The Diary of Mattie Spenser by Sandra Dallas

This was our book club choice for May and I mostly enjoyed it. It is very similar to These Is My Words but not as good, in my opinion. It didn't have enough likable characters, and there was an insane amount of horrific things that happened. Mattie is a girl who believes she will never marry, and then one day a very handsome young man she has had a crush on for years asks her to marry him. The catch is that he has bought land in the Colorado territory and the wagon trek across the plains can be perilous. The other catch is that he asks her because she is a strong, practically-minded woman and he thinks she can endure the hard life that will be required to live in indian country. Plus the woman he really wanted to marry turned him down. She accepts, they make it across the plains, and build a home miles away from any neighbors and the nearest town.

I liked Mattie, but it annoyed me how ignorant she was when things got bad with her husband. She put her blinders on and ignored all the signs. She had good neighbors and a decent support system of good men she could pick from, but instead keeps going back to her worthless, cheating, jerk of a husband. The husband made me mad; I think he had good intentions in the beginning, but he continually took advantage of his wife's goodness and forgiving nature. The fact that this was a fictional story kind of annoyed me too; because it is fiction, the author could have chosen for more joy to be present in the story. I know horrific things happened to the early western settlers, but I'm a little skeptical by the sheer amount of awfulness that happened to basically everyone in Mattie's life. And the author could also have manufactured a satisfying ending. The journal ends before there is any sense of resolution. There is an epilogue told by Mattie's great-granddaughter that suggests her husband turned things around and they lived a long and happy life together. I think the ending was a huge cop-out. The author had the opportunity for a great redeeming story, a chance to show the husband's journey and change of heart, but instead gives us that information in a couple paragraphs. So disappointing. I definitely like These Is My Words better; similar setting, way better characters and more fulfilling.

It was a good read; I was interested the whole time, wanting to know what happened next. Mattie's voice is easy to read and pretty entertaining. There was plenty of action (arguably too much, somewhat unrealistic) so I was never bored. But there were too many despicable main characters. There were 2-3 that I really loved, but things didn't work out the way I wanted them to with them in the end.

2.5 out of 5 stars