Tallgrass

by Sandra Dallas

Book by Dallas, Sandra

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Book Club, Historical, World War II, Mystery, Audiobook

453 pages, Hardcover

First published April 3, 2007

About the author

Award-winning author SANDRA DALLAS was dubbed “a quintessential American voice” by Jane Smiley, in Vogue Magazine. Sandra’s novels with their themes of loyalty, friendship, and human dignity have been translated into a dozen foreign languages and have been optioned for films.

A journalism graduate of the University of Denver, Sandra began her writing career as a reporter with Business Week. A staff member for twenty-five years (and the magazine’s first female bureau chief,) she covered the Rocky Mountain region, writing about everything from penny-stock scandals to hard-rock mining, western energy development to contemporary polygamy. Many of her experiences have been incorporated into her novels.

While a reporter, she began writing the first of ten nonfiction books. They include Sacred Paint, which won the National Cowboy Hall of Fame Western Heritage Wrangler Award, and The Quilt That Walked to Golden, recipient of the Independent Publishers Assn. Benjamin Franklin Award.

Turning to fiction in 1990, Sandra has published eight novels, including Prayers For Sale. Sandra is the recipient of the Women Writing the West Willa Award for New Mercies, and two-time winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award, for The Chili Queen and Tallgrass. In addition, she was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award, the Mountain and Plains Booksellers Assn. Award, and a four-time finalist for the Women Writing the West Willa Award.

The mother of two daughters—Dana is an attorney in New Orleans and Povy is a photographer in Golden, Colorado—Sandra lives in Denver with her husband, Bob.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/sandra...

Reviews

[Cathrine ☯️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5★
From the blurb: “Part thriller, part historical novel.”
I beg to differ. There is nothing about this that would put it in the category of “thriller.” In my opinion “historical novel” is stretching it as well. Inspired by historical events might fit. Some reviews and endorsements have also suggested that this could be considered in the same company with To Kill A Mockingbird. Again, perhaps inspired by, with scenes and characters mirrored from that treasure of a novel is my takeaway.
It was neither hot nor cold but rather tepid and was about as interesting as it would be to watch Stroud’s sugar beets grow. It took me a week to get through it because there always seemed to be something more compelling to do than read.
I can say that sixty-five years after the fact, the portrayal of racial prejudice and fear among the locals when the Japanese are interned in the relocation camp on the outskirts of their home town reflects the climate of fear, concern, and politics with current day refugees and Muslims following 9/11. History somewhat repeating itself fits.

[Taury · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tallgrass is about a Japanese in an internment camp in Colorado. It showed racism and cultural differences. How many Americans disliked them and tried to put blame on them for violent crimes. It also shows the love the Japanese have for others. How they took much in stride without blaming others for their difficulties and struggles. They were always grateful for kindness shown and returned even when not deserved.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I bought a copy of it last summer when the author was signing copies in a little bookstore in Fort Madison, Iowa, and gave it to my wife as a birthday gift. Last week I picked it up at the library on CD to listen to while driving. listening to it was a pleasant suprise. The story begins in 1942 in rural Colorado as Japanese Americans are arriving at an internment camp. The story unfolds through the eyes of a thirteen year old local farm girl. It is a story of the tragedy of war, the prejudices that grow out of ignorance, as well as the triumph of standing up for what you beleive. This is not a book that I would have chosen for my self, under normal conditions, but the library's selection of books on CD was rather slim last week so I brought it home. I'm glad I stepped out of my normal comfort zone and listened to it.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Going into Tallgrass I was thinking it was about a Japanese internment camp. It's not really about the camp as it's about a small town where the new camp is located. Life will change and highlight the brightest and darkest of this small Colorado town.

While this is a worhtwhile read, it's not my favorite by Sandra Dallas. I will look forward to her next.

[Linda Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sandra Dallas is a talented story teller and this is an exceptional book with well-drawn characters and a compelling plot. I could hardly put it down toward the end. I like the following review by Susan Wyatt,"Books in the mystery genre are usually based on the assumption that order can be restored to the community by discovering and punishing anyone who kills another. To this author, however, justice is a much more complicated narrative."

