The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Yearling
Book Review: A Simple, Predictable Tale
Summary: 3 Stars
The Yearling isn't so much flawed as it is, well- just there. The tale of the young boy in Florida is a cute, well-told tale that comes off as a bit simple. While the title obviously suggests a book about a boy and his deer, the more interesting parts of the book revolve around the boys neighbors and the politics of sparce living. But Rawlings retreats to the boy and his wild pet as the vignette for the book's lessons, and you can guess what happens there. While a good (not a great) book, I have to wonder if a tale this bland would ever win the Pulitzer Prize now.
Book Review: A simple yet penetrating glimpse into the world of boyhood innocence.
Summary: 5 Stars
In past reviews, people have speculated that if The Yearling were to have been published in today's times, would it still have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Literature. For me, I would have to say that that would be a resounding yes. I say so because the novel captures, with vivid simplicity, a bygone American era via the stark usage of the literaty resources available to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings at the time, quite simply, the values, environment and language which surrounded her. Being the excellent and astute writer that she was, she transposed those raw yet natural elements to her characters, specificially the gruff yet loving Baxter clan.
In a time where people are adrift due to the constant onslaught of materialism, celebrity, technology, vanity, money, you name it, the Baxter clan are a refreshing anomaly, for all of the above was not really available to them, and if it was, it was to a very limited degree. But because of that humbling deprivation, they as a family and individualistically speaking, were interiorily richer in so many different capacities. Their lessons came from the law of the land, the primal yet earthy philosophy of kill or be killed. But it was also a deep almost religious respect of the land and its animals that could definitely shape the thinking and the ever evolving twists and turns that are in abundance in The Yearling. Ezra Baxter-Jody's father-to some extent, could be considered as the Atticus Finch of the Florida backwoods, for he respects the codes that govern the wilderness and for the wild animals who occupy it. And thus, he kills only when necessary; he imbues that code of ethics in Jody who is of a tremendously malleable age, especially by the Forrester family and their sometimes less-than-stellar behavior.
The novel is about being a boy, about growing up and about sacrifice, and when Jody, a lone child, adopts a fawn whom he names Flag, the emptiness of being a lone child abates; the fawn, a cherished pet, is a co-experiencer with Jody of the highs and lows of living in the scrub country, and he is there for Jody's various milestones, his inching along toward the tower of manhood. But sometimes just doing the day-to-day obligations of life is simply not enough. Sometimes one has to go beyond what is expected, and the latter half of the book illustrates that sacrifice entails pain, large or small, for real love sometimes does hurt. The Yearling is pungent, pure, simple, true and very very giving, absolutely worthy of the 1939 Pulitzer Prize.
Book Review: A very well put together book
Summary: 5 Stars
The Baxters live some 15 miles from the nearest town and four miles from their nearest neighbors, the Forresters, a family of massive sons who are variously good hearted and drunks. In this environment, the Baxter family clears out its life.
Over the course of a year, Jody lives through all the terrors that nature and, sometimes, man can inflict and prepares, unknowingly, to eventually take over Penny's role as provider for the family. In the opening chapter, Jody has a particularly fine time off on his own, in the woods, and when it is over he cannot sleep because "a mark was on him from the day's delight, so that all his life, when April was a thin green and the flavor of rain was on his tongue, an old wound would throb and a nostalgia would fill him for something he could not quite remember." It is the last full day of his childhood innocence.
If you want information of the plot from this historical book here is some info:
I like the book and the movie, so if you really want to get into to it I reccomend both.
Courtusy of Wikipedia
[...]
Plot introduction
A child named Jody Baxter lives with his parents, Ora and Ezra "Penny" Baxter, in the animal-filled central Florida backwoods at the start of the twentieth century. His parents had six other children prior to Jody, but they died in infancy. He loves the outdoors and loves his family. He has wanted a pet for as long as he can remember, yet his mother Ora says they only have enough food to feed themselves.
A subplot involves the hunt for an old bear named Slewfoot that randomly attacks the Baxter livestock. Later the Baxters and Forresters get in a fight about the bear, and continue to fight about nearly anything. The Forresters steal the Baxters' pigs and while Penny and Jody are out searching for their stolen pigs, Penny is bitten by a rattlesnake. Penny shoots a deer to use its liver to draw out the snake's poison. Penny recovers, but the doe leaves behind a fawn.
Jody adopts the fawn, whom he names Flag, and it becomes his constant companion. The story revolves around the life of Jody as he grows to adolescence along with the fawn. The plot also centers on the conflicts of the young boy as he struggles with strained relationships, hunger, death (of his childhood companion, Fodder-wing Forrester, due to sickness), and the capriciousness of nature through a catastrophic flood. Throughout, the Baxter family is in contrast to their uncouth neighbors the Forresters, and the Baxters' more refined relatives in the village of Volusia. Jody experiences tender moments with his family, his fawn, and their neighbors and relatives. Along with his father, he comes face-to-face with the rough life of a farmer and hunter.
As Jody takes his final steps into maturity, he is forced to make a desperate choice between his pet Flag and his family. The parents realize that the now-adult Flag is endangering their very survival, as he persists in eating the corn crop which the family is relying on for their food the next winter. Jody runs away after his mother attempts to kill Flag, shooting him in the leg. Jody is then forced to shoot Flag in the neck himself. In anger at his mother, Jody runs away, only to come face-to-face with the true meaning of hunger, loneliness, and fear. After a failed attempt to run away in a broken-down canoe, he is picked up by a mail ship and dropped off in Volusia. In the end, Jody returns home and assumes his role as the emerging caregiver to his family and their land.
Book Review: Beautiful story. Captures an almost forgotten time in Florida.
Summary: 5 Stars
Beautiful book. Incredible descriptions. Touching characters. Perhaps a little too much killing of animals, but seems accurate to the time and place. I had heard the book was slow and boring, but I have read the entire thing out loud to my wife and we found it enchanting.Book Review: Beware - If you love animals this is NOT a "classic" !!
Summary: 1 Stars
While talking up the author and this "wonderful" book, no one seems to think about mentioning the fact that there is some very graphic writing about animals being killed. Granted, most of these "killings" are necessary for food, but some are not. At the very least, a warning should be given to children, and adults for that matter, that this is NOT a light-hearted story about a boy and his fawn. While I could accept most of the hardness of the story, the ending is so traumatic that I wouldn't suggest anyone with a love for animals read this book. Or watch the movie either. You're much better off with something along the lines of Lassie!