Early Chapters: Spring and Summer

[HeatherF]

There was so much happening to and with Maria, Anna and the children from the very start that it it took a little reading to orient to their characters. I would say that because we find them thrown into a survival situation, they were all doing just that, surviving. Maria has the capacity it seems to care for, and hold the family together through unthinkable conditions while being without her husband. Anna, on the other hand is struggling so much with her own life circumstances that her children aren't even an afterthought. All the characters are very vivid and alive. I was drawn to the feeling that pervades the writing on behalf of each character. They are very alive in their circumstances and although they are family they are unique in their thoughts, desires and ability to handle their life. I like that Ivan and Petro are just being their age; playful, energetic, even in the worst of circumstances.

It is my sense that Anna became broken and disillusioned on the night of her honeymoon. She had high expectations for her marriage. I don't know if the five proposals were denied by her or her father, but she found out quickly that she mad a big mistake. Although Theo suffered in prison for a "broken law", Anna struggles in her own prison day in and day out with her husband and how he has broken her spirit. Each disappointment just feels like weight added to the last. She just begins to have some hope with Leysa when she suffers with continued marital difficulties and another pregnancy. Then we begin to see her coming alive at Summertime and let out a breathe of relief just to have her circumstances change again. 

Theo's prison experience was well expressed and his arrival, although sooner than I had expected, was portrayed very well. I wanted to know more, wanted him to talk to his wife and children, but how could he until he had processed atleast a little of what he had just been through. Processed and began to recover both physically and mentally. I so enjoyed the way the Spring portrayed the hardness after winter, the new beginnings, and how by summer we see the literal warmth and closeness of the family as it begins to recover from all the loss. I thought the recipe for the Borscht was a great way to start the summer section. It felt like toward the end of the spring section and then into the summer we were just getting going. Our first exposure to Theo makes it hard to know his character, but had a sense of who he might be because of Maria's character.

I think what their lives are like and then consider myself and how I live. I am nowhere as strong as these characters. I know that we are all capable of more than we can imagine when put to the test but I am much softer because of my life circumstances.  I have enjoyed how they all help each other from the youngest to the oldest, in the ways that they can. Except for Anna of course. I wonder would we view her any differently if she were ill? Is she ill and should she be looked at in those terms. I am curious how she will survive.

I hated the fire. I thought the writing was engrossing, very descriptive and real. But, I found it hard to see them lose anything after they were just barely coming back. They had already survived worse so I figured they would figure it out somehow, but because of my attachment to their lives I wanted life to be easy for them.

I am excited to continue on and see where this all leads.

[CathyB]

My initial impressions:

Anna is weak and selfish. Her attitude toward her daughter, Lesya,  made me cringe and the description of Petro's birth made it clear that this was another child she did not want. She neglects her children. I think she is missing a few screws.She has been mourning her husband from the day they were married.

Lesya is strong and gentle. She wants to be loved, helpful and not pitied. She likes that her aunt & uncle treat her the same as the other children.

Petro is a young boy who needs a father. He needs some direction - someone to look up to.

Maria is strong. She fled the Ukraine, traveled across the ocean to start a new life, sacrificed herself for her family, is inventive and practical running her home to keep her children alive.

Theo was a surprise - his is their foundation. After seeing the relationship that Anna and Stefan had, I feared the worst for Maria. I was so happy that I was wrong.

I am not sure how the family is going to survive their latest tragedies. We know that soon they will be hit with another - the death of one member in the family - I hope it is not Maria (death during childbirth seems likely to be an possibility). In theSummer chapters, I thought that it was going to be Katya - too predictable as she is the thin weak one. They face all challenges head on - they work hard and when necessary, harder.

[melisndav]

My initial reaction to Maria was that was a wife that believed in her husband entirely.  She put her family needs first and also helped take a part of raising Anna's children as it appeared that Anna did not want anything to do with her children.

Anna, in today's terms, seemed to be under a severe depression as I interrupted the book as her husband, Stefan, abused her both physically and mentally. 

