I recently had the pleasure of meeting author Carleen Bunde at a local craft fair. After talking with her for a while, I purchased (yes purchased) her book It's Me, Hannah.
It's Me, Hannah is the story of a young girl growing up in North Dakota from the 40's til present. Our main character, Hannah is a bit of a rarity in literature these days; a nice, respectful, basically good, farm girl. We get a slice of a bygone era in America. We follow Hannah as she copes with loss of loved ones, but thankfully, does not use this as an excuse to embrace a wild lifestyle. She is basically a happy well adjusted child coming into adulthood.
The best thing about It's Me, Hannah is that it is not full of dysfunctional characters (there may be one). But we still have an engaging, well written story, told in snippets, almost like memoirs. Perhaps at times the reader may wonder what ever became of some story or another, and this may be the drawback to the book. At times we read of some event or other but we don't get the final outcome. Minor, but I felt it a couple of times.
A sideline, one of the things that interested me about Ms. Bunde was that her family had at one time lived in the same small town, Fox Lake, Wisconsin, as my family. I don't know if it was during the same time-frame, but it was a nice little connection.
It's Me, Hannah is a wonderful change of pace for those who tend to read more action oriented works that often tend to be on the darker side (that would be me). It tapped into a nostalgia for simpler slower paced times, though I am not old enough to have lived in the 40's, I do remember simpler times.
If you are in the mood for a clean, fun, at times funny, at times heartbreaking read, It's Me, Hannah will satisfy that craving admirably. Enjoy!
Mike
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