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A review by thelizabeth
Paul's Case by Willa Cather
4.0
The more I thought about this after I read it, the better I liked it. That isn't a typical pattern for me, but I love when it happens.
It's written in a very distant third-person voice. Nothing you learn about Paul comes from him. His actions are very, very guarded. When the plot takes the turn 2/3 of the way in, and Paul has actually gone and done something, and something entirely unexpected, it's surprisingly riveting. It's such a huge mistake, an he had my heart for it.
This story gets read a lot as being about repressed sexuality, which it might be, but it really just reads to me like it is about repression in general. I don't really care why Paul and his town reject each other, I just see how difficult the situation is. The people around Paul almost want him to fall, even though he's just a young teenager. And he is constantly poised to try and prove how much he doesn't care, how much better off he is without them. (Even though he is still right there, not away from them at all.) He's just lying, all around.
His swings through depression are awful and sad. His night in the rain, after he follows the singer, and decides he can't go home, but doesn't have anywhere else to go, so he does go home but spends the night in the freaking basement, it's terrible.
It seems to also be read as being about money, which he makes a grasp for at the end, and it seems like it's what makes him happy, and that his trouble starts when he runs out of it. I don't think that's right, though: I think it's about the artificiality he is obsessed with. He loves the controlled perfection of theater. He goes to a hotel, for goodness sake, and what is more artificial (and stagey) than that. The means he's using are artificial, the way he's acting is artificial, and of course, all of this feels like it sets him free from what he's trying to escape. But escapes don't work like that.
Unfortunately, I knew how it ended before I read it, because I added it to Goodreads first, which shows it included in the book group right up on the top of the page. DOH. Hate that.
It's written in a very distant third-person voice. Nothing you learn about Paul comes from him. His actions are very, very guarded. When the plot takes the turn 2/3 of the way in, and Paul has actually gone and done something, and something entirely unexpected, it's surprisingly riveting. It's such a huge mistake, an he had my heart for it.
This story gets read a lot as being about repressed sexuality, which it might be, but it really just reads to me like it is about repression in general. I don't really care why Paul and his town reject each other, I just see how difficult the situation is. The people around Paul almost want him to fall, even though he's just a young teenager. And he is constantly poised to try and prove how much he doesn't care, how much better off he is without them. (Even though he is still right there, not away from them at all.) He's just lying, all around.
His swings through depression are awful and sad. His night in the rain, after he follows the singer, and decides he can't go home, but doesn't have anywhere else to go, so he does go home but spends the night in the freaking basement, it's terrible.
It seems to also be read as being about money, which he makes a grasp for at the end, and it seems like it's what makes him happy, and that his trouble starts when he runs out of it. I don't think that's right, though: I think it's about the artificiality he is obsessed with. He loves the controlled perfection of theater. He goes to a hotel, for goodness sake, and what is more artificial (and stagey) than that. The means he's using are artificial, the way he's acting is artificial, and of course, all of this feels like it sets him free from what he's trying to escape. But escapes don't work like that.
Unfortunately, I knew how it ended before I read it, because I added it to Goodreads first, which shows it included in the