vs. sheepherders will be familiar to any fan of Westerns, but the narrative is decidedly feminine in tone. Set in 1900, the story tells of a frontier that has outlived the days of gunfighting and range wars, and any masculine posturing or intimidation is filtered through the eyes of a female protagonist. The result is that scenes that seem to be headed toward violent outcomes are left to smolder; escalating tensions are carried over chapter by chapter instead of page by page. The slow pace, and the careful attention the author gives the main characters, creates a tone where even small transgressions take on great significance, and the big conflicts are shocking.
The basic plot of cattlemen vs. sheepherders will be familiar to any fan of Westerns, but the narrative is decidedly feminine in tone. Set in 1900, the story tells of a frontier that has outlived the days of gunfighting and range wars, and any masculine posturing or intimidation is filtered through the eyes of a female protagonist. The result is that scenes that seem to be headed toward violent outcomes are left to smolder; escalating tensions are carried over chapter by chapter instead of page by page. The slow pace, and the careful attention the author gives the main characters, creates a tone where even small transgressions take on great significance, and the big conflicts are shocking.
April 29, 2012
3.5 stars
Upon the death of her mother, Esther Chambers moves West to Central Oregon at the invitation of distant cousin Ferris Pickett (Pick). Pick is a cattle rancher, and he wants Esther to homestead a recently abandoned piece of land adjacent to his own ranch. Esther settles in to her new home and the community, but things are getting a bit heated - those cattle ranchers do not like the men raising the sheep. Not. One. Bit. Life gets even more complicated for Esther when Pick asks for her hand, yet she's developed a certain attraction to Ben Cruff, one of those sheepherders Pick and his men loathe so much.
I've been really struggling trying to rate this book, and please note that my rating is based more on how much I enjoyed reading this, and not directed to the writing itself, which was lovely. I love Western history and I adore Central Oregon, so I should have been all over this like a cat with cream - but I wasn't. I could always put this down, walk away and not feel the rush to come back, and frankly ended up reading this at the gym 40 minutes a day whilst doing my cardio. This book was written in the present tense (3rd person), and I found it very distracting - especially with such a large cast of secondary characters. I think I would have done better if there had been a character listing to refer back to, and I'm hoping they put one in the final editions. As for the story itself, I struggled as much following it as I did with the characters and felt quite lost at times. Things really didn't seem to happen until the very last 50 or so pages.
There was lots of gorgeous writing, but not much substance underneath it - at least not for me. YMMV. I am beginning to suspect that literary fiction and I are not fated to be constant companions. Four stars for the writing, three stars for a so-so story making this a 3.5 star rating rounded up to four since I can't award half stars.
Reviewed for Amazon Vine.
Upon the death of her mother, Esther Chambers moves West to Central Oregon at the invitation of distant cousin Ferris Pickett (Pick). Pick is a cattle rancher, and he wants Esther to homestead a recently abandoned piece of land adjacent to his own ranch. Esther settles in to her new home and the community, but things are getting a bit heated - those cattle ranchers do not like the men raising the sheep. Not. One. Bit. Life gets even more complicated for Esther when Pick asks for her hand, yet she's developed a certain attraction to Ben Cruff, one of those sheepherders Pick and his men loathe so much.
I've been really struggling trying to rate this book, and please note that my rating is based more on how much I enjoyed reading this, and not directed to the writing itself, which was lovely. I love Western history and I adore Central Oregon, so I should have been all over this like a cat with cream - but I wasn't. I could always put this down, walk away and not feel the rush to come back, and frankly ended up reading this at the gym 40 minutes a day whilst doing my cardio. This book was written in the present tense (3rd person), and I found it very distracting - especially with such a large cast of secondary characters. I think I would have done better if there had been a character listing to refer back to, and I'm hoping they put one in the final editions. As for the story itself, I struggled as much following it as I did with the characters and felt quite lost at times. Things really didn't seem to happen until the very last 50 or so pages.
There was lots of gorgeous writing, but not much substance underneath it - at least not for me. YMMV. I am beginning to suspect that literary fiction and I are not fated to be constant companions. Four stars for the writing, three stars for a so-so story making this a 3.5 star rating rounded up to four since I can't award half stars.
Reviewed for Amazon Vine.
March 12, 2013
Overall, I felt like this book was disappointing. Like the author almost wrote a great book, but couldn't manage to pull it off. This book deserves a three, but if three stars means "I liked it", I can't give it that.
3 - Writing Style (It was ok.)
3 - Kept me Awake at Night Reading (It was ok.)
3 - Good Discussion Book (Maybe.)
4 - Violence (Some, but nothing written in a disturbing or nightmarish way.)
3 - Sex (This book has adult relationships in it. Now I feel like ranting. I hate the double standard found so often in books that men can do whatever with whomever and women can't; also, that women don't mind when they find out. It is also frustrating that authors today portray the people in the past with no moral values. I like to hope societies were not always this callus.)
2 - Language (Not that great. It annoys me that authors feel like they have to put things in, almost as if they are marking it off on a checklist for the publisher.)
2 - Unique (It was very predictable. It happened just the way I thought it would, and it was disappointing to not ever be surprised.)
3 - Writing Style (It was ok.)
3 - Kept me Awake at Night Reading (It was ok.)
3 - Good Discussion Book (Maybe.)
4 - Violence (Some, but nothing written in a disturbing or nightmarish way.)
3 - Sex (This book has adult relationships in it. Now I feel like ranting. I hate the double standard found so often in books that men can do whatever with whomever and women can't; also, that women don't mind when they find out. It is also frustrating that authors today portray the people in the past with no moral values. I like to hope societies were not always this callus.)
