I love a story that is told by the person that actually experienced the tale they are telling. It helps ground the story and gives an authenticity that would not be there otherwise. That’s why I was excited to pick up Hard Times in the Country. The author is the same age as my grandparents and I hoped that reading about his life would mirror the lives of my grandparents, especially my maternal grandmother, who also was raised on a farm around the same area that the author grew up.

I read some reviews before I started reading and had hoped that people were being too harsh but I have to admit that there is a lot of truth to their takes and sadly, Bud’s story felt flat for me as well.

From the get-go it’s clear that the author gets too stuck on detailing the most mundane things that really do not lend anything to the story as a whole. I understand that farm life is hard but why do we as a reader need to know why kids hate geese and geese hate kids? Or the details of how certain food that the family consumed was made? If I really wanted to know that I could look it up myself and I found it incredibly distracting. It is also written in a very elementary style which lends a certain genuineness, but was also jarring to me, as it felt like I was reading something written from a youth, not a grown man.

In saying all that, the entire novel wasn’t a horrible experience. I really enjoyed all the photos that are included as it really helps give that authenticity that I so love in a an autobiography. There were other moments that I felt my mind thinking back to stories that my grandparents and great-grandparents told me about farming and school in the 1920’s and 30’s that sounded very similar to some that Bud told.

It wasn’t hard to let my imagination wander a bit and see my family through some of the photos shown, which did endear me more to these otherwise mundane stories. The one room schoolhouse and the trek it took to get to and from school is something I remember my grandfather vividly telling me when we took a family trip to see where he grew up in Oklahoma, so pairing these memories with Bud’s story did endear me more to this novel than it otherwise would have.

I really hate giving a negative mark to an autobiography as the person can’t change their story, but I do think there could’ve been a few tweaks that could’ve taken this novel from just ok to pretty great. ( )

This is a well-written memoir of an important time in our country. Martens provides great details and descriptions of what life was like during the Great Depression. I really enjoyed this book. ( )

I received a review copy of this book through LibraryThing.
This book is a very detailed remembrance of the author's life in rural Missouri in the period of the Great Depression. It starts earlier than 1929, but so did the Depression for farmers.
This book is one of a series of memoirs by Clement T "Bub" Mertens; according to the notes with the book he produced the content 30 years ago and his granddaughter has now edited the memoirs for publication.
The stories are very detailed, and include a great deal of technical information about farming, farm machinery, butchering hogs, and other work that Mr. Mertens did during the 1920s and 1930s. They also tell many stories about his family and neighbors and how they survived and different ways they struggled to make a living.
Mr. Mertens book is pretty place-specific, and he & his editor include information about what has become of some of the places he describes. I think the experiences were shared by many people in other parts of the country, particularly in small towns and farms, but there is special interest for those who know the area of Missouri around Jefferson City.
Mr. Mertens includes some commentary on the current day which provides some leavening but it wasn't so much that it become over-intrusive.
I think this is a valuable book for people interested in the methods and technology of farming and rural labor, as well as a picture of life in the US at a specific time and place. ( )

I love memoires narrated to the author and Clement "Bud" Mertens sounds like a real character, his down-to-earth banter is very authentic of someone from this era, and it feels like sitting on the front porch and hearing from your grandpa.
Chapters are short, so if there is a topic you're not interested in you can skip to the next one. He talks of family and friends I don't know, and it's a bit like reading someone's diary. It's a true picture of life in the depression, the hard times but also the fun times. ( )

The book is a collection of memories/stories from Clement T. “Bud” Mertens, as told to and recorded by his family members. It’s the second of several books about his life and deals with the years as a young man in the depression.

It’s mildly entertaining and good for posterity, but unfortunately, I had a hard time getting into it. It’s an easy read and sounds exactly like someone sitting with you, telling stories from many years ago. But I found the stories about how they did farm work, especially stories focused on machinery, tools, and the ferries on the River, to not be as entertaining. And it’s odd, because I do love history and biographies, so I thought I would love this book. However, these details are important for historical records and recording how things were done.

I think if this was my family’s book, with my grandfather telling these stories, I would cherish it forever. It would be one of my prized possessions. But since it’s not my family… meh. It was fine. ( )