Prairie Fever by Michael Parker
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Prairie Fever by Michael Parker presents an interesting premise set in the early 1900s American prairie, but I struggled with its execution. The novel explores themes of survival, isolation, and community against the backdrop of a harsh and unforgiving landscape.

What initially intrigued me was the setting and the promise of a historical narrative steeped in the challenges of frontier life. However, I found the tone and language of the writing to be unexpectedly modern, which created a disconnect for me as a reader. The characters, though facing significant challenges, didn't always resonate authentically within the historical context, making it difficult to fully immerse myself in their experiences.

Parker's exploration of human resilience and the harsh realities of frontier life offers moments of insight and reflection. The novel touches on themes of endurance and the bonds that form in adversity, but I felt the narrative lacked the depth and authenticity I was hoping for in a historical setting. While Prairie Fever may appeal to readers interested in the American West and its challenges, its modern narrative style may not fully satisfy those seeking a more immersive historical experience.

Prairie Fever is strange and lovely, poignant and hilarious. I couldn't put it down, and when I had to, I thought about it throughout the day. Parker does a great job developing the characters (which includes Sandy the horse) and makes them believable and real. The characters are compelling and relatable, I feel like I know them or I am them. While the plot is compelling it is not what drives this story forward - it is the quiet, lyrical prose and the exploration of sisters, decisions and forgiveness.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves poetic and atmospheric prose, I myself plan to read more of Michael Parkers novel in the future.

Prairie fever took their two brothers and their mother was never the same after that. She spent her life mourning them. Their father followed all his money making ideas so he was never home. The two girls grew close and took care of each other. They went to school with a blanket pinned around them for warmth on the horse. All was going well until they got a young male teacher. He's courting the older one and it looks as if they will be married. She goes off to college with a school debt to pay. The teacher guaranteed it.

Algonquin Books and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you). It will be published today so you can grab a copy now.

Then the younger sister asks him if he has a room in his new lodging that she could use for piano lessons. She lives too far away for the town folk to come to her. Here she would be on the way home from school. He gives her a room, she teaches lessons. Soon he's having fun talking to her. Her mind travels in a different path than most and he finds it fascinating. He goes to visit the older sister with a ring in his pocket but when he stops and stares at nothing, she realizes he doesn't love her anymore, he's fallen in love with her sister. That begins a better than twenty year estrangement between the sisters. They each go on with their lives, the young one sends odd letters but her older sister doesn't reply.

It seems the two will never resolve problems but a death in the family brings them back together again. It will take a lot of bridge building to get close but it looks like it just might happen...

I unfortunately did not finish this book. I did not feel interested in the characters at all. I could not get into a rhythm with the writing style at all. It sounded like something I should like, but just didn't work for me.

While the synopsis sounded intriguing and made me want to read this, the actual story was difficult to get in to. I could not get into the author's writing style. It felt jagged, choppy, and fragmented. The story was supposed to be 1900s yet the dialogue often felt modern. I was waiting for mentions of SnapChat and Twitter to be uttered.

This was not the book for me but I do see a lot of other readers enjoying it.

Prairie Fever is a story about two sisters living in Oklahoma who couldn’t be more different. Elise is the younger sister who likes reading the local newspaper and isn’t serious at all. Lorena is the older sister who cares a little too much about the placement of prepositions and humors her sisters strangeness. Gus McQueen is the man who changes both their lives forever.

Covering decades of these sister’s lives, this book is a hard one to describe. The gist is both Elise and Lorena love the same man, Gus McQueen.

When I started reading this book I was really confused because the chapters go between the three main characters: Elise, Lorena, and Gus. The story begins with Elise and she isn’t the easiest to understand at first, so I had a little difficulty trying to figure out what was going on. Once I realized that that’s just how her character is it was a little easier to understand.

While this book wasn’t too exciting, it wasn’t a bad read. I really came to enjoy Elise’s weird personality and she became my favorite character. Lorena was a little too serious of a character for me, but I think she complemented Elise’s character pretty well.

