Wendy McClure

Despite a life-long love of Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House on the Prairie" books, I never experienced Wendy McClure's longing to *be* Laura, to *become* Laura, to live in the world she did. That's not the kind of reader I was as a child; I never wanted to enter the worlds I read about, I simply wanted to peek into them through the pages, always assured in the knowledge that each world would be waiting when I returned. And as an adult, I've been more than a little disenchanted by the show more allure of the pioneer spirit: eleven years working in a 19th-century living history museum will do that to you. On top of that, what pioneer enthusiasts like McClure never really think about is the gritty reality of living a hundred or more years ago: no indoor plumbing, high infant mortality rates and childbirth-related deaths, sickness, disease, a lack of availability of conveniences, and limited opportunities for education or rights for women. Those pioneer women like Laura didn't have the right to vote, remember, ladies? Not so alluring.

Having said all of that -- and in too many words, I'm sure -- I do recommend McClure's book, "The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie", to Laura fans of any persuasion. I have no desire to journey from Laura site to Laura site, nor to see a Little House pageant in De Smet. But I'm interested enough to enjoy hearing about McClure's trip, not in the least because she tells it with great wry humor and style. In a way, her engaging tale saves me the trouble of going myself. show less

Wendy McClure spent one year of her life pursuing all things Laura Ingalls. Obsessed with the Little House series, she traveled to the Big Woods (which weren't really so big), Plum Creek, and the many places where the Ingalls family had lived; she churned butter and visited Little House performances, even attending a musical dedicated to the story; she spent hours digging up the history behind the books and learning about the people who played important roles in the books. The Wilder Life is show more about that journey - but it is also about something deeper. McClure's mother died from cancer two years before McClure's obsession with Laura Ingalls really took hold - and immersing herself in Laura World was one way McClure struggled to come to terms with the loss of her mother and what that meant to her life. It is a convoluted journey, a tangential one that seems so tangled at first that I found myself puzzling over where McClure's story was going. But, eventually, all the roads led back to McClure's deep sense of loss and the comfort and meaning she sought through the life of Laura Ingalls and the Ingalls' search for a home.

I read the Laura Ingalls' books, and like many girls, I loved them. I was fascinated by Laura and not only wanted to be part of her family - I actually wanted to be her. McClure seems to live out this fantasy in her year of discovery. The section on butter churning (where McClure actually locates an old fashioned butter churner in order to try her hand at this old skill) had me laughing out loud.

"Each day had its own proper work," it says in Little House in the Big Woods, and according the the book, churning was done on a Thursday, which of course made it sound like you needed, you know, a whole day. So I picked a Monday when I didn't have any plans at all. - from The Wilder Life -

I always thought the Little House series was pure fiction - but McClure unravels the history which became the basis for the books. In fact, the books were a generous mix of reality and fiction, a re-creation of Laura Ingalls' life that was far more positive than what had actually happened. McClure explores the theory that it was Rose, Laura's daughter, who wrote the books - a fascinating idea which does seem a bit supported by history, although I ultimately decided that Rose probably did not pen the series.

But what I enjoyed the most about The Wilder Life was not the flawless research, but rather the sociological aspects which surround obsessions like this. Because, let's face it, we all have them. Children's books are important in shaping our worlds, they become moral teachers, they help give life to our dreams and fantasies. Through books, many of us find meaning in our lives by seeing the world through a character's eyes. The Little House books were brought to technicolor through the television series - a series which delighted viewers even though it veered sharply away from the actual books. I loved the television show, but I loved the books more - and so did McClure. In her year of following Laura's life, she began to understand why viewers and readers were drawn to Laura World, could not get enough of the prairie dresses, the fantasy of simplicity despite the reality that Laura's world was hard work.

The real story had once been about land, but there wasn't really any land anymore, just an idea that everyone built on again and again - a movie, a TV show, a musical, a story of good Indians and even better settlers who become wiser every time their covered wagon arrives at the beginning once again. - from The Wilder Life -

While we could all certainly appreciate the pioneer ordeals, the covered wagons, and the long winters, somehow Sweet and Simple had become our own dream frontier, our Oregon that we'd like to reach someday, always just beyond the horizon. - from The Wilder Life -

McClure provides a mix of history, humor and reflection in her book. She reveals how Laura's story has been reinvented through the decades and now, for many, represents their own search for meaning in a world which is heavy with technology. The idea of homesteading is now less about acquiring land and building a home and more about becoming self-reliant and returning to the earth.

Then there was the word homesteading. In the course of searching online for obscure butter-making utensils and other such things, I'd come across this word enough times to understand that it no longer meant proving up on a 16-acre land claim the way Pa Ingalls had done. It now stood for the pursuit of a self-sufficient lifestyle - living off the land, so to speak. - from The Wilder Life -

In the end, McClure allows for a personal interpretation of what the Little House books mean for her. She sets aside all the history, all the theories, and gives the reader a glimpse into her loss and her search for a home without her mother - a bittersweet, and altogether satisfying conclusion to her journey. The Wilder Life is less a memoir, and more a reflection on a life lived - it is a fascinating book on many levels. McClure teaches us something about the importance of books in our lives and why they speak to us - especially when we are struggling for understanding in our own lives. Readers who have read the Little House series will undoubtedly enjoy McClure's thorough historical research. Likewise, readers who have ever fantasized about following the life of a literary character, will see themselves in McClure's quest.

Recommended. show less

My particular youthful literary obsession wasn’t Laura Ingalls Wilder, although I did read all of the Little House books at least once and watch the first few seasons of the TV series they inspired (in first run - I was 10 years old, prime Little House-reading age, when the show debuted in 1974); mine was Louisa May Alcott. Nevertheless, I can relate to Wendy McClure’s girlhood immersion in what she came to call “Laura World,” and I’m rather relieved to discover that I wasn’t the show more only avid young reader whose favorite literary characters became regular residents of her inner life.

While her devotion to the Laura legend fades as she enters adolescence, Wendy rediscovers her love for the books when she unexpectedly comes across her old set while packing up her parents’ house, and reading them again as an adult inspires her to learn more about the woman who wrote them. The Little House books are fictionalized memoir, with some disagreement over exactly how fictionalized they are; despite any controversy there, their vivid descriptions of frontier life and depictions of a “simpler” time have given them new popularity among home-schooling families.

Seeking a better understanding of who Laura really was, and why so many people embrace her story as they do - as well as something else she really can’t define - Wendy decides to explore Laura World beyond the books, testing recipes from The Little House Cookbook, teaching herself to churn butter, and making plans to visit the various places Laura and her family lived.

As Wendy takes readers - and her very supportive boyfriend, Chris - along on her odyssey, she recaps the Ingalls/Wilder family saga, discusses the various points of contention between the stories and various biographies, and shares her impressions of the people and places that comprise what remains of Laura World today. The writing is reflective, revealing, engaging, and often very funny. The Wilder Life will particularly resonate with any reader who has engaged in a long-term literary or cultural obsession of her or his own (which I suspect covers quite a few of us), and I’m glad I took this trip with Wendy McClure. show less

I'm reading the Little House series to my middle daughter before bed, so I grabbed this on a whim. It went on a little long, but McClure realized that a) the life on the prairie wasn't always as quaint as was portrayed, and b) hunting for that life now paves over the complexities hidden in the children's story.