ckirkhart 's review for:

The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather

5.0

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I'm not entirely sure why I like this book so much. I think part of it is because I can't completely figure out why I dislike the protagonist, Thea Kronborg, so much by the end of the novel. As a talented, intelligent girl stuck in a small town, she is a very sympathetic and likable character. I found myself cheering her on as she works hard to achieve her dream of being an artist, which she does by the end of the novel. And yet, somehow along the way I lose all of my fondness for her. Though the plot follows the conventions of the typical pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps American story, Cather subtly makes this novel something much more complex. Thea's development addresses some of the negative realities of success - the disconnect between achievement and happiness, and the tension between artistic integrity and humanity. Cather plays this tension so subtly the reader must read deeply to find it, and she does not resolve it for us at the end, leaving us with a lot to contemplate.