Wow.

I truly have a hard time believing that any other book could paint a more authentic picture of the lives of the early settlers of America.

They were constantly roaming the vast and untamed wilderness, relying solely on the land to sustain them, and simply trying to survive in extremely harsh conditions (and unfortunately, often not being able to do so).

Thanks a million to Larry for the wonderful book suggestion, and for presenting me with the beautiful first edition of this remarkable 1940 novel.

There is just something about the paper quality and typeface of older books that adds an extra layer of authenticity and pure pleasure to the entire reading experience.

It's as if you are transported back in time and can vividly imagine the struggles and triumphs of those early settlers as you turn the pages.

This book has truly opened my eyes to a bygone era and made me appreciate the hardships that our ancestors endured.

It's a literary gem that I will cherish for a long time to come.

From a purely storyline perspective, this isn't an especially captivating fictional narrative.

It basically centers around the everyday life of a family in a small community. However, this story pertains to the early American settlers shortly after the country's founding.

Certainly, it's not a Walt Disney Daniel Boone - Davey Crockett style account of that era. These settlers entered the real frontier much as we might envision venturing into the deepest regions of the Amazon jungle today.

Life was basic and extremely primitive. Moreover, the author doesn't halt there. He precisely studied how people spoke back then, their phrasing, and so on, and presents his narrative in the same language style.

This significantly enhances the story's realism. Regrettably, it also causes the reader to struggle more than usual with the writing's flow, similar to how an average person might struggle somewhat when someone speaks their shared language with a very strong foreign accent.

The reader has to "learn" the vernacular as they progress. Nevertheless, the struggle is worthwhile.

In the end, I discovered that I had developed a fondness for this book.

Although it may not boast of great writing, it is by no means bad.

I can clearly envision the direction in which this trilogy is headed.

It centers around the generational transformation of the Midwest.

(In the late 18th/early 19th century, it was known as the Northwest Territories - not to be confused with the northwest coast territories of the mid-to-late 19th century.)

The transformation is from a frontier forest with a rough hunting/trapping culture and way of life to farming land (and presumably ultimately to some sort of coherent town life).

It has a very rustic charm and reminds me of Willa Cather’s “My Antonia” and Edna Ferber’s “Sobig,” along with the more crude and rustic world of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’s “The Yearling.”

Richter does an excellent job of capturing the language and spirit of the time.

It has a touch of romance, which softens the harshness of this early wilderness life.

Despite its simplicity in writing, I must admit that I have enjoyed it.

I eagerly look forward to delving into the next book in the series, “The Fields,” in preparation for reading the third and final, Pulitzer-winning book, “The Town.”

In the late 18th century, Ohio was the untamed western frontier of a nascent country, consisting of 15 states.

In this narrative, a man resolves to lead his family away from their familiar home and into the wild forests of Ohio.

Poor and ill-equipped, we encounter this family who transports us to a place that is hard to envision.

The forests are so dense that one cannot glimpse the sky until the trees shed their leaves in autumn.

This book is the first in a trilogy (where the third book won the Pulitzer Prize) that will carry its characters from the trees (where food is procured through hunting, trapping, and trading), to the fields (where they commence farming the land), and into the establishment of a town.

This is the Little House books for adults.

This book introduced me to the earliest experiences of settlers in the west. I have perused cowboy and mining tales from a hundred years later. I have read books depicting life on the prairie, with all the hardships that afflict farmers.

But this is the first time I have ever been exposed to the era when there was nothing but forest.

This was a place I had never even imagined, yet Richter brought it to vivid life.