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The Personal History of Rachel DuPree: A Novel
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The Personal History of Rachel DuPree: A Novel
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The Personal History of Rachel DuPree: A Novel
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The Personal History of Rachel DuPree: A Novel

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Praised by Alice Walker and many other bestselling writers, The Personal History of Rachel DuPree is an award-winning debut novel with incredible heart about life on the prairie as it's rarely been seen. Reminiscent of The Color Purple, as well as the frontier novels of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Willa Cather, it opens a window on the little-known history of African American homesteaders and gives voice to an extraordinary heroine who embodies the spirit that built America.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 6, 2016
ISBN9781524750411
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The Personal History of Rachel DuPree: A Novel
Author

Ann Weisgarber

Ann Weisgarber was born and raised in Kettering, Ohio. She has lived in Boston, Massachusetts, and Des Moines, Iowa, but now splits her time between Sugar Land, Texas, and Galveston, Texas. Her first novel, The Personal History of Rachel DuPree, was long-listed for the Orange Prize and shortlisted for the Orange Award for New Writers.

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Rating: 4.067960990291263 out of 5 stars
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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    "The Personal History of Rachel DuPree" opens in the Badlands of South Dakota during World War I. Rachel and her family--her husband Issac and her 5 children--are struggling to survive a terrible drought and to keep their ranch in the process. Rachel came to the Badlands 14 years earlier from Chicago after making a deal with Issac Dupree--he would marry her if he could stake a claim in her name. As African Americans, Issac thought this was the only way he could secure land. As Rachel looks back on her life with Issac, she begins to question her decision to live in this hard place and what is best for her and her children. I found this novel to be incredibly moving and powerful. It reminded me of the pioneer novels of my youth--all grown up, with adult problems and emotions. The author does a wonderful job of capturing Rachel's isolation and emotions--I felt like I was out there with her on the prarie as she struggled to make her decisions. I would recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys powerful historical fiction, since this is a book that you will remember.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The time is 1903. The setting is Chicago. Rachel is working as a cook in a boarding house, living at home with her parents to whom she hands over most of her paychecks to, and there are no marriage prospects in sight unless she wants to settle for a slaughter house worker and still be a cook in a boarding house ten years down the road. So when a fine fellow, Isaac Dupree comes around talking about 160 acres of South Dakota land, Rachel pretty much proposes to him. The deal: She gets her own 160 acres and hands it over to him in exchange for one year of marriage. Fourteen years and a couple kids later. Rachel has gone from being a cook to trying to scrape enough beans and water together to make the smallest meal. There is a drought. The animals are starving to death, the cow's milk has run dry. Added to that is some doubts she is having about her husband, Isaac and his possibly shady past. He also treats her like a farm hand, not a wife. She is battling back and forth with herself.. Stay in the Badlands or go home to Chicago? Is there even a home for her there anymore? One by one, ranchers are leaving and pretty soon Rachel is the only woman left in the area in the only African American family. It's a good story as far as showing readers what life in pioneer SD was like and especially during a drought but I didn't like Rachel enough to give it a five. She locks her kids in their room while she does stuff rather than watch them.. and even tho she does it to run off and find another one, it's still wrong. What if the house catches fire or something? She also sticks her kid in the dark depths of a well screaming and crying to get the last dredges of water rather than ask for a handout.. When you have kids, you gotta swallow your pride.. That's going too far. I also would have preferred she have a bit more backbone with Isaac. She just let him run and control everything. Spineless.. until the very end. Good ending. The story itself tho, going back and forth between 1903 Chicago and her meeting Isaac to the 1917 Badlands and drought and hungry children, and strange Native American visitors was great. 4/5 stars.