This book is an amalgamation of three stories; in the beginning of the story, it familiarizes us to the people majorly from Swiss German, Norwegian and Ukrainian who were immigrants who settled the prairie for reasons: They were in search of religious freedom and prosperity for their children, farmers escaping poverty and many others. Subsequentstory was that of the weather forecasters who were concerned with the study of the weather patterns as they claimed that they will no longer be thrilled by the abrupt weather changes and it happened that the immigrants’ weather location was under their jurisdiction. Moreover, the third succeeding storyis about the Blizzard weather system and its effects on the immigrants who were affected by the same weather system.
From the amalgamated three stories of this book, the major impression portrayed that could be its theme is the theme of weather. From the beginning, we see that the immigrants moved from their original homes to their current place of settlement because of the hostile weather effects. As stated in the story. “Deeply religious Schweitzer Anabaptist hard-scrabble farmers escaping poverty, they endured appalling hardships to get to land sight unseen. (5)”elucidate how these people came from an unfavorable weather stricken area. Thesucceedingstory presents to us the people who are concerned with the study of weather patterns and finally we see a weather system that courses the adverse effects on people.
According to my analysis of the book, the thesis is proved to my satisfaction since it talks about weather and the adverse weather conditions that will dictate our way of living and through the weather forecasting it exudes the level to which mankind can go in order to fit in the weather conditions not the weather to fit into theirs.
Books Strength:
The writing style of the book connotes the main ideas of the book; it enables an easy understanding of its contents. Moreover, it gives the reader a passion to continue reading the book by the application of the suspense style and the flow of the story.
Books Weakness:
The book or the author of the book did not clearly/distinctively choose the audience of the book. The reader of the book might be torn between many ideas upon deciding whom the book was specifically directed to. First, it introduces us to the farmers who are affected by the hostile environment, then to the weather forecasters and again to the people who were affected by hostile weather conditions and the aftermath of the same.
Example of authors writing style:
Writing style is the manner in which a writer cherry-picks amid different schemes to discourse a subject and an audience.
Occupation:
The position of a writer and his or her idea of the audience apply style limits on the writing. The writer takes an external role in writing the book. He does not include himself in the situation and places him in the center of the narrative. This is because according to the audience he was targeting. He takes a third person narrative and disregards his personality in the story.
“They, too, were devoid of coats and gloves due to the warmth of the weather.”(15) And “Laski follows several families from the inauguration of their sojourn to the harsh reality of their terminus.” Footnote (iii) this shows how the writer occupies the third persona position to narrate the story.
Laski’s’ choice of sources is quite impressive as well as justifiable. He retrieves his information from survivors of the Blizzard through conduction of interviews. This ensures that he receives much accurate and first hand information upon which he narrates the details of the blizzard. The further interviewing of descendants coupled with sourcing of historical records, newspaper accounts as well as genealogical charts makes the authors sources water tight and justifiable. It is the skillful blending of information from these sources that builds the whole story in a manner that brings the past events to the present.
The authors’ qualifications with respect to writing of the book are in order. This is amplified by the manner in which he goes out of his way to solicit for information from valid sources then skillfully put the bits together in terms of events occurrence. As a result, he is able to narrate the story in an hour-by-hour and minute by minute occurrence of events.
He also directs his focus on the children who are the main victims of the storm, as he narrates how teachers and parents spared no efforts to secure them. By directing his focus on the main subject of the story, he portrays his ability not to lose track of the main idea. The skilful blending of suspense, heartstring tugging and humorous style in narration of the story is also excruciating.
Other reviews support and contradiction of this review
Judy McAloon ‘s review of the same book also affirms the qualification, and the unique skills of the author as is evident in her concluding remarks, “this is quite a gripping story, well structured and well told.” She also concurs to the fact that the author is able to stay focused on the thesis of the story by demonstrating how he devotes most of the chapters of the book to the occurrence of the storm, its effects and the families featured in the whole blizzard. Thomson greaw supports the choice of sources and acknowledgement of Laski’s sources as is evident in his review when he asserts that,” Laski’s acknowledgment and sources cited at the end of the book are as exiting as the story itself.” He further alludes that the resources relied upon by the author to produce such an intriguing story is almost insurmountable.
However, John Pesky, in his review of the same book holds a contradicting view with the respect to the author’s qualification in writing the story. He is of the opinion that Laski is not an authority in the field of metrology. Therefore, most of the information in reaction to the weather may not be factual at all. On the other hand, Persky’s statement may be overruled by the fact that Laski used valid sources to collect information. Those sources such as historical records can be argued to have been authored by authorities’ in the metrological field.
Book recommendation
I would certainly recommend the book to my classmates especially those who have an affinity for Novels that have an incredible sense of suspense and an historical touch. The nostalgic manner in which the book brings past events into present perspective makes it interesting to read as well as informative for most of us who never witnessed those horrific occurrences as they unfolded. The Children Blizzard still stands out among other related novels as a masterpiece that explicitly and comprehensively narrates the story of the storm (Enter name).
References
L.David. The Children Blizzard. London: Harper Collins, 2005.
McAloon, Judy. The Chidrens Blizzard Review. review. Prince williams: Potmac Library, 2005.
Perksy, John. A Review of the Childrens Blizzard Book. Review. London: Mc- graw hill, 2006.
