Reviews

Backwards to Oregon by Jae

Only show reviews with written explanations

lurker_stalker's review against another edition

3.0

A fantastic book. Great characters and plot. Andy and I discuss it on episode 16 of Cocktail Hour: http://www.cocktailhour.c-spot.net/archives/66 and Nikki and I review it on C-Spot Reviews: http://reviews.c-spot.net/archives/4746.

**1/27/16 - time for a reread of one of my absolute favorite books of all time. I'm always so damn sad when the book is over.**

**7/27/21 - will definitely be sticking to either eyeball or text to speech reading from now on. The regular mispronounced words was too much.**

miyohtnk's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

stefhyena's review

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adventurous hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I really enjoyed this, enjoyed it more than most things I read and wanted to keep reading and I think the source of that feeling was the wholesome relationship between Luke and Nora. It was like a cosy cup of cocoa to read about them and also because I am non-binary I appreciated the contradictions around Luke's gender (for all that Luke and I are not very similar, many of the questions and inabilities to settle for an easy answer rang true for me).

I often don't like children being in a romance story. I have brought up children and worked with children for a long time and hate the cutesy way they get depicted in romance stories. Children are neither as irrational, as selfish or as innocent as they are usually (patronisingly) depicted by adult writers. Still in this case I did feel that Nora's kids were essential to showing us what sort of a person Luke was and that was totally loveable and a version of fatherhood I was very happy to see. It also made the theme of childhood trauma a redeemable one.

I rarely like romance as much as this because rarely do the MCs treat each other so well. Their difficulties and angst were validly caused by things outside of each other, neither was perfect but they were sweet enough for this to be escapism.

I did not enjoy the rapey man and DV man in the story. I know conflict is necessary for plot but those are probably the most traumatic versions of conflict I can think of and it felt yuck to read any scenes with either of them in it. Apart from that it was managed well and there was even some acknowledgement (without derailing the cosy romance) that there was a whole social context around why men felt emboldened to act that way (Nora's family was little or no better). Jacob presented a good counternarrative to these horrible masculinities. He was not openminded enough to really understand the situation but he was a caring and good man within his society.

I felt that aspects of the way "Indians" were depicted was problematic, though the author made a good effort not to be reductionist or generic. I understand that American pioneers are always already problematic and that Jae avoided the one-sidedness of source amterial like little house on the prairie. I also felt that the way "prostitutes" were depicted was problematic, I felt that Jae steered a good course into the complexity between the time (when it was seen as obscene and immoral and women had limited agency within most professions including that one) but not being too slut-shaming....mostly. Luke reflecting on "she's smart fo a prostitute" or "a good mother for a prostitute" DOES get explained late in the book but it's still a bit uncomfortable and I question whether it added a lot.

Overall this was a much better than average sapphic romance and I do like to read sapphic romance from time to time as a way of unhooking my brain from more stressful thinks.

jcurry447's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

extrafolklore's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

saltybiscuit's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

It's definitely problematic at times 😬 though I do relate to Luke re gender presentation and would have absolutely done that too if I were in the 1850s.