Search This Blog
April Reviews Link-Up
May Reviews Link-Up
June Reviews Link-Up
July Reviews Link-Up
August Reviews Link-Up
September Reviews Link-Up
October Reviews Link-Up
November Reviews Link-Up
December Reviews Link-Up
2024 Literary Escapes Challenge
- Alabama (1)
- Alaska
- Arizona (1)
- Arkansas
- California (3)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia (1)
- Hawaii
- Idaho (2)
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland
- Massachusetts (2)
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York (2)
- North Carolina (2)
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma (1)
- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (1)
- Utah
- Vermont (1)
- Virginia (1)
- Washington (1)
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.*
International:
- Australia (1)
- Canada (1)
- England (7)
- France (1)
- Indonesia (1)
- Ireland (1)
- Italy (1)
- Scotland (2)
- The Netherlands (1)
2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge
Saturday, December 03, 2016
Searing, Plotless I Will Send Rain a Devastating, Depressing Read
7:40 AM
(Image from Barnes & Noble)
For 19 years, Annie Bell has lived on a farm in the Oklahoma Panhandle with her husband and children. Of a practical nature, she does what needs to be done. Foolish notions—like abandoning their failing farm—have no place inside her head. Instead, she must do what she always does: keep going. This is becoming increasingly difficult as drought cracks the earth beneath her feet, the farm disintegrates before her eyes, and worry for her starving children and fanatical husband worry her heart. Annie's neighbors are deserting Mulehead in droves. Should the Bells follow?
As dust storms continue to swirl around the Bells, each member of the family—rational Annie, visionary Samuel, restless Birdie, and sickly Fred—will have his/her own challenges to face. With drought strangling their hope, it will take every ounce of determination they possess just to survive. In a bleak, devastating time and place, what will happen to one ordinary Dust Bowl family?
A "cheery Dust Bowl story" is an oxymoron, of course, but I Will Send Rain by Rae Meadows was even more depressing than I thought it would be. The setting is so vivid that the reader can feel the characters' heartbreaking despair as well as their desperate hope. Plot wise, the story doesn't go much of anywhere, making the tale seem extra long and dull. That, along with its bleak, unflinching tone made this novel a difficult read for me. I cared about the characters, but the book was so sad and depressing that I couldn't wait to finish it.
(Readalikes: Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck)
Grade:
If this were a movie, it would be rated:
for language (a few F-bombs, plus milder expletives), sexual content, blood/gore, and disturbing subject matter
To the FTC, with love: Another library fine find
Subscribe to:
Posts
(Atom)
Reading
Listening
Followin' with Bloglovin'
-
Bookish Quote of the Day!!1 hour ago
-
-
Daily Prompt 26 April Friday5 hours ago
-
Book Blogger Hop – TV or Book10 hours ago
-
-
-
-
Audiobook: The Mango Tree16 hours ago
-
FO Friday: SaltPixie Studio Rolags16 hours ago
-
Home is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose17 hours ago
-
The Lady of Larkspur Vale21 hours ago
-
Need a laugh?22 hours ago
-
-
Long Time Dead by T M Payne23 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
Final Cut by Marjorie McCown2 days ago
-
-
-
-
Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth3 days ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Reading as a retreat from reality1 week ago
-
Reading Recap March 20242 weeks ago
-
-
March Monthly Wrap-up3 weeks ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
What Happened to Summer?6 months ago
-
6/25/23 Extra Ezra10 months ago
-
-
-
-
-
Are you looking for Pretty Books?1 year ago
-
-
-
-
-
Grab my Button!
Blog Archive
- ► 2021 (159)
- ► 2020 (205)
- ► 2019 (197)
- ► 2018 (223)
- ► 2017 (157)
- ▼ 2016 (157)
- ► 2015 (188)
- ► 2014 (133)
- ► 2013 (183)
- ► 2012 (193)
- ► 2011 (232)
- ► 2010 (257)
- ► 2009 (211)
- ► 2008 (192)