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sandra Dallas is back! I had thoroughly enjoyed Dallas's earlier novels but was sorely disappointed with The Chili Queen so it was with some apprehension that I approached Tallgrass. Would she be able to deliver?
Deliver she did. Only two or three pages in and I was hooked (the hallmark of a good book.) Unlike with some of her previous novels there are no quirky characters here, which is fitting as the subject matter does not warrant it. The central characters are likable. Rennie, the story's narrator, is tenacious and wise beyond her years yet vulnerable. Her father bears resemblance to Atticus Finch (although, to be fair, having heard him described as Finch-like prior to reading the novel I was predisposed to think of him in this vein and I'm not entirely sure I would have thought of him in this way on my own.) Rennie's mother is a woman of integrity,she is strong, determined, and compassionate. The Japanese interns whom Rennie's family employs are respectable and gracious. the trouble I had was with Dallas's overly black and white depiction of her cast of characters. The evil were so evil with no redeeming qualities to the point where they seemed to be almost caricatures. The same can be said of the Japanese. Though likable, they fit a bit too well into the stereotype of the subservient Asian, calm and sagacious. I envisioned them in a near constant bow (Ahhhh, Daniel san.)
The plot is engrossing, though not entirely unpredictable. The ending is a bit abrupt, it does not correspond to the pacing of the rest of the book. I could not help but feel a bit cheated as I was left with several questions unanswered. Additionally, I simply was not ready to leave Ellis, Colorado, not ready to say good-bye to the Stroud family, not ready to return to the twenty-first century. I hate it when good books end!

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't give this book enough stars. This will probably be an all time favorite book of mine. I loved everything about it and how it tied together in the end and the perfect epilogue. I was afraid I was feel beaten down by all the hate and there were plenty of hateful people but also the few great people. The parents were hands down the best characters. One of the few books I'll mourn leaving the characters behind!

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Tallgrass did indeed bring the war to us. When the war started, I was a little girl. But the time it ended, I'd become a young woman who had seen much of sorrow and sadness. Tallgrass became our own personal war."

Despite my seemingly average rating, this was actually quite a good book. But the content and dialogue in this book was so raw and so very much akin to our present day that it made me nauseated. I've never had such a reaction before, but this book made me physically ill.

Something's happening in the small town of Ellis, Colorado. A Japanese internment camp has been built on the outskirts of town, with people arriving by the busfold. Most of the townfolk are displeased with this predicament. Rennie Stroud and her family are the only ones who don't have a major problem with it. But with a citizen is murdered, the blame quickly shifts to the new arrivals, with bias, prejudice, and hatred seeping through the seemingly perfect façade of this small farming community.

I think my visceral reaction to this book had something to do with the fact that I live in a town very much like Ellis, and I saw myself in the Stroud family. The city I live in isn't a small town, but it had a small town feel to it. It's largely conservative and deeply religious, so being a liberal family in a town full of Republicans is not exactly a pleasant place to be. Furthermore, I live in a town with a large immigrant population (and a large number of them undocumented), and the tensions between the "Came Here" and "Born Here" can get high. So the dialogue and situations that the town of Ellis faced hit just a little too close to home for me.

Those feelings aside, this book hits some hard truths on the reader both on our present day attitudes and a period of American history that I feel is largely ignored (or worse, romanticized). Thankfully, Sandra Dallas does neither, as she clearly relates to us the horror of the events that the Japanese people went through during their period of internment. How it must have felt to have your homeland turn on you and be betrayed by the government that's supposed to protect its citizens, not intern them. The land of the freedom became the land or horror for those interned.
She doesn't shy away from it and she doesn't sugarcoat it, forcing the reader to confront their own beliefs and bias's and America's dark stained event of the past.

An extremely important, hard to swallow yet necessary read.

[Joy H. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wrote the following while reading _Tallgrass_.

Speaking of being disappointed, I'm trying to get through _Tallgrass_ by Sandra Dallas. I can't believe how the author stretches the book out with descriptions of boring domestic routines which can hold no possible interest for anyone. For example: "The boys had finished their coffee, and Carl took their cups to the sink, washed them, and put them into the dish drainer... Dad ... standing up and reaching for his plaid wool jacket on a hook beside the door." (p.201, lge prnt) How exciting! More: "Mom put on an apron and stood behind the table, cutting slices of cake and setting them on plates. I took a piece of cake for Granny and led her to a chair, then went back to the table to help Mom." (p. 162-3) Thrilling!

And if they mention quilting once more, I'll scream! Alright already... they're making quilts! Get past it! LOL

Otherwise the book has the potential to be an interesting novel about the internment of the Japanese during WWII, told from the point of view of a young American girl who lives near the location of the internment camp in Colorado.

PS-Perhaps the author is trying to describe the flavor of life back during the war years, but the writing itself has no flavor, IMO.

