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2 out of 4 stars
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The Thundering Herd by John E. Peltier is a memoir narrating the life story of the author itself and the Scottish Keillor families during the 50s and 60s. The story begins with a bit of family history with his father’s side, then goes to narrate his family when they migrated to America, until their name changed to Peltier and when they started farming. Then, he goes to narrate the history of his mother’s side, the Scottish Keillor. The book mostly consists of lists of dates and names of the ancestors. It also gives you a perspective view of life growing up on the farm.
There are only a few memoir books that I have read and liked. And this one is definitely not one of those. As I mentioned, the book started with lists of dates and names of the author’s ancestors, which I think he could write it more creatively but instead, it comes out boring, repetitive and it seems like you are reading a history textbook. Most of the readers won’t appreciate a boring beginning. It surely doesn’t feel like a page-turner. However, this book would be a fun piece for the family to remember their ancestors and history.
I won’t bore you with any more details regarding those because I know how it gets boring and less interesting on the readers part. Instead, I will emphasize more on the part where I got so interested and hooked on this book that I was able to finish it. It was actually the story behind why it was titled, ‘The Thundering Herd’. The author’s mother was so fond of calling her children as ‘The Thundering Herd’ which only shows how their family has very strong family ties. I liked how this value was very visible in this book. If the author’s objective is to let readers know how a family is important, he surely did a good job. I also liked how this book gives you a perspective view on living on the farm. It will make you feel wanting to live on the farm too. And you’ll learn a lot of farming facts.
Despite being less engaging, I did learn something from this book. It was interesting to know a brief history of the King’s Daughters, one of the author's ancestor was married to one of the King's Daughters. There are some other facts about France’s colonization of Canada and about the Vietnam War. It was an interesting part to read about the Vietnam War because it gives you a view of life at the army camp.
Due to the spelling mistake like the word lineage was spelled as linage and since it was boring at some points given it’s a memoir, I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. Although I think this book is not everyone’s cup of tea, I only recommend this book to those who like history, especially American history.
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The Thundering Herd
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