Lamentations: A Novel of Women Walking West

by Carol Kammen

Lamentations is a novel about the first group of families crossing west to Oregon in 1842, from the perspective of the dozen women on the trip. Although none of these women left a written record of her journey, the company clerk's daily notations provided documentation of historical events. Based on these records and the author's own decades of work as a historian, Carol Kammen provides an interpretation of the women's thoughts and feelings as events played out in and around the wagons heading west. In this novel the men are in the background--and we hear the women ponder the land, their right to be passing through, their lives and how they are changing, the other people in the company, the Native Americans they encounter, and their changing roles. Lamentations is about women's reality as wives or unmarried sojourners, as literate or illiterate observers, and as explorers of the land. Kammen gives voice to these women as they consider a strange new land and the people who inhabit it, mulling over what they, as women of their time, could not say aloud. They face the difficulties of the road, the slow trust that builds between some of them, and the oddities of the men with whom they travel. These women move from silent witnesses within a constrained gender sphere to articulate observers of a complicated world they ultimately helped to shape.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Fiction

272 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2021

Reviews

[Angela M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carol Kammen, a local historian, in the Ithaca, NY area, has written a beautiful novel, imagining the journey west to Oregon in 1842, through the voices of women and young girls. These are interspersed with short entries from the real journal of man who made the trek - with the matter of fact details of how far they came, what they saw. The dichotomy is stark. It is through the women’s narratives that are so brimming with life, with emotion, telling of birth and death, fear and grief and hope that I was taken on the journey. One of the finest works of historical fiction I’ve read.


I received a copy of this book from Bison Books thorough Edelweiss.

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

"...the journey on which we were going was untested by emigrant families and we are the first company of families and wagons to make this crossing...". After being outfitted in St. Louis, 105 people including women and children, loaded their belongings into 16 wagons bound for Oregon. The date was May 16, 1842. The trail boss, Dr. Elijah White, was a complicated, devious man. Observations of the journey, in real time, were penned by Medorem Crawford, the company clerk. Entries included daily distances traveled and notations of the day's events. There were no diaries written by women on this first wagon train to Oregon. In this work of historical fiction, 15 women travelers are given a voice. How did the journey play out from their perspective?

"It is when walking along, and alone, that I seem to churn up what I really think-those comments that cannot be uttered, words left unsaid, those flights of thought that are out of the usual or beyond the conventions by which we live...thought crazy or scandalous...the action of my legs, moving me forward step by step, lubricates my imagination so that I go free in my mind as my body plods forward. Thoughts are not fleeting and momentary but are worked over and developed by the process of walking".

Dr. Elijah White was commissioned with the task of taking emigrant families to Oregon. His expectation, the governorship of the soon to be Oregon Territory. He had a "haughty righteousness...importance he ascribed to his own experience". He did not inspire followers. They would be 'led into the wilderness' by a man who didn't know the way. Women were non-participants at the trail company meetings and were often ignored when codes of law were drafted. "They legislate for us as if we were children, to be led by the wise parent...they know little more than we do about this journey. Here nothing is familiar, everything serves to put us off balance...". "At home we looked from one boundary to another...a boundary between house and field...a boundary between land and road...Here there are no boundaries...It is free feeling out here. I rather like it."

"It wouldn't take money so much as grit to get them through...who would have the grit needed and who would fade or fail to meet the challenges ahead". The women came from all walks of life. There were teachers like Caroline Tompkins and women who scraped by. Mrs. Shadden noted that "even the high and mighty get pulled down like us ordinary folks". Poor folk like Mrs. Shadden and Mrs. Bennett, knowing a life of trials and tribulations, had left babies behind in graveyards. Mrs. Smith, a sharp eyed woman, felt this trip was her chance to do something one last time.

Jane Tompkins had the most melodious voice. The wagon party requested that she sing for celebrations or to sing someone home at a burial. When a group of men decided to carve their initials on a massive rock, unknowingly on Indian sacred ground, the tribe paid the wagon train a potentially scary visit. Jane's angelic voice had not been unnoticed. The tribe was quite insistent that a trade of twenty horses was a fair price in exchange for Jane, as a gift to their chief.