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Ann Weisbarger's debut novel focuses on a piece of history that hasn't really been explored much in fiction: the experiences of African Americans homesteading on the frontier around the turn of the century. Rachel Reeves is a 25-year-old working as the kitchen help in the boardinghouse of Mrs. DuPree, a well-to-do African American woman. When Mrs. DuPree's son Isaac comes home to visit, Rachel falls in love with him and agrees to a marriage of convenience. Isaac will commit to one year of marriage to Rachel if she agrees to claim land through the Homestead Act-- land which becomes Isaac's with their marriage.Rachel's choice takes her to the Badlands of South Dakota; as the novel opens, Rachel is pregnant with her eighth child and the family is facing a severe drought. Rachel's voice moves back and forth in time, illuminating both her life in the Badlands and her young adulthood in Chicago, before her marriage. Rachel struggles with issues universal to frontier wives; however, she also confronts issues unique to being an African American woman at the turn of the century. The novel poignantly illustrates that at this time in America's history, there was no truly safe place for African Americans.One of the author's greatest strengths is the ability to write the prose in such a way that you almost feel Rachel's feelings. This novel is a great example of how history can sometimes be experienced much more powerfully in fiction than in nonfiction. The reader experiences what it would have felt like to be this person, during this time period.At a little over three hundred pages, this is a very quick read but one that stays with you. I devoured it in one day. Very highly recommended, and I look forward to more from this author.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    An amazing first person history of two seemingly disparate elements: South Dakota and African American pioneers. Rachel is a cook in a stockyard boardinghouse for black workers when she meets Isaac, the son of the proprietor, and sees opportunity, a chance for love, and a ticket out of crowded Chicago. Isaac, a former Indian fighter, takes Rachel with him to South Dakota to cook and to allow him to stake a larger claim for his cattle ranch.The time frame is the early 1900s, and all the hardships of settling the West and ranching are compounded by drought, racism, loneliness, and Isaac's determination to increase his land holdings at the expense of the health of his family. He's a complex character, as is Rachel, who is alternately devoted to him and her five living children and despairing of their survival due to the continuing series of natural disasters. Her life is torn between her family in South Dakota and her mother, brother, and sisters, who are facing race riots in the Midwest.This is a riveting history, chock full of Rachel's thoughts and deeds. The only missing element is a listing of the author's research and suggestions on additional readings. And a sequel!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Ann Weisgarber spent seven years on the research and writing of The Personal History of Rachel DuPree, her first novel, and has been rewarded for her efforts with several literary honors, including an Orange Prize nomination (the book was first published in England). The research enables Weisgarber to bring her story to life with careful details, but the most effective detail she uses is her title character's narrative voice. The fact that some of the homesteading pioneers of the Great Plains were African-Americans seems to be a bit of an historical footnote, but in some ways it makes sense that they'd seek opportunity in a place where they wouldn't be held back by entrenched traditions and prejudices. Isaac DuPree saw that opportunity in the landowning promise of the Homestead Act; and in Isaac, Rachel Reeves saw her own opportunity to escape potential marriage to a slaughterhouse worker and a life of domestic labor. They made a deal: Isaac could claim Rachel's 160 Homestead-Act acres as well as his own if they got married and remained husband and wife for a year. Twelve years later, they live with their five children on the 2500 acres they now own, seizing more opportunities as neighboring ranchers give up on the tough, unwelcoming Dakota Badlands, sell out, and move back east. And now, a summer of terrible drought and another baby on the way have caused Rachel to wonder whether those neighbors might have had the right idea, and she begins to question what opportunities her children will find in this isolated, difficult place.It's hard not to be impressed by how effectively Ann Weisgarber gives voice to an African-American pioneer woman of nearly a century ago. I was immediately and deeply drawn into Rachel's story and the challenges of her life--not just the hard labor of it, but the deep insecurity of it. Making a living off the land is inherently insecure and easily destabilized by the whims of nature, and for the DuPrees, it's compounded by the harshness of the place where they're trying to make that living. Rachel's increasing sense of loneliness is clear, and I responded strongly to both her strength and the tangled emotions that cause her to doubt it. I wouldn't have minded if The Personal History of Rachel DuPree had been a longer novel; there were some plot threads that didn't seem to be fully explored. At the same time, I'm not sure a longer novel would have had the same intensity or, in the end, have been as satisfying.