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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
On our drive from Ohio to Oregon at the end of January this year, I insisted that we detour from our planned route to visit the geographic/geodetic center of the lower 48 states. In order to do this we ended up taking lesser traveled state routes though most of Kansas and Nebraska, which led to our passing through Red Cloud, NE, on our way back to I-80.
Why is this relevant? Because Red Cloud, NE, is the town where Willa Cather spent her "formative" years, and on which she based many of her novels' places and characters. It's also hauntingly beautiful country and I'm determined to visit again when I have more time to spend there. Passing through Red Cloud left me determined to read Cather's works.
And, ok: I LOVE THIS BOOK. It's just really, really good. It's very agrarian, progressive, subtle, and powerfully moving. Of course, it features some of my favorite things: impossibly practical yet quirky Swedes, the prairie, and the promise of Alaskan adventure, so... I might be biased. What can I say? The prairie has gotten under my skin.
Even if you're not as into all that as I am, it's well worth a read. I highly recommend it!
Why is this relevant? Because Red Cloud, NE, is the town where Willa Cather spent her "formative" years, and on which she based many of her novels' places and characters. It's also hauntingly beautiful country and I'm determined to visit again when I have more time to spend there. Passing through Red Cloud left me determined to read Cather's works.
And, ok: I LOVE THIS BOOK. It's just really, really good. It's very agrarian, progressive, subtle, and powerfully moving. Of course, it features some of my favorite things: impossibly practical yet quirky Swedes, the prairie, and the promise of Alaskan adventure, so... I might be biased. What can I say? The prairie has gotten under my skin.
Even if you're not as into all that as I am, it's well worth a read. I highly recommend it!
"Off in the cities there are thousands of rolling stones like me... When one of us dies, they scarcely know where to bury him. Our landlady and the delicatessen man are our only mourners, and we leave nothing behind us but a fiddle, or an easel, or a typewriter, or whatever tool we got our living by. All we have ever managed to do is pay our rent, the exorbitant rent one has to pay for a few square feet of space near the heart of things. We have no house, no place, no people of our own. We live in the streets, in the parks, in the theaters. We sit in restaurants and concert halls and look about at the hundreds of our own kind and shudder."
Ouch. Not since "A Prayer for Owen Meany" have I read words that struck to the heart like those, and they were published in 1913. Phenomenal book.
Ouch. Not since "A Prayer for Owen Meany" have I read words that struck to the heart like those, and they were published in 1913. Phenomenal book.
“She was still gazing into the west, and in her face there was that exalted serenity that sometimes came to her at moments of deep feeling. The level rays of the sinking sun shone in her clear eyes.”
Absolutely stunning. I found myself highlighting quotes constantly. And so romantic, I was not expecting that. Anne of Green Gables fans would find a kindred spirit in Alexandra and the settings beautifully described by Cather in this story.
Absolutely stunning. I found myself highlighting quotes constantly. And so romantic, I was not expecting that. Anne of Green Gables fans would find a kindred spirit in Alexandra and the settings beautifully described by Cather in this story.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Loved it. Talking with my mom about our Nebraska homesteading ancestors, she quoted my great-great-grandmother's journals: "homesteading wasn't for sissies." Alexandra was certainly not a sissy.
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
sad
adventurous
medium-paced
Maybe the most beautiful book, I’m not sure. It oozes love and life and beauty and I want to read it in slow motion and let it run through me.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated