The All-True Travels And Adventures Of Lidie Newton (1998) - Plot & Excerpts
Ernest Hemingway once said, "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called 'Huckleberry Finn,' " and since then a river of ink has flowed to justify that monumental claim.Two years ago, Jane Smiley went against this current of praise and took the nation's school teachers to task for excusing what she considers Twain's moral passivity in response to slavery.In Harper's magazine the Pulitzer Prize-winning author wrote, "All the claims that are routinely made for the book's humanitarian power are, in the end, simply absurd. To invest 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' with greatness is to underwrite a very simplistic and evasive theory of what racism is."It's now apparent that when she wrote those words, she was also working on an alternative to Twain's classic. "The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton" moves the political discussion of slavery onto center stage in a way that Huck and Jim never consider. And when a slave bolts with the young narrator, the escape isn't a leisurely raft trip and freedom isn't guaranteed.Smiley has produced a novel as engaging as any ever written about the "peculiar institution" which eventually tore the United States apart. This picaresque tale presents a series of remarkable characters, particularly the inexperienced narrator, whose graphic descriptions of travel and domestic life before the Civil War strip away romantic notions of simpler times.When the novel opens, Lidie, a lazy, lanky girl who's more comfortable with a rifle than a needle, finds herself the subject of endless sighs and corrections from her responsible, hard-working sisters. By way of introduction she brags, "I had perversely cultivated uselessness over the years and had reached, as I then thought, a pitch of uselessness that was truly rare, or even unique, among the women of Quincy, Illinois."As much to escape her sisters' tedium as anything else, Lidie marries a deeply principled Unitarian, whose quiet demeanor first excites and then scares her. Indeed, she has reason to feel alarm. The ever sanguine Thomas Newton is actually a gun-running activist in the radical abolition movement. From her boring home in Quincy, Lidie finds herself propelled into the volcanic Kansas Territory on the eve of the Civil War.In the polarized atmosphere of 1856, Lidie cannot remain so happily uninterested in "the goose question," a euphemism for one's position on the slavery issue. Instructed by her earnest husband, shrill propaganda, and the savage treatment that Lawrence, Kan., endures from pro-slavery Missourians, Lidie soaks up the fervor of her abolitionist community. Her only stable guide throughout this harrowing adventure is a ridiculously irrelevant handbook on women's etiquette.When a band of thugs murders Thomas, Lidie's fire grows more intense, but it also grows more personal and removes her from the political battle that so inspired her husband. Driven by grief and revenge, she says goodbye to her friends, dresses as a man, and heads out into the lawless territory to track down the killers.Even that clear motive, however, loses its focus as Lidie finds her principles and the hatred she feels muddled by the benevolence she receives from a family of slave holders. Easily swayed by the opinions of others - her impatient sisters, her abolitionist husband, a run-away slave - Lidie finds herself hopelessly ambivalent."The very certainty of everyone around me drove all certainty out of me," she admits. In the end, like Huck, Lidie is so bewildered by horrors and hypocrites that she can do nothing but stop writing and shake her head. "Revenge was more complicated than I had thought it would be," Lidie admits, "but then so was everything else one looks forward to with confidence."Indeed, there's much thought-provoking complication here. Smiley has created an authentic voice in this struggle of a young women to live simply amid a swirl of deadly antagonism.http://www.csmonitor.com/1998/0326/03...
This story of one woman's turbulent life in the newly-created Kansas Territory both entertains and educates. Wanting to escape a life of household chores in her sisters' homes, Lidie marries an abolitionist passing through her Illinois town on the way to Kansas. The Kansas Territory isn't what she expected, though, and she spends the bulk of the book dealing with challenges ranging from terrible weather to violent Border Ruffians. Unlike some other reviewers, I found this book not just well-written but very engaging; the myriad challenges of KT and the characters' complex relationships were more than enough to hold my interest. I also learned from this book, and Lidie's voice felt right on: Smiley apparently read hundreds of nineteenth-century documents to get a feel for the way someone like Lidie would have expressed herself, and it shows. The realistic voice, and the attention paid to 1850s sensibilities (for instance, Lidie, who is no prude, is startled when a friend announces herself to be "pregnant"; "as if she were a dog," Lidie comments) lend a great deal of credibility to the story. Also excellent was the complexity of the characters. Writing about slavery often results in black-and-white characterization, but here we have a heroine who is moved by individual stories without passionately opposing the institution itself; die-hard abolitionists who nevertheless want to keep freed slaves out of the territory; men who have never owned slaves but are still willing to kill or die to maintain slavery; and many more. While it's clear that the anti-slavery settlers have the moral high ground, Smiley doesn't gloss over the violence on either side, and she also pokes gentle fun at the settlers' propensity toward melodrama and outrage (they refer to a standoff as a "war," for instance). Seeing how life on the frontier affected the characters was also a highlight. And of course the heroine herself, with a strong, individual personality, keeps things interesting. However, I was less pleased with the last third of the book, in which Lidie has "adventures" in Missouri. Her ability to pass herself off as a man, even to her male co-workers in the job she oh-so-conveniently obtains, stretches credibility rather too far. And while this section feels like it's leading up to something big, very little actually happens in it, especially for the amount of page time it takes up. I understand why the author wanted to take us to Missouri and introduce us to slaves and slaveholders--it does round out the book by adding additional and very relevant perspectives--but I can't help feeling like it's not done as well as it could have been. And the interactions between Lidie and the slave woman Lorna feel terribly stilted. Overall, I enjoyed the book and found it to be very well-written. While the last section didn't seem to accomplish what it set out to do, I still recommend this book.
