Product Description

A portrait of a woman who reflects the conventions of her age even as she defies them and whose transformations embody the decline and coarsening of the American frontier.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7822193 in Books
• Published on: 1991-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover

From School Library Journal
Grade 8 Up-By Willa Cather.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Published in 1923, this Cather classic depicts the encroachment of civilization that supplanted the pioneer spirit of Nebraska's frontier as seen through the eyes of protagonist Marian Forrester. This superb scholarly edition contains 21 archival photographs, a historical essay, and explanatory notes. Pricey, but it offers a lot, especially for academics.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
'She is undoubtedly one of the twentieth century's greatest American writers' OBSERVER *'Willa Cather makes a world which is burningly alive, sometimes lovely, often tragic' HELEN DUNMORE *'This classic has the striking economy of Hemingway, and is as poignant an elegy for the pioneer West as I have read. The vivacious Marian Forrester stands as a romantic paean to the pioneer's reckless abandon, counterpointed by the narrator's prim decency' The Times *'A poised and perfectly shaped novel' Daily Mail *'Her finest novel ... The portrait of the nervy, alive Marian Forrester as a woman determined to survive remains unforgettable ... This wonderful performance displays Cather's narrative technique at its sharpest, as well as her understanding of the eloquence of the slightest gesture, the simplest statement ... A masterpiece' Irish Times

Customer Reviews

LOST TO POSTERITY...
This is a simply written but thematically complex, metaphoric story, replete with subtle nuances. The events that transpire are seen primarily through the eyes of a boy who comes of age, a contrivance that the author successfully employed in her best selling classic, "My Antonia". Here, it is no less successful. Through the eyes of Neil Herbert, who lives in Sweet Water, a prospective railroad hub on the Western plains in one of the prairie states, the reader gets to know Marian Forrester. She is the much younger, envied wife of one of the town's more prominent and wealthier citizens, Captain Daniel Forrester, a former railroad contractor.

As Neil grows into a man, his adoration of the lovely Mrs. Forrester undergoes a change. He sees her fall from the pedestal from where he and all the townspeople have placed her and sees her, really sees her, warts and all, for the first time, when he discovers her involved in an unexpected peccadillo. It comes as a shock to him that she may not be all that she seems to be. Still, his life is closely entwined with hers, as his uncle, with whom he lives, is Captain Forrester's personal attorney and of the same social standing in this socially circumscribed backwater.

Just as Neil's perception of Mrs. Forrester begins to change in his eyes, so do the fortunes of the town and that of Captain Forrester. As Mrs. Forrester physically deteriorates under the strain of the vicissitudes of fate, so do the town and its surrounding environs. As she revives, leaving behind her old values and adopting new ones that are anathema to those who respect the traditional ones, her revival parallels changes in the town itself, as the old makes way for the new. These changes also parallel the shifts occurring on the American frontier, as social mores and personal values undergo a change, and those stalwart pioneer values give way to new ones.

Beautifully descriptive of a bygone era and laconic in its pace, this is most certainly a novel to be savored. Fans of the author will especially enjoy it.

Sad, solemn tale of a woman's (and nature's) loss
The story of a beautiful woman in the declining frontier town of Sweet Water is told by a studious young man who adores her from afar in this wistful, melancholy novel by Willa Cather. Niel Herbert is a sensitive, but substantial young man who makes the acquaintance of Captain and Mrs. Forrester, the town's leading citizens. Captain Forrester had been a railroad man - a builder, one could almost say a conqueror, who had originally chosen this out-of-the-way Midwestern train stop to make his home. His wife Marian, 25 years his junior, is the woman every man in town desires, and whom every woman in town envies. A native of California, she has grace, beauty, and youthful energy. She respects her husband's money and power and social position, but we don't often get the impression that she loves him. Instead, her head has been turned by a smarmy young gold-digger.

In a story that is more about characters than about action, motivations often start out hazy, and only gradually come into focus. It quickly becomes obvious that Niel is in love with Mrs. Forrester, and that Ivy Peters (the underhanded lawyer Marian hires) is an ugly sadistic snake. Less clear is the nature of the relationship between the Captain and his wife, which seems founded more on mutual admiration than on love. And ever present through the novel are the geographic, social and economic realities of the declining frontier town, which had once been rich and abundant with promise, but which has become choked with a citizenry that has neither the unforced elegance of Mrs. Forrester, nor the strength and vision of her husband. The Captain shows his strong social conscience by supporting the bank, even when it takes a toll on his own solvency. Compare this with his wife's willingness to allow Ivy any latitude in getting her what she wants, regardless of who suffers. Cather shows parallels between the decline of the social order and the destruction (exploitation) of America's natural beauty and resources, and lays the blame not only on those small-minded, shortsighted individuals who sacrificed things that were good and true for their own immediate personal gratification, but also on those who saw it happening and failed to stop it. Mrs. Forrester can always move to another frontier, or find herself another rich husband, but who will repair the dust bowls that she leaves behind?

This novel is a quick and easy read, and while there are intimations of sexual encounters, none are portrayed so graphically that modern teens would be likely to be shocked, although most will find the story a little too dry for their tastes. Many adults will probably feel the same way. There is no real humor in this book, and little that could be called uplifting, either, so while this book makes powerful statements about society, the roles of women, and the need to protect our natural environment, it should only be recommended to those who are devotees of serious literature.

As brilliant as it is short
In the opening sentence of this short novel, Cather describes Sweet Water, the Nebraska town in which it takes place, as "so much grayer today" than it was a generation or so before, when the story takes place. When she wrote those words in 1923, she couldn't possibly have known how prophetic or poignant they would be today, as that part of the country has continued to lose population and become dotted with ghost towns in the decades since then. But sad as that may be, it only adds to the brilliance of this story of times that changed and a community that didn't keep up with the changes.

As per usual for Cather, her heroine is seen mostly through the eyes of a young male character, about whom we know less in the end than we do about the woman he tells of. Taking place toward the end of the nineteenth century, it's a coming of age story for the both of them and for the land they call home, and, one could argue, for America at large. (Subtlety always was among Cather's strongest points; it's never easy to tell for certain whether her stories really are only about individuals or whether they're intended as an allegory for the loss of her beloved Midwestern frontier.) As the times change, so does the place of her protagonist, Mrs. Forrester, in the insular community due to some circumstances she can't control and some she can but won't. Like the title itself, the story ultimately leaves it up to us to decide whether she is ultimately better or worse off at the end than at the beginning and whether her fate reflects poorly on her friends and neighbors or herself, or both.

The one certainty is a loss of youthful exuberance on the part of the town as a whole, which Cather paints vividly as a bustling young community at first and a wounded, declining one not long thereafter. We're left on our own to decide what it all says about Mrs. Forrester, her generation, women in society as a whole, and Cather's own opinions about it all. It's not easy to leave so much ambiguity without leaving the reader frustrated, but remarkably, that's just what happens here.