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The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton
Six years after her Pulitzer Prize-winning best-seller, A Thousand Acres, and three years after her witty, acclaimed, and best-selling novel of academe, Moo, Jane Smiley once again demonstrates her extraordinary range and brilliance.
Her new novel, set in the 1850s, speaks to us in a splendidly quirky voice--the strong, wry, no-nonsense voice of Lidie Harkness of Quincy, Illinois, a young woman of courage, good sense, and good heart. It carries us into an America so violently torn apart by the question of slavery that it makes our current political battlegrounds seem a peaceable kingdom.
Lidie is hard to scare. She is almost shockingly alive--a tall, plain girl who rides and shoots and speaks her mind, and whose straightforward ways paradoxically amount to a kind of glamour. We see her at twenty, making a good marriage--to Thomas Newton, a steady, sweet-tempered Yankee who passes through her hometown on a dangerous mission. He belongs to a group of rashly brave New England abolitionists who dedicate themselves to settling the Kansas Territory with like-minded folk to ensure its entering the Union as a Free State.
Lidie packs up and goes with him. And the novel races alongside them into the Territory, into the maelstrom of "Bloody Kansas," where slaveholding Missourians constantly and viciously clash with Free Staters, where wandering youths kill you as soon as look at you--where Lidie becomes even more fervently abolitionist than her husband as the young couple again and again barely escape entrapment in webs of atrocity on both sides of the great question.
And when, suddenly, cold-blooded murder invades her own intimate circle, Lidie doesn't falter. She cuts off her hair, disguises herself as a boy, and rides into Missouri in search of the killers--a woman in a fiercely male world, an abolitionist spy in slave territory. On the run, her life threatened, her wits sharpened, she takes on yet another identity--and, in the very midst of her masquerade, discovers herself.
Lidie grows increasingly important to us as we follow her travels and adventures on the feverish eve of the War Between the States. With its crackling portrayal of a totally individual and wonderfully articulate woman, its storytelling drive, and its powerful recapturing of an almost forgotten part of the American story, this is Jane Smiley at her enthralling and enriching best.
Her new novel, set in the 1850s, speaks to us in a splendidly quirky voice--the strong, wry, no-nonsense voice of Lidie Harkness of Quincy, Illinois, a young woman of courage, good sense, and good heart. It carries us into an America so violently torn apart by the question of slavery that it makes our current political battlegrounds seem a peaceable kingdom.
Lidie is hard to scare. She is almost shockingly alive--a tall, plain girl who rides and shoots and speaks her mind, and whose straightforward ways paradoxically amount to a kind of glamour. We see her at twenty, making a good marriage--to Thomas Newton, a steady, sweet-tempered Yankee who passes through her hometown on a dangerous mission. He belongs to a group of rashly brave New England abolitionists who dedicate themselves to settling the Kansas Territory with like-minded folk to ensure its entering the Union as a Free State.
Lidie packs up and goes with him. And the novel races alongside them into the Territory, into the maelstrom of "Bloody Kansas," where slaveholding Missourians constantly and viciously clash with Free Staters, where wandering youths kill you as soon as look at you--where Lidie becomes even more fervently abolitionist than her husband as the young couple again and again barely escape entrapment in webs of atrocity on both sides of the great question.
And when, suddenly, cold-blooded murder invades her own intimate circle, Lidie doesn't falter. She cuts off her hair, disguises herself as a boy, and rides into Missouri in search of the killers--a woman in a fiercely male world, an abolitionist spy in slave territory. On the run, her life threatened, her wits sharpened, she takes on yet another identity--and, in the very midst of her masquerade, discovers herself.
Lidie grows increasingly important to us as we follow her travels and adventures on the feverish eve of the War Between the States. With its crackling portrayal of a totally individual and wonderfully articulate woman, its storytelling drive, and its powerful recapturing of an almost forgotten part of the American story, this is Jane Smiley at her enthralling and enriching best.
452 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
225 people are currently reading
1809 people want to read
About the author
Jane Smiley
133 books2,707 followersJane Smiley is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist.
Born in Los Angeles, California, Smiley grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, and graduated from John Burroughs School. She obtained a A.B. at Vassar College, then earned a M.F.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. While working towards her doctorate, she also spent a year studying in Iceland as a Fulbright Scholar. From 1981 to 1996, she taught at Iowa State University. Smiley published her first novel, Barn Blind, in 1980, and won a 1985 O. Henry Award for her short story "Lily", which was published in The Atlantic Monthly. Her best-selling A Thousand Acres, a story based on William Shakespeare's King Lear, received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992. It was adapted into a film of the same title in 1997. In 1995 she wrote her sole television script produced, for an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street. Her novella The Age of Grief was made into the 2002 film The Secret Lives of Dentists.
Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel (2005), is a non-fiction meditation on the history and the nature of the novel, somewhat in the tradition of E. M. Forster's seminal Aspects of the Novel, that roams from eleventh century Japan's Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji to twenty-first century Americans chick lit.
In 2001, Smiley was elected a member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Born in Los Angeles, California, Smiley grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, and graduated from John Burroughs School. She obtained a A.B. at Vassar College, then earned a M.F.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. While working towards her doctorate, she also spent a year studying in Iceland as a Fulbright Scholar. From 1981 to 1996, she taught at Iowa State University. Smiley published her first novel, Barn Blind, in 1980, and won a 1985 O. Henry Award for her short story "Lily", which was published in The Atlantic Monthly. Her best-selling A Thousand Acres, a story based on William Shakespeare's King Lear, received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992. It was adapted into a film of the same title in 1997. In 1995 she wrote her sole television script produced, for an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street. Her novella The Age of Grief was made into the 2002 film The Secret Lives of Dentists.
Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel (2005), is a non-fiction meditation on the history and the nature of the novel, somewhat in the tradition of E. M. Forster's seminal Aspects of the Novel, that roams from eleventh century Japan's Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji to twenty-first century Americans chick lit.
In 2001, Smiley was elected a member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters.
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October 12, 2017
Kansas Territory in the mid-19th Century was a hotbed of conflict and a commonwealth of hardship. Struggling to enter the Union, it was formed by settlers attracted by the opportunity to “claim” land and make a fresh start in life. Lawrence, Kansas was founded by the New England Emigrant Aid Company and its initial platform was political – on the side of abolitionists. However, just across the river was Missouri and the people of the time in that State were just as strongly pro-slavery.
As with many early pioneering tales, no matter how noble the cause – whether political, religious, cultural, or social – there are also those who ride in on the coat tails of struggle as opportunists. This book has it all, as lived through the adventures and travels of Lidie Newton. She narrates this story as only she could and it is many-sided and multi-dimensional in scope.
Lidie was the sole living child of her father’s second marriage and much younger than her half-siblings. Her mother devoted herself to her one duckling and Lidie knew her letters at age 2, was reading from the family Bible at 4, and eager to learn everything that came her way. Her mother died when Lidie was still quite young, she was a tall girl and what was referred to in those days as “plain”. Still, she caught the eye of New Englander Thomas Newton when he was passing through to Kansas Territory and they married.
This was the beginning of her adventures – and ours, as the readers of her tale. Lidie was always smart but now she learned how to use her intelligence to help build a life in a hostile environment. She was physically strong and capable, though in her own family home (and those of her elder sisters) she found every way possible to shirk chores.
Through the course of this book, Lydie’s growth was not only of the mind and body, but also emotional and spiritual. She learned to see life from many different perspectives and could acknowledge the rightness of each of them and the paradox that this presented. Lidie learned to live in the present moment and think and act appropriately for that moment because it was the only one that mattered – the only one that carried weight. Simultaneously, the future kept pulling her forward.
Every step of the way, I felt like I was Lidie’s shadow – sometimes stretching in front of her, sometimes behind her, and sometimes right beside her. Jane Smiley has written an absorbing story that gathered me into its pace and momentum right from the beginning. There is a lot of action in this book yet there is also a lot to contemplate. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is willing to look at a time and a place from a multi-level viewpoint. This story is moving, stimulating, timely and timeless.
As with many early pioneering tales, no matter how noble the cause – whether political, religious, cultural, or social – there are also those who ride in on the coat tails of struggle as opportunists. This book has it all, as lived through the adventures and travels of Lidie Newton. She narrates this story as only she could and it is many-sided and multi-dimensional in scope.
Lidie was the sole living child of her father’s second marriage and much younger than her half-siblings. Her mother devoted herself to her one duckling and Lidie knew her letters at age 2, was reading from the family Bible at 4, and eager to learn everything that came her way. Her mother died when Lidie was still quite young, she was a tall girl and what was referred to in those days as “plain”. Still, she caught the eye of New Englander Thomas Newton when he was passing through to Kansas Territory and they married.
This was the beginning of her adventures – and ours, as the readers of her tale. Lidie was always smart but now she learned how to use her intelligence to help build a life in a hostile environment. She was physically strong and capable, though in her own family home (and those of her elder sisters) she found every way possible to shirk chores.
Through the course of this book, Lydie’s growth was not only of the mind and body, but also emotional and spiritual. She learned to see life from many different perspectives and could acknowledge the rightness of each of them and the paradox that this presented. Lidie learned to live in the present moment and think and act appropriately for that moment because it was the only one that mattered – the only one that carried weight. Simultaneously, the future kept pulling her forward.
Every step of the way, I felt like I was Lidie’s shadow – sometimes stretching in front of her, sometimes behind her, and sometimes right beside her. Jane Smiley has written an absorbing story that gathered me into its pace and momentum right from the beginning. There is a lot of action in this book yet there is also a lot to contemplate. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is willing to look at a time and a place from a multi-level viewpoint. This story is moving, stimulating, timely and timeless.
December 15, 2019
Protagonist Lydia (Lidie) Newton delivers a first-hand fictional account of life in the mid-1850’s for an adventurous, unconventional, and smart woman. She is twenty years old, and her older sisters worry about their youngest sister, as they believe she will become a spinster due to her independent spirit, plain looks, and refusal to marry an older widower with many children (whose previous wives have died of disease or infections from childbirth). Thomas Newton, an abolitionist, comes through her hometown of Quincy, Illinois, on his way to Kansas Territory. He finds her appealing due to her ability to ride a horse, swim, and shoot a gun. They briefly court, marry, and travel by riverboat to Kansas Territory, where Kansas is on the verge of becoming a state, and hostilities are erupting between the “free-state” abolitionists and Missouri’s pro-slavery factions.
There are many layers hidden within what appears to be a straight-forward tale of American western expansion. Smiley has written this book in the style of a 19th-century novel, as if Lidie is relating her travels and adventures, including elaborate descriptions, asides to the reader, and hints of upcoming events. The characters are lively and believable. The group dynamics are particularly well-done, showing both individual idiosyncrasies and power dynamics. Lidie’s budding relationship with her reserved, intelligent husband is one of the highlights of the book. As she gets to know him, she comes to admire and respect him. Though he is not entirely cut out for life in the west (he’s not what we would call “handy”), he has a clear purpose in his desire to end slavery, and the reader can understand her feeling that she has stumbled upon a man of integrity. In this passage, we see the growth in their relationship:
“And suddenly Thomas was with me. Rolling over that stretch of prairie that we had rolled over in such a state of innocence only a few months before brought him to me. I remembered how I used to feel his presence as a kind of largeness pressing against me, and then I would look over, and he would just be sitting there, mild and alert, taking everything in and thinking about it. That was the distinctive thing about Thomas: he was always thinking about it. You didn't have that feeling with most people; rather, you had a feeling that nothing was going on with them at all.”
