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Wednesday, December 3, 2014

What I'm reading Wednesday...


We had a chance to go to the movies last weekend.  As I was looking to see what new movies were out, I came across this one.  It was produced and directed by Tommy Lee Jones.  He also stars in it as does Hilary Swank.  

The topic:  life for pioneer women in the Nebraska territory proves too hard for many...storms, poverty, hunger, never-ending work, sickness, childbirth, child mortality, loneliness.  When four women in a community succumb to madness, someone has to be found to transport them back east to family.

Since I descend from Nebraska pioneers, the stories of the real-life trials and madness that I heard or read of made a big impression on me from childhood.  I remember driving down a dirt road near my mother's childhood home when she pointed out a house and tree where a friend's mother hung herself...that occurred after pioneer times, but it really drove home the point for me of hard times of farming the area.  A visit to relatives often included a visit to the cemetery where paying respect at family graves always included my mother sadly remarking on a group of small headstones of babies and young children, all belonging to just one of our predecessor families who lost many of their offspring to childhood disease.

The Homesman by Glendon Swarthout

I couldn't resist buying the book for my Kindle, and I am reading it now.  But when I saw how few theaters were showing the movie, I didn't want to put off seeing it for fear it would be out of theaters before we got the chance to go.  I hope seeing the movie first doesn't ruin the book for me.

3 comments:

  1. So what did you think of the movie? Worth seeing? Sounds interesting...

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  2. It was pretty good. Kind of disappointing ending. As I’m reading the book, I see that the movie stayed very close to novel. So I fully expect to be disappointed in the end of book as well. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds like an interesting movie, I shall wait for it to come out over here.

    ReplyDelete

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