Saturday, September 16, 2017

AMERICAN SISTERS 1775 and 1829

These next two books are quite similar, not in their subject matter or characters, but in that the action takes over the story and the character development falls by the wayside.

Wilderness Road takes place on the journey from Tennessee to "Caintuck." It follows two families, one more upper class and one very much not, the upper class family's slave and a couple single guys on their trip along a very dangerous road. They're constantly on the watch for Indians, although the ones they do meet are good people.

The eldest sister is the only one you get to know. The younger sister that plagues her constantly is only seen through her eyes and not really characterized. It's also completely unclear why the elder sister so wants the approval of the two older girls from the more upper class family when the entire trip they an their mother have been nothing but bitches. But she finally sees the light at the end.

It's a decent read, though I wish we could have gotten into Martha, the younger sister's, head. I mean, the series is called American SisterS, plural.

The Rio Grande book is quite different and I actually enjoyed it a lot. Rosita is 16 and her stepsisters are 17 and...I think 15? I can't remember how old Maria, the youngest one, is.

Rosita is about to be married to an old man and she's not happy about it. Nor is the 17-year-old because as the eldest, she thinks she should be first. Rosita's beauty is viewed as troublesome so the town basically told her father to marry her off, which is why she's the one being married first.

When a steamboat piloted by Americans comes by, Rosita runs away and hides on it, followed a short while later by Maria, who idolizes the older girl.

Maria is in disguise as a boy for most of the trip. Rosita pretends Maria (AKA Jose) is her servant, but the two are eventually found out as having no money, so they're turned into the ship's cooks.

There's a lot of drama with near mutiny, cholera, bandits and Indian attacks, but it's still good and the ending is decent.

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