To Everything a Season: A Year in Alberta Ranch Country

Sandy Campbell is a reference librarian in the Science and Technology Library at the University of Alberta.

When one thinks of personal journals, one thinks of the likes of
Susannah Moodie chronicling her life and times and describing her
reactions to her social, cultural, spiritual, and natural environment.
Moodie this is not. In fact, this is not a personal journal. There is
very little of Marilyn Halvorson, the person, in it.

This volume is a day-to-day description of ranch life, coupled with an
observer’s diary of the natural environment. Life on the ranch is
portrayed as being routine and uneventful. With the exception of calving
season, little happens that is out of the ordinary. There are few people
in the book and little with which the reader can identify.

Halvorson’s description of the environment is not extraordinary. It
gives us a picture of the natural history of the Sundre area, but the
observations are not meant to be detailed or rigorous. The description,
while a loving one, shows little of the creativity or inspiration of
Halvorson’s fiction. In fact, it becomes quite tedious. Occasionally,
Halvorson describes not only what she did or observed, but also her
reactions. These and the few passages in which she reveals a youthful
memory, a political viewpoint, or a personal philosophy are the most
interesting parts of the book. They are, however, rare.

Libraries with Prairie literature research collections will want to buy
this book, but the general public will probably find it disappointing.