She does not start out as an abolitionist, and in fact many of her relatives are sympathetic to the slaveholders. The dramatic tension is provided through the inner conflicts of the main character. Initially, she is at best ambivalent on the issue initially, but over time, exposed to the fervent views of the abolitionist community, she embraces it whole-heartedly. Her travels also provide an opportunity to gain knowledge of the slaveholder and slave perspectives.
This is a moving historical story with an authentic feel and deeply drawn characters. By following Lidie through her travails, the reader becomes immersed in the societal, political, psychological, ethical, and economic conditions that led to the violent conflicts. It is a journey, where Lidie learns and grows through her experiences. She realizes that beliefs are important and acting on those beliefs can make a difference in the world.
There are many layers hidden within what appears to be a straight-forward tale of American western expansion. Smiley has written this book in the style of a 19th-century novel, as if Lidie is relating her travels and adventures, including elaborate descriptions, asides to the reader, and hints of upcoming events. The characters are lively and believable. The group dynamics are particularly well-done, showing both individual idiosyncrasies and power dynamics. Lidie’s budding relationship with her reserved, intelligent husband is one of the highlights of the book. As she gets to know him, she comes to admire and respect him. Though he is not entirely cut out for life in the west (he’s not what we would call “handy”), he has a clear purpose in his desire to end slavery, and the reader can understand her feeling that she has stumbled upon a man of integrity. In this passage, we see the growth in their relationship:
“And suddenly Thomas was with me. Rolling over that stretch of prairie that we had rolled over in such a state of innocence only a few months before brought him to me. I remembered how I used to feel his presence as a kind of largeness pressing against me, and then I would look over, and he would just be sitting there, mild and alert, taking everything in and thinking about it. That was the distinctive thing about Thomas: he was always thinking about it. You didn't have that feeling with most people; rather, you had a feeling that nothing was going on with them at all.”
She does not start out as an abolitionist, and in fact many of her relatives are sympathetic to the slaveholders. The dramatic tension is provided through the inner conflicts of the main character. Initially, she is at best ambivalent on the issue initially, but over time, exposed to the fervent views of the abolitionist community, she embraces it whole-heartedly. Her travels also provide an opportunity to gain knowledge of the slaveholder and slave perspectives.
This is a moving historical story with an authentic feel and deeply drawn characters. By following Lidie through her travails, the reader becomes immersed in the societal, political, psychological, ethical, and economic conditions that led to the violent conflicts. It is a journey, where Lidie learns and grows through her experiences. She realizes that beliefs are important and acting on those beliefs can make a difference in the world.
June 28, 2020
"No entiendo de dónde ha salido usted, Missy. De un sueño, diría yo".
Tal como ella se define a si misma, Lidia Harkness, Lidie, era considerada una especie de bicho raro entre su familia: es independiente y rebelde, tiene una lengua afilada y prefiere la vida al aire libre antes que la doméstica. Ha rechazado a varios partidos, uno de ellos, un viudo con hijos y sus hermanas empiezan a estar desesperadas por casarla, pero casi sin esperarlo, llega a su vida, Thomas Newton, un abolicionista yanki, que hace una parada en Qincy de camino a Lawrence, en pleno Territorio de Kansas. Lidie reúne los requisitos que quizás Thomas andaba buscando en una esposa: sabe montar a caballo, disparar un rifle y nadar, y en territorio salvaje donde se dirigía Thomas a combatir la esclavitud, esos eran los talentos que buscaba en una esposa, más que el zurcir y hacer pan.
"Yo era lo que habría podido calificarse de bicho raro: ni podían venderme a buen precio ni estaba destinada a las rebajas. No sabía servirme de una aguja de coser ni tampoco tocar un instrumento, no tenía ni idea de como se hace pan ni de cocinar, no se podía confiar en mi para que lavara la ropa el día de la colada o encendiera el fuego de la cocina. Mis gustos seguían otros derroteros, pero no por ello dejaban de ser inútiles; sabía cabalgar a horcajadas de un caballo con montura o sin ella, podía recorrer andando kilómetros y kilómetros sin cansarme y sabía nadar ; de hecho había cruzado a nado el rio en toda su anchura ; sabía cebar un anzuelo y atrapar peces, sabía escribir una carta con letra clara, y había sabido enzarzarme en una animada discusión con mi hermana Miriam, que tenia una especial debilidad por la polémica."
En un principio no sabemos bien si realmente Lidie se casa con Thomas por la presión desesperada de sus hermanas por casarla, por amor o realmente por salir del claustrofóbico Quincy y correr aventuras. Lidie había idealizado la vida en el Territorio de Kansas después de un folleto que había visto en una tienda y de ninguna de las maneras se podía esperar lo que le iba a deparar el destino acompañando a su marido.
"Esposo, ahora estás en el Oeste, no en Boston. ¿No te das cuenta de que la gente odia a los abolicionistas? Los abolicionistas son esos que ...que...que no paran de levantar las piedras del suelo.para mostrar a todo el.mundo lo que hay debajo, para que lo mire y, lo que es peor, lo huela y lo toque. Los abolicionistas no dejan en paz a la gente. Y en el Oeste eso no gusta."
La novela transcurre en 1855 un momento crucial para la historia de los Estados Unidos: a las puertas de la Guerra de Secesión que empezaría seis años después, este país aparecía dividido en territorios que no tenían nada que ver el uno con el otro, y en medio del norte y del sur, estaba el Territorio de Kansas y Missouri, en plena ebullición en lo referente a la lucha contra la esclavitud.
Kansas hasta entonces había formado parte del llamado Territorio Indio, junto con Nebraska y Oklahoma. Para disminuir los conflictos entre defensores del abolicionismo y del trabajo esclavo, el Congreso de los Estados Unidos permitió elegir entre permitir o prohibir el uso del trabajo esclavo. La mayor parte de Kansas quería prohibir el trabajo esclavo. Esto generó inmensos conflictos con el vecino Missouri, donde el uso del trabajo esclavo estaba permitido. Durante el resto de la década de 1850, recibió gran número de defensores del abolicionismo y del trabajo esclavo, que se instalaron para aumentar la fuerza política de su respectivo grupo.
"Kansas es un sitio diferente, incluso diferente de Missouri, Allí no hay quien le pare los pies a nadie. Todo lo que se construye en el Este, en Kansas no tiene validez alguna. Si tu y yo vamos juntas a Kansas, una blanca y una negra, alguien nos parará, porque allí hay tres tipos de gente: los que están a favor de la esclavitud, los que están en contra y los que no quieren esclavitud pero tampoco quieren negros".
Thomas Newton se dirigía precisamente allí para unirse a otros abolicionistas y hacerse más fuertes en su lucha anti-esclavitud y Lidie cuando se casó con él, realmente nunca había pensado en la causa abolicionista y a medida que la novela avanza, Jane Smiley con un trabajo de documentación soberbio se encarga de narrarnos el contexto histórico y social de aquella época y de aquel territorio. Reconozco que apenas sabía nada de ese contexto histórico, exceptuando la futura Guerra de Secesión y el conflicto de la esclavitud, pero en esta novela me he hecho una idea que se sale del tópico visto en películas y en otras novelas. Cuando Lidie y Thomas llegan al lugar donde quieren fundar su hogar, se encuentran un territorio completamente salvaje, y unas luchas internas donde la ley campa por su ausencia. Lidie, que realmente no es abolicionista cuando empieza la novela, y ni se había planteado el conflicto, ya que la mayoría de sus conocidos y familia veían con malos ojos la causa abolicionista, una vez que emprende su vida junto a Thomas, y aunque no entiende bien su adhesión a la causa (ya que apenas habían tenido trato con esclavos), poco a poco y a medida que la historia avanza, va comprendiendo que el mundo es mucho más duro y real que el que había conocido en Quincy, y su evolución, su crecimiento como personaje, es quizás lo que más me ha maravillado de esta novela.
"-¿Por qué me hace tantas preguntas? -me dijo- No había encontrado nunca una blanca que me hiciera tantas preguntas.
-Mi marido era abolicionista -le dije- y yo conocía a muchos abolicionistas en Kansas pero, aunque pensaban lo que pensaban de la esclavitud, la mayoría había conocido a pocos esclavos. Si hago tantas preguntas es sólo para enterarme".
Es interesante por otra parte el estilo narrativo que usa aquí Jane Smiley que no tiene absolutamente nada que ver con la novela anterior que leí suya, Un amor cualquiera. Aqui, Jane Smiley escribe una novela en el estilo de los novelones decimonónicos, donde Lidie nos cuenta en primera persona su vida desde el momento en que conoce a Thomas Newton y ambos se adentran a un mundo salvaje y violento. Jane Smiley, no idealiza nada, ni siquiera el matrimonio de Lidie y Thomas, ya que cuando se casan apenas se conocen, y esa primera persona en la voz de Lidie se encarga de reflexionar al respecto una y otra vez, lo que a mí parecer le da a esta novela, además de categoría de novela histórica magnifica, una profundidad psicológica que a mí me interesa muchísimo. Otro punto esencial es que la autora nos adentra en el papel de la mujer en aquella época (tanto desde el punto de vista de la mujer “libre” que no lo era tanto y el de la esclava, que quizás no era libre pero si tenía una mente libre, Lorna por ejemplo) y en los dos bandos, el pro-esclavitud y el anti-esclavitud a través de multitud de personajes secundarios colosales que nos muestran como se vivía y como se pensaba en aquella época. Puede resultar una lectura densa en muchos pasajes, por la cantidad de datos históricos que la autora lanza, pero también ha resultado una lectura maravillosa porque Jane Smiley arroja a su personaje femenino a un mundo que conocíamos por la cantidad de tópicos que se habían vertido sobre el Oeste y acabé con la sensación de que las aventuras de Lidie en este Oeste estaban sembradas de realidad y autenticidad, sin tópicos ni romanticismos idealizados.
"Tengo la impresión de que escribo a los personajes de un sueño, tan distante e increible me parece ahora el Territorio de Kansas visto desde aquí."
https://kansasbooks.blogspot.com/2020...
Tal como ella se define a si misma, Lidia Harkness, Lidie, era considerada una especie de bicho raro entre su familia: es independiente y rebelde, tiene una lengua afilada y prefiere la vida al aire libre antes que la doméstica. Ha rechazado a varios partidos, uno de ellos, un viudo con hijos y sus hermanas empiezan a estar desesperadas por casarla, pero casi sin esperarlo, llega a su vida, Thomas Newton, un abolicionista yanki, que hace una parada en Qincy de camino a Lawrence, en pleno Territorio de Kansas. Lidie reúne los requisitos que quizás Thomas andaba buscando en una esposa: sabe montar a caballo, disparar un rifle y nadar, y en territorio salvaje donde se dirigía Thomas a combatir la esclavitud, esos eran los talentos que buscaba en una esposa, más que el zurcir y hacer pan.
