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Book Review: Daughter of the Cimarron - Historical Fiction from the Great Depression
Did you know that not all “Okies” migrated during the Great Depression? Some stayed and endured their hardships. These were tough, determined survivors, as author Samuel Hall described in his novel. Daughter of the Cimarron, based on the real life experiences of the author's mother. Claire struggles with a difficult marriage that ends shortly in the story. She is employed on a crew of traveling door-to-door salespeople in the Midwest. A romance develops between Claire and her boss Elmer. After stops and starts and challenges, not the least of which was the onset of depression, Claire and Elmer marry. In such challenging times...
Book Review: Daughter of the Cimarron - Historical Fiction from the Great Depression
Did you know that not all “Okies” migrated during the Great Depression? Some stayed and endured their hardships. These were tough, determined survivors, as author Samuel Hall described in his novel.Daughter of Cimarron, based on the real life experiences of the author's mother.
Claire struggles with a difficult marriage that ends shortly in the story. She is employed on a crew of traveling door-to-door salespeople in the Midwest. A romance develops between Claire and her boss Elmer.
After stops and starts and challenges, not the least of which was the onset of depression, Claire and Elmer marry. Making a living in such challenging times is not easy and they end up leaving sales for other businesses.
Adding to Claire's challenges are her husband's parents, who seem to have a habit of inviting each other as "guests" whenever Claire and Elmer's circumstances improve - or fail.
Throughout her situation, Claire struggles with doubts and faith in God as the author draws us into a vibrant Midwestern landscape. Much of the story takes place in Ness County, Kansas and the Oklahoma Panhandle. In the first few chapters we experience the life of door-to-door sales not from the usual perspective of the person who opens the door, but from the perspective of the person who knocks on the door.
As Claire and her family transition to other means of support more conducive to raising a family, the challenges of the Great Depression threaten to undermine their happiness.
Most striking was the description of the four main characters surviving on mashed and cooked grain that they had “acquired” from their landlord’s barn. Despite their desperate and trying circumstances, we see the characters - especially Claire - survive with dignity and grace.
This is not literary fiction like a Steinbeck novel. And even though it is published by a Christian publisher,Daughter of Cimarronis not overtly a Christian novel, but rather a work of realistic historical fiction written from a Christian worldview. This novel lacks the rich symbols and motifs of a novel likeGrapes of Wrath.The characters are also less clearly defined. Where the author ofDaughter of CimarronIt manages to bring the reader into the toughness and endurance of the main character by giving us the true story of a real person.
Another interesting feature of the novel is that it is about the author's personal backstory. Samuel Hall has shown us that perseverance is a story, sometimes exhausting, sometimes exhilarating and often entertaining, by showing us the world, life and circumstances from which he was born.
Inspired by Marshall Buchholz