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Title: One of Ours (Vintage Classics) by Willa Cather ISBN: 0-679-73744-8 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 November, 1991 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.56 (9 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: The Inevitable End
Comment: Though you begin to realize where this story is headed early in the novel, you are not quite prepared for where it takes you. It is heartbreaking, and Willa Cather does not beat you over the head with that. The story begins in Nebraska- this is where Cather exhibits her best writing in the story. Her description of our hero's lament is sincere in its vaguery. His feeling of entrapment spills over to the reader. Ms. Cather loses some of her magic when he goes off to The Great War. While we imagine that his sense of entrapment in Nebraska is lifted, we never really feel the emotional evolution that we expect he is going through. In addition, the first three quarters of the story contain a complicated familial element to which we never return.
In the end, where we knew we were headed, we long a little bit for the entrapment of our hero's Nebraska, but feel a little bit liberated by his new freedom.
Rating: 5
Summary: Square Pegs and Dragon Slayers in the Nebraskan Plain
Comment: This novel represents the heroic struggle of one individual against farming, social ambition, marriage and war.
Although strong and capable, farming is the worst profession imaginable for this red headed hero. Willa Cather shows every respect for the hard honest life of a Nebraskan farmer, but Claude makes a hard honest fiasco of the farming life. This book is the story of a soul. A strong daring soul that needs to wrestle something bigger than itself (even if it loses). Claude begins by trying to manage his father's farm. When he spends a few years at college, he is shown the world of social ambition, but neither of these experiences set his life on the right path. If you are interested in the dynamics of male/female relationships, Claude's marriage provides plenty of food for thought. Willa Cather chose a very interesting backdrop for her hero when she describes the home front of these two very black sheep.
This book may be the most realistic description of middle-west sentiment during the first world war. It describes the emotions of Americans who volunteered to fight for people they had only met via the black and white media of newspapers. The war becomes a sort of crusade, and Claude feels compelled to answer the call. Willa Cather gives a wise description of the issues, and even expresses the sentiments of honest German farmers in Nebraska. Claude's best friend is from the Bohemian old country, and doesn't quite agree with Claude's choices.
This book has received quite a few reserved reviews. I recommend this book without reservations.
Rating: 2
Summary: For this she won a pulitzer?
Comment: One of Ours begins as vintage Cather, you can feel the sun on your face and the soil under your feet. The characters are real and people you know. The troubled protagonist, Claude, is sympathetic. Why not? There's something of him in all of us. Unfortunately, the book falls apart when he enlists as a doughboy and ships to France.
Cather once stated that she experienced everything that ever went into her writing by the time she was 15. Clearly that didn't include the Western Front. The second half of the book, based on her research and interviews with WWI vets, is not her experience and it shows. The events and descriptions are shallow and superficial, and felt more like an outline, without flesh and blood. The book was a disappointment.
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Title: The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather, Doris Grumbach ISBN: 0395345308 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 10 May, 1983 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington, Arthur William Brown, Donald Gray ISBN: 0253215935 Publisher: Indiana University Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: So Big (Perennial Classics) by Edna Ferber ISBN: 0060956690 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: My Mortal Enemy (Vintage Classics) by Willa Cather ISBN: 0679731792 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 November, 1990 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: O Pioneers! (Vintage Classics) by Willa Cather ISBN: 0679743626 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 December, 1992 List Price(USD): $9.00 |
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