The Years of the Locust

by Loula Grace Erdman

Book by Erdman, Loula Grace

Genres: Fiction

234 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1947

About the author

ERDMAN, LOULA GRACE (1898–1976). Loula Grace Erdman, writer, daughter of August F. and Mollie (Maddox) Erdman, was born on June 8, 1898, near Alma, Lafayette County, Missouri. She attended Central Missouri State College (B.S., 1931) and Columbia University (M.A., 1941). She also studied at the University of Wisconsin, the University of Southern California, and West Texas State College. She subsequently moved to Texas and taught in the Amarillo public schools and at West Texas State College, where she eventually became novelist-in-residence and director of the Advanced Workshop in Creative Writing.

Erdman began writing in the 1930s, and by 1946 about fifty of her short stories and magazine articles had been published, as well as her first juvenile novel, Separate Star (1944), a book about career teaching. In 1946 she won the $10,000 Dodd, Mead-Redbook Award for The Years of the Locust (1947), a novel set in her native Missouri. In 1952 she received the American Girl-Dodd, Mead Award for The Wind Blows Free (1952), the first volume of a juvenile trilogy about a pioneer Panhandle family. She continued the story of the Pierce family in The Wide Horizon (1956) and The Good Land (1959). Room to Grow (1962), a novel about French immigrants who moved to the Panhandle via New Orleans, won her the Texas Institute of Letters Juvenile Award. She received both the Texas Institute of Letters Award and the Steck-Vaughn Award for A Bluebird Will Do (1973). Her other works include A Wonderful Thing and Other Stories (1940), Fair Is the Morning (1945), Lonely Passage (1948), The Edge of Time (1950), Three at the Wedding (1953), My Sky Is Blue (1953), The Far Journey (1955), Short Summer (1958), Many a Voyage (1960), The Man Who Told the Truth (1962), Life Was Simpler Then (1963), Another Spring (1966), Bright Sky (1969), A Time to Write (1969), and Save Weeping for the Night (1975).

Miss Erdman was a member of the Texas Institute of Letters, the Panhandle Penwomen, Delta Kappa Gamma, Kappa Delta Pi, and Phi Kappa Phi. As a career teacher who never considered abandoning teaching even after she gained recognition as a writer, she also belonged to the National Education Association and the Texas State Teachers Association.

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though this book starts a little slow, it was well worth the read. The book begins with the death of Dade Kenzie a wise patriarch of a Missouri farming family. The story is told through the eyes of seven individuals that were influenced by Kenzie with flashbacks into the past. Each individual has an entry on each day between the death and the funeral and the story of their lives is intertwined in the telling.

My family all read this book for a recent family reunion and I thoroughly enjoyed our discussion. There are a lot of snippets of insight in this book and it is always good to be reminded how many lives we unconsciously affect.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a character-driven rather than a plot-driven book. It's one of those books that you can't put down; also one of those books that every time you read it, you glean more from how the people's lives are intertwined. Edman was a master at characterization. Highly recommended.

[Nada Amer · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was Amazing

[Josephine Briggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an old fashioned story, it was published in 1947 and won a $10,000 prize which was a good deal of money on 1947. A book of love of family, love of land, love of life. It takes place in west central Missouri over three days, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Dale Kenzie is the most prosperous farmer in this part of the country. He has a big home, is good hearted, loves people. His home is always open to friends and relatives. The food is delicious and plentiful. Thursday, Dade, who is eighty, dies. His wife, Ellie is dead, he misses her, and doesn't mind dying. The book tells of the influence this good man had on so many characters.

I read the book several years ago and decided to reread it, it's that good. I found it among books for sale and became interested when I read that it had received a prize.

The novel delves into the lives of those Dade influenced, his granddaughter and oldest grandchild, his pride and joy, very much like him. Allison and her grandfather are very close, she is so much like Grandpa, much more than Dade's sons. Allison is her own person, studies voice, acting, neither is for her. She decides on a career she loves and is good at. She leaves Missouri, no farm life for her, moves to New York City, then California. She is so different than the young women of her time and place. Miss Laura Meeks, Dade is her one and only love. Laura is a born old maid, critical of everyone, but a character, gossipy and funny. She had been a very pretty young woman. Two young people, Virgie and Jim Meador from the run down Bottoms, a very poor run down section, are good kids who want and need to get away from the hard life of Bottoms. Dade hires Jim and gives the pair a hand up from poverty. Dade and Ellie take in an orphaned, distant cousin, Elaine. She is a frail young woman who day dreams through life and is in love with Barry, her cousin, who lives his life in books. The two are so much alike. But everyone must grow up. Elaine marries a man who adores her. Allison thinks what a waste of a good man. There are so many folks Dade has helped and influenced. Now that he is gone, they realize the only one they can depend on is themselves.

An interesting character is Charley Vane who has been a grave digger since he was seventeen and knows more about the people of the county than anyone else, including doctors and relatives. He's the one who buries them all. He's not afraid of death and dying, realizing this is everyone's fate.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Older patriarch of a rural American town dies, which causes his family members, friends, and neighbors to reflect on the impact his life has had on their own.

Reasons to Read:

1. Fantastic character building - there are many, many diverse characters and all are skillfully and delicately drawn.
2. Interesting glimpse into rural America early 1900s written from a 1947 perspective.
3. Lots of analysis of what true love is with some great conclusions.
4. Elegant writing.

Reasons to Not Read:

1. Pretty plotless - not a lot of action here.
2. It's slow - the book takes place over three days and does seem to drag a bit.

Objectionable Content: A discontent wife pines for her first love (but it resolves well).

[Debbie Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written in 1947. A good book about a good man's passing and how his life had affected those around him.

[Christine Borah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Published in 1947, this story takes place in Missouri. The family and community come together for three days for the funeral of Dade Kenzie. The plot is based on seven characters and their stories, which involved Dade Kenzie.

This book was a real character based story more than plot based. Every character had a different relationship with Mr Kenzie, but his influence and their memories of him spoke volumes through the characters' reflections.

[wanderer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this long ago and liked it enough to remember it. I actually still own it, so maybe a re-read is in order.

[Virginia McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnificent! i will read more of her work.