A Land Remembered (Student Ed. Vol. 1) by Patrick D. Smith

A Land Remembered (Student Ed. Vol. 1) 

Patrick D. Smith
Young Adult Historical Fiction
Published 1984

The Gentle Challenge: (Home-Sweet-Home)
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For this category, Home-Sweet-Home, the author must be from your hometown, where you live currently, or where you are from. I chose to read A Land Remembered because the author lived in Florida, which is where I live now. 

Unfortunately, I unknowingly ordered a student edition, volume one, from the library, which was a bummer because I would have preferred to read the adult version all in one piece. But apparently, most books via the library are eBooks, and I would have preferred a hard copy, which is how I ended up with the YA edition. Nonetheless, I figured it would be a quick and easy read, and if I agreed with it, I would choose to read the adult version in the future. 

In a nutshell, yes, I would read the adult edition of A Land Remembered. I gave it three stars because I agreed with it, which means I liked it, but again, it was written for a younger audience; thus, it probably would have been four-stars. 

ABOUT THE STORY

The story followed the migration of the young MacIvey family (Tobias, Emma, and their adolescent son, Zech) from the war-torn state of Georgia, 1863, into the untamed wild lands of La Florida. For the next seventeen years, the family traveled all over the state, battling the wildlife, climate, and natural habitation to stay alive and make a living. They had nothing to start with, but with ingenuity, ambition, and determination, they worked to build a successful lifestyle capturing wild cattle, herding them across the land, getting them nice and fat, and then selling them for a profit. 

The work was strenuous and exhausting, and oftentimes they were met with disappointment, defeat, and tragedy. In fact, some tragedies turned graphic. (In the adult edition, they were probably extremely graphic.) They faced wild animals, swarms of insects, hurricanes, humidity, floods, freezing temperatures, rustlers, illness, and more. 

Some scenarios were hard to wrap my head around, like swarms of mosquitoes choking cattle and humans to death. (I mean, I once was bit 35 times in the course of a few hours by a mosquito while I was supposed to be asleep; but I have never had thousands of mosquitos in my mouth, nose, and throat. I do hope that's a thing of the past.) 

There were also successes. Tobias was doing so well for himself and was able to find extra willing men to work for him. He made so much money that he stored the coins in sacks and forgot about them. His son, Zech, decided to use the money to purchase the land they were sitting on, which happened to be twenty thousand acres at twenty cents an acre. By then, Zech was an able-bodied young man, and he found himself an educated young lady and married her. 

That was a happy ending, but it is only part one. Part two continues the life of Zech and his wife and their family, which I will have to catch up with later, when I hopefully read the adult version. 

The quiet land seemed awesome, too vast for any man to ever conquer. Animals could survive its hazards, but Tobias wondered if he could. 

Map of La Florida 

ON A PERSONAL NOTE ABOUT FLORIDA

While I was reading this book, I thought, "Man, Florida is dangerous!" Then I said, "What am I talking about?! I know it is!" This place is still wild. 

My family has been in Florida almost three years, and we have experienced four hurricanes, including the worst one to hit Tampa in over 100 years. Our property was struck by lightning, costing $3,000 to repair the driveway gate. I can't open my mailbox without being accosted by a family of amphibians; or walking in my yard without playing obstacle course with fire ants, which is why I wear rain boots even in summer. We get blinding downpours -- meaning you cannot see while driving and windshield wipers are useless. It rains so hard and often that if it weren't for all the crisscrossing roots underfoot, I am certain the ground would open up and swallow us. I told you about the mosquitoes: do not step outdoors between June and October. And don't get me started on how the human beings drive down here. 

Last November, after Hurricane Milton, I thought to myself: I don't think I can do this every year. Maybe Florida isn't our forever home. Unlike Tobias MacIvey: I don't want to conquer Florida. I just want to survive. 

The Gentle Challenge

Buck: Sons

Sons

Pearl S. Buck

Published 1932

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This was one of my more challenging books to read aloud. Not for context's sake, but because the words did not glide off my tongue as easily. I had this same issue with The Good Earth, the first book in the Good Earth Trilogy. I have not researched Buck's writing style, if it was intentional to the story; it did not read smoothly like butter but more like refrigerated whipped unsalted butter in a tub, which is supposed to be fluffy and smooth and easy to spread, but is actually coarse and rugged. I know...all that to describe how I struggled with reading aloud. 

But on to the context.

Sons continues where The Good Earth ended. The patriarch, Wang Lung, dies, and his three sons prepare his funeral and divide his property. Each son, who is referred by family name, Wang, and his placement at birth, or later, by a personal characteristic, is unique in his ideals, individuality, and interests. 

Wang the Eldest is an avaricious, overweight, indolent husband and father who prefers women and idleness. He is known as Wang the Landlord. Wang the Second is business keen and does not complicate his life with wastefulness or extra wives. He is known as Wang the Merchant. But the third brother, Wang the Tiger, who rebelled against his father's will in The Good Earth, has returned briefly for the funeral, and he has been expanding his ambition to build and lead his own military. 

He realizes he has no son to train up as a soldier to pass on his army of warriors, and he convinces his two older brothers to spare one of their sons each, which they agree. One proves to be fit to serve, but the other fails. Guess which one failed.

Meanwhile, the majority of the story focuses on Wang the Tiger's successful schemes to take over existing armies and regions of land. He expands his military and extends his small empire. But what he desires more than anything in the world is a son of his own. He later contradicts his own principles on women and takes two wives in the hope that one of them will give him a son, which does happen. And it is his greatest pride, to the point of worship. 

