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Book Reviews of The White

The White
The White
Author: Deborah Larsen
ISBN-13: 9780375413599
ISBN-10: 0375413596
Publication Date: 7/2002
Pages: 240
Rating:
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 89

3.5 stars, based on 89 ratings
Publisher: Knopf
Book Type: Hardcover
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

27 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

reviewed The White on + 29 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 8
A riveting fictional account(based on certain actual events ) of Mary Jemison who was abducted from her PA home at 16 by a Shawnee hunting party.This is the story of her life...
reviewed The White on
Helpful Score: 8
The writing is powerful, unadorned and beautiful. A young girl names Mary Jerimson is an original heroine in this account of her capture by Indians in 1758. Renamed with an Indian name she gradually becomes integrated into her new family... she marries a Delaware warrior, raises a family etc. Fascinating story and completely believable.
reviewed The White on + 102 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 7
I LOVED this book. It is a very quick read and is a fascinating fictionalized life story of a real woman who was abducted by Indians as a young girl.
reviewed The White on + 2 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
Based on actual events, this is the story of Mary Jemison who is captured by Indians in the midwest. After her family is killed she is taken to an encampment to become part of the family of a man killed by the settlers. 212 pages easy but good read
YahtzeeQueen avatar reviewed The White on + 54 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
Iread this book in one day.It was fasinatung to read the story of a woman captured by the Indians as a child.
Cosmina avatar reviewed The White on + 70 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
I read this book in an evening. It is not a detailed story, yet very haunting. Instead of all the details you find in books of this subject, the author chose to explain just this one girl's reaction emotionally to the events in her life as a captive. Eventually she is given the option of returning to her old life with Whites, and she chooses to live half in and half out of that life. Not a long or intricate character study, but nonetheless, very deep and affecting for the reader.
aprildsygrl avatar reviewed The White on + 58 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
I saw this book about a year ago in a magazine and thought that I would really like to read it. So when I found it I was so excited, but then after reading (which only took me one sitting) I was very dissapointed. It lacked substance ...alot. I know the auther only had an limited amount of information but it is a work of fiction, she could have at least been a little more free with it, and not to try and stay with the basis of the story so much.
reviewed The White on + 54 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Very fascinating book. A quick read, but full of interesting detail.
reviewed The White on + 19 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
I didn't get to finish this book, the writing style didn't appeal to me particularly. Though it is set in 1758 where a 16 year old girl is kidnapped from Gettsburg, PA by Shawnee indians. The story tells of the girl's life growing up.
reviewed The White on + 33 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Excellent and Quick read!!
bombschell avatar reviewed The White on + 214 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
this is a fabulous book. wonderfully written.
harmony85 avatar reviewed The White on + 982 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
I liked this book, but wasn't what I expected. I would have liked a bit more depth and detail.
reviewed The White on + 11 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
I loved this book and the author's writing style.
bothrootes avatar reviewed The White on + 207 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is a great story of Mary, a 16 year old white girl taken hostage by Indians in the Ohio Valley. The story follows her as she is adopted by two Seneca sisters who have lost thier brother to a raid by the white men. She is tramitized but treated well and gradually learns the ways of the Seneca as well as their language. She eventually marries and is given the opportunity to stay or return to the land of the white man. She stays. I enjoyed the historical information as well as reading about Mary's reaction to life with the Seneca. The book is a quick read.
jazzysmom avatar reviewed The White on + 907 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This book is based alot on truth. If i could give it more stars just for the true history of the account i would. It is the story of a young white girl taken by the Indians and raised. The trauma she went thru and her life in a tribe. It was well written and quite engrossing. A page turner, i loved it.
reviewed The White on + 33 more book reviews
HIstorical novel of a white girl in frontier America abducted by Indians and absorbed into the tribe. Better than it sounds.
Bootsie avatar reviewed The White on + 34 more book reviews
Interesting, but I have read many books like this one supposedly based on a true story. It offers an understanding of how young captives come to bond with their kidnappers.
reviewed The White on + 5 more book reviews
I thought this would be a great book; interesting subject, started out good. Just not enough detail and development. Could have been a blockbuster if author had fleshed out the story a little.
reviewed The White on + 34 more book reviews
I became interested in this story upon visiting Letchworth Park on the Genesee River in New York. This book is an ok overall but I think it lacked depth and I did not enjoy it very much. I'll keep looking for more on this woman though.
Ducky93 avatar reviewed The White on + 12 more book reviews
I loved this book. The time period was supreme and the whole writing format wonderful. I highly recomend this book! It had me intriged for the 2 days it took me to read it.
reviewed The White on + 2 more book reviews
Excellent book! This was a "can't put down" for me.
k9kutter64 avatar reviewed The White on + 167 more book reviews
I read this book in one evening...could not put it down. It is the story of Mary Jemison, who in 1756, was captured by Shawnee Indians. Very similar to Mary Ingall's story "Follow The River". I highly recommend this book.
perryfran avatar reviewed The White on + 1223 more book reviews

This is a fictional account of the life of Mary Jemison who was captured by the Shawnee in 1758 and given to two Seneca sisters as a replacement for their brother who was killed by the whites. Mary's family including her mother and father were also captured but they were killed and scalped before getting to Fort Duquesne where Mary was given to the Seneca. Throughout the book, Mary seems to blame her father for not doing more to save them from capture. Once she is with the Seneca, she learns to live as a native, marries twice and has six children. Later in life, she has the opportunity to return to civilization but she would rather live as a Seneca. This novel was written in short sequences and eloquent prose and was a fast read. There was one out of place reference in the book, however. During the Revolution, the Seneca are fighting with the British against the patriots because they thought this would help stop the spread of the settlers. At this time, a war party brought a dignified and bearded man into camp with some followers who was identified as Joseph Smith and his disciples. (See page 147). I assume this was meant to be the founder of the Mormon church, but, that Joseph Smith was not born until 1805 which would have been after this point in the novel. Not sure how the author could have made this mistake. Overall, I would recommend this one, even with the Joseph Smith error.

reviewed The White on + 29 more book reviews
Interesting historical reading.
reviewed The White on + 13 more book reviews
I enjoyed this book. It moved along quickly and gave some insight into the lives of the native Americans.
reviewed The White on + 81 more book reviews
In 1758, when Mary Jemison is about sixteen, a Shawnee raiding party captures her Irish family near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Mary is the only one not killed and scalped. She is instead given to two Seneca sisters to replace their brother who was killed by whites. Emerging slowly from shock, Mary - now named Two-Falling-Voices - begins to make her home in Seneca culture and the wild landscape. She goes on to marry a Delaware, then a Seneca, and, though she contemplates it several times, never rejoins white society. Larsen alludes beautifully to the way Mary apprehends the brutality of both the white colonists and the native tribes; and how, open-eyed and independent, she thrives as a genuine American.
reviewed The White on + 237 more book reviews
"i WAS BORN A WHITE AT SEA ON THE WAY TO THE nEW wORLD...bUT i WAS TAKEN BY THOSE WHOM WE CALLED INDIANS. nEARLY SPEECHLESS FOR A TIME, I WAS BESET BY TERRORS."