The children all had their own individual personalities and Anna's children seemed happier when they were around Teodor & Maria's children, and their aunt and uncle respectively.  Petro seemed very immature who just wanted to be loved by his father, who was not around, and would do anything that his father wanted him to do.

When Teodor returned from prison, the children at first, seemed intimidated and frightened of their father.  Once they see him in the family setting, they adapt to him as if he never left. 

When Teodor and his eldest son started to build the house and plant the wheat, I believed in my heart that this family will come out on top and begin to build a better live for themselves.  When the fire and dust storm happened, I was saddened that these poor people had to start all over again.

[pen21]

What a great idea to divide the book into seasons. After reading the Spring and Summer seasons and now waiting before I read Fall, I wonder what more can happen to these people.

Life is hard. Spring and Summer are such hopeful months, but so much has happened already. I am definitely looking forward to more of this book. 

[literature]

Can you describe how Anna behaves and do you have any sense of why she seems so depressed? What kind of person is she, and what has happened to her?

Like I said in my previous post today, I feel that Anna has always had pyschological problems, dating back to her early years and well before Stephan.  Anna says when she sleeps she doesn't have to think about who she is and what has become of her.  She is separate from her life, not a mother, wife, sister.  She is waiting to be reborn.  How far back would she have to go to change her life?  She dreams she is alone, empty, flat, alone,  nobody, life, sadness.  She wants to be with the coyotes because they ask nothing of you.

Anna was resentful that she couldn't make choices.  She felt she was born to be used like a whore.  She would marry, have children, farm, be poor, sacrifice her desires for her husband's, be obedient and selfless.  She said she made best the choice.  Stephan was an officer, he'd take her off the farm into the city, but she ended up on the farm anyway.  Unlike her, she felt that Teordor never had to doubt that someone loved him.

Her life broke her when she was still young and she couldn't cope with poverty and responsibilities and was willing to give herself to anyone who could (possibly) give her a better life.

[literature]

The scarecrow...why did the younger children have nightmares about the scarecrow for weeks after Anna made it?  Did she make the scarecrow look to resemble she perceived herself to look, considering how she felt about herself.  I wonder if Shandi just threw out the thought and let us come to our own conclusions or maybe it just wasn't important enough to go into further detail about it. 

I agree with you about always pointing his points towards the door.  He feels that he should always be prepared because he always anticipates danger.   He always checks his boots when he removes them, noting the dirt on them or how worn they look.  Without those boots, how will he farm?

[Stewies_Mom]

My favorite character in this story is Ivan.  He is such a wise soul.  He has such a high emotional IQ.  His ability to empathize with the animals his family owns is so touching.  Too, is his method of deducing his fathers' identity.  I loved the way he pulled his father's face close to his own, looked deep into his eyes and then declared "It's him".

Sofia, Ivan's sister, is a typical preteen.  She wants to be accepted by the other school girls.  My only opinion on Sofia so far is that she is a silly little girl who craves acceptance from her peers and wants to be someone else, just like any normal preteen girl.

Myron, the eldest child, is not as easy to like, but I can't make myself dislike him either.  I believe he has been made to become the man of the house in his fathers' absence and the resentment he shows upon his fathers' return is to be expected.

Maria is a brave woman.  Her love for her family is what holds them together.  Her actions have been noble and anything done was done to ensure the survival of her family.

I think Anna is despondent because of her current situation.  She is trapped in a miserable marriage, has an absent (mostly) husband, seems unsatisfied with her first born child's physical disability and is pregnant by what must have been nonconsensual relations with her husband and seems to grow more devastated day by day over the fact that she is pregnant again.  She has been forced into motherhood and will soon have a third child by a man she wishes she had never married.  Nothing in the text makes me think she has always behaved the way she is currently behaving.  We learn that she used to have a close relationship with her brother.  I don't think she ever had a close relationship with her children and she certainly didn't have a close relationship with her husband.  However, her actions in the summer chapter shocked me.  I was so disappointed that she would treat herself or either of her children so harshly.  I believe her understanding and envy of the wild coyotes is based in her own desire to be free.

