Tallgrass

By: Sandra Dallas

Narrated by: Lorelei King

Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

During World War II, a family finds life turned upside-down when the government opens a Japanese internment camp in their small Colorado town. After a young girl is murdered, all eyes turn on the newcomers. Rennie has just turned thirteen and until this time, life has pretty much been predictable and fair. But the winds of change are coming, and with them, a shift in her perspective and a discovery of secrets that can destroy even the most sacred things. Part thriller, part historical novel, Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas is a riveting exploration of the darkest—and best—parts of the human heart.

©2007 Sandra Dallas (P)2007 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Winner, Fiction, 2008

“A compelling and genuinely moving novel.” —Jennifer Chiaverini, author of Circle of Quilters

“Sandra Dallas is a true American Voice.” —Gail Tsukiyama, author of Dreaming Water

“The sweep of the Great Plains, the tensions of World War II that rift a small community and the remarkable cast of characters are all heartbreakingly real.” —Margaret Coel, author of The Drowning Man

Good mystery

I enjoyed this one. It is true what another reviewer said about the names. It was a little tuff at first sorting out the characters, but you soon get it sorted out. The only thing I didn't care for was that after the mystery was solved the story continued with a side story I didn't find that interesting. The wrap up could have been better, too.

Very Good story!

I enjoyed the story and the narrative. Lots of factual information and emotion of characters keeps you listening.

Good story, history, Mystery, combination

Would you consider the audio edition of Tallgrass to be better than the print version?

Yes. I think a book is better than the movie and audible is better than the book

What did you like best about this story?

Narration brought the characters to life

So-so: Not Great, But Not Bad

It was good to find out more about the Japanese internment camps. It held my interest enough to finish listening, but just barely. Good characterization. Good narrator.

The life in Tall Grass

I really enjoyed this book! it was easy to follow the story and imagine the characters. I was born after the war and remember the stories of how terribly the Japanese were treated in our country. We had a camp near our home. The young ladies in the small town were like so many of that day and the inside thoughts and actions of their lives very realistic.

Good Read

It was a hard book to put down!
Held my attention from the first to the last page.

High potential, poorly delivered

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Maybe - it's definitely young adult, and I would have loved it when I was 12. It has moments of brilliance but it also has partial plot copies of To Kill a Mockingbird, without the edge. It's very simplistic, more simplistic than a young teen, and while the author challenges racial stereotypes of the period, she also reinforces others, such as the acceptance of highly gendered roles. The author's portrayal of farm life and rural community at the time reads well and true.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The father, although he seems to be an undisguised copy of Atticus Finch.

How could the performance have been better?

I usually love Lorelei King's reading, but she was truly miscast for this novel. She reads the voices as cute or comic and it comes across as overly twee. All the young kids' voices are presented as if they were 8 years old and bratty, even though they are in their teens and written to be thoughtful.

Could you see Tallgrass being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Maybe, on the Hallmark channel.

Any additional comments?

Great concept, good story, uneven writing, badly read. I would recommend the book to a 12-13 year old.

Authentic story set in rural Colorado

Memorable tale of farmers and interned Japanese families during WWIi.

Sad to hear mispronounced Colorado places.

I loved this book

I loved everything about this book! Good writing, great narrator. I've read several books about the internment camps, and this one was my favorite.

Excellent historical fiction for women AND men

Tallgrass is the fictional tale / mystery about an internment camp (aka prison) for Japanese – Americans in WWII. The camp is out on the eastern (flat) plains of Colorado (just where a real one was located), very different from the lush, fertile farmland in California where many of the inhabitants lived prior to being forcibly removed by the U.S. government. Sandra Dallas, a commercially very successful novelist (many movie options too). was a 30+ year reporter for Business Week located in Denver.

The story is told through the eyes of a young (13 to 16) woman but this is not a young adult book. Ms. Dallas' reporter training show through in neat and accurate historical details. There is an afterword exchange between the author and excellent narrator Lorelei King in which Ms. Dallas admits to being more fluent in writing about the lives of women. However, Tallgrass does feature a man, the young girl’s father, in a leading role.

Beyond recommending this book to women (duh!), I’d suggest it to any man who enjoys historical fiction, fiction about the west, or fiction about WWII … or to men like me who simply enjoy very well thought out and written stories based on the details, emotions and relationships of life.

If you enjoy historical fiction about the US West but have had enough of cowboys, one of my top 3 recommendations is another of Ms. Dallas' books, Prayers for Sale. It is about mining camps above 8,000 feet in the Rockies in the 1880's.

Enjoy.