The Farm by Louis Bromfield is a work of historical fiction written in 1933. It draws on the authors own farming experiences and details the life of a family farm from the late 1700s to the early 1900s.

There's quite a few enthralling parts to the book, but between these there are many highly detailed, rather dull parts. Perhaps they would be of more interest to an American from New England, however being an Australian it simply wasn't relevant to this reader.

Overall, it's a slow paced but reasonable book if you can tolerate the above mentioned parts. It touches on the large historical events throughout the time period and how they effect life on the farm.

The ending however is horribly depressing, yes good things usually come to an end but it's the depth and sheer intricacy the author goes into on the downward spiral that really gets to you (especially as a farm owner). Then if the message hadn't gotten through to the reader the story skips ahead to 1920 when the main character returns to find even more depressing news.



If there's one thing I took from this book, it was that Louis Bromfield had an inner fear his grandchildren would abandon his farm and move away leaving it to fall into decay, or be passed on to a foreign peasant.

Louis Bromfield’s books were all best sellers in their time and some were made into movies. His story is a great one. He was one of the few writers to enjoy success in his lifetime. He was a writer, but grew up on a farm and loved farming. He was one of the first people to ban the use of pesticides on his farm and go organic. He brought science and technology to his farm.

While this book is a work of fiction it is based on his experiences and real life on the farm. I found this book to be a wonderful nostalgic look at life on the farm. My father grew up on a farm and I found that it reminded me a lot of my paternal grandparents and their lives on the farm. Louis Bromfield wrote this book to preserve the past for his daughters. He realized that farm life as he knew it was changing.

In the 1800s and 1900s the goal of farming was to have a self-sufficient farm. A successful farm raised all the crops and livestock needed to feed the family. They raised cows and chickens. They grew all sorts of vegetables and berries. They had a smoke house, a sugar house and a fruit house. They made their own butter. The horses were work horses for pulling the wagons and buggies. Then gradually things begin to change with the introduction of tractors and trains and mechanization. Science and technology changed many aspects of farming. A way of life was lost.

This book preserves the past. It is like a time warp back to the simpler days of farm life when things did not move so fast. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars. ( )