Wang the Tiger conditions his son for the military, but as is common, his son does not share his father's desire. He does not want to be a warrior or lead his father's army. For whatever reason, he is more interested in the farmer, agriculture, and the land. It is as if the story has come full circle, back to Wang Lung, the Patriarch.

As the story closes, Wang the Tiger's son has returned from "military school" in a new uniform. His father asked, 

What strange garb is that you wear?

To which his son replied,

It is the garb of the new army of the revolution.

Wang the Tiger shouted:

It is the army of my enemy! You are my enemy -- I ought to kill you, my son!

The story ends, but it is not final. There is one more in the trilogy: A House Divided. 

Overall, Sons reads like a soap opera. Though I did not include the details of every character in this little blurb, Pearl Buck does not forget about anyone. There is old age and tragedy and death, and plenty of growing up and marriage. The times of China are changing, too. So, we shall see what will become of the House of Wang.

 

Pearl S. Buck  (1892 - 1973) 

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Hautzig: The Endless Steppe

 

The Endless Steppe

Esther Hautzig

Published 1968

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And I think that someplace inside of me there was something else -- some little pleasurable pride that the little rich girl of Vilna had endured poverty just as well as anyone else. 

The Endless Steppe is a true story, a memoir about young Esther Hautzig and her immediate family living in exile on the steppes of Siberia during WWII. During the war, life was comfy and privileged in Poland until Esther and her family were arrested by the Soviet government, accused of being "capitalists," -- what a crime! It took two months by crowded cattle car to arrive in Siberia, where they were assigned to hard labor camps and had little access to food or clothing to sustain themselves through winter.

However, thanks to the intervention of Britain, Esther's family was released from their initial assignments and permitted to live in a village where they shared a home with other poor villagers. Esther's parents found menial work in order to survive, and Esther was allowed to go to school. 

For the next five years, Esther grew up assimilating to the Russian language, the culture, and Soviet  nationalism. She made friends and even had a crush. Life was typical for this young teenager; all she desired was to be liked by others and to make friendships. Absolute poverty and near starvation could not suppress her coming-of-age experience. Even a lack of school books and supplies did not prevent her from studying, learning, and excelling.

When Esther's father was ordered to the front lines of Russia, Esther, her mother, and grandmother had to be extra resourceful to find food. Esther did her part and learned how to sew to make clothes for others in exchange for milk and potatoes. She also collected food that fell from passing trains, which she did apprehensively because she believed it was theft. 

At the end of the war, Esther's father returned to Poland, and he wrote to his wife to come home. Esther protested because she felt connected to the steppe -- she had fallen in love with it.

I had come to love the steppe, the huge space, and the solitude. Living in the crowded little huts, the steepe had become the place where a person could think her thoughts, sort out her feelings, and do her dreaming. 

But obviously, she must return to Poland. Unfortunately, someone else was living in their home now, and all of their belongings were gone, including the photo albums that Esther had wanted to take when they were arrested. It was a "crushing blow," Esther remembers, that nothing of their past remained.

And then came the most terrible news of all. It came from survivors of the concentration camps,...all the members of my father's family -- not one of them had survived the German massacre of the Jews. Of my mother's family...My mother's brother, sister, her mother, her aunts and uncles, my beloved cousins, all were dead. 

Here they discovered that their own deportation to Siberia had saved their lives. "Hunger, cold, and misery were nothing; life had been granted" to them. They thanked God. 

* * *

I am thankful to have found this little gem because it is a history I knew nothing about. Esther was just a sweet girl full of love for family with an encouraging and joyful spirit. Under such hardship, she rose to the occasion, demonstrating resourcefulness, perseverance, and courage. 

It was only after an American presidential candidate had encouraged Esther to write about her personal experiences that she did so. She wrote this autobiographical story as if she were that young girl reliving her days in Siberia again, though over twenty years had passed. Now, gratefully, we have her story forever.

Esther (Rudomin) Hautzig

1930 - 2009

DeJong: The House of Sixty Fathers

 

The House of Sixty Fathers

Meindert DeJong

Published 1956

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Based on true events during the Sino-Japanese War, a young Chinese boy, Tien Pao, and his piglet were separated from his parents and baby sister. The Japanese had burned and occupied their village, and they were forced to flee. One day the family sampan -- carrying Tien Pao and his pig --  accidentally floated back into enemy territory. After making his way to shore, he sought to find his way back to his family through treacherous mountainous trails. Starving and exhausted, he and his pig slept in caves by day, and travelled by night. 

One of those days he witnessed the Japanese shoot down an American military plane. Tien Pao rescued the injured pilot, and with the aid of a group of Chinese guerrillas, they carried him back to his unit. And when Tien Pao arrived at the village where his parents had last been seen, the people were already fleeing because of the Japanese invasion. Tien Pao searched relentlessly until he was found by a couple of American pilots and taken to the barracks where they looked after and cared for him. All sixty pilots did. Hence the name House of Sixty Fathers. 

Meanwhile, the injured pilot whom he had met in the mountains was part of this unit, and he took Tien Pao to search for his parents. Of course, the young boy recognized his mother while she was working at a nearby airfield, and finally the family was reunited. 

This juvenile story has won many awards: Newberry Honor, Han Christian Andersen, and ALA Notable Children's Book. The author wrote this story based on his experiences as a pilot in China during WWII. 

I read this to my kids for school because we are studying China during the 1900s to current times. It was somewhat juvenile for them, but it gave them a sense of China during WWII, and when the U.S. and China were allies. Now not so much.  I also gave the book two stars because it was "agreeable" and we liked it.