Michael O'Halloran (1915) by Gene Stratton Porter is the story of a streetwise but sterling-honest orphan boy who rescues and bonds with Peaches, a crippled orphan girl. Their struggles, triumphs and friendships in a tough inner city at the turn of the past century form an uplifting tale of hope, love and family.
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Michael O'Halloran (1915) by Gene Stratton Porter is the story of a streetwise but sterling-honest orphan boy who rescues and bonds with Peaches, a crippled orphan girl. Their struggles, triumphs and friendships in a tough inner city at the turn of the past century form an uplifting tale of hope, love and family.
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Seller's Description:
This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside. This book has hardback covers. In poor condition, suitable as a reading copy. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item, 300grams, ISBN:
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Seller's Description:
Good. 5x8" GOOD CONDITION Clean covers, with minor freying spine ends. clean White endpapers, no names, ; YELLOW cover & spine titles with black floral line border design to DARK green cloth. Spine shows flower in bloom decoaration, . Green Clothbnd; 7 Glossy photo Movie ilust+several others; 532pg pages; chronicles the adventures of an orphaned newspaper boy in his "hand-to-hand scuffle" with life in a midwestern metropolis. Gene Stratton-Porter's faith in the healing power of nature is also apparent, in a lovingly depicted tamarack swamp set near the city.
Like the rest of her books, Gene Stratton-Porter's Michael O'Halloran is an excellent book for someone looking to feel hopeful about the world and about humanity. It follows the adventures of a street orphan, Mickey, as he stubbornly refuses to give in to the degradation that characterizes so many of his peers and does his best to convince everyone around him to "be square." Mickey may be small in size, but his huge heart more than makes up for it! By the end of the novel, there are very few people that are not left better because of his influence.
The most pervasive theme of this book, I think, is that of the importance of family and home and is best summed up by Leslie ("...would the money have been of more advantage to me than the benefits of his society and his personal hand in my rearing? I think not! I prefer my Daddy! ... [I think] home better than any other place on earth") and Peter's neighbors (who "awaken and begin to develop a settled conviction as to what constituted the joy of life, and that the place to enjoy it was at home"). I wholeheartedly agree with them: home IS where the heart is - or where it should be - and our society needs to start remembering that! Although some people might think of this as backward and non-feminist, I would disagree. I believe the author would, too, for she lets Mickey point out: " 'Women's work' - Well never you mind about the 'woman's work' part of it...that doesn't cut any ice with me. It's men's work to eat, and I don't know who made a law that it was any more 'woman's work' to cook for men than it is their own. If there is a law of that kind, I bet a liberty-bird the men made it." Focusing on home and family doesn't mean giving up the rest of the world and becoming a chore-driven slave. It just means realizing what a treasure we all could have in our homes and our families, if EVERYONE did their best to treat those institutions with respect and to make sure they're not destroyed by our selfishness. What a great message!
