Conrad Richter (1890–1968)

This novel concludes the trilogy of pioneering family clan, Luckett-Wheeler. It has been a very long time since I have been so moved by a novel -- indeed I was enraptured by the entire series. I find myself still fading into 19th Century Ohio, and meeting Sayward's ghost out of the corner of my eye, she is still so present within me. Richter does for 19thC America what Dickens did for 19thC England: vivid, animated, theatrical; brilliantly painted. I could pull out the thesaurus at this show more time, and just use all the words therein to describe a scintillating read, and that might just be enough!

The Town encompasses the span of Sayward's life as she makes the move from "cabin to county seat", but we are left wondering if, after all, civilization is not a double-edged sword. When we first encounter Sayward, in the first book of the trilogy, we battle the paradox of nature with her: the cruelty and the kindness of it; the beauty, and its darkness. Similarly, we explore those themes within this last novel, but this time battling with the paradox of humanity: whether we are better off as simple citizens of the world, struggling daily for our bread; or whether the work of the mind is the nobler struggle. Richter leaves no doubt which he champions -- but I will not spoil the exploration for you!

If you are looking for a good, old fashioned read, that engages mind and soul, and demands something of you, while entertaining you beyond measure, this is a must-read! show less

Richter's writing brought to mind the rhythms and cadences of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings's The Yearling -- a pure reading of the time and state, without one glimmer of the revisionist's eye.

The novel enveloped me in the pioneering world of 1790, middle America, and I did not emerge until it rung its last stroke of the axe, as the clearings began to show face in the crowded landscape of trees. It felt to me a most accurate representation of what pioneering must have truly been like -- bugs, show more and lice and the oppressive push of the trees for some; wilderness and freedom and pure elemental nature, for others. Even within the pioneering spirit, there lay the dichotomy of town versus wilderness: those who longed to carve out their space out of it, and those who sought to submerge themselves within it. On both counts, Richter does justice to those brave men and women who insinuated themselves into the frontier, on their own terms. show less

Some books are simple, light, breezy, and while enjoyable, are like eating cotton candy. Others, like The Sea of Grass, are deeper, darker, serious, and more akin to eating a good steak.

Hal narrates this story, partly of big ranchers, partly of nesters/settlers, but mostly about a mail-order bride, and how she changed those who knew her. The prose is rich, and descriptive, and I found myself backtracking to reread the passages that made me think. Very good, recommended.

The Fields is the second volume in Conrad Richter’s trilogy The Awakening Land. In The Trees, Sayward Luckett arrived in the wilds of Ohio, where the forest was so thick it blocked out the sun, and the family were the only people, aside from Indians, inhabiting the land. Before the next group of settlers is established, Sayward’s mother, Jary, is dead and not long after her father, Worth, has departed for the next wilderness he can find.

Sayward stays in the cabin the family built, raises show more her remaining siblings, and establishes a life. Married now, she becomes the backbone of this land. She raises her children and clears her land, and it is the coming of the fields from the forest that this book deals with. We see, step-by-step, how the wilderness gives way to civilization; how a church and a school and businesses begin to take root in what was once an unsettled land. With the coming of this new place comes a new way of life, and not one without trouble or toil, but one with a different breed of both.

Richter’s style of writing makes me feel I am present in the settlement these people inhabit. I can feel the sweat that is required to make a good life out of a harsh environment, I can see the larger wildlife recede and the smaller animals, mice and possums, foxes and birds, take their place. There is a marked difference between Sayward’s children’s lives and the clear picture that remains in our minds of that of Sayward and her siblings. The change is gradual, but the change is real, and Richter is masterful at bringing us from one stage of the growth of this territory to another in exactly the kind of slow progression that life itself takes. In fact, he has now brought us out of the territory and into Ohio statehood.

I love books with strong women, particularly women who are strong in times and places where men are meant to prevail. Sayward is such a woman. She is much stronger than her husband, Portius, and it is her determination and sweat that carves civilization out of this wilderness, not his books or his law offices. Nothing about this life is easy, the dangers lie all around, and they are coupled with the human failings that have also been with us since the beginning of time.

I am looking forward to the final book, The Town, for I know it will bring these characters full circle and leave them in a place that is not wilderness any longer. I wonder if it will be better, for it is evident to us all that as we gain one thing, we lose something else. show less