"Yo era lo que habría podido calificarse de bicho raro: ni podían venderme a buen precio ni estaba destinada a las rebajas. No sabía servirme de una aguja de coser ni tampoco tocar un instrumento, no tenía ni idea de como se hace pan ni de cocinar, no se podía confiar en mi para que lavara la ropa el día de la colada o encendiera el fuego de la cocina. Mis gustos seguían otros derroteros, pero no por ello dejaban de ser inútiles; sabía cabalgar a horcajadas de un caballo con montura o sin ella, podía recorrer andando kilómetros y kilómetros sin cansarme y sabía nadar ; de hecho había cruzado a nado el rio en toda su anchura ; sabía cebar un anzuelo y atrapar peces, sabía escribir una carta con letra clara, y había sabido enzarzarme en una animada discusión con mi hermana Miriam, que tenia una especial debilidad por la polémica."
En un principio no sabemos bien si realmente Lidie se casa con Thomas por la presión desesperada de sus hermanas por casarla, por amor o realmente por salir del claustrofóbico Quincy y correr aventuras. Lidie había idealizado la vida en el Territorio de Kansas después de un folleto que había visto en una tienda y de ninguna de las maneras se podía esperar lo que le iba a deparar el destino acompañando a su marido.
"Esposo, ahora estás en el Oeste, no en Boston. ¿No te das cuenta de que la gente odia a los abolicionistas? Los abolicionistas son esos que ...que...que no paran de levantar las piedras del suelo.para mostrar a todo el.mundo lo que hay debajo, para que lo mire y, lo que es peor, lo huela y lo toque. Los abolicionistas no dejan en paz a la gente. Y en el Oeste eso no gusta."
La novela transcurre en 1855 un momento crucial para la historia de los Estados Unidos: a las puertas de la Guerra de Secesión que empezaría seis años después, este país aparecía dividido en territorios que no tenían nada que ver el uno con el otro, y en medio del norte y del sur, estaba el Territorio de Kansas y Missouri, en plena ebullición en lo referente a la lucha contra la esclavitud.
Kansas hasta entonces había formado parte del llamado Territorio Indio, junto con Nebraska y Oklahoma. Para disminuir los conflictos entre defensores del abolicionismo y del trabajo esclavo, el Congreso de los Estados Unidos permitió elegir entre permitir o prohibir el uso del trabajo esclavo. La mayor parte de Kansas quería prohibir el trabajo esclavo. Esto generó inmensos conflictos con el vecino Missouri, donde el uso del trabajo esclavo estaba permitido. Durante el resto de la década de 1850, recibió gran número de defensores del abolicionismo y del trabajo esclavo, que se instalaron para aumentar la fuerza política de su respectivo grupo.
"Kansas es un sitio diferente, incluso diferente de Missouri, Allí no hay quien le pare los pies a nadie. Todo lo que se construye en el Este, en Kansas no tiene validez alguna. Si tu y yo vamos juntas a Kansas, una blanca y una negra, alguien nos parará, porque allí hay tres tipos de gente: los que están a favor de la esclavitud, los que están en contra y los que no quieren esclavitud pero tampoco quieren negros".
Thomas Newton se dirigía precisamente allí para unirse a otros abolicionistas y hacerse más fuertes en su lucha anti-esclavitud y Lidie cuando se casó con él, realmente nunca había pensado en la causa abolicionista y a medida que la novela avanza, Jane Smiley con un trabajo de documentación soberbio se encarga de narrarnos el contexto histórico y social de aquella época y de aquel territorio. Reconozco que apenas sabía nada de ese contexto histórico, exceptuando la futura Guerra de Secesión y el conflicto de la esclavitud, pero en esta novela me he hecho una idea que se sale del tópico visto en películas y en otras novelas. Cuando Lidie y Thomas llegan al lugar donde quieren fundar su hogar, se encuentran un territorio completamente salvaje, y unas luchas internas donde la ley campa por su ausencia. Lidie, que realmente no es abolicionista cuando empieza la novela, y ni se había planteado el conflicto, ya que la mayoría de sus conocidos y familia veían con malos ojos la causa abolicionista, una vez que emprende su vida junto a Thomas, y aunque no entiende bien su adhesión a la causa (ya que apenas habían tenido trato con esclavos), poco a poco y a medida que la historia avanza, va comprendiendo que el mundo es mucho más duro y real que el que había conocido en Quincy, y su evolución, su crecimiento como personaje, es quizás lo que más me ha maravillado de esta novela.
"-¿Por qué me hace tantas preguntas? -me dijo- No había encontrado nunca una blanca que me hiciera tantas preguntas.
-Mi marido era abolicionista -le dije- y yo conocía a muchos abolicionistas en Kansas pero, aunque pensaban lo que pensaban de la esclavitud, la mayoría había conocido a pocos esclavos. Si hago tantas preguntas es sólo para enterarme".
Es interesante por otra parte el estilo narrativo que usa aquí Jane Smiley que no tiene absolutamente nada que ver con la novela anterior que leí suya, Un amor cualquiera. Aqui, Jane Smiley escribe una novela en el estilo de los novelones decimonónicos, donde Lidie nos cuenta en primera persona su vida desde el momento en que conoce a Thomas Newton y ambos se adentran a un mundo salvaje y violento. Jane Smiley, no idealiza nada, ni siquiera el matrimonio de Lidie y Thomas, ya que cuando se casan apenas se conocen, y esa primera persona en la voz de Lidie se encarga de reflexionar al respecto una y otra vez, lo que a mí parecer le da a esta novela, además de categoría de novela histórica magnifica, una profundidad psicológica que a mí me interesa muchísimo. Otro punto esencial es que la autora nos adentra en el papel de la mujer en aquella época (tanto desde el punto de vista de la mujer “libre” que no lo era tanto y el de la esclava, que quizás no era libre pero si tenía una mente libre, Lorna por ejemplo) y en los dos bandos, el pro-esclavitud y el anti-esclavitud a través de multitud de personajes secundarios colosales que nos muestran como se vivía y como se pensaba en aquella época. Puede resultar una lectura densa en muchos pasajes, por la cantidad de datos históricos que la autora lanza, pero también ha resultado una lectura maravillosa porque Jane Smiley arroja a su personaje femenino a un mundo que conocíamos por la cantidad de tópicos que se habían vertido sobre el Oeste y acabé con la sensación de que las aventuras de Lidie en este Oeste estaban sembradas de realidad y autenticidad, sin tópicos ni romanticismos idealizados.
"Tengo la impresión de que escribo a los personajes de un sueño, tan distante e increible me parece ahora el Territorio de Kansas visto desde aquí."
https://kansasbooks.blogspot.com/2020...
November 2, 2020
I have now been introduced to another remarkable woman of fiction, Mrs. Lidie Harkness Newton. As a young bride, she left her home in Quincy, Illinois to travel west with her husband Thomas to a territory outside of the country, nicknamed K.T. (Kansas Territory). Her husband was an abolitionist, a cause Lidie knew little about. The time period was the 1850's, before the Civil War.
Lidie (short for Lydia) had known her husband for all of two weeks before marrying him. Despite this, the young couple was happy together. He treated her with gentleness and consideration, not all that common for the day. She too, was anxious to please him. A tall woman with a plain face, Lidie was intelligent and adept at both handling a gun and riding a horse, skills which were helpful in the west.
The author wove together a many layered look at life during this time period. Lidie helped Thomas farm, hunted game for them to eat, mended their clothes, fashioned a bed for them to sleep on, etc. She also began to share his views about slavery. They lived in a small community with other abolitionists. This made them a target for others who had the opposite view. Later in the story, Lidie had close contact with a female slave. Through knowing Lorna, Lidie developed a more personal and real understanding of what slavery means.
It was a lawless, violent time. Gun fights, burning down houses, and marauding "ruffians" were commonplace. Whiskey poured as freely as water. Lidie lived through more than her share of violence. At the end of the book, she said truthfully, that after K.T., nothing ever surprised her again.
At 452 pages, the book seemed too long to me. Yet, I kept reading, because I was so interested in Lidie, Thomas and other characters in the book. The story also helped fill gaps in my knowledge about this turbulent period in our American history.
Additional: I loved the relationship that Lidie had with her horse Jeremiah. Their sensitivity towards each other went both ways. And, I enjoyed reading the excerpts from Catherine Beecher's book, "A Treatise on Domestic Economy," which introduced each chapter. The excerpts instructed young women on how to run their households. Lidie used it as a guide.
Lidie (short for Lydia) had known her husband for all of two weeks before marrying him. Despite this, the young couple was happy together. He treated her with gentleness and consideration, not all that common for the day. She too, was anxious to please him. A tall woman with a plain face, Lidie was intelligent and adept at both handling a gun and riding a horse, skills which were helpful in the west.
The author wove together a many layered look at life during this time period. Lidie helped Thomas farm, hunted game for them to eat, mended their clothes, fashioned a bed for them to sleep on, etc. She also began to share his views about slavery. They lived in a small community with other abolitionists. This made them a target for others who had the opposite view. Later in the story, Lidie had close contact with a female slave. Through knowing Lorna, Lidie developed a more personal and real understanding of what slavery means.
It was a lawless, violent time. Gun fights, burning down houses, and marauding "ruffians" were commonplace. Whiskey poured as freely as water. Lidie lived through more than her share of violence. At the end of the book, she said truthfully, that after K.T., nothing ever surprised her again.
At 452 pages, the book seemed too long to me. Yet, I kept reading, because I was so interested in Lidie, Thomas and other characters in the book. The story also helped fill gaps in my knowledge about this turbulent period in our American history.
Additional: I loved the relationship that Lidie had with her horse Jeremiah. Their sensitivity towards each other went both ways. And, I enjoyed reading the excerpts from Catherine Beecher's book, "A Treatise on Domestic Economy," which introduced each chapter. The excerpts instructed young women on how to run their households. Lidie used it as a guide.
October 27, 2014
The first half of the story is really, really good, but the second half doesn't quite ring true.
Nevertheless, the book isn't bad. I think it is improved by listening to rather than reading it. The narration by Anna Fields improves the book. The lines themselves are worth spending time on. Fields reads these lines with strength, clearly and strongly and slowly. You have time to think about what is being said. Secondly, through the narration the different characters' personalities come through distinctly; you comprehend from the voices used as you hear the different characters speak, who they are. You laugh even when some of the things stated are so ridiculously naive and wrong - because you so completely comprehend the character's personality. Through the expert narration you both pay attention to the lines and recognize the different personalities of the characters.
Maybe I should mention - this book is told to us by Lidie herself, so it has first person narration.
