We finally finished reading The Yearling, and still I’m thinking about the characters. It was a long book for us and written in a dialect we were not used to, but my heart became attached to these poor authentic country folks living in the backwoods of post-civil war Florida who struggled to simply live and make ends meet. This story although considerably long on descriptions, was quite moving, tender and realistic. I find myself thinking about this boy Jody, and wanting to know more. I want to have coffee with the Mother Ora because I know her heart was lonely and sad.
One reason we decided to explore this particular book was because it is a definite boys book with plenty of adventures…and yet it allows the reader to get an intimate view of the hardships, struggles and successes of the Baxter family. There were many adult themes in this story (death, starvation, rattle snake attacks, devastating floods etc.) so I would hesitate to read to very young children, but the life lessons were so profound that I would not want to skip reading this at the proper age.
Although we’ve watched this old classic film several times, the book described in detail so much more than the movie did. The film emphasized the relationship between the boy (Jody) and his pet fawn (flag). In the novel the main relationship was between the boy and his dad.