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Rarely have I experienced a historical novel such as this one. Ms Weisgarber has chosen to champion black women in the undeveloped and barren wilds of the Badlands, and she does it with a sensitivity that will break your heart, sparking feelings you didn't know you possessed. "The Personal History of Rachel DuPree" is a mightily rendered novel, it left me wondering how I could have held my breath such a long time.One thing was certain and universal throughout this book and that was the push-pull of relationship between man and woman. So many have experienced this expectation of the "bargain" for a marriage that hinges upon love and trust often weighed heavily on the woman's side, only to feel that "hinge" rusting away over years of hardship and childbearing. It is particularly present in this novel, handled in profound and bittersweet passages that show the anxieties of a mother's love and protective life-blood vrs. a man's drive to save his land and work. I felt Rachel's heartaches, her loneliness at times, and her isolation in choosing to do what was the best for her children; and, ultimately, for herself. While she, too, believed in working and culling out their stretch of land, it was secondary to her children.Rachel is a character so perfectly described and drawn that she's sure to be remembered in the vein of all great heroines. She's the epitome of not just black (Negro) women, but the best in the feminine spirit that causes us to rise above hardship and strife to claim our rights as women of valour, and mothers who make a difference in the world. She makes us proud to be women.That Ms Weisgarber chose this time period and these characters to write her book shines in its originality. I believe it's a gift that will keep living in the hearts and minds of many. Actually, I expect it will end up in the classrooms and colleges that reach for exceptional reading material of this period and of women who exempify those who made our country what it was meant to be."The Personal History of Rachel DuPree" makes me ashamed in a way that we haven't explored and honored black womens' contributions in opening our frontiers before this!5 well-deserved stars
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    In this tale of a woman who basically sells herself into her marriage for 160 acres of unforgiving land in the South Dakota Badlands the reader sees the strength of the American homesteader.Rachel Reeves was working in the kitchen of Mrs. DuPree's boarding house when Isaac DuPree comes home in his Army uniform. Rachel falls in love but Isaac has one thing on his mind; homesteading in the Badlands where he can stake his claim to 160 acres of land. To him land is everything. Rachel reminds him that as a single woman she too can claim 160 acres. She give him her claim if he agrees to marry her. They do marry and off they head to South Dakota.In spite of Isaac offering her an out after one year of marriage they stay together forging a relationship, building a house and buying other ranches. They are never quite accepted by the others in town due to their color but they cannot be ignored because of the size of their holding.All is going well until drought strikes and suddenly everything they have built together starts to implode. Rachel realizes that Isaac is not what she thought he was. Nor is she.I read this book in one sitting. I couldn't put it down. It's powerful, it's compelling and it's hard to read. Not because of the writing; the writing is beautiful in a harsh, Badlands way but because of the topics. (They are startlingly beautiful but unbelievably harsh country. I loved visiting.) Rachel is a woman who knew what she wanted, went after it but got more than she bargained for. She got her man but he never cared for anything but the land. Everything he did was for that accursed land. What she wanted didn't count. Another woman who thought she would change a man....The characters are well drawn and utterly fascinating. Isaac is a man who knows what he wants and will let nothing stand in his way. Rachel is a woman of strength, courage and love. Like every mother she wants more for her children than she had. When she realizes that life on the ranch is depriving them of many of the sweeter aspects of life she makes a hard decision that will effect all of their lives. I so wanted this book to continue. I felt as if I were immersed in the time period and in the world. Ms. Weisbarber's writing had the power to do that. You won't be disappointed in reading this book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I broke my own rule while reading The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber - I flipped forward and read ahead. And then went back to slowly enjoy the story of Rachel DuPree. I became so invested in her trials and tribulations that I had to know what was going to happen next.It's 1917 and a terrible drought has struck the Badlands in South Dakota. Rachel DuPree, her husband Isaac and their children are struggling to survive this latest hardship. For Isaac, there is no question - he will prevail. His goal has been the land all along and he will not give up. But Rachel is struggling. She's given birth to seven children, lost two and has another on the way. When Isaac lowers one of her girls down the well to get what little water remains, it seems to be a breaking point. Rachel questions her life, what is best for her children and her relationship with the man who is her husband.In flashbacks we learn how Isaac and Rachel came to be homesteaders in this brutal environment. Rachel is a cook in a boarding house. While she believes she is in love with the dashing son of the owner, Isaac sees it as a business proposition - Rachel can apply