I can see why Donna was fascinated with her grandmother's stories. If she were my grandmother I would have been too. But the book fell short. No brilliant writing, no captivating characters. The message that life was hard and people were flawed hit the mark tho. Maude was a strong woman.

Unforgettable story of a strong woman who lived a life filled with one tragedy after another. Maude's strength and persistence are both remarkable and inspiring.

not the most well written book - a bit still and not engaging. written more like a narrative and not very enticing. Howerver to learn about the era that people live in and how you got along is interesting to see. Other than so much tragedy in one life, life itself was probably like this for most people. You do want to just shake some of the charachers and tell them to wake up , but I'm suspecting many people were like this in those days. Depressing and sad and you do wish Maude had a better life in many ways. while not my most favorite book I'm guessing a book club would find many interesting things to discuss in this one