2024 review: bumped up to three stars. 2021 review largely stands. In 2024, though, I returned to this book after watching a Tasting History video examining common meals of the Oregon Trail. No reference to the Donner Party was made. Instead, I thought of it my own self, particularly this book and how rich in detail it was. I feel like there was research done even if there were liberties taken. The author's afterward suggests that to be true. I went in remembering what I thought of it originally, and prepared myself to still feel that way.
Wrong. I was able to read this "better," knowing what to expect, and wound up liking it a lot more. I was ready for the repetition, and this time was able to appreciate how it fit into the narrative the author was writing. I'd feel comfortable reading it again in a few years. I watched Ask A Mortician's video on the Donner Party again after I finished this. I didn't remember much of it, but I prepared myself to watch it in two sittings. Queasy as it made me, I did watch it in one sitting.

2021 review: I was delighted for the first fifty pages because -this- was the historical fiction Oregon Trail book for adults I'd been hoping for. I was entranced by all the historical details and the way they were folded in. The book kept going, and I felt the misery and drudgery right with the characters, and the author was so skilled at making the audience realize how -long- the trails must have been. Yes, a lot of trains got to their destinations in six months to a year, but what I hadn't realized was they'd reached those destinations after traveling twelve hours or more a day. I learned a lot from this book and was glad of it. Every time I read the name Donner, I flinched, wondering when the topic would be raised. Don't panic: it's not raised until nearly a hundred pages from the end of the book, and it's from the POV of one of the survivors who's ashamed. She describes it as briefly as possible and starts crying. Caitlin Doughty did a video on Youtube of the Donner Party, from her channel Ask A Mortician. I was so squeamish that I had to watch the video in parts on different days. So, I appreciated this book describing it so briefly.

The rest of the book is from the POV of Ada, a nineteen-year-old who travels with the Donner party. She splits off with another group before the actual incident, but regroups with a few of the survivors later. The reasons for this and how it's done are believable, which I appreciated. The book could have neatly wrapped things up after Ada talks with the survivor, but it drags on for nearly a hundred more ebook pages. This book needed to be half as short as it was. Just restructure it and cut out some of the repetitive stuff. The details are all needed, I do think. Part of my low rating is the book dragged so much in certain sections. I still highly recommend this to people who want to read a novel about the Oregon Trail. ( )

Strong characterization, slow read at times, a lot of death and heartache ( )

Ms. Sweeney takes on the tale of the ill fated Donner Party with her latest novel focusing on a young woman named Ada Weeks – her story is ficticious but she is placed in the midst of the real life travelers in that wagon train heading West. Ada had been adopted after her parents died in a fire and her new family has decided they want to head to California for a new life. She doesn’t know much about this new place to where they are going but she has heard that grapes will grow there and she is looking forward to eating those grapes.

The mistakes, mismanagement and horrors of the Donner Party are very well known and it’s a marvel that anyone survived that winter in the Sierras. I can tell you that Ms. Sweeney’s descriptions will bring that time very much alive to any reader of this book. From the bitter cold to the constant starvation you will feel like you are there. It’s not pleasant.

I don’t think I’m spoiling any plot points to note that Ada is one of the survivors. After her rescue she goes on to homestead in the wilds of Northern California. The bulk of the book is the long, horrible walk across the West. The section as the group is crossing the dessert in Utah is especially harrowing. But don’t despair. The characters are so strongly developed that you invest in them, even though you know the outcome. Ada is a wonderful character; strong, tall, capable. She is definitely suited to her time and also ahead of it. She doesn’t need a man to survive but that doesn’t mean she won’t welcome one.

I have been very fortunate in my book choices lately and Answer Creek is another really good read. I started it in the morning and was finished it by the time we turned out the lights. My only disappointment was the epilogue. It seemed to come out of nowhere and seemed unfinished or maybe too short? It seemed to drop from nowhere and lacked the striking detail of the rest of the novel. But it was only a very few pages of the whole. ( )

Ashley E. Sweeney recreates a cross-continental journey that makes social distancing and being in lock-down at home feel luxurious. Answer Creek is about endurance and survival.

Set in 1846-7 on the California-Oregon trail, the novel tells the story of Ada who travels across the continent with the Donner-Reed party.

Yes, the infamous, ill-fated, starving cannibals of history.

After the tragic death of Ada's parents, she was taken in by a Norwegian family who decide to move to California. Early in their journey, they impulsively drive their wagon into high water and are lost. Ada is next taken in by the Breen family.

Dyin's gonna get us all in the end, one way or t'other, she thinks. But dyin's not the hardest part. Livin's a lot harder than dyin' any day. ~from Answer Creek by Ashley E. Sweeney

Ada, one of the few fictional characters in the novel, has endured a lifetime of troubles over her brief nineteen years. As hardened as she is, she also has a tender heart, caring for children and women and giving medical care to the men.

The tale can rival any story of hardship I have read, from Polar explorers to concentration camps.

Staying home for two months? Running out of toilet paper, milk, and eggs?

This is nothing compared to living 124 days in an overcrowded cabin, buried in snow, starving, without heat or blankets or decent clothing.

Ada experiences the elements' extremes and the daily pain of sore feet, bug bites, sunburn, chapped skin, frozen extremities, hunger, and painful loss.

Ada survives, but what kind of life can she have, linked as she is to the cannibalism of the Donner party? Luckily, a man named Riddle takes her to Answer Creek where she can heal and find a new life.

Sometimes, it's all we can do to hold it together, she thinks. And over and through it all, we've got to forgive ourselves, and others, over and over and over again. ~from Answer Creek by Ashley E. Sweeney

I was swept into the novel by the beautiful, descriptive writing. Ada is a strong, appealing character who is easy to relate to. The novel gains momentum, from the early beauty of the plains and the impressive natural formations of the West to the privations and life-threatening brutality of mountain winter. It was a joy to read.

I received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review. ( )