I have yet to even discuss the topic that is so worth our attention! The book is about the civil war in Kansas during 1855 through 1856, before the REAL American Civil War from 1861-1865, just a few years later. What you think about is civil wars in general and slavery. Nothing is cut and dry; nothing is simple. If you prohibit slavery, what then? You free the slaves, what then? Do you leave them to fend for themselves? What I really liked about this book is that different sides of each question are looked at closely, so you see the pros and cons, the arguments thrown back and forth by both sides. The civil war in Kansas was not only a matter of its being a slave state or a "Free-State" prohibiting slavery; it also concerned when and how and if it should become part of the United States of America. First it was only a Territory, nicknamed K.T., the Kansas Territory! I knew very little about the specifics of this earlier war. Even if you have read about the Civil War per se, this book has a different angle, i.e. the events as they played out in Lawrence, Kansas, and neighboring Missouri a few years earlier. You learn about these events through the life of a strong pioneer woman who lived through it. Yes, she is imaginary, but it doesn't feel that way. She tells you of her own experiences, what she thought and felt. One thing happens half way through the book. As I stated earlier, this didn't ring true for me. But the ending is good. It is not sugar-coated.
Nevertheless, the book isn't bad. I think it is improved by listening to rather than reading it. The narration by Anna Fields improves the book. The lines themselves are worth spending time on. Fields reads these lines with strength, clearly and strongly and slowly. You have time to think about what is being said. Secondly, through the narration the different characters' personalities come through distinctly; you comprehend from the voices used as you hear the different characters speak, who they are. You laugh even when some of the things stated are so ridiculously naive and wrong - because you so completely comprehend the character's personality. Through the expert narration you both pay attention to the lines and recognize the different personalities of the characters.
Maybe I should mention - this book is told to us by Lidie herself, so it has first person narration.
I have yet to even discuss the topic that is so worth our attention! The book is about the civil war in Kansas during 1855 through 1856, before the REAL American Civil War from 1861-1865, just a few years later. What you think about is civil wars in general and slavery. Nothing is cut and dry; nothing is simple. If you prohibit slavery, what then? You free the slaves, what then? Do you leave them to fend for themselves? What I really liked about this book is that different sides of each question are looked at closely, so you see the pros and cons, the arguments thrown back and forth by both sides. The civil war in Kansas was not only a matter of its being a slave state or a "Free-State" prohibiting slavery; it also concerned when and how and if it should become part of the United States of America. First it was only a Territory, nicknamed K.T., the Kansas Territory! I knew very little about the specifics of this earlier war. Even if you have read about the Civil War per se, this book has a different angle, i.e. the events as they played out in Lawrence, Kansas, and neighboring Missouri a few years earlier. You learn about these events through the life of a strong pioneer woman who lived through it. Yes, she is imaginary, but it doesn't feel that way. She tells you of her own experiences, what she thought and felt. One thing happens half way through the book. As I stated earlier, this didn't ring true for me. But the ending is good. It is not sugar-coated.
December 15, 2013
Ernest Hemingway once said, "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called 'Huckleberry Finn,' " and since then a river of ink has flowed to justify that monumental claim.
Two years ago, Jane Smiley went against this current of praise and took the nation's school teachers to task for excusing what she considers Twain's moral passivity in response to slavery.
In Harper's magazine the Pulitzer Prize-winning author wrote, "All the claims that are routinely made for the book's humanitarian power are, in the end, simply absurd. To invest 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' with greatness is to underwrite a very simplistic and evasive theory of what racism is."
It's now apparent that when she wrote those words, she was also working on an alternative to Twain's classic. "The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton" moves the political discussion of slavery onto center stage in a way that Huck and Jim never consider. And when a slave bolts with the young narrator, the escape isn't a leisurely raft trip and freedom isn't guaranteed.
Smiley has produced a novel as engaging as any ever written about the "peculiar institution" which eventually tore the United States apart. This picaresque tale presents a series of remarkable characters, particularly the inexperienced narrator, whose graphic descriptions of travel and domestic life before the Civil War strip away romantic notions of simpler times.
When the novel opens, Lidie, a lazy, lanky girl who's more comfortable with a rifle than a needle, finds herself the subject of endless sighs and corrections from her responsible, hard-working sisters. By way of introduction she brags, "I had perversely cultivated uselessness over the years and had reached, as I then thought, a pitch of uselessness that was truly rare, or even unique, among the women of Quincy, Illinois."
As much to escape her sisters' tedium as anything else, Lidie marries a deeply principled Unitarian, whose quiet demeanor first excites and then scares her. Indeed, she has reason to feel alarm. The ever sanguine Thomas Newton is actually a gun-running activist in the radical abolition movement. From her boring home in Quincy, Lidie finds herself propelled into the volcanic Kansas Territory on the eve of the Civil War.
In the polarized atmosphere of 1856, Lidie cannot remain so happily uninterested in "the goose question," a euphemism for one's position on the slavery issue. Instructed by her earnest husband, shrill propaganda, and the savage treatment that Lawrence, Kan., endures from pro-slavery Missourians, Lidie soaks up the fervor of her abolitionist community. Her only stable guide throughout this harrowing adventure is a ridiculously irrelevant handbook on women's etiquette.
When a band of thugs murders Thomas, Lidie's fire grows more intense, but it also grows more personal and removes her from the political battle that so inspired her husband. Driven by grief and revenge, she says goodbye to her friends, dresses as a man, and heads out into the lawless territory to track down the killers.
Even that clear motive, however, loses its focus as Lidie finds her principles and the hatred she feels muddled by the benevolence she receives from a family of slave holders. Easily swayed by the opinions of others - her impatient sisters, her abolitionist husband, a run-away slave - Lidie finds herself hopelessly ambivalent.
"The very certainty of everyone around me drove all certainty out of me," she admits. In the end, like Huck, Lidie is so bewildered by horrors and hypocrites that she can do nothing but stop writing and shake her head. "Revenge was more complicated than I had thought it would be," Lidie admits, "but then so was everything else one looks forward to with confidence."
Indeed, there's much thought-provoking complication here. Smiley has created an authentic voice in this struggle of a young women to live simply amid a swirl of deadly antagonism.
http://www.csmonitor.com/1998/0326/03...
Two years ago, Jane Smiley went against this current of praise and took the nation's school teachers to task for excusing what she considers Twain's moral passivity in response to slavery.
In Harper's magazine the Pulitzer Prize-winning author wrote, "All the claims that are routinely made for the book's humanitarian power are, in the end, simply absurd. To invest 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' with greatness is to underwrite a very simplistic and evasive theory of what racism is."
It's now apparent that when she wrote those words, she was also working on an alternative to Twain's classic. "The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton" moves the political discussion of slavery onto center stage in a way that Huck and Jim never consider. And when a slave bolts with the young narrator, the escape isn't a leisurely raft trip and freedom isn't guaranteed.
Smiley has produced a novel as engaging as any ever written about the "peculiar institution" which eventually tore the United States apart. This picaresque tale presents a series of remarkable characters, particularly the inexperienced narrator, whose graphic descriptions of travel and domestic life before the Civil War strip away romantic notions of simpler times.
When the novel opens, Lidie, a lazy, lanky girl who's more comfortable with a rifle than a needle, finds herself the subject of endless sighs and corrections from her responsible, hard-working sisters. By way of introduction she brags, "I had perversely cultivated uselessness over the years and had reached, as I then thought, a pitch of uselessness that was truly rare, or even unique, among the women of Quincy, Illinois."
As much to escape her sisters' tedium as anything else, Lidie marries a deeply principled Unitarian, whose quiet demeanor first excites and then scares her. Indeed, she has reason to feel alarm. The ever sanguine Thomas Newton is actually a gun-running activist in the radical abolition movement. From her boring home in Quincy, Lidie finds herself propelled into the volcanic Kansas Territory on the eve of the Civil War.
In the polarized atmosphere of 1856, Lidie cannot remain so happily uninterested in "the goose question," a euphemism for one's position on the slavery issue. Instructed by her earnest husband, shrill propaganda, and the savage treatment that Lawrence, Kan., endures from pro-slavery Missourians, Lidie soaks up the fervor of her abolitionist community. Her only stable guide throughout this harrowing adventure is a ridiculously irrelevant handbook on women's etiquette.
When a band of thugs murders Thomas, Lidie's fire grows more intense, but it also grows more personal and removes her from the political battle that so inspired her husband. Driven by grief and revenge, she says goodbye to her friends, dresses as a man, and heads out into the lawless territory to track down the killers.
Even that clear motive, however, loses its focus as Lidie finds her principles and the hatred she feels muddled by the benevolence she receives from a family of slave holders. Easily swayed by the opinions of others - her impatient sisters, her abolitionist husband, a run-away slave - Lidie finds herself hopelessly ambivalent.
"The very certainty of everyone around me drove all certainty out of me," she admits. In the end, like Huck, Lidie is so bewildered by horrors and hypocrites that she can do nothing but stop writing and shake her head. "Revenge was more complicated than I had thought it would be," Lidie admits, "but then so was everything else one looks forward to with confidence."
Indeed, there's much thought-provoking complication here. Smiley has created an authentic voice in this struggle of a young women to live simply amid a swirl of deadly antagonism.
http://www.csmonitor.com/1998/0326/03...
May 4, 2011
The first half of the book is a wonderful, creative piece of historical fiction based on a young woman's experience in Lawrence, Kansas just prior to the Civil War. The book is a dramatic, robust depiction of what it was like to be a "Free-Stater" and abolitionist among ignorant, gun happy pioneers. Lidie, the adventurous (but not so heroic) protagonist, comes to Kansas and its raucous, intense atmosphere through her marriage to a stoic, well-meaning New Englander. She would never have been allowed to go with him if it weren't for the naïveté of her family members who had no idea that living on the Kansas prairie or in Lawrence would be so rough and dangerous. Smiley portrays Lidie as a young woman somewhat on the fence ideologically as she settles in with the abolitionist clique. Her confusion lends itself to the reader's clarity of what the Mid-Western mindset was like during that time and the ever-growing divisiveness that would soon take over the entire country in all its tragic manifestations.
The second half of the book is a movie, dramatic license and all. The decision to act out vengeance, the dressing up as a man, the unquestioning adoration of the plantation master, the cooincidence of relationship regarding a slave who takes care of Lidie - all of this gives entertaining momentum to the story but no longer has the meat of truth behind it. It is as if Smiley did not know what to do with Lidie after a certain dramatic point in the story. It still has the mark of good writing, however, and this second half of the story is a good read, too.
The second half of the book is a movie, dramatic license and all. The decision to act out vengeance, the dressing up as a man, the unquestioning adoration of the plantation master, the cooincidence of relationship regarding a slave who takes care of Lidie - all of this gives entertaining momentum to the story but no longer has the meat of truth behind it. It is as if Smiley did not know what to do with Lidie after a certain dramatic point in the story. It still has the mark of good writing, however, and this second half of the story is a good read, too.
March 12, 2009
I have liked Jane Smiley books in the past and looked forward to this one. Unfortunately, I think it would have been better named the Trials and Tribulations rather than Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton. I am from Lawrence, KS myself, so reading about Lawrence in 1855 was of interest to me for many reasons. I kept slogging through, hoping the story would pick up and carry me along, but ultimately I felt "message" overshadowed "story," a perspective I didn't really develop till reading the interview with the author at the end of the paperback. By that time I was not surprised to learn this book was not a bestseller, although had been apparently well-reviewed when it was first released. Pacing was tedious, insights repetitive and limited. I am glad this book worked for some of my fellow Goodreads members, but not for me.
