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I feel like "The Song of the Lark" was twice as long as it should have been. Thea is not such a compelling character that we needed to hear every detail of her rise along the path to musical fame. I was exhuasted on her behalf. Perhaps the problem is that I just don't understand the "artistic temperment" that is described so painstakingly throughout the novel - the special spark of "something" that everyone sees in Thea and that she feels so compellingly in herself. Not being an artiste, I mostly just felt annoyed by the repetitive focus on her uniqueness and special drive, which often felt more like selfishness and coldness. Dr. Archie is the best character in the book (did anyone else hope that Thea was going to marry him in the last section??), and the first section when Thea is a girl in Moonstone, Colorado was my favorite part. I had to drag myself through the sections in Chicago, Arizona, and New York. Cather is a stellar writer, of course. That is not the issue. I just didn't enjoy the main character or the plot of this book, which I don't feel like should even be a part of a "Great Plains" series considering none of it really takes place on the prairie. "O, Pioneers" lifted my heart. "The Song of the Lark" dragged it down. We'll see how "My Antonia" does when I read it later this year, but I have pleasant memories of it from high school. For now, I need a break from Cather.
I liked Thea as a child better than Thea as an adult. I like Willa Cather's style, and it was fun that the first half of the book was set in a (fictional) town in Colorado, mentioning real places like Denver and Colorado Springs. I didn't find it as compelling as O Pioneers, mainly because I find Alexandra in that book to be a more likable character than Thea in this book. Thea looks with contempt on the people whom Alexandra views with charity and compassion.
Three and and a half stars.
Three and and a half stars.
This was the first Willa Cather novel I have read and did so as part of a book club choice. I found the writing absolutely beautiful, and would give it a three and a half if I could. The main character, Thea is wonderful and I completely fell in love with her. Can't wait to read more of this author's work.
Thea is a musical/vocal prodigy. Born one of many children to the local Moonstone, Colorado preacher, she could have been lost in the shuffle, but her mother didn't allow it.
Thea received piano lessons and eventually, through the death of a caring man, she is sent to Chicago to study music. With the help of more caring teachers/mentors, and some not so caring, she changes to singing and develops into a operatic star.
Thea's story is one of a developing artist. It is fascinating, and at this second reading, I still love it, but it is too long.
Thea received piano lessons and eventually, through the death of a caring man, she is sent to Chicago to study music. With the help of more caring teachers/mentors, and some not so caring, she changes to singing and develops into a operatic star.
Thea's story is one of a developing artist. It is fascinating, and at this second reading, I still love it, but it is too long.
I picked up this book at the Willa Cather Center in Red Cloud Nebraska. It’s the most autobiographical of her novels and, while set in CO and not NE, describes many rooms and items in her childhood home. The book needs to be read slowly as the impact is in the descriptions of people and places.
The overall theme is what it takes to be a true artist. In this case a singer, but the parallels to a writer are implied. One of her earlier novels, this volume is somewhat “overwritten” and gets wordy at times, but it is still full of Cather’s genius.
The overall theme is what it takes to be a true artist. In this case a singer, but the parallels to a writer are implied. One of her earlier novels, this volume is somewhat “overwritten” and gets wordy at times, but it is still full of Cather’s genius.
Read this for my American Writers class. While this one was one of the easier ones to read, it still doesn't make my list of books I liked from the semester.
While its characters and plot fall short of Cather's other Great Plains Trilogy novels, it still has its moments of beautiful prose.
I read this trilogy out of order, and while I really liked My Antonia, I was a bit disappointed by O Pioneers! so it took me 10 years (and my wife reading all three in a row) to get me to this classic - and I really loved it. The story is of a girl growing up in a poor family on the plains of Colorado in the early 20th Century, discovering her incredible singing talent, and venturing into the big world of Chicago and then New York City and Germany to perform in operas. The incredible passion of the book is in its brilliant rendering of what it takes, and what it means, to be a completely dedicated artist; the single-minded commitment and personal cost to the artist, and to her family and those who truly love her. While there is a little bit of lingering racial stereotyping and language of the time, it doesn't really distract much from the overall beauty of the story and its telling.
This isn't a book that would have ordinarily interested me, so shout out to the 2015 Pop Sugar reading challenge, because I enjoyed it.
Parts were slow (specifically Part I), but on the whole, this was a pretty good book. I would have liked to spend some time with Thea in Germany, but on the whole, maybe it was for the best because it was sometimes hard to hang out with her. She was very focused on her goals, which is AWESOME. But every time she was like "I don't make friends with girls/women" it bummed me out.
On the whole, though, it was nice to read about a woman at the turn of the century from humble beginnings who was able to make her dreams come true. And Cather's style was interesting and compelling.
Parts were slow (specifically Part I), but on the whole, this was a pretty good book. I would have liked to spend some time with Thea in Germany, but on the whole, maybe it was for the best because it was sometimes hard to hang out with her. She was very focused on her goals, which is AWESOME. But every time she was like "I don't make friends with girls/women" it bummed me out.
On the whole, though, it was nice to read about a woman at the turn of the century from humble beginnings who was able to make her dreams come true. And Cather's style was interesting and compelling.