Teodor is the one main character that I don't feel I've gotten a proper introduction to yet.  I hope to get to know him better as the book progresses.  

[BarneyNoble]

She effectively draws metaphoric parallels between the the earth and human fertility when she describes the plowing and seeding of the earth.  Also you can see this in the parellels between the relationships with the the natural world and with eachother.

As a lover of gardening, those parts are some of my favorite.  I am able to appreciate the different jobs they each had.  I had sympathy for the daughter (I can't remember her name and I am away from my book, please forgive me) who was insulted when the shopkeeper complained of wormholes in her radishes.  

[DSaff]

Nicely said 

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HeatherF wrote:

There was so much happening to and with Maria, Anna and the children from the very start that it it took a little reading to orient to their characters. I would say that because we find them thrown into a survival situation, they were all doing just that, surviving. Maria has the capacity it seems to care for, and hold the family together through unthinkable conditions while being without her husband. Anna, on the other hand is struggling so much with her own life circumstances that her children aren't even an afterthought. All the characters are very vivid and alive. I was drawn to the feeling that pervades the writing on behalf of each character. They are very alive in their circumstances and although they are family they are unique in their thoughts, desires and ability to handle their life. I like that Ivan and Petro are just being their age; playful, energetic, even in the worst of circumstances.

It is my sense that Anna became broken and disillusioned on the night of her honeymoon. She had high expectations for her marriage. I don't know if the five proposals were denied by her or her father, but she found out quickly that she mad a big mistake. Although Theo suffered in prison for a "broken law", Anna struggles in her own prison day in and day out with her husband and how he has broken her spirit. Each disappointment just feels like weight added to the last. She just begins to have some hope with Leysa when she suffers with continued marital difficulties and another pregnancy. Then we begin to see her coming alive at Summertime and let out a breathe of relief just to have her circumstances change again. 

Theo's prison experience was well expressed and his arrival, although sooner than I had expected, was portrayed very well. I wanted to know more, wanted him to talk to his wife and children, but how could he until he had processed atleast a little of what he had just been through. Processed and began to recover both physically and mentally. I so enjoyed the way the Spring portrayed the hardness after winter, the new beginnings, and how by summer we see the literal warmth and closeness of the family as it begins to recover from all the loss. I thought the recipe for the Borscht was a great way to start the summer section. It felt like toward the end of the spring section and then into the summer we were just getting going. Our first exposure to Theo makes it hard to know his character, but had a sense of who he might be because of Maria's character.

I think what their lives are like and then consider myself and how I live. I am nowhere as strong as these characters. I know that we are all capable of more than we can imagine when put to the test but I am much softer because of my life circumstances.  I have enjoyed how they all help each other from the youngest to the oldest, in the ways that they can. Except for Anna of course. I wonder would we view her any differently if she were ill? Is she ill and should she be looked at in those terms. I am curious how she will survive.

I hated the fire. I thought the writing was engrossing, very descriptive and real. But, I found it hard to see them lose anything after they were just barely coming back. They had already survived worse so I figured they would figure it out somehow, but because of my attachment to their lives I wanted life to be easy for them.

I am excited to continue on and see where this all leads.

---

[ladybug74]

I am thoroughly enjoying this book so far! It was hard to put it down at the end of this section to wait for the discussion to begin. I'm so excited that I can now move on and start reading the next section. I expected this to be a good book, but it is even better than expected. I have already checked to find out if there were any other books by this author and found that this was her first. If there are more in the future, I will definitely be reading them!

My first impressions of all of the family members were good, except for Anna's husband. I did not get a very good feeling about his character.

It does seem that my first impressions about the family members hold true, except for Anna. I was hoping that she would be stronger than the first impression that I had of her, but the more I read the more I am seeing the severity of her depression. Anna is on the verge of being psychotic at times. Anna's marriage has failed because her husband is not the type of man who she thought he was. He has raped Anna and each of her children is a reminder of this. On top of the fact that she was raped by her husband, their first child was born with a physical disability. While this was going on, her brother was in prison so she basically had nobody else to turn to. 

