Review 509: Too Poor to Move but Always Rich

Too Poor to Move but Always Rich: A Century on Montana Land by Jim Sargent
My rating: 2 of 5 stars


One may say this is an obscure book, and appears to be self-published. I ended up getting a copy of this book for free, back when the library I was working for closed it’s bookstore. I got several other books, many of which I ended up donating elsewhere, but this one stayed in my collection. Thought it looked interesting. But it wasn’t very much.

The book has a feel of writing for the author’s family, and maybe friends as well. There is an attempt to place his family’s homestead and living in the larger context of the world, but for the most part is it a focus on his parents and family. They were both from immigrant families, Dad from England and Mom from Norway. They met out on the farming plains and became homesteaders in Montana in the early twentieth century.

There are details for most aspects of life, written in a straightforward way. Perhaps if one wants to know what it’s like living on a ranch before electricity and most modern conveniences this book will give you the details. Along with other family details. One of the later chapters is written by his sister, the only female sibling, all the rest of them were males. Another chapter is written by the author’s niece mostly discussing the final days of the author’s mother.

It wasn’t a bad book, but it would be way more interesting if I knew these people to begin with. Don’t think this book is geared for the wider world outside of that sphere.