There is Alexandra Bergson and Carl Linstrum, who live on neighboring farms, and here: The story repeatedly jumps ahead years from one chapter to the next - yet the most significant relationships are already presented, in their essence, in these opening pages. It's not otherwise immediately apparent, given the immediacy of the narrative - especially in that icy first chapter -, but O Pioneers ! is a novel of growth and settlement, the characters successfully figuring out how to make the best of the land - while still struggling with other basics of human life and emotion. O Pioneers ! begins: 'One January day, thirty years ago', and while it is that present that makes the strongest first impression - the bitter cold, the haphazard settlement - the mention that this account is retrospective, from three decades on, is also significant. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review 's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers.

(.) (T)he secret of this is the persistence throughout of a single fine quality of the author (.) - her extraordinary sincerity.' - Henry Brinsley, Vanity Fair And yet by the end of the book, something has happened in the reader's mind that leaves him grateful. Cather in O Pioneers! (O title!!) is neither a skilled storyteller nor the least bit of an artist. It is practically a novel without a hero.' - The New York Times Book Review Through a direct, human tale of love and struggle and attainment, a tale that is American in the best sense of the word, there runs a thread of symbolism. 'Miss Cather has written a good story, we hasten to assure the reader who cares for good stories, but she has achieved something even finer.But then the reader is pulled up short by a flash of lyricism, as Cather allows a glimpse into the depths of emotion that lie beneath this deceptively simple surface.' - WB Gooderham, The Guardian (.) In fact, at times this landscape threatens to overwhelm the novel itself, dwarfing its protagonists so that characterisation appears thin, and tragic events are rendered as almost incidental. 'The prose is clear and - as befitting the subject matter - pared down to often brutal effect.General information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author Trying to meet all your book preview and review needs.

1913 willa cather novel