I think it took me something like 6 months to read this, on account of its massive size led me to leave it at work and poke away at it on my lunch hours. I find Wilder's life fascinating, so reading the manuscript that eventually led to her published books was very interesting. The annotators footnoted with the best of them, and kept a neutral tone when pointing out discrepancies. ( )

This is Wilder's autobiography, with content very similar to the seven book Little House series, but more true to the facts/chronological order, written in the first person voice, and more condensed. It's like a draft on which the Little House series is based. The writing here is not as developed as in the Little House series, and Laura is not as sympathetic a character (not because she is unpleasant, but because the narrative focused on events that happened and didn't develop her character very much.) but I enjoyed finding out about what "really happened" to Laura. An editor provided a ton of footnotes to the autobiography, giving background information on all the towns she lived in and all the people she mentioned in the book. I skipped most of them, though. I felt the footnotes interfered with the flow of the story. ( )

So many (long!) footnotes, and such a weighty book to cart around! I can't fault the book though - the footnotes provide so much depth and historical knowledge about the story and the time. I applaud all of the meticulous research and thought that went into the development of this book, especially considering that it took around 80 years for it to be published. A must-read for anyone who loves the "Little House" series. ( )

Definitely an eye opener into Laura and her life. I owe Michael Landon an apology. There's more truth in the TV series than I knew... :)

That being said, some of the notes were annoying. 1/3 of them seemed to be the editor's personal opinion. Objective commentary or informational points are helpful but sometimes phrases were pointed out as "not as strong in the fictional series as this book" and those points are 1) based on personal opinion and 2) comparisons that the reader can make on their own. Judiciously choose which notes you read. That being said, there was an IMMENSE amount of research put into this book and the other 2/3s worth of points were well worth it. ( )

This book’s annotations, and Wilder’s nonfiction voice, make it a first-rate work of history.

The editors highlight the process of turning nonfiction into fiction. There is also analysis of the relationship between memories and writing.

Wilder was something of a stickler for accuracy, especially in comparison with her daughter-and-editor, with whom she fought over accuracy both when reconstructing their family’s past and when it came time to turn the nonfiction memoir into several novels. You can see Wilder’s voice, without Lane’s editorializing, in the final, posthumously published novel, “The First Four Years,” an honest look at the struggles and ugly realities faced by farmers and settlers of the time period. “Pioneer Girl” covers the years of Wilder’s life portrayed in the famous first eight novels, all of which were given the full editing process by Wilder and Lane. Essentially in “Pioneer Girl” you get the stories of those eight novels, but in an unvarnished form, intended for adults, and designed as nonfiction.

Wilder’s memories, even writing 50-60 years later, seem to be more-or-less confirmed by other sources consulted by the editors (census records, biographies, memoirs, newspapers, etc.) A notable exception would be the Bender episode, involving the infamous serial killers. That account by Wilder seems to depend on false memories about her earliest childhood.

But otherwise I was surprised at the accuracy of her memories; there is no shortage of memoirs filled with false or inaccurate memories.

Wilder gets dates wrong more than anything else, but that is where you would expect memory to be weakest.

Pamela Smith Hill, in her annotations, observes that anachronisms are rare in the Little House novels, which again is an achievement considering the passage of at least five decades between the events in question and their being set down on paper.

Hill’s annotations are copious and analytical, but never to a fault. They cover virtually everything that appears in the “Little House” books: the backgrounds of individuals and families; American and Native American history; songs, animals, foods; the list goes on. There’s background on everything here, and the annotations helpfully tell you not only the background of each particular story but also the changes that were made to it in the novels.

And in her annotations Hill dialogues with opposing viewpoints from other scholars who have been more critical of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her novels.

Hill argues that Wilder’s previous experience in journalism made her spare with words. And as many readers know, Wilder often produces sentences that are wonderful in their detail, beauty and brevity. She’s lyrical, but not in the way that Proust is.

Hill’s analysis and investigation of the “Indian Territory” setting of the third novel, “Little House On the Prairie,” is worth the price of the book alone. But really all throughout the book she gives you mini-historical essays providing context, analysis, and argument.

There’s an interesting annotation about the authorial voice that Laura Ingalls Wilder used. “Pioneer Girl” is written in first-person. For the novels she and Lane gradually settled upon using third-person limited, as distinct from third-person omniscient and third-person objective. Hill writes that in “a novel written in third-person omniscient, the author moves freely from the thoughts of one character into another. Most of the great Victorian novels, including Charles Dickens and George Eliot, relied on this technique to give their novels greater range, insight, and perspective.” But with third-person limited, the action of the Little House books unfolds “almost entirely from the fictional Laura’s point of view, giving the series its unique, childlike voice and establishing Laura as the main character.” Hills adds that “most literary critics continue to praise the voice and point of view Wilder adopted in her fiction; it is, perhaps, one reason the books have remained so popular. Although the market has since shifted and first-person novels for young readers are now common, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series is also written in third-person limited.”

My single favorite passage in “Pioneer Girl”:

"For some reason, there was a scare about the Catholics getting control of the government and the awful things they would do to protestants. The daughter would wring her hands and pace the floor declaring that the Catholics should never take her Bible away from her. Then a comet appeared in the sky and both women thought it meant the end of the world and were more frightened than ever. But I couldn’t see how I could be afraid of both comet and Catholics at the same time so I worried about neither." ( )