The Diary of Mattie Spenser

This is Mattie’s story, told through her diary. The diary, found by her granddaughter, now 94, and a neighbor, tells of her life going west to Colorado with her new husband. Life was exceedingly hard, and death was a constant shadow that hovered nearby and often came calling. Attacks by Indians were feared with good reason. Disease was commonplace. But perhaps even harder than coping with all that was adjusting to her life as Luke’s wife. We only get Mattie’s take on what happens, and there are gaps in her records. Though this is a likely account of the many atrocities that occurred, the tale gets tedious at times in its repetition. Still, readers who enjoy stories about settling the west will enjoy this account.

5***** and a ❤

This novel may be my favorite of Sandra Dallas's works. She has a way of making her characters speak straight to the reader. There is a real sense of time and place in this book - helped by the "diary" style in which it is written. Mattie Spenser is a young Iowa farm girl who marries Luke Spenser and moves (via wagon train) to Colorado Territory shortly after the Civil War. She encounters hardships, loneliness, and violence; and she finds an unexpected love. Her grit, perseverance and integrity endear her to all - even, eventually, to her husband. Great story. Great writing.

I've read it twice ... my book club selected it in January 2004

It took me awhile to warm to this audio, but I ended up so engrossed in the story that I brought the CDs in the house and borrowed my daughter's CD player to keep listening, which I hardly ever do. I enjoy Ms. Dallas's style, and I loved the intimate look into homesteading in Colorado Territory and early Denver history. Mattie receives a diary as a wedding present from her best friend Carrie (not sure about spellings here, as I listened to the audio) before she and her new husband set off from Fort Madison, Iowa to homestead in the vast prairie of the Colorado Territory in 1865. In it, Mattie records the happenings of the difficult, dangerous crossing, the hardships endured in their windswept sod home, the loneliness she suffers with no show more female friends and few, far-flung neighbors, the hostile, raiding Indians, and the husband she finds so very hard to understand. Life is hard -- there's just no other way to say it. Mattie (and the reader) are left reeling after a series of terrible tragedies, and the will to go on and eke out a life in so inhospitable an environment is truly amazing, for while Mattie and her neighbors are fictional characters, the real homesteaders of the great American prairie surely endured a life equally harsh. The ending surprised me and left me with a kind of bittersweet melancholia.

The one criticism, however, was the audio production. Perhaps a diary is not the best kind of story for an audio. The book started out in a very matter-of-fact diary style, becoming less like a diary and more like a novel as the story went on. The narrator, particularly in early chapters, could have been giving elocution lessons, so expressionless was her performance. I read somewhere that some narrators prefer to record cold, without knowing the story, bringing the newness and freshness to the listening experience. I am in awe of the narrators who operate that way. How can they understand the characters they don't even know? This one really sounded like a cold read, though, and the experience did NOT enhance the listening. At times, the narrator sounded stymied by punctuation.

because there were odd pauses before the "rest" of the sentence. The narrator might have been a super-fluent third grader.

who expected sentences to be over when they were not. It was a huge distraction at first, that became less so.

as I got into the story:) show less

I totally enjoyed my trip back to 1866 and learning about the life of the pioneer woman that I met through The Diary of Mattie Spenser by Sandra Dallas. This book was like reading a series of letters from a close friend. Through her personal journal I learned about travelling across the prairies in a covered wagon, homesteading in a bleak and barren land, living in a sod house and the trials of being cut off from family and friends.

The people who ventured away from their secure lives and tackled this adventure were truly a breed apart. From hostile Indians, severe weather conditions, back breaking labour, and assorted dangers they forged a new life and prepared a land for future generations.

Written in a straightforward, sincere manner, show more we are taken into the inner life of this woman and faced with her all the heartbreak she had to endure from learning she had always been second choice in her husband’s heart, to losing her babies, and growing old before her time. Yet even with all this she was able to shine through and forge a good life for herself and her family. I highly recommend The Diary of Mattie Spenser to anyone who has an interest in the westward expansion of America. show less

Amazing and Infuriating...

This is terrific story told from the perspective of a young pioneer bride settling in Colorado territory. I call this amazing since it IS amazing that people could survive and thrive under such hardships, harsh weather, Indian attacks, and above all the isolation. It is infuriating because not only does Mattie have to overcome the elements... her worst enemies are her 'friends'. It is no secret that humans are and have been throughout history, bigoted, racist, & misogynistic. Mattie deals with these issues, and rises above...

5 stars; highly recommended

Mattie is surprised and pleased when eligible bachelor, Luke Spenser proposes to her and asks her to go West with him to the Colorado Territory to homestead. She gets a little journal from her best friend and determines to record her feelings about her new life and marriage. Mattie is naive and practical at the beginning; eager to know her husband, contribute to their joint lives and give her opinions. She soon learns that marriage is a series of compromises and her husband doesn't always want her opinion. Filled with both joy and tragedy on the trail and on their homestead, secrets from the past and adjustments to various people and situations, the story is a slice of Americana. I always enjoy Dallas' work and this is a good one.

In 1865 22-year-old Mattie is stunned by the sudden proposal of marriage from the most handsome boy in town, Luke Spenser. Luke had been courting the beautiful Persia but has chosen Mattie for his wife to move with him to the Colorado territory to live on his homesteading farm. The two set out in a covered wagon for the difficult and dangerous journey. During a bloody fight with an Indian raiding party Mattie proves her mettle by hefting a shotgun and helping to defend the wagon train. This will certainly not be the last time Mattie is called upon to be a strong woman. The land Luke has brought his bride to is barren and forbidding, their home is only a hut built of sod, female companionship is almost non-existent, but most of all Luke show more is not the caring, loving mate Mattie had hoped he would be. Mattie writes her secret thoughts in her diary which tells the story of this amazing woman.

I enjoyed Mattie's story very much even though her life was filled with much pain and sorrow. She is such a strong character who grew immensely during the course of the novel. Finding herself far away from her loving family and faced with a distant husband Mattie finds a depth of strength even she did not realize she possess show less