"What was beyond out there, at the edge of the world?" "Caroline Tompkins looked back at the end of civilization, of her country, of all she knew." She now experienced the weariness of the trail, the endless wind, shoes that would wear thin and the noise of the prairie. Some women confided in each other, others kept to themselves. Who could you trust with your thoughts and emotions?

"Lamentations: A Novel of Women Walking West" by historian Carol Kammen is a wonderfully immersive read imagining the thoughts and fears of women on the first wagon train to Oregon. I cheered for them, cried with them and giggled as well. A highly recommended read for a journey to the old west.

Thank you University of Nebraska Press/ Bison Books and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Phyllis Runyan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look of what it was like in the 1840's heading west on the Oregon trail as told by the women. The extreme hardships, the deaths and births, the friendships formed and the day to day struggle of staying alive on the trail.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a disappointment to me, more fiction than fact, told through conversations imagined by the author. Much better and more factual is Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey, by Lillian Schlissel, which is comprised of some of the actual diaries of 103 women traveling to Oregon or California between 1841 and 1867 and is in the women’s own written words. It was first published in 1982, and I was careful to buy that edition, future additions being suspect because of editing.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lamentations tells the story of a wagon train headed West, solely from the perspective of the women on the journey.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. It’s 100% my genre, but I had a hard time connecting to the characters. Typically when I read, I create a mental picture of each narrator or main character. With so many voices here, I had difficulty doing so, and had to keep referring to my notes to remember who was who.

The sheer feat of literally walking almost 2,000 miles was amazing to contemplate. I appreciated that we experienced the trip through the womens’ inner thoughts and musings about the journey and the men around them. I also appreciated that the women were diverse in social class - we heard from educated women like Caroline Tompkins and Mary Smith, as well as lower class women like Flora Shadden and Mrs. Bennett.

Overall, I wished for more emotional connection to the women and the story. Thank you to University of Nebraska Press / Bison Books and NetGalley for the electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Mardi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this amazing book.

It is a journey like no other. A story that ignites all senses and takes you to places you could not imagine. This journey from East (New York) to West (Oregon) in the 1840s has been based on lengthy research and the development of some colourful characters. It is an emotional and tireless adventure. Travelling in the wagons and by foot alongside these brave and courageous pioneers exhausted me and also filled my heart with flutters of happiness and achievement.

Written in diary entry format, the tone and style of the vernacular made me feel the rhythm of this arduous journey. I highly recommend this read.

[Carol Kammen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are authors allowed to write a review? I would like to, so I will try. I hoped to raise questions about women's place in what was a man's world, to see the events of 1842 from the perspective of the women who made the crossing--looking at the women as people who only met on this crossing, spent 5 months together and then split apart. In such a situation you only learn so much about a person, so the characters back lives are not fully developed: they and the reader live in their real time, and experience the crossing of the country looking at where they are, at the various Native American tribes as they saw them--totally unlike the men they were traveling with or had known in home places. I wanted the women to admit to worry about leaving home and family behind, to wonder about ownership and place, and to show their strengths and vulnerabilities. I also tried not to write from a 21st century perspective: so these women do not "save" the group, or prove to be smarter than others, or any of the heroic things some modern fiction show them doing. They were ordinary in their times and faced making a new life: but they had to get there first, so the book is about time, and thoughts, and beauty, and the cautious ways in which we get to know each other, and tragedy and joy.
I hope women especially relate to the book, but surprisingly, of the letters I have received, those from men seem the most enthusiastic and sometime perspective in ways I would not have expected. I feel honored by the reception the book has had and hope others will enter this 1842 world and come away with respect and hope. Thank you for letting me write! I hope you will do the same.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for a review.

Lamentations is a hard-won, excellent historical fiction novel. No, it's not a story full of high action and nail biting tension. This book is historical fiction for those who want the story of everyday people who, unintentionally, did something extraordinary.