PPS-I see that one of the Goodreads reviewers (Kerri) said that the writing was "very stilted at times". I agree.
See Kerri's review at: ====>
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/....

[Lucy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed the first chapter of Tallgrass. I thought I was getting To Kill A Mockingbird but with innocent Japanese detainees in camps during World War II instead of an innocent black man detained for rape in the south. It had the requisite small town setting with a few violently ignorant residents. It had the naive daughter narrating the story with a do-the-right-thing-even-if-it's-unpopular father as her hero. Like I said, the flavor was there.

But the taste was not. I don't know if the author, Sandra Dallas, was trying to write a copycat novel or purposely veered off track, but Tallgrass quickly fell far from the Mockingbird tree. The characters were boxy and predictable, the plot stretched too thin with an unrelated murder mystery (was I supposed to suspect the Japanese in the nearby camp? Because I didn't. The author never develops the suspicion for the reader with Rennie as the narrator) and the dialogue feels unnaturally scripted.

Mostly, I felt disappointed because Dallas didn't write enough about the Japanese camps. Its existence around the Colorado town of Ellis is placed so far into the background of her story, that having it as a part of the story's setting actually seems unnecessary. Sure, she included a few Japanese characters who came to work for Rennie's father on his sugar beet farm, but they were as boxy as the white folks. Why bother?

I wish I hadn't.

[☮Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A coming of age story set on a farm in Colorado near a Japanese internment camp during World War II -- what's not to like? It had every storyline I enjoy all rolled up into one neat little book. Loved it!

[Aleta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. There's some historical senario in the background of this book about a Japanese Internment Camp, I found this interesting. The book is about a murder that takes place with some additional surprises. I love the main character who is a young teen growing up during WWII.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in Colorado during WWII, this story is convincingly narrated by a young girl growing up on a working farm. It has been compared to the classic To Kill a Mockingbird, and I found that to be generally accurate. A Japanese internment camp opening in the vicinity immediately generates fear and distrust among the community. While a few had the vision to realize that many of the internees were American citizens who had been deprived of their property as well as their constitutional rights, general angst soon escalates to a fever pitch. The novel evolved convincingly around a murder, a rape, and the town bullies. Woven throughout was willingness on the part of a few brave souls to trust and take chances. The mystery element, coupled with an understated picture of everyday life in a farming community blended together well, yielding a good story. One sees the work ethic, the isolation, the teamwork in times of need, as well as the vital role of female bonding as a way of emotional support.
I was interested to learn that such a relocation center, Camp Amache, did exist in Granada, Colorado, from 1942 to 1945.
‘More than 10,000 people passed through Camp Amache and, at its peak, it housed over 7,300 internees, two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens. Today, the Granada Relocation Center site consists of a cemetery, a monument, building foundations, and landscaping.’

[Sharon Huether · Rating 5 out of 5]

A first person account of an Japanese Internment camp in Southeast Colorado told be Rennie Stroud, the youngest daughter of the Stroud family.
The town of Ellis was very prejudice of the Japanese in the camp. There had been a murder and rape of a teenage white girl . Daughter Marthalice had left the family farm and moved to Denver, son Bud enlisted enlisted Army. Rennie's mother suffered from heart disease and needed more rest. Rennie did a lot of growing up during the summer of 1942.
Mr. Stroud was a leader in his family and very well respected in the community. The family was to be admired. He set an example of hiring some of the older Japanese boys to help with his beet harvest.

I so admired most of the characters in this story. A loving and caring family, putting others first before themselves.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was written beautifully through the eyes of a young farm girl, Rennie Stroud. The setting is Ellis, Colorado during World War II and the Japanese incarcerations in internment camps. It discusses the narrow-mindedness, fear, and stereotyping that has repeated itself throughout the history of our country when it comes to the white man's view of other races and cultures. It touches upon subjects of life during war times, the struggle of the small-town American to survive in these times, the fear of the loss of a child at war, etc. Read it! I know you'll all enjoy it. I couldn't put it down, read it in a day and a half!

[Joe Stack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every now and then you start a book and you realize within a page that you're going to read a story that exceeds your expectations; you're reading a story that you will not want to put down until you're finished. This book was that for me.

The installation of a Japanese-American internment camp near a small farming community exposes the prejudices that come from fear and misjudgments. As serious as the plot is, the story is heartwarming and uplifting with some characters you hope you can emulate. The narrator is endearing.