I assume from what I read that Maria and her children ended up living there due to Theo's imprisonment. The book mentions that Anna and her husband had helped the family out when they were in need. 

When Theo first arrived, I thought his children might not remember him (especially the younger ones.) I was not really sure what to expect from him, though. He did have a bit of a rough entrance back into his home, but this is understandable considering he had been wrongly imprisoned for a while and had not been around his family.

My own family was raised in the Southern U.S. and they did have some hardships back when my grandparents were growing up. I have heard stories from them about how hard times used to be for them. One of my great grandmothers used to think we were wasteful for throwing out used Ziploc bags. I can remember my shock when I observed her washing them out and putting them in the dish drain to re-use. She lived through the depression, so she did not waste anything. She saved spools, used plastic bags, and just about everything else that you can imagine because she didn't know when times might get hard for her again.

My dad's mother was widowed with 2 young children at an early age, so she also had to live through some really tough times. She worked in a sewing factory and could hardly feed her family on the small amount of money that she made. 

The demands on this family include building a home large enough for the family to live in comfortably, planting crops, tending these crops, and picking and putting away the crops once they are ripe. I knew that children had to help their families in the fields during this time period. My own grandmother told me how she used to have to put my mom on a blanket under a tree so she could help her family pick cotton when she was young. (She had my mom at the age of 18.) Though I knew about these things, it was still a bit shocking to read about how hard these children had to work, especially the oldest boy.

I was surprised that this family had so many calamities in such a short period of time, but I think they will survive by sticking together. Some of the family's crops had already been put away (in jars?) so maybe some of this food survived in their home. They also have a little of their wheat to harvest and sell or to grind into flour for the family to eat. There is also the possiblity that Theo and the boys could hunt for wild animals to feed the family. The dad could find work outside of their home or the family could even sell the few possessions that they have to make ends meet. 

Message Edited by ladybug74 on 08-03-2009 10:25 PM

[ladybug74]

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kittykat59 wrote:

The first word that comes to mind when thinking of Maria and her children is Survival. She is like a lioness with her cubs. She would do anything for their survival. Anna is a different story. She is broken.

Anna really interests me. She is broken, in mind body and soul. She makes a scarecrow with her wedding sorochka and slashes it. The slashing of her wedding sorochka is a symbolism of the death of her marriage and the death of the happy life she thought she should had have with Stefan. She wants to forget Stefan, his cruelty, his unfaithfulness, him as a whole. She wants to be the person she was before she married him, fearless and headstrong. But she is

 not.

I was not surprised with the warmth the family had for one another because they were a family unit. The children accept their father's return with apprehension and love.

I'm enjoying this book immensely. Can't wait to get back to it.

---

I also thought the scarecrow with the shredded wedding dress was symbolic of how Anna felt about her marriage -- that it was dead and gone. 

[debbook]

During the parts that describe the bounty of the garden and the fresh eggs, I had such an urge to live off the land and have a simple life. But of course that life is not easy as we see. But Mitchell was so descriptive that I felt I was right there.

[KathyS]

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debbook wrote:
During the parts that describe the bounty of the garden and the fresh eggs, I had such an urge to live off the land and have a simple life. But of course that life is not easy as we see. But Mitchell was so descriptive that I felt I was right there.

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That garden was a breath of fresh air!  I'm going to the market tomorrow and get the ingredients for the Bilyi Borshch p. 61 - I love Borshch!  Couldn't you just taste it as they were scraping the bottoms of their bowls?!

[kaylami]

First of all I have to say that I love this book!  Ms. Mitchell's writing creates such vivid pictures ...perhaps it's her experience as a filmmaker.  I didn't expect to be so hooked from the first page.  I had to stick the book under my bed so I wouldn't read ahead.  If I read ahead it's too easy to let a spoiler loose. 

