The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure

[laceblade]

I've been following Wendy McClure's fake Laura Ingalls Wilder Twitter account, HalfPintIngalls, for a few months now. It's hilarious on its own, and it's even more funny if you've read the books.
A few favorite tweets include:
"Anyone know how to pry loose a hoopskirt stuck in a privy doorway?! Asking for a friend."

"Remember when the whitewashed sod walls made me crazy & I started screaming in Norwegian? Oh wait, that was someone else. #wrongnovel"

"Poor @Carrie_Ingalls looks peaked and thin. Has the Long Winter has been taking its toll? Or is she sneaking cigs behind the lean-to again?"

I think she's also tweeted at a fake Mary Ingalls account in fake Braille, idk.


Anyway, McClure has written a part-memoir, and sort of a pilgrimage, about the Little House books. Basically, McClure grew up loving the Little House books, rereads them after growing up, read a lot of academic (and a lot of fluff) about them, and then sets out to visit the sites of the locations in the books.

She writes frankly about Ma's racism, Rose's inexplicable claim that everything in the books are true (when even Laura gave interviews explaining why she changed some things), and the people she meets at the Laura sites - including some intense Christians who are into self-sufficiency in a hardcore way (due to the End Times, of course).

McClure gets her boyfriend to read the books and accompany her on some of the trips. She churns butter in her Chicago apartment. She reconciles with Farmer Boy.

I didn't learn anything new about Laura Ingalls Wilder from these books, aside from a few non-fiction titles I haven't heard of yet, as well as a few short story titles by Laura's daughter Rose, but reading this book was a genuine pleasure for me because I felt like Wendy and I came from the same headspace. Most of the books she referenced were the same ones I'd read, or ones I haven't read yet but have read so much about that I get the general gist of their arguments.

McClure is honest about the absurdity of the TV show, as well as how ridiculous the fans are - including herself. But there's an earnestness running throughout the books, too. I the reader am a bit startled that Wendy is exactly the same kind of fan as I am (one who assumes that nobody could love the books as well), and she is shocked at first to find other fans just as into it as she is - and then more accepting, like they're all in the same club.

To give an example of her humor, here are two of my favorite quotes:

The fact that Nellie wasn't any one person but rather a composite of three of the real Laura's antagonists' worst traits makes her even more terrifying, some kind of blond Frankenstein assembled from assorted bitch parts.

and

The guide pointed to a short set of crumbling flagstone steps leading down from the driveway. "Almanzo built those steps," she told us, as if she was trying to convince us.

Since I'm so familiar with the source material, it's hard for me to say how much you'd enjoy the book if you haven't read them. She does take the time to explain the source books, whenever appropriate.

If you've read the series, you definitely need not have read any of the non-fiction - she summarizes whatever she needs to, when appropriate.

Anyway. I loved this book, and it was exactly what I needed this weekend.

Comments

[were_duck]

Yay! I'm so glad that ARC came in, and that it was awesome. I love this kind of reflection on a fandom, it sounds like a really fun fascinating book if you're into LIW. I didn't know it was by the HalfPintIngalls twitterer! I just saw the subject and immediately stuck it in your box <3

[jesse_the_k]

Fabulous review. As I was reading, I kept thinking, "But, the author sounds exactly like laceblade!"

There's a @Mary_Ingalls but no braille can I see.