The author's immerses the reader in the period and writes wonderful dialogue. I found myself frequently wanting to share some of the entertaining banter between the narrator's mother and father.

The book's blurb compares this story to TO KILL THE MOCKINGBIRD. This reader concurs with that comparison.

[Heather Blakely · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book! I would give it more of a 4.5 stars. For me, the focus of this book was something I really knew nothing about-the Japanese internment camps in the United States after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I absolutely loved the characters. I laughed, I gasped. It was a beautiful story. For me, a sign of a great author is when he or she can write from the perspective of a teenage girl or boy and Sandra Dallas did that perfectly. The voice of each character was so wonderfully written. So good!

[Eileen Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this author and have read many of her books. I enjoyed this one as the story was told by a young girl and had humor interlaced with words my mother still says like "nincompoop."

[Christopher Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book about a dark period in American history. It centered around a Japanese internment camp during Word War II. I thought it was extremely well written and the characters thought out. It did contain a lot of blatant racism, rape and the murder of a young teenage girl. Besides all this the story was about a family and how they pulled together to get through this difficult time.

[Marleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far one of my favorite Sandra Dallas books (with Buster Midnight's Café), Tallgrass is set during World War II and at its center is the plight of the American Japanese’s being forcibly relocated to internment camps, mostly in the West of the US, after Pearl Harbor. The novel is told through the eyes of Rennie Stroud, a thirteen year old beet-farm girl, who lives near one of these camps in their community of Ellis, Colorado. This one internment camp is called Tallgrass because of the patch of land it was built on.

Most of the townspeople are very suspicious and act quite hatefully towards the American Japanese, the newcomers, believing that the government has confined them to the camp for good reason. The Strouds, however, are an open-minded bunch, believing their new neighbors to be nothing more than a group of American citizens suffering unfair treatment at the hands of their government. This does not make the family at all popular with the majority of their fellow townspeople.
When a young girl, a friend of Rennie's, is found brutally raped and murdered, most everyone in Ellis blames the Tallgrass camp for bringing this kind of criminal to their little community.

This was definitely a highly satisfying read because I enjoyed the characters so much. This heartwarming coming-of-age tale has many elements brought together into a wonderful story - history, prejudice, human decency, friendship, mystery, and, of course, unique characters. These are people you want to know, people you want to read about, people you can cheer for. The Stroud family, especially the parents Mary and Lowell, were my favorite people - they were both hardworking, honest, and good-natured, but also extraordinary people. I have to confess I fell in love with Lowell Stroud from the first moment he opened his mouth. Mom, Mary Stroud was simply astonishly honorable. Sandra Dallas is the master in bringing genuine and compelling characters.
A round of applause for Lorelei King the narrator of this audio version. She is truly excellent – and I’m going to be on the look-out for other narrations by her – for sure!
I absolutely recommend this book, and in a year or two, I want to read the book version. Absolutely!

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is an excellent addition to the collection of materials concerning Japanese internment during WWII. Actually, the "camps" for Japanese-American citizens were called "relocation camps." The "internment camps" were for those considered to be high risk/threat. I love a book where I learn more about a subject, and Tallgrass fits that bill. Tallgrass is a fictional name for a relocation camp in Colorado (they did have an actual camp in that state, Amache). The story centers around a family of beet farmers who become friends with some of the Japanese-Americans of the camp, employing some. The hate and fear of Japanese and Japanese-Americans is demonstrated by many of the residents of the area, but the compassion and trust of other residents gain voice, too. My only criticism of the book is that I think it fell short of presenting more information about camp conditions. I realize that the focus was on life outside of the camp, but there were some missed opportunities to elaborate a bit more on inside the camp. However, Tallgrass deftly portrays a small Colorado town caught up in one of the most infamous parts of our country's history. The characters are well developed, and the storyline is full of little and big truths about people and events.

[Gary Drendel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall well written. It did a particularly good job of capturing the dialog of that time period, as well as the feel of everyday life in a small farming town of that era. The main characters were well developed and seemed authentic. I was hooked for about 3/4 of the book, but then it felt like the book lost focus on what was supposed to be the main topic of the book - the WWII Japenese internment camp just outside of town. Instead it focused on a series of rather violent and disturbing crimes that seemed inconsistent with the pace and feel of the rest of the book. These crimes were quickly solved in the last pages of the book, as if the publisher had run out of time to get the book to press. Thus in the end it left me unsatisfied - as the real concern of the book had not been fully addressed or brought to conclusion.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

tallgrass a small town in Colorado during WW2 has a group of Japanese people come to live in an internment camp. The people of Tallgrass are divided on having them be there. That is until a young girl is murdered and assaulted...now the newcomers are finding themselves with all eyes on them. Our MC is a young teenage girl Rennie who was friends with the young girl, Susan and the view of her small town has completely changed. Who killed the little girl? A great mix of thriller and historical fiction.