Even limited by historical documents, Kammen fleshes out the characters through the way they observe and react in small ways to their journey west. She doesn't resort to stereotypes or cardboard characters.

The events that move the story along hold the tension, even though they might not seem that interesting at first. Getting to a fort didn't mean much to me before, but after reading what the travelers went through to get through that fort, I felt at least a tinge of the emotions they might have.

Good historical fiction lets us watch the people through their journeys. Great historical fiction puts us in their shoes. I recommend Lamentations not just to those who like historical fiction, but to anyone who wants to understand how the minutia of life can define life.

[Bee · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Lamentations’ shares the stories and thoughts of a group of women traveling west on the Oregon Trail. While at times beautifully written, it also bogged down fairly often in the minutiae of their daily lives, and I found my attention wandering. It was also suddenly, startlingly bleak on occasion, and a little too open about the crudeness of life for my personal taste. Realistic, I’m sure, but not my preference. Because it alternated between so many different women’s thoughts and experiences, it was hard to follow who was whom for much of the first half of the story. Having so many multiple point-of-view narrators also left me feeling emotionally disconnected to any of the women.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Janilyn Kocher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lamentations offers a realistic read about how a small group of women traversed the overland trail to Oregon and their reactions. The author provided a brief, but informative bibliography of books in the both the prologue and afterward. I loved how she told of being a child, imagining herself on this same trek. I did the same thing. This genre is one of my favorite to read. I think the author does a good job in keeping the characters real and the situations based on historical information She researched. It's a great story. Thanks to University of Nebraska Press and Edelweiss for the early copy.

[Stacey Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This historical fiction account of the lives and attitudes of women in a 19th century wagon train headed west to Oregon was very engaging. The author, a County Historian who knows her stuff came across the diary of a clerk on the journey. From his list of families in the party, plus some scant entries about their encounters along the way, Kammen crafted a compelling tale about the adventure from the viewpoints of several different women and girls in the party. Her descriptions of the topography along the way, their interactions, the inner lives of some, and the varying perspectives make for a captivating tale.

[Elisabeth Boas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book will surprise you! Readers have few opportunities to travel along the Oregon Trail with the earliest wagons going west. Here we hear and see life walking on the road—but, there was no road. Not much of anything at all, in fact, to guide the brave yearning for something better (or going along because others had made a decision on their behalf.). In this book, written by a gifted, well-respected, and knowledgeable historian, Reader is treated to the point of view of women. There are few books like this one. Kudos to Carol Kammen for this important volume.

[Amanda Jaros · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful novel that lets the reader walk with the women, young and old of varying backgrounds, who followed their men along the Oregon Trail west across the country. Kammen, a long-time historian, uses the actual log book and manifest of names from that 1842 expedition, but creates personalities and stories behind them. It's an intimate and personal portrayal of what it must have been like to be a woman at the time, with little power, no vote, and often no voice. I've never been much of an Oregon Trail buff, but this is a journey unlike any other and a wonderful read.

[Misti · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to get into this book but it was poorly written into a cohesive manner and the journal style didn't really make the book flow. Also, I know these characters in real life would have been as gross as colonizers but I really hated to read it written this way.

*I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my review.

[Deb Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook as I took myself on a road trip of 2,000 miles in the desert Southwest. It was the perfect accompaniment for the long stretches of barren highways when my own imagination flagged. An interesting and thoughtful women centered book.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Life is to be held to, acted on, not to push important things into the future."

[Lou Shipp · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent story of the trials, tribulations and joys to be found on the Oregon Trail in 1842, from the perspective of several women amongst the pioneers.

[Leslie Reiber · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good concept, but I was disappointed in its execution. It is worth reading though, perhaps more as a "young adult" novel.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is unlike others about people crossing the US in covered wagons. The author is an historian whose sense of detail and accuracy is well-appreciated by the reader. Kammen truly has the female point of view in mind as she describes people's feelings and thoughts about all the various incidents along the way west. It's a big view and there are many characters of all ages, not just one person or family. The book is calm and quiet and one can't help but consider themes which endure throughout time.