The Wilder Life, by Wendy McClure

I don't suppose the idea of writing a book called The Montgomery Life or My Obsession With Anne would roll off the tongue and be instantly appealing as the sound of The Wilder Life. (I don't know. Maybe it would be? I wonder if I could be paid to retrace all of Montgomery's steps?) Author Wendy McClure really hit on an interesting idea for a book. The subtitle is called My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie which makes it sound sort of like a reality-based television show on paper. That is, in fact, what I assumed it was. I assumed (correctly, I might add) that it was a story about a woman who really, really, really liked Laura Ingalls Wilder and wanted to dive into her world. I should note that I was mostly correct in my guess as to what the book was about.

Wendy McClure really does like Laura Ingalls Wilder. The Wilder Life opens with McClure explaining that as she was growing up she obsessed (to some degree or another) over the Little House books and always felt in some way as if she was Laura. She imagined herself describing the modern world to her old fashioned friend-and-other-self and would imagine herself living on a prairie. When she was all grown up, having made the decision not to have kids of her own, she and her boyfriend decide to tour all of the sites which made up "Laura World" in her imagination. This book is a telling of her adventures exploring the various homes in which Laura lived and some of the history behind the Little House books. We travel with McClure to museums, we find her purchasing countless bonnets and attempting to make butter in an old-fashioned churn while watching episodes of the television version of the show. (Just to be clear, she views the Little House tv series to be a piece of fiction. She's far more gracious in accepting the show though than I am in accepting the third Anne movie. That movie, you know, is nothing but heresy.)

Really, this is a "reality show" in book form. It is a story of McClure's search to know a character that she closely identified with as she was growing up. She isn't writing the book to give us a history of Laura, times past or give us detailed instructions on how you go about twisting hay appropriately in order to keep your house heated during a long winter. It is just a meandering through her experiences and impressions as she visited various Little House locations and how her thoughts about Laura evolved over her explorations. In one sense it is an informative read because it comes across very much as a travel memoir. I could see the prairie as she described it. I could hear the rain pounding on the car roof as she drove through Kansas. (Wait. I live in Oregon. That might have been the rain on my own metal roof I heard. In my own little log cabin that I live in.) While I did learn more of the history of the Little House books, the facts were not incredibly detailed but McClure did not mean for them to be. Once again, she is merely sharing her journey into her own "Laura World" and finding that reality didn't always match up to her imaginations.

Truthfully, I'm not over-the-top crazy about The Little House Books. I mean, I like them and all. I enjoy them and I was very glad to recently re-read Little House in the Big Woods (linked to our experience) to my oldest son. That was a blast! I also look forward to re-reading the rest of the series with my children in time. But Laura Ingalls Wilder is not my Lucy Maud Montgomery. So I don't feel an incredible attachment and therefore I didn't feel incredibly disillusioned by the facts which McClure does relate about the books and the Ingalls family within the pages of her own book. Mostly I was interested in The Wilder Life because I like the idea of someone loving a book or a series so much that they explore actual physical locations and learn about different customs and history surrounding their loved book of choice. I think that's just plain awesome and that is what drew me to McClure's book in the first place.

While I liked the idea of McClure's passion for Little House, we do have distinctly different world views. I was rather put off by her use of foul language all throughout the book. (I mean, really? Must we?!) She also takes advantage of wielding a pen to drop in notes about supporting the legalization of gay marriage. (In a book about the Little House series? I just don't think any reader is reading this book to find out where she stands on a variety of political or moral issues. At least, I wasn't.) She lives with her boyfriend and talks about that a lot as well. Strangely (to me) she focuses on how weird it is to pursue information and experiences with Laura via computer and modern technology. I think it's also a little weird she would spend so much time talking about her live-in boyfriend and gay marriage when talking about Little House. (She did latch on to the fact that she didn't like Rose Wilder Lane's political stances so perhaps she felt justified in sharing her own, being that she found Rose to be a bit over the top. Perhaps it's just about expressing herself. At any rate, I found it distracting. I read the book for other reasons.)

Because I think this book is more "reality show" like than about providing historical information, I'd probably not go about recommending it. I think it's too lax on facts and too filled with paragraphs about rental car experiences and that didn't excite me a great deal. I read it in full, however, because I don't really mind reality shows. (They really help you to get to know people. Well. Sort of. Maybe. I'm going to quit talking and not even attempt to defend my last sentence there.)

As I had mentioned in the recent past, I had received a copy of this book for Christmas and had planned to read it during Barbara's Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge in February. Then came the house "fire" and I lost my copy to smoke damage. I intended to replace it eventually when I was asked if I would be interested in reviewing the newly released paperback edition of this book. Marvelous timing! It arrived on Monday and I devoured it instantly. Yes, I did devour it even though I can't say it is going on a top favorite list. I'm still grateful to Riverhead Books for shooting a copy of this one my way!

For additional options on this book, check out Barbara at Stray Thoughts said HERE. You might also be interested to know what Amy at Hope is the Word had to share. Jennifer reviewed it over at 5 Minutes for Books and gave it 5 stars. While I can't give it that, I do agree with Jennifer that the book is kind of funny. Barbara and Amy weren't as impressed with McClure's sense of humor (or "snarkiness") but I confess that I rather got a chuckle out of it. That might also be one of the reasons I read it 'till the end. Whatever her belief systems, I did think she was funny.