for another 160 acres of land from the Homestead Act. "I stared until my eyes blurred. It was so big. All that land and sky, all that openness; there was no end to any of it. It made me feel small, It gave me a bad feeling,. I didn't belong; this place called for bigger things than me."Weisgarber has written a story rich with emotion, detail and history. Relationships are explored - that of Rachel and her husband, the sense of belonging and homesickness. The history of settlers in this area has been explored, but not really from the point of view of black settlers. Rachel faces predjudice from many sides - that of 'upper class' blacks, whites and the native Americans as well. Isaac's view of the natives was an eye opener - he bristles at his treatment at the hand of whites, yet considers himself above the natives. I really enjoyed the physical details of everyday life and what it took to stake a claim - the dreams, the hopes and the aspirations. The setting is a character in the book as well, the wind, the dust and the grit almost tangible in Weisgarber's descriptions.I think I enjoyed this book so much as the character of Rachel reminded me of Addy Shadd, the protagonist in one of my favourite books - Rush Home Road by Lori Lansens. The strength it takes to move continually forward despite unforgiving odds. The pleasure of finding joy amongst the troubles. The courage to make difficult decisions. And the determination to keep going.As Rachel says: "I admired the feel of a book. I opened the book and held it to each girl's nose. I alwasy believed that smelling the pages of a book took a person into the story." I lost myself in Rachel's story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The inside book jacket says this is reminiscent of Willa Cather, Laura Ingalls Wilder and The Color Purple. I did think of Wilder and Cather in that this book is so entirely different from theirs, and as for The Color Purple, well, the characters are African American and work hard, that's about it. I found this to be completely unique work, the all American capitalist story told by someone with little interest in economics. Rachel moved from Louisiana to the slaughterhouse area of Chicago as a child, left school at age 16 to earn money for her family as a cook, and experienced constant discrimination from Chicago's black elite because of her dark color and her family's recent immigration. She idolizes Ida B. Wells-Barnett and thinks she would make the woman proud of her by marrying a charismatic, ambitious, hard working, good looking goal-oriented soldier who wanted to make his fortune by settling a ranch in the Badlands of South Dakota. Fourteen years and eight children later the Badlands continue to live up to their name. The family experiences hardship after hardship: draught, freezing winters, hunger, thirst, loneliness and racism. How Rachel deals with these difficulties and what she thinks about them are what make the book so unique. Aside from a rather unbelievable birth scene I found the book nearly perfect and would recommend it to anyone interested in reading about pioneers, hard work or marriage.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved this book from the first words! To have gone through all that this woman and her family went through was amazing and sad. She believed that by marrying Isaac she would rise above her current life as a maid only to still be one in a worse way. I believe she loved him but he did not love her, she was a means to an end. It took a lot of courage for her to finally get out and to take her children away from a life that would never get better.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Excellent short historical read about a black family farming in the Badlands of South Dakota in 1917.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A lovely little book - shortlisted for the Orange Award for New Writers and it was beautifully written and well crafted for a first novel. The topic was interesting - a black family settling in the Dakota Badlands when there were very few black ranchers. We learn Rachel's story through the present day (drought, five kids and on...e on the way) and through flashbacks and throughout it all we feel her slowly gathering pain and her understanding that although she loves her husband he is more interested in acquiring land and cattle than he is in seeing his family clothed, comfortable or safe. Some interesting details about relationships with the Indians - while the DuPree's suffered racism and intolerance they were busily subjecting their Indian neighbours to the same treatment.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I usually enjoy books about enduring and overcoming hardship, but for some reason this particular story didn't move me much. I did enjoy the symbolism of Rachel's pregnancy, however. The baby she is carrying represents the ultimate choice that she makes in regard to her life in the Badlands, and more importantly, her marriage.