At the Foot of the Rainbow

By: Gene Stratton Porter

Narrated by: Rusty Nelson

Length: 5 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Scotch-Irish immigrants Jimmy Malone and Dannie MacNous are partners in an earlier Indiana trapping and fishing enterprise; a picture of life and relationships in conflict, with each partner in love with the same woman.

©1907 Gene Stratton-Porter (P)2000 Books in Motion

A Good Life

A frontier story of brotherly live, honor, and integrity in a simpler time. Good, old-fashioned tale of love.

Perty Gud Dar Laddie...Cept Wenn It Ain't...

this is a good novel once it gets going, which is just about halfway. There is some of the character and plot development that is told to us rather than being shown to us, and that is a flaw. I can't imagine how one of the reviewers thought there was any racism in this novel except if she meant that a narrator with a terrible Scottish accent is racist. And I almost never say anything about narrators, but this one was terrible. He should have just not tried for an accent at all--and it sounds like he is turning whole placards when he goes to another page! Maybe it was supposed to be the wings of the Kingfisher!

heart wrenching tale.

wonderful and awful simultaneously. the hero is, per Stratton-Porter's style, perfect to s fault. I had to keep reading to know HOW the healing was brought about, but I'm not in love with the story.
the performance was incredible- the art of speaking in accents and switching demeanor per character is highly under appreciated.

You can skip this GSP, it’s sadly a bit of a dud.

Like me, you’re probably interested in this book because you love GSP’s books. Yes, she was a phenomenal woman and she wrote so many amazing books. This one though feels off on several fronts.

The narrator - you will either love him or hate him, that’s a personal preference. For myself I thought the accents actually made the book more enjoyable.

The plot - a man pines for 15 years over the woman he loves, while enabling a lazy drunk (who happens to be his best friend) to go on being a lazy drunk until he dies of substance abuse. Taken from a Biblical standpoint, it’s just not right. So Danny doesn’t get to marry the girl he loves. Go find another great woman, Danny! So you didn’t get Mary, but you could have had a wonderful life with some other woman. And perhaps by busy caring for your own household, Jimmy and Mary would have had to work things out between them. That’s real life - caring for the people around you, trusting God, choosing contentment about what you can’t change and praying for the things you so long to see change.

I’d have preferred that ending - where Jimmy learns to love Mary, and were Danny’s idolizations of her ends. Because, after the honeymoon life is still just lots of ordinary days, lots of ordinary work.

The book ends with Jimmy dead (you knew that had to happen) and Danny and Mary happily in one another arms at last. But, is that really the best outcome? Danny enabled Jimmy to remain as he was, never improving, never learning from his mistakes or becoming a better man. Mary seemed bitter to the core, even allowing three babies to die through her own disinterest in their lives, since her whole life was wrapped up in hating Jimmy and pinning for Danny.

And, sadly the book just drags. Had there been interesting tidbits throughout, or just more of the real life ups and downs, but no. Danny is all shining goodness and Jimmy all evil deceit. Listening to it just rankled my soul, as it felt like so much unhealthy co-dependency masquerading as love when in reality it was too selfish to confront and do the hard work of changing. I wish the priest had been a bit more Biblical in his counsel, pointed them to the life changing truth of scripture.

Anyways, in summary I’d say this is a GSP you can safely skip. Go enjoy “The Harvester,” “Laddie” and “Keeper of the Bees.” :)

Terrible Narration

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

If the narrator had NOT tried to do accents for the characters. They were horrible. I couldn't even listen to it.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Rusty Nelson?

Someone who can do accents.