"THE FIRST FOUR YEARS"

Laura and Almanzo Wilder have just been married! Their life on a small prairie homestead begins with high hopes. But each year seems to bring unexpected disasters -- storms, sickness, fire, and unpaid debts. These first four years call for courage, strength, and a great deal of determination. Always, though, there is love, especially for the newest member of the family -- baby Rose.

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This thread is for discussing "The First Four Years".

I have not read this book but am planning to :study:

No way Christina... as soon as you started mentioning a little bit about it, I skipped your post!

I just did a spoiler paragraph, If you want to see, just click the spoiler line section, and my writing appears :CoolSign:

Spoiler:

That is so cool, Carol! This forum has some neat things on it.

I did notice that The FFYs seemed to be in a different style of writing than the other books. Also, when they are discussing the marriage, it seems to be two different stories between THGY and The FFY.

The first time I read The First Four Years I didn't like it. I had just finished reading the entire series and this book was just written so differently that I just didn't like it. I learned later that this book was published after Laura's death. It was found in Laura's posessions and it was probably never edited. That is why it read so different than her other books. With that in mind, it didn't seem as bad.:study:

This was a great book. When it ended, I wanted more, for sure.

fredsredhead66 wrote:

I am not crazy about this one, especially the part where Mr. and Mrs. Boast try to take Rose! It's like reading about a different family entierly. It's a shame it's not like the others.

Well, Laura died before she could edite this book. She would edite all the other ones. There is a very common opinion about this affair: she must have written it ,slightly after Almanzo's death and then, she was so depressed that never care for it any more. The manuscript was found by Rose herself much later her mother was dead and she didn't want to publish it. Maybe for she was so different from the rest of the set. The book was published (I think) in 1974, even after Rose's death.

The book IS different from the others, for it IS really referring to another family. The other eight books were related to the Ingallses, "TFFY" is about the Wilders. Remember that Laura married almanzo and went away on her own.

As for the fact of the Boast trying to get Rose...this was VERY common. Believe me. Did you remember when Laura must experience something similar when her family was living in Iowa? Of course, Caroline smiled to the lady who wanted Laura and said she couldn't possibily live without her daughter. My own great-grandma when travelling from Spain to Argentina, was asked by another family as their daughter. She was only two and they were delighted with her golden curls and blue eyes and smiles. But her mother wouldn't let her go. She was HER daughter and not anyone else's.

Vanesa.

I loved this book

I wish Laura could have edited this book.
I'm sure it would have been happier if she would have.
There were some fun parts- such as Roses' antics,
Laura playing in the snow and the horse back riding...

I agree about the part with the Boasts!
They were such a fun couple in the other books!
Laura probably would have left that part out in the final manuscript!

Holly

I'll comment more when I finish rereading the book, but I have one question... Does anyone know if Laura planned to write more books after The First Four Years?

My understanding was that Laura said she was finished and that no one even knew about the First Four Years until they found it in her belongings after her death.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong

I love reading this book. I never get tired of reading this.

Hey, all!

I have not been on this forum for probably five years, so I doubt anyone will remember me. But here I am once again! Lately, I've been on a little Laura Ingalls Wilder kick for the first time in quite a while. I had just finally gotten around to reading Pioneer Girl; The Annotated Autobiography and I have a few questions I doubt anyone could answer, or has even thought about other than Super-Fans like the ones on this website.

Basically, I noticed that in The First Four Years, Laura refers to Almanzo as Manly, like she does in Pioneer Girl. At first, I thought this might be an indicator that it was originally written as a sequel to her first autobigraphy, but, after looking through The First Four Years again, I realized it couldn't have been. For one thing, it's written in third person unlike Pioneer Girl and for another it's way way way more well written. It's a cohesive story with themes and a plot that runs through it, while Pioneer Girl seems to be more of a jumbled mess (it was her first book, her first draft; no shade at Laura). On the other hand, I don't believe it was a ninth book in the series because of the Manly/Almanzo thing I mentioned earlier and because it seems to be written more for adults than for children.

So, because of the fact that The First Four Years was published after Laura's lifetime I am wondering when and who really wrote it. Have any of you thought about this, and do you have any theories? Some believe Rose was Laura's ghostwriter for the series, is it possible she single-handedly wrote this book? I would love to hear some more opinions on this.

I would have to do some digging to be sure of everything, but as I understood it, The First Four Years was unfinished - Laura never published it. Someone finished writing it/published it after both Laura and Rose died.

Nice to meet you!

Just finished this one, which finishes the series of nine for me. This one was shorter, of course, but I enjoyed it as well as the rest of them. Wow, they had some lousy luck. And that bit with the Boasts wanting the baby was pretty weird.

One thing that surprises me, Laura always seemed so close to her father, but Pa is barely in this one. Her mother gets involved a bit more, but the birthings probably have something to do with that. Or maybe now that Laura was a young wife, she could relate to her mother more?

Not sure if I am going to read further. I'm thinking about getting the other book about the Long Winter (The Beautiful Snow). Any other suggestions that would make for good further reading? Pioneer Girl perhaps?

forn wrote:

Not sure if I am going to read further.  I'm thinking about getting the other book about the Long Winter (The Beautiful Snow).  Any other suggestions that would make for good further reading?  Pioneer Girl perhaps?

I absolutely would recommend Pioneer Girl. One of the best Little House books out there because its her original text as she intended to write it. Its more accurate.

LauraIngallsfan wrote:

I absolutely would recommend Pioneer Girl. One of the best Little House books out there because its her original text as she intended to write it. Its more accurate.

Does that mean that it hasn't been edited or rewritten by Rose?

I did pick up The Beautiful Snow, by the way, but I haven't read it yet. I have a stack of books to read that I've been working my way through, and it's in there.

Correct. Its what Laura first wrote and wanted to publish but the publisher wouldn’t publish it. Then rose did her edits to make what we know as the little house books.