The Yearling

A young adult classic that my friend Sara and I chose as our first book club read. This is a slow paced book so I could see how a English teacher could drag this out as a lesson plan for a few months. It is so incredibly well written and descriptive that its easy to forget or overlook something that Rawlings so beautifully composes.

This was an incredibly depressing book though. I felt that the ending was unnecessary and killed the integrity of the rest of this overall wonderful story. It seemed like Rawlings described everything to the smallest detail and then the ending (which is pretty easy to figure out), sort of slaps you in the face for effect and leaves you. I hated the ending. It is the reason I will never read this book again, or recommend to anyone who doesn't want to read something with a terrible finish.

The rest of the book is beautiful though. You can really feel and appreciate the struggle of the lives of Penny, Ma and Jody. But despite this tough life, I felt that the ending was avoidable and unnecessary (despite what other people may say!)

Read at your own risk. The ending will bother you for days. It did for me.