2 - Language (Not that great. It annoys me that authors feel like they have to put things in, almost as if they are marking it off on a checklist for the publisher.)
2 - Unique (It was very predictable. It happened just the way I thought it would, and it was disappointing to not ever be surprised.)
April 2, 2014
I read this primarily because it was the 2014 Whidbey Reads selection. I was pleasantly surprised! Set in the high desert of Oregon, the story is steeped in history, and the characters are believable. The romantic aspects were unobtrusive, so were bearable and even welcome. Readers who enjoy historical fiction, romance, or westerns will likely enjoy this, too. I see big things in Anna Keesey's future.
July 20, 2012
I enjoyed this a lot, but the very last chapter pissed me off. It's not the story, exactly, but without spoiling, there is no way to explain. Minus 1 star for the lame ending.
This story is like The Octopus and My Antonia combined, but is not actually as good as either one. (Links will be added when goodreads links are working and I remember.)
This story is like The Octopus and My Antonia combined, but is not actually as good as either one. (Links will be added when goodreads links are working and I remember.)
December 26, 2012
Since this book kept me up waayy too late to finish it, I think it deserves 4 stars. Its a tight, well-written "Western" with vivid description, and I liked the vivid cast of characters and the maturation of the female main character. I think the open nature of the ending clinched this novel for me--the reader has resolution to the story and uncertainty about the future.
June 27, 2012
A very different writing style. I liked it though hard to read; strange word placement and vague in meaning in places. I will look for another book by this author to see what more she does with her style of storytelling.
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April 18, 2020When she gets off the train near Century, Oregon, Esther Chambers is not too impressed. Everyone from Chicago who heard that she was going out west to Oregon told her stories about how green and lovely the territory was, much different than the dry, desert-like scene that is spread in front of her.
But Esther doesn't have a choice but to live here. Her mother has just died, leaving the 18-year-old young woman with no place to go. She writes to her deceased father's far-flung cousin, who offered for her to come live on his cattle ranch.
Read p. 7: "Yesterday, after collecting her at the station up in Peterson ... But I'm called Pick."
Pick's ranch is also not what she expected. All of its plate glass windows have been knocked out and are being boarded up by the fellows of the ranch (call them boys or fellows, or buckaroos if you're Vincent who cooks for them, but never cowboys). A simmering feud between the cattle ranchers and the sheep ranchers resulted in the broken windows, a burned wagon, nasty looks and quite a few cuss words.
Seemingly in pay back for her place in his house, Pick expects Esther to take a claim. If she lives on the land for 5 years and grows a crop, then the government will give her the land. She doesn't really want the land, which includes a small pond called Half-A-Mind, because it dries up each summer, but the land and the pond are crucial in Pick's ongoing battle to drive out the sheep farmers.
Esther is not sure which side of this issue she wants to be on. Really, she'd rather not be involved in what seems like a fight between boys and bullies. She likes the school teacher, she likes the shop keeper, and she likes Ben Crupp, one of the sheep herders.
What's a girl to do?
But Esther doesn't have a choice but to live here. Her mother has just died, leaving the 18-year-old young woman with no place to go. She writes to her deceased father's far-flung cousin, who offered for her to come live on his cattle ranch.
Read p. 7: "Yesterday, after collecting her at the station up in Peterson ... But I'm called Pick."
Pick's ranch is also not what she expected. All of its plate glass windows have been knocked out and are being boarded up by the fellows of the ranch (call them boys or fellows, or buckaroos if you're Vincent who cooks for them, but never cowboys). A simmering feud between the cattle ranchers and the sheep ranchers resulted in the broken windows, a burned wagon, nasty looks and quite a few cuss words.
Seemingly in pay back for her place in his house, Pick expects Esther to take a claim. If she lives on the land for 5 years and grows a crop, then the government will give her the land. She doesn't really want the land, which includes a small pond called Half-A-Mind, because it dries up each summer, but the land and the pond are crucial in Pick's ongoing battle to drive out the sheep farmers.
Esther is not sure which side of this issue she wants to be on. Really, she'd rather not be involved in what seems like a fight between boys and bullies. She likes the school teacher, she likes the shop keeper, and she likes Ben Crupp, one of the sheep herders.
What's a girl to do?
December 8, 2025
Oh how I wish author Anna Keesey would write another book. “Little Century” seems to be the only one she’s published and it’s an outstanding debut novel. It’s an American frontier tale written with nuance and empathy for homesteaders struggling to survive in the harsh Oregon High Desert. Rugged Central Oregon seems empty and expansive, yet water and good grazing land are limited. In the tiny town of Century, Oregon, a range war is brewing. Cattlemen and sheepherders are increasingly hostile toward each other’s interests. Between the spring frost and the summer droughts, local farmers cannot scratch enough alfalfa hay from the thirsty desert soil to supplement the ranchers’ growing needs. Everyone has big dreams of a better future if they can lure railroad developers to their town, yet townsfolk all harbor secret pasts and present conflicts that hinder their success and happiness. It’s the year 1900 and 18-year-old Esther Chambers is not only new to town, but has been suddenly transplanted from civilized Chicago in the bustling center of America, to this lawless frontier town in the middle of nowhere way out West. She doesn’t belong here, she has trouble fitting in, and she must figure out how to survive. Esther finds herself in the middle of unbridled passions and ensuing violence that once seemed the stuff of fiction books she liked to read. Somehow the redemptive power of writing keeps her sane and opens up new possibilities. “Little Century” is a page turner; the characters are complex and interesting; and the writing superbly captures the untamable beauty of Oregon’s High Desert—a place this reader has spent much time exploring. Please publish a next novel, Anna Keesey.
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