Reviews

One of Ours by Willa Cather

lilylanie's review against another edition

3.0

You expect a book about World War I to be sad, but I think the events prior to the war were so much sadder that it made Claude's war experiences seem almost enjoyable. Which I think is the point of the book but is still kind of hard to fathom. I feel like if you made a few adjustments for technology, this story could be just as relevant today, and as the mother of a newly adult son, that's a sad and frightening commentary.

I've been enjoying a lot of audiobooks lately, and frequently felt that a good narration gave life to otherwise difficult or dreary subject matter. Unfortunately this is an example of the opposite effect - the reader was a bit too monotonous, and used a strange, effeminate voice for Claude, which didn't really seem to match his personality. I don't think her voice ever rose in volume or speed, even at the height of battle or apex of disaster. So this will be one of the rare instances where I strongly discourage using the audio version of the book, unless you can find one that isn't narrated by Kristen Underwood.

kathytreece's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

shecastspells's review against another edition

5.0

This is the book I think of when asked what the best book I've ever read is. A love letter to the American Midwest, its a slow paced slice of life novel where relatively little happens as we search for meaning within our day to day lives.

mapdock's review against another edition

War is hell, life on the farm can be boring, and boys love their mothers...plus additional insights on the generation that lived through and participated in WWI, through the eyes of Claude Wheeler. Bittersweet and beautiful.

thecatladybooknook_penny's review against another edition

Soft dnf.  Coming back to it later. 

dprice805's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 One of Ours (1923 winner) opens in early twentieth century Nebraska and follows Claude Wheeler. Claude doesn't fit in with his family, eschewing his father's capitalism, his mother' religion, and his brother's materialism. Claude craves something more for himself, some greater and more meaningful purpose, but his efforts are thwarted and, almost inevitably, he finds himself running the family farm and married to a nice local girl, who is more passionate about Christian missionary work than she is about him. It is only when America becomes involved in World War I that, despite the horrors and brutality, Claude finds the purpose, friendship, and freedom he has long craved. Cather excels at rural life, the prairie setting, and a melancholic thwarted character. The latter part of the novel interested me less, and I found the feel both a little romanticised and melodramatic for my personal taste. Overall, though, this was an engaging story. Claude was a character I could get behind, hoping he'd find a way to live his life for himself rather than solely in the service of others. I really enjoyed Cather's prose and the atmosphere she created.
 

sidharthvardhan's review against another edition

5.0

At one point, an army officer thinks about scolding his soldiers for mixing with French women who had been living in a territory just freed from Germans but decides not to because it would be like scolding birds. You could basically say the same about reviewing Cather. There is no defining why exactly I love her writing so much. You could say she writes about Prairies or rural life so beautifully and you could say, about this particular book, that she created a magnification character in Claude - an idealist whose wish for an idealist world was left unfulfilled in an increasingly materialist (thanks to indsutrial revolution and consumerism) world, who seems like a man born in a wrong era and yearns for good old days when there were proper social connections, a man who feels the dullness of inactivity of Utopia-like happy Society he is forever to live in .... until the world war I comes in giving him an opportunity to fight for his ideals; to show to him that there are people still willing to die for an idea (His need for a war, to be able to play the hero, the lack of purpose he would feel in peace he fights for all kind of reminds one of Captain America) ..... But saying all that is still not doing justice enough to Cather. She writes far more like poetry and the poetry is made of material of emotions that, unlike words, refuting analysis in their purest forms. In Father's case, the emotion used as material in three books by her I have read is same .... Longing.

someone_in_despair's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

meiji_mo014's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5