My first impressions of Maria and her children held true.  She is a hard worker who does every thing in her power to provide her children with the necessities and teaches them if they keep trying they will survive.  My very first impression of Anna was wrong.  During the first few pages I thought that she was a caring sister helping to provide for her brother's family.  Not sure now if she helped them for selfish reasons.  Maria does all the nurturing of Anna's children  The best thing Anna did was make it possible for Teodor to have some land to start their own farm.

I believe Anna is so depressed because Life has let her down.  When she married Stefan she expected to have a life of luxury provided by a handsome, successful soldier.  He told her that they would be aristocracy in Canada.  I believe she resents him and regrets being "stuck" with a man that is now poor and an immigrant in a foreign country.  Unlike Maria, she doesn't now how to pick up the pieces and make a life in Canada.  Lesya's birth was another thing that didn't turn out like she expected.  She expected a perfect child and instead got a crippled child.  I believe she hates everthing about her life and longs to run free like the coyotes.

I was suprised at how soon the children accepted him.  His struggles in prison and the reason he was there changed him.  Myron seems to be the only child that notices that his father is not the same man that was taken away.

This family survives by making the most out of every resource and leaving nothing to waste.  My ancestors were pioneers that came out West with almost nothing and even with death and struggles on the trail and crop failures in their new home, they managed to survive and build a new home.

Spring and Summer is the time to plant and prepare for the next winter.  It's all about survival.

The calamities this family faces breaks my heart...yet I keep turning the page to see how they'll make it through.  At the beginning of the book the date on the photo is 1933 and the story begins in 1938.  So...we've already seen the first farm forclosed and I'm waiting to see who dies and who is murdered.  Anna is losing her mind and she scares me.  Hmmm......

[BooksRPam]

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literature wrote:

The scarecrow...why did the younger children have nightmares about the scarecrow for weeks after Anna made it?  Did she make the scarecrow look to resemble she perceived herself to look, considering how she felt about herself.  I wonder if Shandi just threw out the thought and let us come to our own conclusions or maybe it just wasn't important enough to go into further detail about it. 

---

I know exactly what you're saying.  The scarecrow must have really been a frightening specter to behold!  I was fascinated by the way it was described.  Barbed wire and metal jar lids fastened to the hands, representing, I believe, Anna's bondage.  Then she stitches the eyes with red thread (ghastly) and doesn't even give the scarecrow a mouth.  Then the crown upon its head with the dead flowers flowing over this horrible creature's shoulders was the final touch.

Then she "jumps down hard," obviously not worrying about the life inside her.  I think the reason the children had nightmares for weeks was that Crazy Anna with her eyes blazing looks just like the Crazy Scarecrow "dancing grotesquely" up above.  I'm wondering if Anna will ever regain her sanity, and if she does, will it be at the expense of Stefan, who we're told will return in the summary on the back of the book.

I can't wait to read on.

[DSaff]

I wanted to be one of the taste testers when the spoon was going around, didn't you. <grin>

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KathyS wrote:

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That garden was a breath of fresh air!  I'm going to the market tomorrow and get the ingredients for the Bilyi Borshch p. 61 - I love Borshch!  Couldn't you just taste it as they were scraping the bottoms of their bowls?!

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[misslynn]

I just read the part where Anna has her skirt hiked up and she has a switch in hand. She takes it out on her son when he walks in-with a severe beating. It's now we discover that she is pregnant and it seems she is attempting to self-abort. It really makes me feel such a sadness for Anna. She is so desperate and so unhappy. And, of course, the chilsren always pay.

[m3girl]

First of all I must say that this is one of the BEST First Look books we have read in a long time - if not the best overall.  I hope that B/N plans on promoting it like they did with Deliverance Dane as it is of the same quality and has the same potential.  I also see movie potential here - as it's so well written it's playing as a movie in my head.

I immediately got attached to these people from the first page.  I enjoyed the opening scene with the kids playing with the cats and the mice.  I have two cats - indoor and hopefully never chasing mice - and was reminded of the fact that they are vicious predators when they have the opportunity.