August 11, 2024
I liked this just fine. In fact, when I first got this in one of my thrift shop finds, I read the first chapter immediately, as I’m wont to do, and found the narrative voice of Lidie so compelling that I took it up and put it at the top of my very high pile of priority reads. Having read it I find the promise of that singular voice fulfilled. For me it was the first and foremost strength of the novel. Seeing the other characters through the eyes of Lidie, another. I thought the author caught the tone and setting of the United States pre civil war, very well, which I as a reader find an important aspect to historical fiction. Another strength and one I appreciated a great deal because I find it relevant today, is how each side was nuanced and represented, all the good and the bad, on both sides of the issues, showing the differences, but also showing the similarities and that it is a paradox that we are all very alike, even in our differences. I try to remember that in a world that seems to hold to some pretty extreme views on either side of a good many issues today, how alike all are in voicing and defending them. We always seem to lose our way when ideas become more important than the people on the other side that we’re expressing them to. The author caught that paradox very well and showed that there is more nuance to people than first meets the eye. It was interesting to have Lidie experience so much of the things from both perspectives, while not having a clear idea of where she stood to begin with. I loved Smiley’s writing, I loved the characters and would have given this a full 5 stars except that there were lags around the political maneuverings. Otherwise a very fine read.
April 6, 2011
This story of one woman's turbulent life in the newly-created Kansas Territory both entertains and educates. Wanting to escape a life of household chores in her sisters' homes, Lidie marries an abolitionist passing through her Illinois town on the way to Kansas. The Kansas Territory isn't what she expected, though, and she spends the bulk of the book dealing with challenges ranging from terrible weather to violent Border Ruffians.
Unlike some other reviewers, I found this book not just well-written but very engaging; the myriad challenges of KT and the characters' complex relationships were more than enough to hold my interest. I also learned from this book, and Lidie's voice felt right on: Smiley apparently read hundreds of nineteenth-century documents to get a feel for the way someone like Lidie would have expressed herself, and it shows. The realistic voice, and the attention paid to 1850s sensibilities (for instance, Lidie, who is no prude, is startled when a friend announces herself to be "pregnant"; "as if she were a dog," Lidie comments) lend a great deal of credibility to the story.
Also excellent was the complexity of the characters. Writing about slavery often results in black-and-white characterization, but here we have a heroine who is moved by individual stories without passionately opposing the institution itself; die-hard abolitionists who nevertheless want to keep freed slaves out of the territory; men who have never owned slaves but are still willing to kill or die to maintain slavery; and many more. While it's clear that the anti-slavery settlers have the moral high ground, Smiley doesn't gloss over the violence on either side, and she also pokes gentle fun at the settlers' propensity toward melodrama and outrage (they refer to a standoff as a "war," for instance). Seeing how life on the frontier affected the characters was also a highlight. And of course the heroine herself, with a strong, individual personality, keeps things interesting.
However, I was less pleased with the last third of the book, in which Lidie has "adventures" in Missouri. Her ability to pass herself off as a man, even to her male co-workers in the job she oh-so-conveniently obtains, stretches credibility rather too far. And while this section feels like it's leading up to something big, very little actually happens in it, especially for the amount of page time it takes up. I understand why the author wanted to take us to Missouri and introduce us to slaves and slaveholders--it does round out the book by adding additional and very relevant perspectives--but I can't help feeling like it's not done as well as it could have been. And the interactions between Lidie and the slave woman Lorna feel terribly stilted.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and found it to be very well-written. While the last section didn't seem to accomplish what it set out to do, I still recommend this book.
Unlike some other reviewers, I found this book not just well-written but very engaging; the myriad challenges of KT and the characters' complex relationships were more than enough to hold my interest. I also learned from this book, and Lidie's voice felt right on: Smiley apparently read hundreds of nineteenth-century documents to get a feel for the way someone like Lidie would have expressed herself, and it shows. The realistic voice, and the attention paid to 1850s sensibilities (for instance, Lidie, who is no prude, is startled when a friend announces herself to be "pregnant"; "as if she were a dog," Lidie comments) lend a great deal of credibility to the story.
Also excellent was the complexity of the characters. Writing about slavery often results in black-and-white characterization, but here we have a heroine who is moved by individual stories without passionately opposing the institution itself; die-hard abolitionists who nevertheless want to keep freed slaves out of the territory; men who have never owned slaves but are still willing to kill or die to maintain slavery; and many more. While it's clear that the anti-slavery settlers have the moral high ground, Smiley doesn't gloss over the violence on either side, and she also pokes gentle fun at the settlers' propensity toward melodrama and outrage (they refer to a standoff as a "war," for instance). Seeing how life on the frontier affected the characters was also a highlight. And of course the heroine herself, with a strong, individual personality, keeps things interesting.
However, I was less pleased with the last third of the book, in which Lidie has "adventures" in Missouri. Her ability to pass herself off as a man, even to her male co-workers in the job she oh-so-conveniently obtains, stretches credibility rather too far. And while this section feels like it's leading up to something big, very little actually happens in it, especially for the amount of page time it takes up. I understand why the author wanted to take us to Missouri and introduce us to slaves and slaveholders--it does round out the book by adding additional and very relevant perspectives--but I can't help feeling like it's not done as well as it could have been. And the interactions between Lidie and the slave woman Lorna feel terribly stilted.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and found it to be very well-written. While the last section didn't seem to accomplish what it set out to do, I still recommend this book.
November 10, 2011
My mom insisted on buying this for me at a garage sale. I think I'd give it 3.5 stars. It was very well-written and I couldn't put it down for the last 100-150 pages (it's 400+) because I had to know what was going to happen to Lidie. There are certainly many twists and turns. I just can't give it 4 stars because the ending was a little disappointing. I don't want to be a spoiler. It wasn't poorly written or even poorly conceived; I think that, as the reader, I was invested in Lidie and just wished it could have ended differently--but I suppose it couldn't, and perhaps that says a lot bout the novel and the author: she wasn't willing to compromise her characters and story for the sake of a false ending.
Lidie is a young Illinois woman who marries a Massachusetts abolitionist on his way to Lawrence, Kansas in 1856 at the height of Anti- and Pro-Slavery tensions and violence that nearly caused the Civil War to start in the west and move east, instead of the other way around. Growing up in a border state, Lidie's family had a decidedly live-and-let-live attitude about slavery. Never quite simpatico with her siblings, it is not surprising that she is ready to adopt the views of her abolitionist husband--almost. She's not quite as "judicious" as he and her emotions--and even youth--lead her into some totally unexpected travels and adventures when she is faced with the greatest change of fortune in her young life.
This book was brilliantly researched and, although fiction, gives an excellent snapshot of a fascinating and important time in American history. The author said she wanted to write something about the intersection of ideology and violence in America and a friend said to her: "Kansas. 1850." From there this book was born.
Lidie is a young Illinois woman who marries a Massachusetts abolitionist on his way to Lawrence, Kansas in 1856 at the height of Anti- and Pro-Slavery tensions and violence that nearly caused the Civil War to start in the west and move east, instead of the other way around. Growing up in a border state, Lidie's family had a decidedly live-and-let-live attitude about slavery. Never quite simpatico with her siblings, it is not surprising that she is ready to adopt the views of her abolitionist husband--almost. She's not quite as "judicious" as he and her emotions--and even youth--lead her into some totally unexpected travels and adventures when she is faced with the greatest change of fortune in her young life.
This book was brilliantly researched and, although fiction, gives an excellent snapshot of a fascinating and important time in American history. The author said she wanted to write something about the intersection of ideology and violence in America and a friend said to her: "Kansas. 1850." From there this book was born.
February 6, 2021
Jane Smiley won a Pulitzer Prize for her work, A Thousand Acres, and this is an equally compelling novel but was a commercial flop. But if you are a fan of US-based historical fiction, this novel should be on your shortlist. Why?
- All-True Travels is set during the turbulent pre-Civil War period referred to as "Bloody Kansas." I can't recall reading any historical fiction focussing on this historical time and place, but it was very important to the build-up to the War.
- The novel is written from the perspective of Lidie Newton and based on many primary source materials. IOW, the history is phenomenal (similar to the rigor of Gwendolyn Brooks or Paulite Jiles) and the female perspective relatively rare.
- So much Civil War literature focuses on the deep south, battles, and large plantations. This book gets into the deep complexity of the issue in the hotly contested Kansas Territory. It delves into cultural differences across regions and groups in the US and makes the reader reflect on the events with new insight.
- In today's hostile political climate, it is interesting to read a book portraying a time and place where people were even more divided, but not yet at full-blown war.
The pace of this book is slow, but I found it engaging from beginning to end. The pacing of the book brought to mind A Gentleman in Moscow, (but the content is completely different). Slow is the correct pace for this novel, as everything occurring then took longer. Wagons and walking were slow, letters took days to months, clothes were hand sewn. The pace pulls the reader into the time, and especially into a woman's existence.
I fear I am not doing this book justice. I encourage you to read it. In short, if you love historical fiction that gives you a strong sense of time and place, immerses you in the daily hardships of the period you will like this book. If you are interested in understanding more about the role Kansas and Missouri played in the climax of the abolitionist cause, then you will appreciate this book. If you are interested in realistic portrayals of women in history, you will like it. I appreciate all of the above, and loved this book.
- All-True Travels is set during the turbulent pre-Civil War period referred to as "Bloody Kansas." I can't recall reading any historical fiction focussing on this historical time and place, but it was very important to the build-up to the War.
- The novel is written from the perspective of Lidie Newton and based on many primary source materials. IOW, the history is phenomenal (similar to the rigor of Gwendolyn Brooks or Paulite Jiles) and the female perspective relatively rare.
- So much Civil War literature focuses on the deep south, battles, and large plantations. This book gets into the deep complexity of the issue in the hotly contested Kansas Territory. It delves into cultural differences across regions and groups in the US and makes the reader reflect on the events with new insight.
- In today's hostile political climate, it is interesting to read a book portraying a time and place where people were even more divided, but not yet at full-blown war.
The pace of this book is slow, but I found it engaging from beginning to end. The pacing of the book brought to mind A Gentleman in Moscow, (but the content is completely different). Slow is the correct pace for this novel, as everything occurring then took longer. Wagons and walking were slow, letters took days to months, clothes were hand sewn. The pace pulls the reader into the time, and especially into a woman's existence.
I fear I am not doing this book justice. I encourage you to read it. In short, if you love historical fiction that gives you a strong sense of time and place, immerses you in the daily hardships of the period you will like this book. If you are interested in understanding more about the role Kansas and Missouri played in the climax of the abolitionist cause, then you will appreciate this book. If you are interested in realistic portrayals of women in history, you will like it. I appreciate all of the above, and loved this book.
April 27, 2010
One reviewer called this book Little House on the Prairie for Adults. A cutsy turn of phrase, but not what I thought this book deserved.
Set in the 1850s in Kansas Territory, the story is about the people who were settling the area, how they survived the winter on the prairie and how high the feelings ran about whether or not the area would enter the United States as free or slave.
Lidie Newton comes to this Kansas Territory with her husband, Thomas, who is an abolitionist, determined to insure Kansas is free. After a murder, Lidie leaves Lawrence, Kansas, to seek revenge. Where she goes and how she eventually reaches her home in Quincy comprises much of the "travel and adventures."
