Reviews

A Lost Lady by Willa Cather

ipasiuk's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad medium-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

3.75

ah_nailse's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

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

3.0

maralisephoto's review against another edition

3.0

This novel challenges the concept of 'ideal,' more particularly, an ideal woman. Eastern gentility and refinement are seen as fronts for 'real' human motivations like despair and survival and greed. And yet, the main character still seems enamored by Eastern gentility and education and he leads a respectable, if boring, life. He seems torn by the principles of the East and his home in the West. And in the end that friction remains in the reader as well.

itsmandaaa's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

emulator's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

mzlzee15's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective relaxing fast-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

3.5

We all find ourselves thrust into situations within which we need to find a way to survive in the best way we can.  This is that story at a time when resources were not what they are today.

agmaynard's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.0

Melancholy, and filled at times with beautiful evocations of nature and a tie to the character's emotions.  Niel falls for the vital and vivacious Mrs Forrester as a young person and is gradually disappointed in her as she is human and not an Ideal.  Suffused with misogyny as well as an evocation of the idealized adventuring spirit of the colonizers of the middle and west.  In the last several pages:  "It was what he most held against Mrs Forrester; that she was not willing to immolate herself, like the widow of all these great men, and die with the pioneer period to which she belonged; that she preferred life on any terms."

hope_burns_bright's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

shellydav's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

5.0

I read this with a solid understanding of the literary period in which this was written, the prevailing themes, and Cather's other work (as well as the work of Faulkner, Fitzgerald, and to some degree, Hemingway). This reminded me a lot of The Great Gatsby. We see Mrs. Forrester-- the lost lady--and the other characters through the eyes of Niel in a way that is a lot like Nick sees Gatsby, and watches his demise. 

If you read that in school and learned about the themes of past and present, old money and new money, and the American Dream, you will enjoy the parallels.

I have only read two other Cather books, a long time ago. I am glad I picked this up. It reminded me of why I loved Modernist fiction.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs

ebadamowicz's review against another edition

adventurous reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.25