All in all, this story was interesting and entertaining for the most part. I enjoyed some parts more than others, but it was an interesting read and I’m happy to have had the chance to read it.

Thank you, Algonquin Books for letting me be a part of this blog tour in exchange for an honest review.

An existence of solitude in Lone Wolf, Oklahoma. That's what sisters Elise and Lorena Stewart have to look forward to each day under the sun and rain in 1917. Then a new teacher named Gus arrives in town, and when a blizzard strikes, Elise wanders off into the tundra. After Gus helps Lorena to find the frostbitten Elise, both sisters become smitten with their teacher. The clouds keep rolling by, but the sisters' lives, and their relationship with each other, will never be the same.⁣
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This story is as much a meditation on life and small moments as it is a story of sisters and romance. There is not a lot of strife or conflict to be found here, and aside the blizzard that bonds these characters, their lives are not terribly eventful or incredibly interesting. Yet, Michael Parker allows these people to breathe and be genuinely who they are in their lives, and his descriptions and writing style are nearly poetic even when describing the mundane. This is very much a humble slice-of-life novel, and I mean that in a good way. While it certainly won't be everyone's cup of tea, it can be just what you need if you're looking for a break from crisis-driven writing, and instead want to observe the meandering stream of two sisters' lives in the prairie.⁣
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⭐⭐⭐.5/5

While this book was somewhat historical fiction, the words used were what was important to the fictional Stewart sisters and Gus McQueen in telling their stories.

Reading Prairie Fever was reading about the Stewart sisters and Gus McQueen. While there are a few events in the book, the story was about the main characters’ perceptions of the events. Their descriptions were each unique, and sometimes beautiful. Unfortunately, it was somewhat redundant to read of the same event as it happened to three different people.

While the beginning of the narration felt unfocused, as the book progressed the style felt more like meandering prose and each narrator’s voice became more clearly developed. The word choices didn’t seem specific to the time period when the book was taking place, but they were pretty and sometimes thought-provoking.

This book would be good for readers who enjoy a slower paced book and colorful descriptions. I’d give it 3 out of 5 stars.

Sisters Lorena and Elise live outside Lone Wolf, Oklahoma. Lorena, elder by two years, spends her afternoons brushing her hair. She’s the smartest student in school and believes that knowing your limitations is the point of life. Dreamy and impulsive Elise, a talented pianist, lives in a world created by her imagination.

Each morning, their loyal horse Sandy walks them to the one-room schoolhouse and the dubious instruction of teacher Augustus McQueen whose key qualification is a skill for memorization.

During the winter, their mother swathes the sisters for warmth. Elise calls them a bag of bones under a blanket of sky, and she recites newspaper articles from memory to keep them entertained. (Parker took these from historical documents.)

One day, during a blizzard, Elise wants to skip school and ride to a nearby town to conduct research for a play she is writing. When Lorena refuses, Elise sneaks out anyway but becomes lost. In the aftermath of that tragedy, the sisters’s differences become more pronounced, and Gus unwittingly them further apart.unwittingly amplifies their schism.

With beautiful writing and fascinating historical details, Parker explores the consequences of Elise’s fateful ride. A series of letters from Elise addressed to the horse, Sandy, serves to advance the plot and provide humor with clever wordplay.

I recommend 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘦 𝘍𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 for readers who enjoy character-focused historical or literary fiction.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!

This great character-driven story was very hard to put down. I enjoyed every word of this book, and this beautiful and original historical fiction by Michael Parker really touched my heart deep into my core.

This will land in one of my favorite books of the year for the exquisite prose, unforgettable characters, and visually stunning Oklahoma prairie.

Happy paperback publishing day to #prairiefever by Michael Parker! Historical fiction isn’t my favorite genre, so I’ll be honest and say that it took me awhile to get into this one, but the writing is beautiful and the voices are so unique. The character development blossoms thorough the novel so each character has such a unique voice and I couldn’t wait to see where they all ended up.

