3 out of 4 stars
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Ever since he was born, author Joseph J. Swope had lived in a dairy farm in Pleasant Valley, Pennsylvania until he was uprooted and forced out of his childhood home by the Blue Marsh Dam when he was 13 years old. Pleasant Valley Lost is the story of how a centuries-old farming community was obliterated to construct a dam that does not serve its purpose as a flood control system.
The book started in the present day and flashed back in time when Joseph, nicknamed Joey, was living the life of a typical 10-year old farm boy. With him in their dairy farm was his father Clarence, mother Peggy, younger brother Ronnie, hired hand Adam, pet dog Joe and pet donkey Hank.
It began in the spring of 1968 then progressed chronologically as the family worked together nurturing their farm all the while growing apprehensive about the future destruction of their home and those of their relatives and friends. It has been several years since the US Army Corps of Engineers proposed to flood Pleasant Valley and the village of Blue Marsh and build a dam to provide the region with water supply. Still, the family labored, hoping that the dreaded moment will not come, ever. However, it did, and the community, including Joey and his family, moved somewhere else and left behind not only their homes and farms but also their history and legacy.
Told in the first person, the story was developed as the author narrated his childhood at the farm where he and his brother performed tasks of ordinary farm boys. In a casual and conversational tone, he described how life was in the farm where days were spent milking cows, feeding chickens and pigs, collecting eggs and cleaning up. Furthermore, the author cleverly and interestingly explained some activities that are performed mainly in dairy farms like baling hay, breeding cows, castrating bulls and butchering steers,
With obvious pride, the author showed the close-knit relationships among his immediate and extended family. He told of numerous times they gathered together to celebrate special occasions like Easter, July 4th, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year. Also highlighted in the story was the quality time Clarence and Peggy Swope spent with their children like taking the boys to the Reading Air Show, Bern Church Strawberry Festival, Atlantic City and Christmas Village, besides the occasional ice cream treats, school shopping and annual baseball banquet.
I can say the author successfully presented vivid descriptions of the characters as well as the places. He was able to take the readers back in time when children stay outdoors to play baseball, ride bikes and fly kites, while telephones had party lines and technology took the form of television set where families watch news, soap operas and baseball games.
All in all, this is a lovable and memorable book. It is about love and antipathy, youth and age, joy and sorrow, birth and death, construction and destruction. It reminds me of home, family and childhood. This is one book I will always cherish in my heart.
However, there are three things that made me give this book the rate of 3 out of 4 stars. First, the absence of translation of Pennsylvania Dutch, which I understand has German origin. It has been used in the story a few times but without any clarification of what was said. It may have been irrelevant but I would have liked to know. Second, there were some repetitions and redundancy which at first I was able to ignore but eventually bothered me. Finally, almost half of the 523-page book was about baseball. Though I do not take it against the author, it made some parts of the book uninteresting for a non-sports fan like myself. Though I tried my hardest to appreciate the baseball parts, the only thing I remembered was Steve Carlton taking the Philadelphia Phillies to the World Series.
I, therefore, recommend this book to readers who appreciate rural living, family bonding, old traditions and baseball. A warning though, this may not be a book that will make you cry, it will, however, make your heart bleed in silence.
******
Pleasant Valley Lost
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