Set in the 1850s in Kansas Territory, the story is about the people who were settling the area, how they survived the winter on the prairie and how high the feelings ran about whether or not the area would enter the United States as free or slave.
Lidie Newton comes to this Kansas Territory with her husband, Thomas, who is an abolitionist, determined to insure Kansas is free. After a murder, Lidie leaves Lawrence, Kansas, to seek revenge. Where she goes and how she eventually reaches her home in Quincy comprises much of the "travel and adventures."
April 17, 2018
Nice story that plays mostly in Missouri and the so-called 'Kansas territory' during the 'Bleeding Kansas' (see Wikipedia) period, i.e. 1840 - 1860. An engaging read but not as good as the 'Last Hundred Years' trilogy by the same author, probably because the historical narrative takes precedence over the fiction too often.
October 4, 2025
An historical fiction novel set in Bleeding Kansas, we start off with our protagonist Lidie in Illinois who marries an abolitionist ferrying a cache of guns from Boston to Lawrence, Kansas. From there we get an epic-style immersive narrative with a focus on familial attitudes, personal growth, women's rights, the hearts-and-minds struggle against slavery before the Civil War, worries for safety versus obligations for righting wrongs, Northern conscience vs Southern honor, and a coming of age western learning tale.
"The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton" (1999) won the Spur Award for Best Novel of the West that year. Her "adventure" is worth telling, and its setting in this pre-Civil War midwestern battleground is one we don't see a lot, but this lengthy novel has a lot of repeated ideas and internal monologuing that just gets old after a few hundred pages. Before the halfway point I was just tired of it.
Verdict: Repetitive plot threads, excessive southern drawl yokul speak, and philosophical discussions unfortunately bog down what could have been a much more interesting story. Saving the read is a fascinating Huck Finn meets Jane Eyre-esque character (there's even a "Reader, I..." homage in here) in Lidie Newton.
Jeff's Rating: 2 / 5 (Okay)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG-13
"The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton" (1999) won the Spur Award for Best Novel of the West that year. Her "adventure" is worth telling, and its setting in this pre-Civil War midwestern battleground is one we don't see a lot, but this lengthy novel has a lot of repeated ideas and internal monologuing that just gets old after a few hundred pages. Before the halfway point I was just tired of it.
Verdict: Repetitive plot threads, excessive southern drawl yokul speak, and philosophical discussions unfortunately bog down what could have been a much more interesting story. Saving the read is a fascinating Huck Finn meets Jane Eyre-esque character (there's even a "Reader, I..." homage in here) in Lidie Newton.
Jeff's Rating: 2 / 5 (Okay)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG-13
December 23, 2025
Account of the Bleeding Kansas events leading up to the Civil War. This was good enough to keep my attention but the style wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. Very involved and long.
October 4, 2017
Despite caring little about the issue of slavery which is propelling 1850s America ever closer to civil war Lidie Harkness agrees to marry the thoughtful but arguably naïve New Englander, Thomas Newton, a committed “abolitionist”. A book-loving tomboy, who likes to ride a horse bareback, and once swam the treacherous Mississippi for the sheer challenge, she is lured by the adventure of life as a settler’s wife, developing a “claim” on the “free soil”of the falsely promoted Kansas Territory. All too soon she experiences not only the harsh reality of life on the prairies, particularly in the freezing winter, but also the vicious hostility of the perhaps somewhat stereotyped residents of adjoining Missouri, unwilling to accept a democractically elected slave-free state, convinced that this will destroy the economic and social order.
Perhaps inspired by the divisions in her own family tree, with a grandfather’s branch Southern sympathisers, but her grandmother’s progressive abolitionists, Jane Smiley has researched in depth the fascinating question of whether or not to permit slavery in the newly established states as pioneers pushed further westwards. As a result, the book sometimes reads like a condensed history shoehorned into a novel. I was frustrated by the fact this is often hard to follow, without the disruption of breaking off to check the details elsewhere. It could be argued that, since the narrative is so strongly based on Lidie Newton’s viewpoint, her limited and confused understanding of events is realistic. Instead, she writes with much more precision and insight about filling in the chinks in her cabin walls or forming a relationship with the rashly purchased horse Jeremiah.
Jane Smiley clearly prefers writing in-depth about the complexity and contradictions of relations between individuals and the details of daily life. Although one cannot know how authentic this is, she has managed to sustain what reads like the “voice” of a young nineteenth century American woman - inexperienced and inevitably limited by her upbringing but perceptive and resilient, with a wry humour.
At first, I wondered why this book is not as widely known and praised as Jane Smiley’s “A Thousand Acres” but although it is a page turner in parts, I soon found it weighed down with tedious wordiness, a long list of examples when two or three would do, the same point made several different ways, repetition of words. In short, Lidie’s thoughts and the lengthy disquitisions of some characters could do with a good edt. Yet perhaps the author seeks to emulate the styles of C19 authors she admires, like Dickens, George Eliot and Anthony Trollope. This seems borne out by the way every chapter starts with a quotation from Lidie’s “bible”, “A Treatise on Domestic Economy for the Use of Young Ladies at Home” by Catherine Beecher Stowe, while every chapter and even page is titled with a brief indication of what is happening.
Having gritted my teeth to endure the style, I was absorbed by much of this book, and it certainly created an interest in learning more about American history in the run-up to the Civil War. However, in addition to being over-long and in need of more rigorous editing, it hinges on some unnecessarily implausible plot developments, and its ending seems unsatisfactory, too abrupt (after all the verbiage) and weak.
Perhaps inspired by the divisions in her own family tree, with a grandfather’s branch Southern sympathisers, but her grandmother’s progressive abolitionists, Jane Smiley has researched in depth the fascinating question of whether or not to permit slavery in the newly established states as pioneers pushed further westwards. As a result, the book sometimes reads like a condensed history shoehorned into a novel. I was frustrated by the fact this is often hard to follow, without the disruption of breaking off to check the details elsewhere. It could be argued that, since the narrative is so strongly based on Lidie Newton’s viewpoint, her limited and confused understanding of events is realistic. Instead, she writes with much more precision and insight about filling in the chinks in her cabin walls or forming a relationship with the rashly purchased horse Jeremiah.
Jane Smiley clearly prefers writing in-depth about the complexity and contradictions of relations between individuals and the details of daily life. Although one cannot know how authentic this is, she has managed to sustain what reads like the “voice” of a young nineteenth century American woman - inexperienced and inevitably limited by her upbringing but perceptive and resilient, with a wry humour.
At first, I wondered why this book is not as widely known and praised as Jane Smiley’s “A Thousand Acres” but although it is a page turner in parts, I soon found it weighed down with tedious wordiness, a long list of examples when two or three would do, the same point made several different ways, repetition of words. In short, Lidie’s thoughts and the lengthy disquitisions of some characters could do with a good edt. Yet perhaps the author seeks to emulate the styles of C19 authors she admires, like Dickens, George Eliot and Anthony Trollope. This seems borne out by the way every chapter starts with a quotation from Lidie’s “bible”, “A Treatise on Domestic Economy for the Use of Young Ladies at Home” by Catherine Beecher Stowe, while every chapter and even page is titled with a brief indication of what is happening.
Having gritted my teeth to endure the style, I was absorbed by much of this book, and it certainly created an interest in learning more about American history in the run-up to the Civil War. However, in addition to being over-long and in need of more rigorous editing, it hinges on some unnecessarily implausible plot developments, and its ending seems unsatisfactory, too abrupt (after all the verbiage) and weak.
June 10, 2019
I can't say I liked this book, ... but I didn't dislike it, ... . It was just 'flat.' I liked the premise of the plot; I think I liked the characters, but the story didn't really draw me in until the last 100 pages. That leaves about 350 pages that I plowed through, a few pages at a time. Those last 100 pages pulled the book from a 2.5 star rating to 3 stars.
I would have appreciated an Author's Note explaining how much of this is based on fact. Which, if any, of the characters are elaborations of actual historical figures?
I will keep the book because it paints a picture of the anti-slavery sentiments prior to the Civil War.
p 66, re Kansas Territory: "Here it seems like anything is a reason to kill you—disagreement on the slavery question is one thing, but just how you talk or how you look is another, or, maybe, just how the killer feels at that moment."
Re slavery: a person inquired about someone's opinion by asking, "Where do you stand on the goose question?"
The goose question. I've never heard that expression.
p 148, re religion: Frank and I didn't pray. It didn't occur to us. We had swum in the ocean of religion all our lives and not gotten wet.
I would have appreciated an Author's Note explaining how much of this is based on fact. Which, if any, of the characters are elaborations of actual historical figures?
I will keep the book because it paints a picture of the anti-slavery sentiments prior to the Civil War.
p 66, re Kansas Territory: "Here it seems like anything is a reason to kill you—disagreement on the slavery question is one thing, but just how you talk or how you look is another, or, maybe, just how the killer feels at that moment."
Re slavery: a person inquired about someone's opinion by asking, "Where do you stand on the goose question?"
The goose question. I've never heard that expression.
p 148, re religion: Frank and I didn't pray. It didn't occur to us. We had swum in the ocean of religion all our lives and not gotten wet.
May 15, 2010
When a friend pressed this book into my hands, I felt a pang of guilt. She liked the book so much, and, as a reader with ample criticism, that made me nervous.
The paperback floated about the living room for weeks, and my friend periodically inquired about how I was enjoying it. After a disappointing re-encounter with Cheaper by the Dozen, I grabbed the closest the book to the armchair and ended up on an adventurous journey with one of my favorite female protagonists in recent years.
In 1855 Illinois, young Lidie, family pariah, finds herself orphaned as an adult dependent and subject to the limited mercies of her older half-sisters. Lidie's life-long campaign to resist the normal usefulness of women have made her an imposition to house. She neither reaps nor sews. With some intentionality she botches most household tasks or performs them at a trying pace.
As a result her sisters conspire to marry her off to the first suitor they can find... even if he is a d---ed abolitionist from New England heading to Kansas.
Thomas Newton, Lidie's impromptu husband, bolstered by stories from Lidie's teen nephew, admires Lidie's ability to shoot and ride horses. He revels in her courage, strength, and ability to swim across the wide river and sees in her a potential helpmate for the arduous life awaiting him on the Kansas frontier.
Newly married, the young idealist from New England and his bride board a steamboat for the West with little idea of what their near future will hold.
In a story of community, conflict, ideology, and action, author Jane Smiley, weaves a vivid portrait of the Kansas frontier and the incendiary political environment of the US Frontier on the cusp of the Civil War.
Throughout the novel, Smiley periodically touches upon facets of history I've previously read. She encapsulates interesting historical tidbits like the recruitment campaigns to draw people to new frontiers. Although much of this period is beyond my own historical reading what I could recognize was accurate and enhanced the story.
I found myself utterly transported and also surprisingly invested in the characters. When the story ended, I felt adrift without it.
Consider the book pressed into your hands.
The paperback floated about the living room for weeks, and my friend periodically inquired about how I was enjoying it. After a disappointing re-encounter with Cheaper by the Dozen, I grabbed the closest the book to the armchair and ended up on an adventurous journey with one of my favorite female protagonists in recent years.
