Very good rendering of the intersection of lives based on two real people who created an icon of American history. A query into what is THE truth and what is the fabrication of A truth, how geography shapes destiny, and the strength of family connection. ( )

I liked both the content and the writing of this book. It was very instructive regarding different aspects of life in the U.S. in the 1920's-1940's and even in to the 2000's. Both Dorothea Lange and the Migrant Mother she famously photographed are portrayed as they may have really been. I have not decided whether the addition of the Walker Dodge details were worth the confusion, but they added information. The writing and the metaphors were with dealing with, but I wonder if I would have learned more if the book had been clearer. ( )

I devoured this in one 3-hour sitting.

Not since Timothy Egan's The Worst Hard Time have I read such a moving and vivid account of families struggling through the Depression. Silver's use of small period details, as well as her "bookend" use of the present tense when telling the contemporary part of her tale, lends an immediacy to the story that made this reader feel as though she was hearing it straight from the memories of a beloved great-aunt. Truly a must-read for anyone fascinated by the lives and hardships of migrant life during the Depression, as well as those readers who recognized that -- far from being two-dimensional photographs -- our great-grandparents had loves and lives and secrets every bit as vital as ours today. ( )

Historical fiction about the iconic Depression-era picture of this woman on the cover as photographed by Dorothea Lange. Names and circumstances have been changed in a compelling story of grit and survival. ( )

Wow! What a book. I, like many I am sure have "stopped seeing" the famous photo by Lange. A great novel and loved the connections between the characters. Makes you think about the past in a different sort of way. ( )