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    As this novel begins it is the early 1900's, and Rachel Reeves has been working as a cook for eight years at Mrs. DuPree's boarding house for black men in Chicago. Now 25, she is still unmarried, but attracted to Mrs. DuPree’s son Isaac, 31, who has been in the army for 13 years. (Isaac served in the 9th Cavalry Regiment, historically one of the few segregated African American regiments in the U.S. Army at that time.) Isaac intends to get land pursuant to the 1862 Homestead Act, providing that any man or unmarried woman could claim a hundred and sixty ares of public land out west. Even blacks were eligible - as Isaac explained to a friend: “The Homestead Act doesn’t care about the color of a man’s skin. A man’s a man in the West.”Mrs. DuPree looks down on Rachel - she is “too dark,” not well-educated (she had to quit school to support her family), and doesn’t come from an aristocratic family. Nevertheless, the ambitious Isaac figures that with Rachel, he could get 320 acres instead of 160, and agrees to marry her for one year in exchange. Rachel intended to prove to Isaac in that year that he wouldn’t be able to do without her. Mrs. DuPree disowns Isaac for marrying “low” and the couple sets out for the South Dakota Badlands.The book, narrated by Rachel, goes back and forth in time beginning when Rachel worked at the boarding house, and alternating with a period fourteen years after the couple left for the west. They now have five children, with another two having died as infants. Life in the Badlands is extremely difficult, but whenever they get extra money, Isaac uses it to buy yet more land; as the story begins, they have 2500 acres, but hardly enough food and water to survive.Rachel increasingly feels that Isaac cares more about accumulating land than the welfare of the rest of the family, especially the children. Brave, resourceful, and determined, she makes a hard decision for her future.Discussion: There are a couple of subplots in the story worth mentioning. One is the social divide between Northern and Southern blacks. If you read World of Our Fathers by Irving Howe you will be reminded of the similar dissonance between German and Russian Jewish immigrants to the United States, the former considering themselves a cut above the latter. When Mrs. DuPree has Ida B. Wells come to speak to her ladies group, Rachel is delighted to discover that the famous and accomplished Mrs. Wells had been born a slave in Mississippi and related more to Rachel than the fancy women in the parlor. [Ida Bell Wells-Barnett born in 1862, was an African-American journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, sociologist, feminist, an early leader in the Civil Rights Movement, and one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.]Another thread running through the story is Isaac’s curiously virulent hostility toward Native Americans. Rachel doesn’t find out the reason for it until almost the end of the story. But hints of what happened arise periodically, and affect the family’s relationship with others out west.Evaluation: This gem of a book grabbed me from the start. It’s not long, but manages to pack a lot into it, from conditions for early settlers in the west, to race relations, social conventions, gender roles and expectations, and family love and loyalty. It would make an excellent book club selection.Awards:Orange Prize Nominee for New Writers (2009)David J. Langum Sr. Prize for American Historical Fiction (2010)Note: A movie with an all-star cast (with Viola Davis, Mahershala Ali, and Quvenzhané Wallis is in the works.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber is a story of the hardships and sacrifice that pioneer women faced and, making conditions even more harrowing, this is the story of a black pioneer woman. As the story opens Rachel and her family are living through the third year of a terrible drought in the Badlands of South Dakota. Rachel has married an ambitious man whose first priority is acquiring and keeping his land and Rachel has been his steady helpmate for all the fourteen years of their marriage. But when he decides to leave Rachel and her five children alone on the ranch through the winter in order to find work that will give him the means to buy his neighbours land, a heavily pregnant Rachel must decide whether to follow along with her man’s plan or chose another path for herself and the children.Written in straight forward, spare prose, Rachel comes alive on these pages. She has suppressed her wants and needs for years in order to help her husband reach his goals, but as a protective and nurturing mother, she also realizes that she must do something in order for her children to have a better future. The author also touches on the fundamental divide that black people faced at that time, and although this divide could be found all across America, this was one more way that Rachel was isolated and alone in the Badlands of Dakota.The Personal History of Rachel DuPree is an original piece of historical fiction, telling as it does, about the life of a black frontier woman. A big plus is that this is also an excellent story about love, loyalty and obligation as well.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Enjoyable book about a African American family homesteading in the early 1900's.

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    this is a real slice of history - and a tough read due to the subject. The story is about a women who falls in absolute love with a man who sees in her a women who can survive in the wilds of America. Their life is one long and painful struggle and the book at times is so hard to read as its so, so sad. Its well written but its a harrowing read. Not appropriate for anyone looking for a cheery novel. Read it when you are feeling emotionally ok!

