Book Review: Rachel's Folly

Folly (ˈfä-lē):  

- A lack of good sense or normal prudence and insight; 
- Criminally or tragically foolish actions or conduct; 
- A foolish act or idea; 
- An excessive costly or unprofitable undertaking; 
- An often extravagant picturesque building erected to suit a fanciful taste

I have long been a fan of the writings of Patrice Lewis.

I originally found Lewis sometime after I started "getting into" the InterWeb; I cannot remember precisely how long ago but easily over fifteen years now at her website Rural Revolution. I have, over the years, spent time via her writing with her husband Don and her two daughters (Older Daughter and Younger Daughter) and their homesteads (Old and New) in Idaho.  Her writing has always been enjoyable, a sort of mix of advice, explanation, and sharing of the life she and her family have chosen.

That Lewis is a writer was not a surprise:  when I first started reading her, she was both posting on her blog as well as on other sites.  It was through her that I discovered the now defunct National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), the organization that encouraged the idea that anyone could write a novel in 30 days (1500 words a day, in case you were curious).  It was from there that she landed a contract with Harlequin Romance and launched into a novelist career while still working at her and Don's homestead and managing a relocation.  

I purchase her first effort as well as a later one.  They were both enjoyable but - let us be honest - I am likely not the prime target market for Amish Romances.

My interest was piqued, then, when I read on her blog that she was trying a slightly different tack for a novel which did not fit neatly into that category and was going to be self published:  Rachel's Folly.

The protagonist (or at least one of the protagonists) Rachel Tresedor works at a production company which is starting up a Pioneer-style reality show in which a family has to live in mid to late 1800's conditions. As part of the interview process, she is challenged by one of the interviewees - Samuel Finn, a professor whose area of expertise is American pioneer living in the late 19th century - to come experience the pioneer lifestyle for four months on his property in Idaho.  Her boss thinks this is an amazing opportunity; under the twin hammers of her pride of not failing a challenge and a possible promotion, she heads to Idaho to effectively travel back in time.

Finn's property is a sort of living history experiment:  he lives as a 19th century pioneer would with mostly 19th century technologies (a modern Amish cook stove being a notable exception) and to the best of his ability provides for himself as much as possible.  Tresedor is thrown into this mix:  donning a prairie dress, she stumbles into learning to live in the 19th century.  She learns to cook and bake using a wood stove.  She learns to milk a cow.  She learns to harvest a garden and cut wood.  She visits the nearest neighbor, an older widow named Bernadette who offers her practical skills and sage wisdom on both living on the edges of civilization and about life.

Behind the scenes, of course, is a budding attraction between Rachel and Samuel.  Could she stay? Will they fall in love?  Or will she head back to modern civilization, largely untouched by her experience except the novelty of it?

Well, of course I am not going to reveal the ending.  You will need to read the book for that conclusion.

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As I mentioned before, I have been a long time reader (happily so) of Lewis, so I cannot give a truly unbiased review of the book. That said, in terms of fiction and readability (compared to other fiction), it stands up.

The characters are well developed, with motivations and personalities and agendas in place.  If they are a sort of "trope" of the hard driving female executive and eccentric college professor, they are very well written ones and hardly seem stale.  The background characters that are there are equally well fleshed out.  There was never a time that I said "That is not something a reasonable person would do".

Descriptions of living in the 19th Century are done in an interesting combination of intense detailed explanations (making a pie crust, starting a wood cookstove, milking a cow, cutting a log using a bucksaw) and generalized descriptions (making cheese, gardening, activity in a barn). The detailed descriptions are not surprising to me, as these all reflect tasks Lewis has written about in the past.  And I like the mix of specific and detailed; too often books of this kind can get bogged down in detailed descriptions of everything which both demonstrate the author's knowledge of arcane skills and fail to move the story forward.

The descriptions of the land, the cabin they live in, the property they are working on - again, all well done and reflective of the fact that Lewis has lived for years in this neck of the woods.  If the setting for Rachel's Folly is not a real place, it should be.

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Whenever I finish a New-To-Me fiction book, I like to consider three questions:

1)  Would I read it again?

2)  Does it speak to issues or spark thoughts that are applicable to my life?

3)  Will I miss these characters?

1)  Would I read it again? 

A resounding "Yes".  At 296 pages (print edition), it is an easy read and enjoyable read, just light enough that one need not pay too much attention yet deep enough that there is a great deal to consider.

2)  Does it speak to issues or spark thoughts that are applicable to my life? 

Also a resounding "Yes".  Besides just the story of "Eccentric Man teaches Modern Woman about life 150 years while each sorts out their feelings about things and each other", the book touches on issues like the fragility of modern living, sustainability, committing to goals.  Some quotes:

"Many (the pioneers) wanted free land, some wanted gold, some wanted to escape a shady past...but they were all united by the common inability to drive to the drugstore for aspirin, or run down to the nearest convenience store for a quart of milk.  It's this inability to go to outside sources to solve minor problems that fascinates me." (Samuel Finn)

"He (Samuel) nodded.  'I thought so. But here, I make everything. I grow, or raise, or till, or preserve, or create, or build. Everything.  And that, 'he concluded, 'is the most powerful pull a man can feel for what he does.'"

"'We live in a modern society that's nothing but rules and regulations. The longer I live out here, the more I resist the thought of returning to civilization and all those societal expectations.'  He gazed out at the damp, quiet woods. 'I like living by my own terms', he concluded." (Samuel Finn)

"Too much stuff becomes little more than clutter.  Junk.  You said you were interested in environmental issues.  Don't you think a resistance to shopping is one of the best places to start?" (Bernadette, Samuel's neighbor)

"'Won't that be nice. It means you'll be able to work for longer hours at a job you probably like but may not feel passionate about.  But you'll make more money, whoo hoo.  That way you can buy more...what did you call it?  Stuff.  Is that how you want your life to unfold?'

She scowled at him.  'It's how life unfolds for millions of people, buster.'

Samuel gave a little flick of his fishing rod.  'Then maybe you should challenge the prevailing assumption of what life should be and start considering what life can be.'"

Suffice it to say, there is enough for anyone to chew on in this pages.

3) Will I miss these characters?

One of the saddest things for a reader is one comes to the end of a book and realizes that there is either no sequel or the status of the sequel is unknown (I have commented before that this same experience happened for me with David Drake's The Forlorn Hope).  We will never meet these characters again, we will never hear them (in our mind), we will not see their new undertakings.  That can tinge with sorrow the happiest ending.

And honestly, I will miss Samuel and Rachel.  They seemed like the sort of people I would like to know  and I would wish that I could read more of what happens next (instead, of course, of revisiting what happened before).  Here is hoping a sequel is in order.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I strongly recommend this book.  Yes, it is an enjoyable read - and for a romance, not too overly "romantic" for those of us that are not into it.  But its ideas and characters make it something that will make the reader think in turn - something, arguably, every author hope for.

(Post Script:  Rachel's Folly, as self described on the back cover, is her going on this adventure.   As noted above, there are at least five definitions to the word folly. I would argue any one of them will work for the title, depending on how one's interprets the outcome.)