[Tana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure how I missed this one...I love Sandra Dallas and the stories she tells. This book is about a small town in Colorado that has a Japanese internment camp go in right up the road fom the main family's home.

[Jewel Magwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book isn’t really what I expected but it was really engaging. The Japanese internment camps are a sad and seemingly not talked about part of American history.

[Vickie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas is the story of a young girl growing up in a small town in Colorado during WWII. A Japanese internment camp is built down the road from her family's farm; her father is a beet farmer and hires several young boys to help with the beet planting/harvesting over several years. Of course, that comes fraught with many issues since quite a few of the townspeople hate the Japanese.

I really did like the plot and the characters of this story. There are many characteristics of To Kill a Mockingbird: strong father/daughter relationship; father takes unpopular stand in the community. There were quite a few subplots that really portrayed the paranoia and frustration of this period in time. All in all, it was a great book!

Go Cards! L1C4!!

[Chelsie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this storyline! I did not realize that the US had made these types of camps for the Japanese. That was terrible, to do to our own citizens. I thoroughly enjoyed how she wrote the story line POV as the neighbor girl in that she respected that she didn’t feel she could write a book from a Japanese POV in the camp. I completely respect this author and anything she writes knowing this! Love her work.

[Kerri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow, this book was pretty bad. Tallgrass is an internment camp in Colorado outside the town of Ellis. A town where everyone knows your name and business. The japanese internment camp has the townsfolk a little worried, but not for the Stroud's. The Stroud's own the local beet farm and soon employ some prisoners from Tallgrass to work the fields. The story is told by Rennie Stroud, a 13 year old girl who is trying to understand the current events surrounding her. Suddenly, Rennie's friend Susan is raped and murdered and the town is blaming the Japanese.

While the author tries to give Rennie some, Scout/To Kill a Mockinbird type qualities, she doesn't really succeed. This adult novel starts sounding more and more like a YA book (not like that's a bad thing). This would actually make a nice companion to Farewell to Manzanar, because it gives the perspective of the outside world of the camps. But, this book just really wasn't written well at all. Very stilted at times The patron that borrowed the book before me actually made correction marks. Its a little cheesy, and while it starts to take on a mystery, its pretty obvious. If you want to read a book about this time period in history, Farewell to Manzanar is still my favorite.

[Brittany Delaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of the story was good; you don't often find novels concerning this time period and this topic.

With that said, I don't think it did it justice and definitely doesn't add to the good literature we have on the time period. It definitely doesn't make people want to read more on the topic, that's for sure.

The ending was a bit of a cop out in my opinion. Not to mention the fact that getting to the ending was slow and arduous at times. The ending itself was rushed, as it barely addressed a huge part of the novel and just concluded that plot arch with a one line sentence and added some pretty huge twists with one to two sentences and no explanations. It was a bad end to a novel where the author tried so hard (and debatably did not achieve) to establish depth in characters. The last paragraph was quite the cliche also. I didn't like it at all.

The author tried to add a bit of mystery to the novel in two very notable cases. One of the answers to a mystery came way out of left field while the other wasn't much of a mystery at all.

The attempt to replicate the feel of "To Kill a Mockingbird" definitely fell short.

Overall the book was poorly executed in many respects and pretty mediocre to say the least.

[MissSusie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would make a really good book club book. It’s a fascinating look at the Internment camps, actually more of a look on the people in the towns and how they felt about it; it was nice to find out that some didn't want the camps and that these people should be released because they were American citizens. It’s a sad chapter in the US History but something that we need to look at so it doesn’t happen again especially in this day and age.

I enjoyed the characters in this book especially Rennie and her family, she was lucky to have great parents who objected to the camps, even when their own son was off at war. This book is also a bit of a coming of age story for Rennie. There is also a mystery added in and I’m sure you can guess who is blamed for the crime.


This was my first book by this author but it won’t be my last I really enjoyed her writing style and thought she was a very good storyteller.


Lorelei King’s narration was as always spot on, everyone had their own voice and it was easy to differentiate between all the characters.

4 ½ Stars