Anyway - both Maria and Anna have very difficult lives.  They left the Ukraine at the right time but selected a rough place to live in Canada.  Between the weather and just the fact that farming is a difficult life (even today) I'm always surprised that so many people settled in those remote and cold areas.  Perhaps the price of land was what was affordable.  How come there aren't many stories about farmers settling in Florida?  Anyway back on track -- The kids are good and really help out - and that explains why they had so many kids back then.

At this point - I'm into the second section for next week - the characters are holding true to their original introduction.  I am routing for Anna to kill her husband as he is just trouble.  I could see that coming from a mile away.  As for the wonderful Theo - he's a good man and works so hard for such a small reward.  Nothing seems to be working well for him.  I was right there with him and his son as they plowed that field.  The work that it took and then to have the fire come and destroy so much of it.  I was happy that the fire didn't destroy it all and also that it didn't hurt the house or any of the family.

I hope that Anna gets a backbone and does something to eliminate that husband of hers permanently.  She is a strong woman - able to live out there on a farm - but she's also a weak person.  This is no doubt due to all of the abuse she's had to sustain from her loser husband.

I'm cheering for them to succeed but know that there is much more for them to endure before I get to the end.  I'm almost afraid to read more - as I don't want any more bad things to happen to them...

I'm planning on buying this book when it's released to give to my 83 year old mother for her birthday.  She grew up on a farm near Green Bay Wisconsin.  I doubt she has stories this severe but I think she will enjoy it.

Susan 

[skiibunny1213]

What are your initial impressions of Maria, Anna, and the children? Do your first impressions of these characters hold true as the novel progresses? Can you describe how Anna behaves and do you have any sense of why she seems so depressed? What kind of person is she, and what has happened to her?

It seems as though Maria is the caretaker and Anna is just a ghost - a child like the rest of the young ones that Maria has to care for. So far this impression has held true, although Anna has become less ghostlike, she continues to act helpless even though there are glimpses (with the coyotes, etc.) that she is indeed the opposite of helpless. I think she is depressed because she is unwillingly pregnant again, and she is afraid that her abusive husband will return home. Although the memories we are told about her reveal that deep within her she is a fighter, it seems like she fears his return and is disgusted by the fact that she is bearing his child.

After Theo's exhausted, hardened entrance--were you surprised at the warmth that this family obviously had for each other? Was Theo the sort of person you were expecting?

The contrast was fantastic and really highlighted HOW exhausted and hardened he had become in prison. The fact that his children didn’t really accept/recognize that it was him until he had slept for 3 days and cleaned up/shaved showed us how much prison had changed him. Even though he now looks like how they remember him, it is obvious from Maria’s perspective that a part of him has changed and he will never be the same.

This family, at times, has barely any necessities--how do they make do? Does your own family have stories of coming through such an impossible struggle?

I think that they make due by sheer will and by serious sacrifice.

What demands do these two seasons make on this family? What do they do in Spring and in Summer?

These seasons are incredibly important because what they are able to produce (in terms of food and profit) now will be what they have to carry them through the winter. If they fail during the Spring and Summer, there is a strong chance they will not survive the winter.

At the end of the Summer chapter, the family has lost much of it's crops and property to a fire, and then is hit by a dust storm! How do you think the family is going to survive through the coming chapters? Were you surprised by these early calamities?

I was not surprised by the calamities only because it seems like this family cannot ever catch a break. However, their teamwork and willingness to work hard and help each other makes me want to believe that they will be able to survive the winter.

[readslots4]

I agree with one of the other posts about Anna and how it was hard for me to like her in the beginning.  She hadn't really thought when she married.

I connected with Maria pretty quickly.  She cares so deeply for her family and their life together. 

Theo's entrance did give me a little pause, but then, it was easy to see what he had been through in prison and I began to have hope for him.  

I wanted to mention how in a book like this, the land becomes a character of its' own.  When things don't go as planned you not only feel for the family but you feel what they might feel towards the land and what it had done to them.