The New York Times uses “spare” and “charming” to describe this memoir about growing up on a Wisconsin farm during the Great Depression. I would add “remarkable” to this list. When she was six years old, the children at her school contributed their pennies to buy a doll for Carlson after she survived stomach surgery. Carlson says this is an example of how willing people were to share “what little they had” during those hard times. However, the story doesn’t stop here: she tells us this was the only doll she ever had. Even so, she looks back with gratitude.
Carlson, Beuna Coburn. Farm Girl: A Wisconsin Memoir. University of Wisconsin Press, 2020, p 156.