What do You think about The All-True Travels And Adventures Of Lidie Newton (1998)?
The first half of the story is really, really good, but the second half doesn't quite ring true. Nevertheless, the book isn't bad. I think it is improved by listening to rather than reading it. The narration by Anna Fields improves the book. The lines themselves are worth spending time on. Fields reads these lines with strength, clearly and strongly and slowly. You have time to think about what is being said. Secondly, through the narration the different characters' personalities come through distinctly; you comprehend from the voices used as you hear the different characters speak, who they are. You laugh even when some of the things stated are so ridiculously naive and wrong - because you so completely comprehend the character's personality. Through the expert narration you both pay attention to the lines and recognize the different personalities of the characters. Maybe I should mention - this book is told to us by Lidie herself, so it has first person narration.I have yet to even discuss the topic that is so worth our attention! The book is about the civil war in Kansas during 1855 through 1856, before the REAL American Civil War from 1861-1865, just a few years later. What you think about is civil wars in general and slavery. Nothing is cut and dry; nothing is simple. If you prohibit slavery, what then? You free the slaves, what then? Do you leave them to fend for themselves? What I really liked about this book is that different sides of each question are looked at closely, so you see the pros and cons, the arguments thrown back and forth by both sides. The civil war in Kansas was not only a matter of its being a slave state or a "Free-State" prohibiting slavery; it also concerned when and how and if it should become part of the United States of America. First it was only a Territory, nicknamed K.T., the Kansas Territory! I knew very little about the specifics of this earlier war. Even if you have read about the Civil War per se, this book has a different angle, i.e. the events as they played out in Lawrence, Kansas, and neighboring Missouri a few years earlier. You learn about these events through the life of a strong pioneer woman who lived through it. Yes, she is imaginary, but it doesn't feel that way. She tells you of her own experiences, what she thought and felt. One thing happens half way through the book. As I stated earlier, this didn't ring true for me. (view spoiler)[ She cuts off her hair, disguises herself as a boy and runs off to Missouri to catch those who had killed her beloved horse and murdered her husband! (hide spoiler)]
—Chrissie
I've read several books by Jane Smiley and found none of them very exciting. They all seemed alike to me--stories of modern people with modern problems written in a way that didn't really hold my attention or move me. I almost didn't pick up this book because I though I didn't really like Jane Smiley's writing, but it was just ten cents at a thrift store, so I decided to give it a try.I enjoyed this novel more than anything else I've read by Jane Smiley. The main character (the Lidie Newton of the title) is an awesome, strong, smart, competent woman. I appreciated the way the author stressed that Lidie was plain and tall, not beautiful and dainty like so many female protagonists seem to be. I also liked the way Lidie Newton made mistake, and although it was kind of sad, it was true to life that things didn't turn out all peaches and cream for her. The failures and disappointments made the events of the book seem real.I was also pleased that Smiley was able to surprise me. Often when I read a book, I can see the next "surprise" coming a mile away, but in this story the surprises were actually surprising.The last chapter seemed a little rushed, as if Smiley realized she needed to pull it all together, but mostly I thought the flow and pacing of the story was done well. The coincidence of the connection between Lidie and a slave she meets toward the end of the book is a stretch, but not totally unbelievable.I enjoyed reading Smiley's writing in this novel. Telling the story in the first person was a good choice. I wish the reader had been told when Lidie was telling her story (10 years later? 50 years later?) and why she was addressing the reader (autobiography? magazine article?).Overall, this book was an enjoyable read, and I'd recommend it to grown up fans of the Little House on the Prairie books.
—HeavyReader
I just finished The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton. Someone in this club had read it, and it sounded interesting.First of all I want to say, that after years of experience I no longer read 'book reviews' ala The New York Times, Business Week, etc. until I've finished a book. I enjoy putting thought and effort into my reading, and I can't stand the idea that my thoughts aren't original. I absolutely hate when people read the popular book du jour, (or watch a film for that matter) and all they have to say about it is only what they've heard from others.I usually only read the first few sentences on the cover of a book, and if has been recommended to me, if it sounds interesting, if I know of the author, or even if I like the title or artwork, I'll start reading. - I don't want to know the end, and I especially don't want to know what other people think of the book, certainly including typical elitist literary types Now, you may be surprised at my point, but I really enjoy this little club and I do like reading other people's thoughts about the books they read. I hope that we will just stay original and be creative and not condescending in other people's reading choices.So anyway, I really enjoyed the novel. I was a history major in university and always favored early American history. I found the writing style easy and enjoyable. Of the six books I've read this year this would be number 2, (behind Rhett Butler's People, only because RBP was like reading a story about old friends…)
—Liz
