Gertrude Beasley
Autor/a de My First Thirty Years: A Memoir
Sobre l'autor
Obres de Gertrude Beasley
Etiquetat
Coneixement comú
Membres
Ressenyes
My First Thirty Years: A Banned Memoir (Feminist… de Gertrude Beasley
My First Thirty Years gives a harrowing account of day to day life from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. It is written with a female perspective and the author does not hold back on the obstacles that were faced during this time period. It is raw reality at its best, and at its worst. The book originally was published in 1925 with few copies in print - then it was banned. Kudos to bringing this book back into publication as it is fantastically written! Highly recommend!
In her memoir,My First Thirty Years, Texas native Gertrude Beasley (1892-1955) gives an unsettling account of her loveless, impoverished family's life on the frontier. Her father is a selfish, violent man and her mother is a master manipulator. Beasley's horrifying earliest memories are of being raped by her older brothers. As she grows up, Beasley works hard at menial tasks to contribute to the family's financial well-being, but, as she frequently complains, her shiftless brothers and sisters (of which there were many), did nothing to help their mother.
Unlike her siblings, Beasley values education, and, like Laura Ingalls Wilder, trains as an elementary schoolteacher as a teenager. The comparison to Wilder made in the volume's introduction is particularly apt, because the Beasley family is the polar opposite of the "cozy" Ingalls family. Unlike Laura Ingalls Wilder, eventually Beasley earns a master’s degree at the University of Chicago and becomes a feminist and socialist.
The significance of this rambling and somewhat disjointed narrative is more historical than literary. Nonetheless, this book is important as an antidote to romanticized notions of the Wild West.
I received an electronic pre-publication copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated in any way.… (més)
Unlike her siblings, Beasley values education, and, like Laura Ingalls Wilder, trains as an elementary schoolteacher as a teenager. The comparison to Wilder made in the volume's introduction is particularly apt, because the Beasley family is the polar opposite of the "cozy" Ingalls family. Unlike Laura Ingalls Wilder, eventually Beasley earns a master’s degree at the University of Chicago and becomes a feminist and socialist.
The significance of this rambling and somewhat disjointed narrative is more historical than literary. Nonetheless, this book is important as an antidote to romanticized notions of the Wild West.
I received an electronic pre-publication copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated in any way.… (més)
Estadístiques
- Obres
- 1
- Membres
- 55
- Popularitat
- #295,340
- Valoració
- 4.3
- Ressenyes
- 2
- ISBN
- 4