I enjoyed this book. Took place in the prairie just outside of Chicago. A farming novel from the 1920’s. Reminded me of a Willa Cather novel with a strong female main character. The title was a bit wired. Didn’t have much to do with the general vibe of the book as it pertains to a childhood name for her son. ( )

Not a bad novel. Kind of epic. ( )

The title refers to a little boy named Dirk, and long known as "Sobig", after the ubiquitous game played with babies, but mostly this is the story of his mother, Selena Peake DeJong, whose life as a midwestern farmer's wife is not at all what she envisioned as a gay young thing. Selena had a rather bohemian upbringing with a gambling father who was always either flush or flat broke. Her outlook on life was persistently optimistic even when things were uncertain to the point of panic; her eye for beauty was keener than those that found it only in accepted presentations. While her unimaginative husband struggled to sustain a livelihood from their marginal farm, Selena envisioned improvements, innovations and expansions that would ease the future for their beloved son. Her positivity never wavered, even as "Sobig", failing to find a passion for any pursuit, settled into a successful but uninspiring career and an attachment to a married woman. I assume we are meant to see how a challenging life is more fulfilling than one in which all the seams are smoothed and gears well-oiled, but Dirk DeJong is so much less engaging than his mother that I nearly lost interest in the story when he became the center of it. Luckily, that did not happen until approximately the last third, and it's a relatively short novel. Definitely a worthwhile read, and deserving of its Pulitzer, but one that did not quite live up to its early promise, for me. ( )

I mean, she was a competent-enough author, but trying to get past the sexism, racism, speciesism, making fun of special needs, is near impossible. I was constantly infuriated. I liked the protagonist, Selina, for her genuine values that she tried to pass on to her son Dirk, but her story only lasted through the first half of the book, then it passed on to Dirk's story. The ending was rather satisfying, when he realized what a fuckup he was.
It was painful to read about Selina marrying a poor farmer, just because her hormones dictated it. My mother came from the farm, and I had to see how my grandma was broken by being a poor sharecropper's wife. ( )

they made the right decision giving this the pulitzer in 1925 ( )