In 1855 Illinois, young Lidie, family pariah, finds herself orphaned as an adult dependent and subject to the limited mercies of her older half-sisters. Lidie's life-long campaign to resist the normal usefulness of women have made her an imposition to house. She neither reaps nor sews. With some intentionality she botches most household tasks or performs them at a trying pace.
As a result her sisters conspire to marry her off to the first suitor they can find... even if he is a d---ed abolitionist from New England heading to Kansas.
Thomas Newton, Lidie's impromptu husband, bolstered by stories from Lidie's teen nephew, admires Lidie's ability to shoot and ride horses. He revels in her courage, strength, and ability to swim across the wide river and sees in her a potential helpmate for the arduous life awaiting him on the Kansas frontier.
Newly married, the young idealist from New England and his bride board a steamboat for the West with little idea of what their near future will hold.
In a story of community, conflict, ideology, and action, author Jane Smiley, weaves a vivid portrait of the Kansas frontier and the incendiary political environment of the US Frontier on the cusp of the Civil War.
Throughout the novel, Smiley periodically touches upon facets of history I've previously read. She encapsulates interesting historical tidbits like the recruitment campaigns to draw people to new frontiers. Although much of this period is beyond my own historical reading what I could recognize was accurate and enhanced the story.
I found myself utterly transported and also surprisingly invested in the characters. When the story ended, I felt adrift without it.
Consider the book pressed into your hands.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 7, 2018
This is a fine book, written with craft and style and yet....
If forced to pick just one, I think the adjective I would use to describe this novel is sedate, which is somewhat odd because it involves some of the most tumultuous times in one of the most contentious areas in American history, the years just before the Civil War at the intersection between North and South. Smiley does a fine job invoking the time, and I admire her apparent scholarship, but the story itself is surprisingly mild.
Don't get me wrong, I am not asking for more violence or blood. But the emotional upheaval and general chaos of the time and place are simply not communicated with any clarity to the reader. It's as if we are standing at one remove from all the struggles of our protagonist, even as she is going through them. It is hard to put a finger on why this is so, but I know it has something to do with the languid language Smiley chooses to tell this story.
The basic plot is this: Lydia Harkness is a young woman in a small Illinois town who yearns for something more from her life. When Thomas Newton shows up and declares he is headed to the Kansas Territory, she is all ears. Newton's intent in going there is two-fold: he wishes to homestead, but he is also an abolitionist, who, along with several hundred others, is hoping to populate this new territory with the like-minded so that it will never be a slave state. The neighboring state of Missouri has a quite different idea. The conflict between the two is uncivil and often violent. Lidie must eventually leave the territory, and her travels and travails take up the second half of the book.
One challenge of writing historical fiction, I would guess, is the very fact that you are constrained by the facts that dictate what is plausible. But I do wonder if Smiley is capable of juggling the competing aspirations of historical fealty and novelistic readability. It is passing strange that a book with all of these elements should be, in fact, rather dull.
But this truly is an enjoyable book in many ways. The characters are distinctive and strongly written. The history is a fascinating slice of an era of which most of us are unaware. We truly care what happens to Lidie Newton. Unfortunately, in the end, we just don't care all that much.
If forced to pick just one, I think the adjective I would use to describe this novel is sedate, which is somewhat odd because it involves some of the most tumultuous times in one of the most contentious areas in American history, the years just before the Civil War at the intersection between North and South. Smiley does a fine job invoking the time, and I admire her apparent scholarship, but the story itself is surprisingly mild.
Don't get me wrong, I am not asking for more violence or blood. But the emotional upheaval and general chaos of the time and place are simply not communicated with any clarity to the reader. It's as if we are standing at one remove from all the struggles of our protagonist, even as she is going through them. It is hard to put a finger on why this is so, but I know it has something to do with the languid language Smiley chooses to tell this story.
The basic plot is this: Lydia Harkness is a young woman in a small Illinois town who yearns for something more from her life. When Thomas Newton shows up and declares he is headed to the Kansas Territory, she is all ears. Newton's intent in going there is two-fold: he wishes to homestead, but he is also an abolitionist, who, along with several hundred others, is hoping to populate this new territory with the like-minded so that it will never be a slave state. The neighboring state of Missouri has a quite different idea. The conflict between the two is uncivil and often violent. Lidie must eventually leave the territory, and her travels and travails take up the second half of the book.
One challenge of writing historical fiction, I would guess, is the very fact that you are constrained by the facts that dictate what is plausible. But I do wonder if Smiley is capable of juggling the competing aspirations of historical fealty and novelistic readability. It is passing strange that a book with all of these elements should be, in fact, rather dull.
But this truly is an enjoyable book in many ways. The characters are distinctive and strongly written. The history is a fascinating slice of an era of which most of us are unaware. We truly care what happens to Lidie Newton. Unfortunately, in the end, we just don't care all that much.
August 22, 2012
I just finished The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton. Someone in this club had read it, and it sounded interesting.
First of all I want to say, that after years of experience I no longer read 'book reviews' ala The New York Times, Business Week, etc. until I've finished a book. I enjoy putting thought and effort into my reading, and I can't stand the idea that my thoughts aren't original. I absolutely hate when people read the popular book du jour, (or watch a film for that matter) and all they have to say about it is only what they've heard from others.
I usually only read the first few sentences on the cover of a book, and if has been recommended to me, if it sounds interesting, if I know of the author, or even if I like the title or artwork, I'll start reading. - I don't want to know the end, and I especially don't want to know what other people think of the book, certainly including typical elitist literary types
Now, you may be surprised at my point, but I really enjoy this little club and I do like reading other people's thoughts about the books they read. I hope that we will just stay original and be creative and not condescending in other people's reading choices.
So anyway, I really enjoyed the novel. I was a history major in university and always favored early American history. I found the writing style easy and enjoyable. Of the six books I've read this year this would be number 2, (behind Rhett Butler's People, only because RBP was like reading a story about old friends…)
First of all I want to say, that after years of experience I no longer read 'book reviews' ala The New York Times, Business Week, etc. until I've finished a book. I enjoy putting thought and effort into my reading, and I can't stand the idea that my thoughts aren't original. I absolutely hate when people read the popular book du jour, (or watch a film for that matter) and all they have to say about it is only what they've heard from others.
I usually only read the first few sentences on the cover of a book, and if has been recommended to me, if it sounds interesting, if I know of the author, or even if I like the title or artwork, I'll start reading. - I don't want to know the end, and I especially don't want to know what other people think of the book, certainly including typical elitist literary types
Now, you may be surprised at my point, but I really enjoy this little club and I do like reading other people's thoughts about the books they read. I hope that we will just stay original and be creative and not condescending in other people's reading choices.
So anyway, I really enjoyed the novel. I was a history major in university and always favored early American history. I found the writing style easy and enjoyable. Of the six books I've read this year this would be number 2, (behind Rhett Butler's People, only because RBP was like reading a story about old friends…)
January 13, 2010
Jane Smiley is one of my favorite writers, and this is my favorite of her books. A Thousand Acres got a lot more attention, including the Pulitzer Prize and an insultingly modified Hollywood adaptation, but this is the one that really blew me away.
You can't really discuss this book without comparing it to Huckleberry Finn, one of the greatest books ever written, hands down, no contest. Both concerned escaped slaves seeking freedom during the tumultuous period preceding the Civil War. In fact, my version of this book contains an interview with Smiley, in which she sort of disses Mark Twain's classic, but I managed to erect some sort of psychological literary defense mechanism and still respect and greatly enjoy Smiley, in spite of this one glaring point on which she is, obviously, just plain wrong.
One of the things that I always look for in a book is realistic evocation of time and place, and she pulls this off masterfully. I felt like I was there. After I put it down, I was ready to run out and join the abolitionist movement, and put an end to slavery once and for all. Turns out they did this already. Well done, abolitionists! It's great to be back in the 21st century after my brief sojourn in the 19th. Now, 150 years later, we've finally achieved racial harmony. Isn't it great?
Pardon my sardonic cynicism. This is a great book. :)
You can't really discuss this book without comparing it to Huckleberry Finn, one of the greatest books ever written, hands down, no contest. Both concerned escaped slaves seeking freedom during the tumultuous period preceding the Civil War. In fact, my version of this book contains an interview with Smiley, in which she sort of disses Mark Twain's classic, but I managed to erect some sort of psychological literary defense mechanism and still respect and greatly enjoy Smiley, in spite of this one glaring point on which she is, obviously, just plain wrong.
One of the things that I always look for in a book is realistic evocation of time and place, and she pulls this off masterfully. I felt like I was there. After I put it down, I was ready to run out and join the abolitionist movement, and put an end to slavery once and for all. Turns out they did this already. Well done, abolitionists! It's great to be back in the 21st century after my brief sojourn in the 19th. Now, 150 years later, we've finally achieved racial harmony. Isn't it great?
Pardon my sardonic cynicism. This is a great book. :)
July 2, 2012
An interesting look at the 1850s in the Kansas Territory through the eyes of a young woman.
Read by Mare Winningham.
Lasts about 5 hours.
I purchased the abridged version of The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton on tape (5 hours) and found it to be quite enjoyable. The listener is treated to a ground level view of the politics of slavery in the 1850s and how violence based on the 'goose question' (code for the slavery issue) swept through households, towns and eventually the entire Kansas Territory.
Smiley's characters are not simple cardboard cutouts - some of the pro-slavery people are quite nice, some of the anti-slavery people are quite insane (she mentions 'Old Brown' and his atrocities and his actions cause some dissent in Liddie Newton's household).
Many readers have complained of the plodding pace. Although my version was abridged, there were still some plodding moments. However, the superb reading by Mare Winningham spared the listener from most of those moments. She is able to express so much emotion and humor with her voice that I found myself forgetting that Mare Winningham is a modern actress. She sounds like she is an older woman telling of her sad, profound trip through a bit of American history.
http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/
Read by Mare Winningham.
Lasts about 5 hours.
I purchased the abridged version of The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton on tape (5 hours) and found it to be quite enjoyable. The listener is treated to a ground level view of the politics of slavery in the 1850s and how violence based on the 'goose question' (code for the slavery issue) swept through households, towns and eventually the entire Kansas Territory.
Smiley's characters are not simple cardboard cutouts - some of the pro-slavery people are quite nice, some of the anti-slavery people are quite insane (she mentions 'Old Brown' and his atrocities and his actions cause some dissent in Liddie Newton's household).
Many readers have complained of the plodding pace. Although my version was abridged, there were still some plodding moments. However, the superb reading by Mare Winningham spared the listener from most of those moments. She is able to express so much emotion and humor with her voice that I found myself forgetting that Mare Winningham is a modern actress. She sounds like she is an older woman telling of her sad, profound trip through a bit of American history.
http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/
April 15, 2019
Reading this story is like listening to a long-winded person talk, and talk. Normally I love historical fiction and there was much here that was both very enjoyable and educational. I had no previous knowledge of the conflicts brought on by the settling of Kansas. There were also sections that seemed to drag, and some events that didn't seem plausible.
