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A review by ja3m3
One of Ours by Willa Cather
5.0
Winner of the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for fiction One of Ours tells the story of Claude Wheeler a Nebraskan farm boy who longs for more than the rolling prairie and watchful eye of a Christian upbringing. He dabbles in education, marriage, and farming looking for something that is truly his own – something that will define him and end his longing. When America joins WWI Claude enlists in the army and will finally find his calling when he is leading his troops to victory and death in a trench on a faraway battlefield.
One of Ours is really two books in one. The first half centers on life on a prosperous Nebraska farm and the longings of a son who doesn’t fit in. Willa Cather has the amazing ability to not only capture the feel and beauty of the Great Plains, but the dreams of a people who carved a life from the unforgiving soil. The second part focuses on the impact of WWI and the effect it has on Claude. Cather could have gone all patriotic about America’s involvement in WWI , especially since it was published only 3 years after the war ended, but she wrote the war with a writer’s detachment which brought to focus the brutality, honesty, and chaos that is war. This is an outstanding piece of American literature. Highly recommend.
One of Ours is really two books in one. The first half centers on life on a prosperous Nebraska farm and the longings of a son who doesn’t fit in. Willa Cather has the amazing ability to not only capture the feel and beauty of the Great Plains, but the dreams of a people who carved a life from the unforgiving soil. The second part focuses on the impact of WWI and the effect it has on Claude. Cather could have gone all patriotic about America’s involvement in WWI , especially since it was published only 3 years after the war ended, but she wrote the war with a writer’s detachment which brought to focus the brutality, honesty, and chaos that is war. This is an outstanding piece of American literature. Highly recommend.