A review by sarah_
Our Lady of the Prairie by Thisbe Nissen
4.0
I really liked this Our Lady of the Prairie, despite a couple problems I had with it.
Problems first:
1) This book felt SO long! For whatever reason it took me way longer to read than most 350 page books. This is terrible, I guess, since I liked being in the world of the book, but it felt like it dragged sometimes.
2) WTF was that dream sequence about? I had been forewarned by reading other reviews that a lot of people thought it was weird, didn't feel like it added much, and almost quit the book during that section. So...I skipped it. I guess I can't complain that much about something I skipped, but I did try first. I read a few pages, then skimmed some more, and then I finally gave up. You know how it is excruciatingly boring to have someone else explain their dream to you in minute detail? Well, imagine that happening for over *fifty* pages of a convoluted dream about someone's possible-Nazi mother-in-law. I think I would have been setting the book down every couple pages and might never have made it through. I don't regret skipping it and don't feel like I missed anything, but I felt a little bad when I read an interview with the author where she said that section was the heart of the book. Sorry, Thisbe Nissen, I skipped the heart of your book :-/ But I think I enjoyed it better that way.
In any case, I really enjoyed this novel overall. It was the kind of slightly zany slice-of-life book I can really get into. While I'm normally into books with lots of plot, when I like being in a character's head as much as I did Philippa's, I really enjoy a more character-driven book. I suppose some people won't like Philippa much, but I was delighted by how messy and real and relatable she was, and her inner monologue was what really made this book so good for me.
The writing style reminded me, especially in the first half, of two of Garrison Keillor's books that I loved--Liberty and Pontoon. This may not read as an endorsement, since I know a lot of people find his work irritating, but while I was never a Prairie Home Companion listener, I found both those novels laugh-out-loud funny and charming. The similarity to Our Lady of the Prairie was a certain chatty, wry, midwestern humor, I think--and apparently that style is exactly my cup of tea. The second half of the book was a bit darker and more manic, but had a lot of heart, and everything about it really worked for me.
I very much recommend this book if anything about this description sounds appealing, though I think it certainly won't be for everyone. (And if you get to the dream sequence and have trouble getting yourself through it--feel free to give yourself permission to skip right ahead...)
Problems first:
1) This book felt SO long! For whatever reason it took me way longer to read than most 350 page books. This is terrible, I guess, since I liked being in the world of the book, but it felt like it dragged sometimes.
2) WTF was that dream sequence about? I had been forewarned by reading other reviews that a lot of people thought it was weird, didn't feel like it added much, and almost quit the book during that section. So...I skipped it. I guess I can't complain that much about something I skipped, but I did try first. I read a few pages, then skimmed some more, and then I finally gave up. You know how it is excruciatingly boring to have someone else explain their dream to you in minute detail? Well, imagine that happening for over *fifty* pages of a convoluted dream about someone's possible-Nazi mother-in-law. I think I would have been setting the book down every couple pages and might never have made it through. I don't regret skipping it and don't feel like I missed anything, but I felt a little bad when I read an interview with the author where she said that section was the heart of the book. Sorry, Thisbe Nissen, I skipped the heart of your book :-/ But I think I enjoyed it better that way.
In any case, I really enjoyed this novel overall. It was the kind of slightly zany slice-of-life book I can really get into. While I'm normally into books with lots of plot, when I like being in a character's head as much as I did Philippa's, I really enjoy a more character-driven book. I suppose some people won't like Philippa much, but I was delighted by how messy and real and relatable she was, and her inner monologue was what really made this book so good for me.
The writing style reminded me, especially in the first half, of two of Garrison Keillor's books that I loved--Liberty and Pontoon. This may not read as an endorsement, since I know a lot of people find his work irritating, but while I was never a Prairie Home Companion listener, I found both those novels laugh-out-loud funny and charming. The similarity to Our Lady of the Prairie was a certain chatty, wry, midwestern humor, I think--and apparently that style is exactly my cup of tea. The second half of the book was a bit darker and more manic, but had a lot of heart, and everything about it really worked for me.
I very much recommend this book if anything about this description sounds appealing, though I think it certainly won't be for everyone. (And if you get to the dream sequence and have trouble getting yourself through it--feel free to give yourself permission to skip right ahead...)