O Pioneers! (Dover Thrift)

I dont know if I read the same book as the reviewers who so eloquently stated 'It stunk', but it doesn't feel like it. I read this book, amongst others by Cather, during a long, lonely stay in an old, clapperboard Nebraskan farm house and for me, she evokes the time and land so purely and with such understated and simple beauty, the book has been unforgettable.

"The land wanted to be let alone, to preserve its own fierce strength, its peculiar, savage kind of beauty." (7/7 people found this helpful)

Willa Cather's second novel draws on Cather's own experiences on the Nebraska plains, where she knew, first-hand, the harsh beauty of the land, the resilience of the farmers who tried to tame it, and the accidents of nature that could, overnight, destroy years of dreams. Here Alexandra Bergson, the bright and hard-working daughter of a farmer, inherits the responsibilities of running the family farm upon the death of her father. With two older, less business-like brothers to work the land, she turns what had been a marginally successful farm into a business profitable enough that she is able to buy land other farmers have abandoned.

Beginning in the late 1800s, when Alexandra is a teenager, and continuing until Alexandra is in her forties, the novel celebrates Alexandra's strength and dedication to her land, at the same time that it emphasizes how isolating farm life can be. Though Alexandra's farm becomes the most successful farm in the area, she has few friends and no lovers, and there is little opportunity for social life. When her earliest friend, Carl Linstrum, whose family long ago gave up their farm, suddenly returns for a visit, Alexandra and Carl find themselves "keeping company," despite the opposition of her brothers. The love of her youngest brother Emil for Marie Shabata, an unhappily married woman, is a parallel love story with additional complications. In both love stories, the accidents of fate, so common in farm life, play a key role in characters' personal lives.

Filled with gorgeous descriptions of the changing seasons, from the brutal harshness of winter to the rebirth in spring and the flourishing of summer, the novel also shows how fickle nature can be. Those who survive, physically and emotionally, are those like Alexandra who can accept and adapt to whatever life offers, instead of fighting against unpredictable disasters. To be successful, one must sublimate the desire for adventure, the urge to explore, and the human tendency to ask oneself, "What if...?" Day-to-day activities, minutely explored here, keep farmers like Alexandra rooted in the real world--imagination is a "luxury" few can afford.

One of the first realistic novels about the pioneer experience, O Pioneers conveys the values and the personal qualities needed for success on the plains, at the same time that it also reveals how quickly and unpredictably nature can change outcomes. Even love is not a haven here--sudden, unpredictable changes occur in love, too. Dramatic and powerful in its depiction of pioneer life, the novel is a paean to the resilient spirit of the early pioneers and the enduring power of nature. Mary Whipple

THE LAND TO WHICH WE BELONG... (17/17 people found this helpful)

In this, the author's second published work, the author writes about that which she knew best, early pioneer life in Nebraska, the place to which she and her family moved in 1883 when she was a mere slip of a girl. She eventually attended the University of Nebraska, graduating in 1995, at a time when most girls did no such thing.

In this work, the author was on very sure footing. Her clear, straightforward prose lends itself capably to the story of early pioneers who went to Nebraska and set down roots, weathering the exigencies that often plagued a newcomer to a particular region. It is a surprisingly unsentimental look at pioneer life.

This thematically complex, but simply written story focuses primarily on Alexandra Bergson, the intelligent, independent, resourceful, and strong-willed daughter of pioneer John Bergson. Upon his death he did what was then the nearly unthinkable. He left his land in the hands of his oldest child, his daughter, Alexandra, rather than in those of his sons, recognizing in his daughter those qualities that would ensure that his land would prosper under her stewardship.

This then is the story of not only Alexandra but of that land and those whose sustenance depended upon its fruitfulness. The reader follows the Bergson clan as they live their lives and interact with their neighbors. Under Alexandra's skillful management, the Bergson farm prospers. As the farm prospers, so does its environs, as the area becomes a bustling center of activity with more and more settlers developing the land around that of the Bergsons.

Thematically, the book explores the vicissitudes of life, as well as its life-affirming moments. As in all lives, the characters in this book experience moments of high drama and great tragedy, as well as memorable moments of love and hate. All this is grounded within the context of pioneer life, with all its hardships and privations, as well as its occasional abundance. The author skillfully re-creates a melting pot of the many nationalities that cultivated the land known as Nebraska.

This is a book that those who like reading about pioneer life will certainly enjoy, as will those who simply like a well-written book with a tale to tell. This classic novel was also adapted for a Hallmark Hall of Fame film, starring Jessica Lange in the role of Alexandra Bergson.

When men were men and women were more so. (12/14 people found this helpful)

The first half of this novel is curiously disjointed. Months, sometimes years elapse between each chapter, making it rather like reading fragments of a long family saga. The effect is to distance the reader from the characters. The second half is a more continuous and involving narrative, developing into a conventional social drama with a surprisingly melodramatic climax.

The writing is fine, with an especially strong visual sense, sometimes reading almost like a treatment for a screenplay. The author manages a simple and elegant style that suits her theme perfectly.

Cather's sympathies are firmly with the strong central female character Alexandra. The male characters are mostly insipid and unstable; and an affection, tinged with contempt, is shown toward the more submissive female characters. Apart from Alexandra, the author's deepest sympathy is reserved for the country itself. Cather writes of the Nebraska that she knew in her youth and of the immigrant men and women who tamed a hostile landscape.

The title is taken from a very poor and overblown poem by Walt Whitman, appropriate only in that the poem is as hard going for the reader as the land was for the pioneer. But, title apart, the novel remains a solid rendition of Western pioneer life, which was a vital strand of American cultural history.

The characters are real to the hardships immigrants dealt w/ (3/9 people found this helpful)

Willa Cather's novel, O Pioneers! is true to the tough times the American Westerners had to endure day after day. Alexandra, Carl, and Marie's love triangle will keep you pondering what will happen in the end? This novel is truely realistic and kept my attention throughout it's Five Parts. A short read. I definitely recommend it to the many strong-minded women, who will easily relate to Alexandra Bergson.

O Pioneers! (Dover Thrift)

Willa Cather

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Reader Reviews:

A very special book (0/0 people found this helpful)

"The land wanted to be let alone, to preserve its own fierce strength, its peculiar, savage kind of beauty." (7/7 people found this helpful)

THE LAND TO WHICH WE BELONG... (17/17 people found this helpful)

When men were men and women were more so. (12/14 people found this helpful)

The characters are real to the hardships immigrants dealt w/ (3/9 people found this helpful)

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