Loved this series as a child!

I think I read this novel was found posthumously, and that’s too bad because there’s some great scenes I would have liked to have been in greater detail.

This was a different read than the others, which is understandable given that it was published based on a rough manuscript with no revisions. But it was so sad! I think Lily was in tears constantly. A rough way to end the series.

Fair warning, this book is not like the others. “The First Four Years” was an unfinished manuscript found in Laura’s papers. It was published by a family lawyer long after her death and even after her daughter, Rose, had died. It is quite apparent that this is not as polished as the other books. It is also much less optimistic and hopeful. It is still worth reading. But don’t expect the same tone or feeling as the rest of the series. It is its own creature. But interesting nonetheless.

The First Four Years

I was trying to put my finger on the real difference between the tone of this book and the tone of the other eight Little House books. Laura is almost a different character here. I guess that is because she is a grownup. It is not exactly the fact that there is so much hardship and tragedy in this book; it’s more that she actually gives us the hardship and tragedy, and everything else, without tempering it. In [b:By the Shores of Silver Lake|8248|By the Shores of Silver Lake (Little House, #5)|Laura Ingalls Wilder|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1266449666s/8248.jpg|2933942], we skip over the real-life death of her younger brother. Mary’s illness is only mentioned as the cause of her blindness, a thing that has already happened by the time the book begins. Money troubles are seen through the eyes of a child: the parents will always be there to take care of things.

In The First Four Years, Wilder doesn’t shy away from the really hard truths of adulthood, including agonizing financial problems, devastating illness, the death of her second child, her own responsibility and guilt in starting the fire that destroys her home. The Boasts asking if she’ll give them her baby; the encounter with the Native Americans who want her to run away with them; her exhausting pregnancies and even an oblique reference to having enjoyed the sexual act that led to them; these are all the realm of the adult Laura. And somehow, I feel, we are given a more frank look here at her personality, even though she is the viewpoint character of all her books. She feels more honestly flawed here, but also I get a sense of – this is the difference, actually – a sense of vanity that isn’t there in the other books. A sense of personal pride. I did these things and I’m glad. Go ahead and criticize me if you want. See if I care. In the other books, the omniscient narrator always points out to the reader when Laura is being mean or selfish. In this one, you have to make that judgment for yourself.

What makes this a joyous read for me, despite the grimness of much of the events throughout the book, is the deep love and understanding that Laura and Almanzo have for each other. “It was a carefree, happy time, for two people thoroughly in sympathy can do pretty much as they like.” Two people thoroughly in sympathy. This is her consistent portrayal of Almanzo throughout Wilder’s writing: he is absolutely her soulmate, and they are intellectual and spiritual equals. He is supporting rather than criticizing; he is constantly looking for ways to make her happy. He has his own flaws; he is optimistic to a fault, he is impetuous, he spends money they don’t have and doesn’t always listen to sound advice. But she, too, supports rather than criticizes.

As a child, I never could understand how Almanzo could possibly argue that the farming might have been a success at the end of this four years. “It all depends on how you look at it” – REALLY? WHAT. THE HOUSE JUST BURNED DOWN. But as an adult I do see, yes, they are well supplied with new and modern farm equipment. They have good and valuable stock. They’re solvent enough to become land owners.

But really, it comes down to this: “Two people thoroughly in sympathy can do pretty much as they like.”

The incurable optimism of the farmer who throws his seed on the ground every spring, betting it and his time against the elements, seemed inextricably to blend with the creed of her pioneer forefathers that “it is better farther on” – only instead of farther on in space, it was farther on in time, over the horizon of the years ahead instead of the far horizon of the west.

Still true.

Just as I was finishing this book, my birthday present from my friend Amanda (who travelled with me to De Smet last summer) arrived in the mail. She’d found a bread plate identical to the one Laura and Almanzo bought themselves for their first Christmas together.

My birthday bread plate!

Random E Wein trivia: Laura and Almanzo Wilder have the same wedding anniversary as my grandparents (25 August).

I had never read this one before. I can see why some people don't like it (different tone, published after Rose's death w/out Laura's permission, it's pretty depressing, etc) but still, I think it's an important and more realistic look at her life. There were some strange moments (WTF Mr Boast!) and even a sort of reference to sex which caught me off guard. I'm glad I read it, but if you want to only read the romanticized Little House books, then skip this one.

It's too bad Laura never saw this one through to publication. I would have liked to see a final draft instead of the first one, but it is interesting to see what she wrote before revisions, editing and rewriting turned her books into the classics they were.