Classics Challenge - The Harvester

I think this is my third Gene Stratton-Porter book. They are a great read when you want something easy and safe and that was just what I needed right now. By safe I mean they are sweet and light and you know that the guy's gonna get the girl or the girl is gonna make it through her fever/trials of high school when her clothes aren't suitable or the mean guy is not going to succeed at whatever evil deeds he's scheming. Sometimes they are almost too sweet, but they aren't twaddle. And sometimes, you just need some sweetness in your life.

The Harvester is about a man who has built up a career around gathering herbs and plants from his property but suddenly finds he needs something (someone ?) else in his life. It was a bit of a slow start for me. But I hung in there for the first quarter and once it picked up, I finished the rest in two days.

Descriptions of nature are one of the things that Gene Stratton-Porter excels at. You just feel like your there - or you want to be. I find myself reading one of her novels and wanting to toss it aside and go for a hike in the woods. But this particular book has a LOT of very lengthy descriptive passages and as someone who considered herself a reformed passage skimmer, it offered too many temptations. I'll admit I skimmed a couple pages here and there. I just couldn't help it. I was too invested in the plot to listen to her woods about the yellow finches meandering flitters through the marsh and the sounds it makes along the way. But they are really amazing descriptions so  I probably should consider my skimming a fault of mine not the author's.

 Also, up until the end, there was one idea about what love is that was driving me crazy.  It felt like it was the writers point of view as well as our heroes and I strongly disagreed with it. So while I wasn't worried about the book overall having a happy ending as I knew it would, I was worried that I'd want to chuck the book at the wall at the end. Now a lot happens in the story and I can't say more without major spoilers but I will say that it resolved well, this issue was resolved and I can recommend the book if you too are in need of a happy go lucky light read with a heavy dose of nature lore.

The Harvester is my  Classic by a Woman Author selection for the Back to the Classics Challenge. Learn about the Back to the Classic's Challenge over at Books and Chocolate.