I found this very slow and very boring. I did finish it, but it did not grab my attention at all. ( )

I liked the way this book was written. I felt like I was part of the main character, Minna, while I read. Her thoughts and expectations were very realistic. ( )

This book would have received a rated higher from me except that I just recently read the diary/book by Rachel Calof. The author of Little Bride cites Rachel Calof's story as one of her resources, but to me it felt like she just took that true story and created a fictionalized-soapy version. I did not like any of the characters in this book. I kept comparing Rachel to Minna, the Little Bride, and in no way did Minna compare favorably.
The rich and varied subject/themes of both books deserve to a much better novel. ( )

Every book I've read based on the prairie back in the 1800's has shown what hardships the people endured. The winters were so harsh they would run out of food or the snow was so high the animals froze and they only had tunnels of snow to walk through. Some tied rope between the houses and the barns so they could get through. This family is suffering because they wanted a new life and Max wanted to go it alone and be a farmer even though he didn't know what he was doing. Minna, has lost her parents and is a servant to an abusive woman. Why wouldn't she want something better for herself. She heads to America for a better life as I think a lot of women who have nothing do. When I read the cover of this book I saw several comments about it being a love story. But if it's a love story, shouldn't it have a nice ending. Instead it just ends and in a disappointing way. The descriptions are fantastic, you can hear the snow crack, see the dry and cracked ground. But you also feel for Minna and not be sorry for her at all. You want her to find a better life yet you wish she wouldn't be so selfish. Then again, I wonder if I would do exactly what she did in the same circumstances. It's an enjoyable book and well worth the read. ( )

I think the beauty with this book was this quietness over it, this stillness and contemplation that what happens happens. Which also makes this one hard book to rate, because even if I liked the story and so on I would rate it one way. But then I look at the writing and the feeling and it has to have a better rating. Because it is just good.

The story is about Minna who is a servant in Odessa, bad times being a Jew there, or anywhere for that matter. So she signs with an agency and becomes a mail order bride. Poor Minna has hopes for a better life and she is not prepared for the harsh life of a farmer's wife. She could have managed but the thing is that her new husband is no farmer. He knows nothing at all and he is very strict orthodox and the farm suffers because of it. Well the hut, the mule, the cow and a little field that makes up the farm. But there is freedom there, freedom to be themselves. And this in a land where there is another people worse off than they are. The story is good, and I liked Minna and her silent suffering. Her husband is a good man, just too good and clueless. Her stepsons are nice too, but there we get the little bit of drama, attraction. Not to mention a winter of suffering as they have no food and it's cold.

The only thing I did not like was the end, it was ok, but that was just it. We got a little insight in what happens in her life. But I was not happy. Still, why should I be, she seemed happy and that is all that matters.

It is a book I recommend, because in the end I have not read a book like this. Yes sure I have read books about pioneers, but not about Jewish pioneers, and rules brings another dimension to this new life. Neither did I know about the am olam movement. And I do like a book that manages to teach me something too.

Conclusion:
In the end, it is the author's voice that I like, and it is a great debut.

( )