Beautifully written historical novel set in Oklahoma in the 1900s. The story revolves around two sisters who must rely on each other for survival. This is one of those books that will haunt you and you will want to read again.

Following 2 sisters over 30 years, this novel has quirky characters, unique storytelling, and a rhythm all of its own. The language and setting of this book are their own characters. This is a lyrically written story that slowly walks you through events that pull together and divide allegiances. If you like fast paced linear books, this is not the book for you. But if you like a more contemplative plodding story, you will like this one.

Book: Prairie Fever
Author: Michael Parker
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Algonquin Books, for providing me with ARC.

I have honestly never heard of this book until the publisher reached out. I must say that it was kind of hard to get into a first, but once I got through the first chapter, I found myself really enjoying it. I love all of the feels I got and just how I was pulled in. Like I said, it wasn’t really until I got through the first chapter that I actually felt anything for this book. It is a very atmospheric read and the plot is mostly focused on the characters. If this isn’t something that you enjoy, then I would not pick it up.

The description of the book makes this sound like romance and a story that has been told before. It is about two sisters who fall in love with the same man, but that really isn’t the focus of the book. This book follows the sisters over the decades. We see them start out as young girls in Oklahoma and watch them grow through middle age.

Elise and Lorena could not be any different. Lorena is pretty, serious, and proper. Elise, on the other hand, is imaginative, has a good memory, likes repeating stories from the local newspaper, and talks about her horse like he’s a real person. The sisters could not be anymore different. Then, one day, Elise takes off from school in the middle of blizzard-once you read the book and get to know her, you will see that this actually fits her character well. She is saved by Lorena and the schoolteacher, Gus McQueen. This causes both sisters to fall in love with him. I know, I know, I said that the romance wasn’t a big part of the book and it’s not. The love triangle is not the focus of the story and it isn’t like the ones you see in rom-com either. Instead, the author has decided to focus on the lives of the characters than the romance, which was a welcome relief.

The layout of the book is kind of on the strange side. Lorena, Elise, and Gus all have point of view chapters. I personally enjoyed Elise’s chapters the most; there is just something about the way that she is presented that I really enjoyed. We get a mix of first and third person point of view, which is something that I normally don’t enjoy. However, I feel that it worked for this book. There is also a mix of traditional pose and letter form. If you really don’t like the change, then it may not be the book for you.

This book is just really hard to explain and I probably didn’t really help anymore on deciding whether or not to pick this up. This is a hard book to explain, but if you are looking for something a little different, then pick this up.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/W72Dp72Lnqo

A tale about the sacrifices and settlements we make with ourselves and others as we attempt to navigate romantic and familial relationships. It was a tale that explores the power and strength of kinship on the harsh American frontier that appealed to me as I picked up Prairie Fever by Michael Parker.

The book primarily follows the story of the two Stewart sisters over the decades. The dreamer Elise and the pragmatic Lorena. The sisters are inseparable until an impulsive decision changes the course of their lives. That and a schoolteacher, Gus McQueen, who drives a wedge between the two. It is all about the consequences of our choices.

It is not a traditional historical fiction in terms of writing style. The structure and dialogues are more contemporary. That said, the writing is lyrical. It brings the settings vividly to life. You are transported to the cold harsh winters of Lone Wolf, Oklahoma to the dry arid West Texas. The book is also interspersed with wry humor.

The characters are what make the book. I liked the interplay of relationships. At its heart, the book may seem about sibling rivalry, but it is a lot more. A father who is an idea man. A mother coming to terms with the loss of her children. But apart from Lorena’s character (that I felt was shortchanged and whose story was not explored much), none of the other main characters really captured my interest.

What primarily did not work for me was the narration. The initial few pages are quite confusing. It took me a while to get into the book. Also, the constant switch between the first person to the third person narrative and then the epistolary was too jarring. The ending too quite weak.