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Personal History of Rachel Dupree by Ann Weisgarber is written so vividly and with such intensity that I felt that I was living her life as I read.I picked this book because my grandmother and grandfather homesteaded in South Dakota in the same time period. They were discouraged by extremes of the climate and moved back to Indiana when my great grandmother offered them a house. There was no hesitation about their decision.But this book is much more than the struggle to survive Mother Nature’s extremes. It asks the question of what is important in life. What life should you make for your children? It deals with racism, the work ethic, survival and marriage. All the themes are strong and thought provoking.The book opens with a gripping scene. Rachel’s daughter Liz will be lowered down a well. There has been a terrible drought and extreme water rationing. Liz is only six years old and she is being forced to save her family’s life. The well is almost completely dry. Liz doesn’t want to go. Her father, Isaac insists. Her mother was praying that God take care of Liz. She begs Isaac not to do it. When four buckets and a part of another have been filled by the little girl, she is hauled up. Her hands are bleeding, she has been crying, her clothes are torn. Later it seems that she is vacant, she stares, and she doesn’t want to do anything. Should any child be forced to do this? This is just one of the poignant scenes in this book. This book immersed me in the times and places and the feelings of this homesteading family.I highly recommend this book. I will never forget this story. I hope that you will read this book. And even though my grandmother never had to face racism at its worse, I now have a deeper understanding of why my grandparents quit homesteading after several years.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I wanted Isaac to say that I meant something to him, that he’d be proud to take me as his wife. Instead, I felt cheap. This wasn’t how I wanted it to be. I had sold myself for a hundred and sixty acres of land. But it didn’t have to stay that way. I’d work hard. I’d prove myself. Isaac wouldn’t be able to do without me. - from The Personal History of Rachel DuPree, page 57 -It is the early part of the twentieth century and Rachel is a black woman working as a housekeeper in a Chicago boarding house when she meets Isaac DuPree. Isaac is a Buffalo Soldier fighting Indians in the West and he dreams of land ownership – something that is now possible through the Homestead Act (a Federal law which gave an applicant ownership of free farmland called a “homestead” – typically 160 acres of undeveloped federal land west of the Mississippi River). Rachel is instantly attracted to Isaac, but Isaac is not looking for a wife…until he realizes that marrying Rachel means he will have 320 acres instead of just 160. They strike a bargain that Rachel will turn over her land to Isaac and he will marry her for one year. Fourteen years later, the couple is still together living on the unforgiving plains of the South Dakota Badlands with their five children.The Personal History of Rachel DuPree is written in the first person narrative of Rachel, a woman who had dreams of her own wooden home but now finds herself barely surviving a drought, and desperate for the contact of other women. Fearful for her children and at odds with her husband, Rachel begins to hatch a plan to escape the Badlands and return to Chicago.Ann Weisgarber’s novel is the story of one woman, but it takes a broader look at the struggle of blacks to break free of inequality and become landowners. Weisgarber also touches on the plight of Native Americans during the early part of the twentieth century…and about the rigid racial stereotypes which were typical at that time.Through vivid descriptions of life in a barren and harsh environment, Rachel Dupree lives and breathes in the pages of this novel. Rachel is symbolic of the many women who ventured from civilization into the wilds of the west, helping their husbands to settle the land and facing drought, starvation, accidents and even the dangers of childbirth with courage.The writing in this novel is unsentimental, Rachel’s voice often matter-of-fact, yet it is surprisingly moving. I found myself deeply engrossed in this very American story of a strong woman’s quest for a better life for herself and her children. Readers who love Pioneer history, will be drawn to Weisgarber’s novel which was short-listed for the Orange Prize’s New Writers Award in 2009.Recommended.