I loved that Lidie grew so much over the course of the year. She listened to both sides of the story and then formed her own opinions. Nothing was black and white to her. She often stated that in KT, a thing could be both true and untrue.
Jane Smiley has the ability to paint pictures with her words. Two of my favourites:
"The sunlight seemed to evaporate off the prairie like steam off a vat of boiling water, leaving behind darkness that had already been there "
"I was watching the prairie fill up with loneliness around his receding figure and persuading myself that his return would effect the opposite."
Perhaps these passages speak volumes to me because I live on the Canadian prairies...
I loved that Lidie grew so much over the course of the year. She listened to both sides of the story and then formed her own opinions. Nothing was black and white to her. She often stated that in KT, a thing could be both true and untrue.
Jane Smiley has the ability to paint pictures with her words. Two of my favourites:
"The sunlight seemed to evaporate off the prairie like steam off a vat of boiling water, leaving behind darkness that had already been there "
"I was watching the prairie fill up with loneliness around his receding figure and persuading myself that his return would effect the opposite."
Perhaps these passages speak volumes to me because I live on the Canadian prairies...
August 11, 2017
It was stunning at times. I did wonder why the author chose to use "g --" & "d---" instead of spelling those words out while she used several idioms of "the N word" straight out. I still struggle with that. I can see where the main character may have made that choice if these had actually been her writings, or maybe I can't?
I seem to remember reading "true life" narratives from writers who were black, and some who were former slaves, written in the 19th century, and the use of the "N-word" was deplorable to them. I got the impression that a person freed from slavery made negative judgements of a white person saying it in similar ways that it is considered to this day. Why wouldn't Lidie have picked up that information before she wrote her narrative? She was so observant of how people used language and how they reacted to different uses of language.
Otherwise, I think I loved every bit of it.
I seem to remember reading "true life" narratives from writers who were black, and some who were former slaves, written in the 19th century, and the use of the "N-word" was deplorable to them. I got the impression that a person freed from slavery made negative judgements of a white person saying it in similar ways that it is considered to this day. Why wouldn't Lidie have picked up that information before she wrote her narrative? She was so observant of how people used language and how they reacted to different uses of language.
Otherwise, I think I loved every bit of it.
September 13, 2019
It's a little hard to know what to think about this novel. As one character said (basically to the reader) it is a tragedy. The novel is about a woman from Illinois who marries a man from Boston who is an abolishionist. They move to the territory of Kansas and the historical events that ensued as Missouri attempted to claim Kansas as a slave state and the abolishionists resisted are woven through the narrative. Through Lidie, Smiley envisions what it would have been like to be a simple person trying to live a normal life in the midst of all of that violence and upheaval. Lidie was not raised as an abolishionist, but she is at heart a kind person. As the tensions mount, she is forced through a number of confusing emotions. She is angry at the proslavery forces for what they have taken from her, but she is sympathetic and friendly to individual proslavery people and slaveowners. She yearns to help the slaves in distress, but she is distressed at the concept of the kind of violence that would be required to overturn an entire way of life.
Every time I read one of these books I am amazed that the Civil War happened at all. It was an amazing accomplishment to overturn an entire way of life, for one way of looking at things to completely overpower another way of looking at things. Maybe that's why we can't seem to get anything done now, because the amount of certitude and sheer force of will required to convince someone else to accede to your way of thinking is too much. Take gun control. We exhaust ourselves talking about it (as they exhausted themselves in the novel talking about slavery) and then we propose changes and talk some more and realize that the political conviction and courage required to do anything is simply beyond us. That feeling is really captured in the book. The realization of what it would take to change the other side is simply overwhelming to the characters. They lack the courage of their convictions, they seem to even lack convictions, and it is just easier not to try. The message almost seems to be that one person really can't do much to effect change and that the kind of person who can throw themselves into the kind of fight that does loses a little of his humanity, his ability to relate other people. It was strange to read that sentiment in a book about slavery, which is about as evil an institution as you can think of.
I guess my problem with Lidie is that I find it easy to choose sides and believe passionately in my point of view. I understand that you have to live with people and judging them based on their politics is difficult, but some issues define you and I would think your attitude about slavery would be one of them. I don't have any white nationalist friends and I think I would struggle to recognize their humanity considering that they struggle to recognize other people's. I can see the value in trying to understand somebody like Lydie who has to straddle both worlds, but it is difficult. On the other hand, it is a very well told story and I'm glad I read it.
Every time I read one of these books I am amazed that the Civil War happened at all. It was an amazing accomplishment to overturn an entire way of life, for one way of looking at things to completely overpower another way of looking at things. Maybe that's why we can't seem to get anything done now, because the amount of certitude and sheer force of will required to convince someone else to accede to your way of thinking is too much. Take gun control. We exhaust ourselves talking about it (as they exhausted themselves in the novel talking about slavery) and then we propose changes and talk some more and realize that the political conviction and courage required to do anything is simply beyond us. That feeling is really captured in the book. The realization of what it would take to change the other side is simply overwhelming to the characters. They lack the courage of their convictions, they seem to even lack convictions, and it is just easier not to try. The message almost seems to be that one person really can't do much to effect change and that the kind of person who can throw themselves into the kind of fight that does loses a little of his humanity, his ability to relate other people. It was strange to read that sentiment in a book about slavery, which is about as evil an institution as you can think of.
I guess my problem with Lidie is that I find it easy to choose sides and believe passionately in my point of view. I understand that you have to live with people and judging them based on their politics is difficult, but some issues define you and I would think your attitude about slavery would be one of them. I don't have any white nationalist friends and I think I would struggle to recognize their humanity considering that they struggle to recognize other people's. I can see the value in trying to understand somebody like Lydie who has to straddle both worlds, but it is difficult. On the other hand, it is a very well told story and I'm glad I read it.
September 26, 2017
The All-True Travels and Adventures of Liddie Newton is a great historical piece of fiction about a strong willed woman who embarks upon a cross country journey with her new husband. Jane Smiley follows up her Pulitzer Prize winning A Thousand Acres to present this strong narrative about a couple who believe so strongly in the abolitionist cause that they risk their lives time and time again. Lydia Harkness is the third of three sisters whom all assume will never marry. She's considered an old maid at 20, and prefers shooting guns and swimming over feminine pursuits. Along comes the educated Bostonian Thomas Newton who marries her and takes her away to settle the Kansas Territory (KT) . The area is volatile, with sorties from the adjacent Missouri territory protesting their anti-slavery cause. Leaving Quincy, Illinois, and living in this lawless territory has danger at every turn, and making it worse is that her nephew Frank comes along as her responsibility, one which becomes impossible to control. I loved the background leading up to their settling down. The courtship, the building of their small claim, their friends in the town of Lawrence, their beloved horse , their Mississippi riverboat ride, and all the details of the first half. Then the danger sets in, and Lidie finds herself a widow and now really begins to emerge as a strong heroine. Now her life goal becomes revenge, and she bravely and dangerously spends the rest of the novel pursuing that. Part of that involves living with a plantation family which shows her that often behind this divisive issue are good people who are just driven by tradition. I like what has been suggested: this novel embodies the ideas that what occurs is often not ideal for society, for women, or for Blacks.
I am intrigued by this view of history, the personification of some of the heroic abolitionists, and by such a strong female character who uses her intelligence and stealth to gain her end.
I am intrigued by this view of history, the personification of some of the heroic abolitionists, and by such a strong female character who uses her intelligence and stealth to gain her end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 23, 2025
From the Ballantine interview with Jane Smiley:
“My goal was to have whatever I wrote go down easily. It’s like Mary Poppins and the medicine she concocts for each of the children; they find it delicious. I’ve always wanted whatever I concocted to go down easily, and whatever was in it that was informational or thematic or enlightening to slide down practically unnoticed to the reader.” This exactly. I’m always impressed by how much of a pleasure it is to read a Jane Smiley novel. This one is no exception, it’s a very technically loaded novel, a fictionalized memoir of a woman living on the Kansas Territory frontier in the 1850s, yet Smiley with her distinctively light hand allows the modern day reader to feel themselves becoming completely enmeshed in a world that would feel utterly foreign in another author’s voice. This novel is primarily about the institution of slavery through the eyes of a rather plain and unassuming white woman who has a kind heart but is otherwise politically unengaged until she is swept up by a group of Kansas abolitionists. Through the story you see Lidie try to reconcile her ideology with her life experience. I thought this was interesting, well-researched, incredibly nuanced, and above all else, enormously pleasurable to read. Highly highly recommend to anyone who is interested in American history, Huckleberry Finn retellings, or just books that are good. I will be thinking about Lidie Newton and her straightforward, unsentimental voice for a long time to come.
“My goal was to have whatever I wrote go down easily. It’s like Mary Poppins and the medicine she concocts for each of the children; they find it delicious. I’ve always wanted whatever I concocted to go down easily, and whatever was in it that was informational or thematic or enlightening to slide down practically unnoticed to the reader.” This exactly. I’m always impressed by how much of a pleasure it is to read a Jane Smiley novel. This one is no exception, it’s a very technically loaded novel, a fictionalized memoir of a woman living on the Kansas Territory frontier in the 1850s, yet Smiley with her distinctively light hand allows the modern day reader to feel themselves becoming completely enmeshed in a world that would feel utterly foreign in another author’s voice. This novel is primarily about the institution of slavery through the eyes of a rather plain and unassuming white woman who has a kind heart but is otherwise politically unengaged until she is swept up by a group of Kansas abolitionists. Through the story you see Lidie try to reconcile her ideology with her life experience. I thought this was interesting, well-researched, incredibly nuanced, and above all else, enormously pleasurable to read. Highly highly recommend to anyone who is interested in American history, Huckleberry Finn retellings, or just books that are good. I will be thinking about Lidie Newton and her straightforward, unsentimental voice for a long time to come.
May 14, 2024
I found this in a free book box. Between the description on the front flap and the fact that it was Jane Smiley, I was certain this was going to be fantastic. In the end, Lidie and her story didn't quite live up to my expectations. The setting and story are interesting and action-packed, but in the effort to create the effect of a memoir, Smiley sometimes included too much extraneous detail and let segments drone on for too long. In descriptions of the book, Lidie comes off as spunky, independent, and principled. I'll give her that she can ride and shoot, and that's something, but her distaste for feminine housework in the text itself comes across as laziness rather than rebelliousness, and her inner consciousness shows a failure of her principles to keep up with her actions. The writing is good, so Lidie comes across as very real, and I empathized with her throughout the story. The book also covered a fascinating part of American history, and digs into some meaty issues in its coverage of slavery. I was also persistently frustrated, however, with the main character's failure to act, and I was disappointed overall in what I thought was a complete lack of character growth.
January 17, 2020
The narrative bounces along like a run away wagon. Veering now into 19th cent sentimental novel, now into contemporary cross dressing dialogue, and then into satire. I loved the line: "I suspected that I would never feel truly embarrassed again" (446). The ending echoes in the cavern of 1860s history. Suddenly a slightly silly story felt dour.
I enjoyed looking up the history of Kansas before our civil war. I knew so little. The book reminds me of Twain.
I enjoyed looking up the history of Kansas before our civil war. I knew so little. The book reminds me of Twain.
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