Hitty is a sweet doll, fashioned by a peddlar for young Phoebe Preble around 1825. The book chronicles the doll's adventures, covering 100 years, told from Hitty's point of view. I was not too excited to read this one, but it turned out better than I expected.
Hitty has many adventures from being carried away by crows to meeting Charles Dickens, from surviving the a shipwreck and being worshipped by natives as an idol to being stuck in a sofa for years (better than finding a quarter) before being found and living in a Quaker household. She always keeps her wits about her and stoically endures every hardship.
What I am not sure about is how Hitty managed to keep her sanity. If I were sentient doll, I think I would go mad. Mad I tell you! Mad!! She thinks, feels and hopes, but has no way of communicating or indicating in any way that she does so. It made me wonder how it would be to have some disease or illness that would close those doors. What would I do to retain sanity? Are there illness like that? The good news is that I haven't lost sleep over the issue.
Field, Rachel. Hitty, her First Hundred Years. Macmillan Publishing Company, 1929.
This one has an interesting premise. A whole 100 years covered, but she can't communicate with anyone.
ReplyDeleteI read "The Help," too. Landi read it and called me up wondering if this is what it was really like when I was growing up. I was with my MIL and Kristen at the mall and trying to answer questions about race relations in the 60's while perusing the women's department.
ReplyDeleteI am thinking I might want to read this one. It appears if you like history that would be an interesting way to "see" it.
ReplyDeleteI recently read an article about people in comas who seem to be in a semi-comatose state who report being able to feel, think, but not respond (when they come out of it) so that would be similar. Apparently it happens very rarely and they are trying to figure out which people are in that state instead of comatose.
I can't figure out how to move the comment name to Judy instead of Gibersons. Any ideas?
And you are amazing that you could also be reading other books!!!
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ReplyDeleteAlluded to in The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo, but I really didn't care for that one. Did you read it, and if so, what did you think?
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