The Personal History of Rachel DuPree: A Novel
Release date: 2008 / 321 pages
Synopsis (from jacket cover): When Rachel, hired help in a Chicago boardinghouse, falls in love with Issac, the boardinghouse owner’s son, Isaac agrees to marry her, but only if she gives up her 160 acres from the Homestead Act so he can double his share. Fourteen years later, in the South Dakota Badlands during the brutal summer of 1917, Rachel is pregnant and struggling to feed her family, but she knows Isaac will never leave the ranch. Somehow she must find the strength to do what is right — for herself, and for her children…
First sentence: I still see her, our Liz, sitting on a plank, dangling over that well.
Review: As the title implies, The Personal History of Rachel DuPree has the breadth and depth of an epic. The narrative centers on Rachel Dupree, an African-American woman who comes to age during the turn of the twentieth century. Raised in Chicago, she falls in love with a man of great ambition and soon finds herself living the city, forging a life out of the relentless and unforgiving frontier of the South Dakota Badlands and raising five children through drought and adversity, while her husband continues to expand their cattle ranch.
However, the above description does not come close to representing the majesty and heft of Weisgarber’s debut novel. Winner of the Langum Prize in American Historical Fiction, Rachel DuPree is impossible to put aside and brings to life an original frontier story in the spirit of My Antonia and Little House on the Prairie, but in a spirit truly its own. Rachel’s story will not soon be forgotten and is a tale of triumph, even at its most desolate.
I strongly recommend this to book clubs — fast-paced, gripping, significant, and relevant, this is story not soon forgotten and sure to spark tremendous discussion. Would be a great a movie, too, I imagine!
Another very interesting book to put on my reading list. Would love to win it.
Sounds like a great read. Thanks for the giveaway.
I would love to win this one. Thanks for the great reviews you email to us. My “wannna read” list grows ever longer.
Many thanks for this wonderful book. Would be memorable.
Please enter me in the giveaway. Thanks!
Sounds like a interesting book. Liked your review. Love histery type books. Please inter me for the giveaway.
Sounds like a great choice for a book group…please count me in!
This is just the kind of book I love to read. If I don’t win it I will have to put it on my wishlist.
Kristen, thank you for this terrific review. I appreciate your reading Rachel and recommending it for book groups. I’ve met with over fifty groups, and I’m amazed by the variety of interpretations readers have about Rachel and about Isaac. The words on the page are the same but each reader approaches those words from her own place and experiences. The author may have written the words, but readers give meaning to the story.
Thank you, Ann! I bet it is gratifying to experience your story anew with readers. I thoroughly enjoyed Rachel and hope you write more in the future!
Kristen, it’s gratifying and humbling all at the same time. I will always appreciate the people who find time during their busy lives to read Rachel.
I turned in my second novel a few weeks ago to my publisher in England and she’s enthused. (It’s not a sequel to Rachel.) I’m now working on editorial comments. My good fortune continues to hold.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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This is at the top of my TBR list – I can’t wait to read it!
Thanks for being on the tour. I’m featuring your review on TLC’s Facebook page today.
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Even though I didn’t win a copy, it sounded so interesting that I picked it up and just used it as my book club selection last night. We had an excellent discussion and everyone really like the book. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews and book suggestions!