I have mixed feelings about the book. But I would love to check out more books by the author simply for the lyrical prose. If you enjoy offbeat historical novels with lots of wordplay, do pick up this book.

This is literary fiction to it’s core. A very quiet novel, where the landscape is as much a main character as the people Parker writes about. Set in Oklahoma, this story centers around sisters Lorena and Elise and their teacher Gus McQueen.

Lorena and Elise grew up in Lone Wolf, OK. Their parents still reeling from the death of their brothers due to “prairie fever”. The sisters are as tight you can be. Gus McQueen move there and what ensues is a love triangle that causes a rift in this family so deep.

Told in multiple point of views, you will feel for each of these characters. Told through narrative and letters, you will get a perspective that seems unique at times.

This is definitely a book for fans of Literary Fiction. There is little to no plot, but I found myself so curious what would become of these characters at the end.

Thank you NetGalley and Algonquin for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Thank you Algonquin Books for the ARC for this review. To read my full review please visit:
https://wigginswords.com/category/book-reviews/

Literature about the late 18th and early 19th century American West attempts to capture a rustic yet robust era and culture in transition. A place too that lived beyond dictation and was possessed by the fortitude to expand the western frontier through ideas, some bad, others better, and few good. In Prairie Fever by Michael Parker, a boundless charisma conjoins two sisters from Lone Wolf, Oklahoma, head-in-the-clouds Elise Stewart and nose-to-the-grindstone Lorena Stewart, until a reported murder in the Kiowa County News and their retentive and inscrutable schoolteacher, Gus McQueen, jeopardizes their sisterhood. Elise is the younger sister who arguably never learns, turning facts into fantasy while personifying the family horse, Sandy, and its escapades. Lorena being older has no time to bend words, always precise in her speech and actions, as part of her wont to be prude. At the schoolhouse, Mr. McQueen is the outsider from Hibriten, North Carolina inexperienced in the teaching profession, numbing his sociability and sensibilities. The natural coercion between these three creates an inescapable, at times humorous, fractious trust and distrust in each other. They slowly realize their natures are both a fixed and fluid transitivity of love and cruel-to-be-kindness.

Three parts make up this pastoral and pictorial novel, each with a sense of depth equally distributed to both exteriority and interiority. Parker elevates the losses and denigrates the ego to consider the trepidations and triumphs in the landscape of life’s choices. He does this best in the enigmatic word choices, careful and deliberate as they are, hinting at the tumult and temperance of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era respectively. A confidence in communication and information also bodes translucent beliefs and disbeliefs in a tone as lilting as it is loud. Prairie Fever also does well to cast respites and rebukes with a multiperspectivity reminiscent of Small Island by Andrea Levy. Every word is held onto with conviction and gumption before they are challenged by and float away in the elements that change them and rarely return them. Words distort and sculpt, deviate and delineate, betray and justify actions. Those actions, those supposed scripted choices, easily meet an erasure and redrafting against the stubborn and spellbound hand’s desires. Prairie Fever is an oxymoronic trip, imbibed with dread-tinged hope, through the voice of time, seemingly invisible and slightly audible, that relays an ever transmuting historiography of human error, erudition, and efficacy.

This book was hard for me because I couldn’t connect with any of the characters and it was difficult to read because I didn’t have any idea what the story was about.
It’s hard to give a rating. It’s not a DNF.

I received a copy from Algonquin for review.

I was super excited to read this based on the synopsis. Two sisters have a crush on the same guy. It was supposed to get into their relationship.


I honestly felt like I couldn’t get into this book. I wasn’t interested in the characters.

I DNF’ed it.

Prairie Fever
What can I say about this. It wasn’t what I was expecting at all. The language, the way it was written. It’s a slower read, a book of observations told from 3 points of view. There are the Stewart Sisters and the man they love, Gus McQueen. The book reads in a slow drawl, it’s not in a rush to say what it’s trying to.