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This must be the most hardscrabble of all the hardscrabble books I’ve read. Having visited The Badlands, I cannot imagine trying to make a living there, especially during a drought. This novel plainly and startlingly tells a story about homesteading in the 1910s by a black family in South Dakota. Ann Weisgarber makes you feel the desolation of the area, the hopelessness of the situation, and the strength of character it takes to endure. Water. You won’t take it for granted after reading this book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Rachel Reeves was a strong-willed, hard-working woman from Chicago who wanted a better life for herself, including marrying a man with "ambition." When her boss's son, Isaac DuPree, came home on leave from the Army, Rachel knew she met the man she wanted to marry. Isaac was determined to improve his lot in life by planning to move to South Dakota to become a rancher. Rachel, seeing her ticket out, approached Isaac about marrying her to help him claim more land - an offer he couldn't refuse. It was then that she became Rachel DuPree - and  her personal history as a black wife of a South Dakota rancher came alive on the page.Rachel's story about living in the harsh conditions of South Dakota was mesmorizing. At the time of the story, her ranch was experiencing a severe drought, and she worried about food and water for her family (which included four children and one on the way). As conditions worsened, Rachel began to yearn for life back in Chicago. For Isaac, though, returning home meant failure - he wouldn't even consider it. Rachel began to ponder her choices, deeply torn between her children and her marriage.A deep undertone to The Personal History of Rachel DuPree was racism. As a black family, the DuPrees experienced racism in South Dakota, but what was more pronounced was the racism toward Native Americans. Additionally, there was racism among the African Americans, where Northern blacks discriminated against blacks from the South. This book was an eye-opening look at the various forms of racism that plagued the U.S. in the early 20th century.With its strong characters and themes, A Personal History of Rachel DuPree is a worthwhile read for anyone who likes stories that examine social issues. It was longlisted for the Orange Prize in 2010 and shortlisted for the Orange Award for New Writers. It's definitely worthy of its accolades, and I look forward to more fiction by Ann Weisgarber.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Seizing an opportunity, Chicago maid Rachel talks Buffalo soldier into marrying her so he can purchase two homestead act claims in the Bad Lands of South Dakota. 14 years later, Isaac is land hungry and cash poor, as Rachel tries to keep the homestead going with 5 children, 3 dead and no supplies for the winter when Isaac leaves for a mining job. In the end, she leaves two white teenagers in charge after she finds a letter that Isaac was intending to marry off 13 yo Mary to a widower in another state.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    3.5 starsRachel is a black woman who married Isaac, on a deal to get land in South Dakota. Fourteen years later and five kids with one more on the way (and two in the ground), and they are suffering the worst drought, and don’t know how they will survive. It’s 1917, as they struggle, and it’s even more difficult due to being the only black family for miles. This was good. They may have been the only black family, but there were “Indians” nearby; Isaac hates the Indians, so Rachel took her cue from her husband (though she would need the help of one of the women later on). I especially liked the way it ended, and would love for there to be a sequel, as I’d love to know what happens next!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    In this tale of a woman who basically sells herself into her marriage for 160 acres of unforgiving land in the South Dakota Badlands the reader sees the strength of the American homesteader.Rachel Reeves was working in the kitchen of Mrs. DuPree's boarding house when Isaac DuPree comes home in his Army uniform. Rachel falls in love but Isaac has one thing on his mind; homesteading in the Badlands where he can stake his claim to 160 acres of land. To him land is everything. Rachel reminds him that as a single woman she too can claim 160 acres. She give him her claim if he agrees to marry her. They do marry and off they head to South Dakota.In spite of Isaac offering her an out after one year of marriage they stay together forging a relationship, building a house and buying other ranches. They are never quite accepted by the others in town due to their color but they cannot be ignored because of the size of their holding.All is going well until drought strikes and suddenly everything they have built together starts to implode. Rachel realizes that Isaac is not what she thought he was. Nor is she.I read this book in one sitting. I couldn't put it down. It's powerful, it's compelling and it's hard to read. Not because of the writing; the writing is beautiful in a harsh, Badlands way but because of the topics. (They are startlingly beautiful but unbelievably harsh country. I loved visiting.) Rachel is a woman who knew what she wanted, went after it but got more than she bargained for. She got her man but he never cared for anything but the land. Everything he did was for that accursed land. What she wanted didn't count. Another woman who thought she would change a man....The characters are well drawn and utterly fascinating. Isaac is a man who knows what he wants and will let nothing stand in his way. Rachel is a woman of strength, courage and love. Like every mother she wants more for her children than she had. When she realizes that life on the ranch is depriving them of many of the sweeter aspects of life she makes a hard decision that will effect all of their lives. I so wanted this book to continue. I felt as if I were immersed in the time period and in the world. Ms. Weisbarber's writing had the power to do that. You won't be disappointed in reading this book.