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martydah's review against another edition
4.0
This was an interesting novel about Harriet (not her real name) the Bohemian girl of the title who is left enslaved to a Pawnee Indian by her father to pay off a debt. She eventually escapes and finds herself in a series of odd experiences in the not-yet-state of Nebraska in the early 1860s. She ends up as the proprietor of a dry goods store - the owner has been murdered, we aren't told by whom - and the foster mother of a baby that has been left in her care. She gives shelter to runaway slaves in her store cellar, celebrates Nebraska's new statehood and eventually marries a man who turns out to be a bigamist. Hailed as 'part-True Grit, part-Huckberry Finn' and the contemporary take on Willa Cather's My Antonia, the plot is almost too adventure-filled, too fast moving at the beginning. Eventually, after Harriet settles down to shopkeeping duties in the town, it evens out and becomes more engaging. I enjoyed Harriet's bold ability to adapt to whatever challenges she faced. Svoboda made her into a truly remarkable character.
smedette's review against another edition
2.0
The description grabbed my attention, but I was let down again, and again. Overall, it was fine, but it was way too much work to get through a book of this size (fewer than 200 pages). My biggest complaint was the lack of quotation marks used (as in, not at all), so I had a really difficult time telling when Harriet was speaking to another character or if it was an internal monologue. I was constantly re-reading sections and become frustrated with the prose.
Just not for me.
Just not for me.
midwestchickadee's review against another edition
3.0
While I enjoyed the book, it felt like I was reading a summary of a novel. Sparse on details at times.
abookishtype's review against another edition
Therese Svoboda’s Bohemian Girl is a sparely written odyssey about self-reliance more than anything else, I think. Our heroine, who names herself Harriet, has nothing but bad luck when it comes to her relationships. Things only seem to go well for her when she forges her own path...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.
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