Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have always been a lover of Laura Ingalls Wilder “Little House” books and when, several months ago, I read that a new book had come out, “Pioneer Girl, An Annotated Autobiography” I was excited to get a copy. The book is only available as a hardback and the cost, for me, was prohibitive. I kept waiting for it to come out either in paperback or as an eBook but neither version seems to be coming any time soon so finally decided to treat myself and buy the hardback book. I received it this morning and found myself packing it up for return this afternoon. I have never been so disappointed with a book purchase in my life! The description (from the back of the book) says, “Pioneer Girl is a first and a last; it is the publication of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s initial attempt at writing her life story, and it is her last book-length manuscript to see print. The debut of this carefully researched and annotated edition is a literary event – a fresh look at the pioneering experience, and a fine counterpoint to the classic Little House series.” After unpacking my order I excitedly sat down and began to read. First of all I was amazed at how much of the book was devoted to the introduction – two of them actually, mostly detailing the historical society research leading to the book publication and the life of Laura’s daughter Rose, also an author. When I finally reached the first page of the actual book I found that the entire thing is FULL of footnotes, much more than actual text. There is a footnote with a detailed explanation for nearly every sentence. For example: From the book, “One night Pa picked me up (10) out of bed and carried me to the window so I could see the wolves. (10) “One night Pa picked me up”. The short, intense scene in this paragraph illustrates the episodic structure of Pioneer Girl and reflects Wilder’s experience as a newspaper columnist with the Missouri Ruralist. Throughout the manuscript, Wilder developed compact episodes that are virtually self-contained. Structurally they resemble newspaper columns – they are tightly written, evocative, dramatic and revealing. They usually convey a single experience through a few well-chosen words and brushstroke details, creating, as here, a visual picture that is charged with emotional intensity and drama. Words were a luxury for a newspaper columnist; Wilder had learned to use them sparingly – and effectively. It is also interesting to speculate on the personal significance of this scene. Was this event one of Wilder’s earliest memories? She placed it near the beginning of Pioneer Girl and would develop it further in her third novel, Little House on the Prairie. But by then, Wilder had begun to shed the inherent constraints of writing for newspapers. She expanded the scene from this one paragraph into five pages devoting an entire chapter to it……. (this continues for another half page). The excessive footnotes are very distracting. The book is big and each page is divided into two columns. The actual text of the book takes less than one of the four columns per page and often to continue reading you have to page forward 3 or 4 pages to find where the text continues. I think this is taking “annotated” to a ridiculous level. I found trying to read the book almost impossible, the footnotes being much more of a distraction than anything of interest and was extremely disappointed to return the book I had waited so long to buy.