O Pioneers! in Crazy Challenge Connection

Jan 29, 2019 Claire rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: precinct-81, reading-women

For me the book did not really work. Granted, it is well written and an interesting subject. On the other hand the characters are not really coming to life. As a document of a period in time, it is an interesting book. As a classic it fell short for me on the point of depth. Too superficial? As abonus: The descriptions of nature are truly great.

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Jun 29, 2016 Hannah rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: frontier, prairie

I read this when I was around 13 or 14, I think. I'd been looking for a good prairie tale, and thought I'm try this one out. I was a little disappointed in the characters; I don't recall simply loving any certain one, the the tale still held my interest. I may or may not get around to reading another Cather; this wasn't enough of a favorite to not get left behind in a move.

I still prefer the novels of Bess Streeter Aldrich, and was delighted shortly after reading this book to find the sort of ta ...more

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Apr 03, 2019 Chaitra rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: classic, historical-fiction, western, vignettes

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Death Comes to the Archbishop is a wonderful book. I was hoping for some of the same tenderness and compassion in this story, but even before the book reached its terrible ending, I had my problems.

I’d thought this was going to be Alexandra’s book, and in the first couple of sections, it was true. She’s shown to be strong, a canny businesswoman when her brothers are not. They’re good workers, but she has the spark that they do not. In the first section, her father has just died, everyone is sell Death Comes to the Archbishop is a wonderful book. I was hoping for some of the same tenderness and compassion in this story, but even before the book reached its terrible ending, I had my problems.

I’d thought this was going to be Alexandra’s book, and in the first couple of sections, it was true. She’s shown to be strong, a canny businesswoman when her brothers are not. They’re good workers, but she has the spark that they do not. In the first section, her father has just died, everyone is selling their land, but Alexandra decides to buy instead of sell. And her gamble pays off, but it doesn’t get shown because we’ve cut to sixteen years later when Alexandra is the richest landowner around.

I didn’t mind the vignetting. I don’t have to know the boring bits about Alexandra’s life. But what I didn’t like was Alexandra’s farm life, no, her entire life gets shuffled off to the side to deal with her little college educated brother Emil and his drama. He’s boring, but he’s gone off to the city so I guess he’s less boring than the rest of the men. He quickly falls in love with a bright and sunny married woman, and she with him. They try to fight it, then they don’t, her husband accidentally shoots them, they die.

And then we sit through some tedious chapters about how it was all the girl’s fault for getting herself and her lover killed. Alexandra counts it a betrayal against her, she moans that it could have been some other hapless guy in her clutches and not her little brother! Never mind that little brother is not so little, that he knew exactly what he was doing, and for heavens sake they were both adults. She didn’t sow destruction by merely being pretty. If we are going to be victim blaming, did the guy not have any impulse control? Oh no, Emil was saintly. I didn't like the shift to Emil in the first place, but I liked Marie. I thought she deserved a lot more than Emil or her husband. The moralizing at her expense I could have done without. ...more

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May 17, 2021 Linda C rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, romance-historical, western

Cather's story of a Nebraska immigrant community concentrating on one family is a classic. John Bergson leaves a wife, 4 children and a farm when he dies putting his eldest, practical daughter, Alexandra, in charge. She is 20, Oscar, 19, Lou, 17, and Emil, 5. The first section covers their first year after his death when the basic decisions are made for the direction they will take. The second section jumps 16 years ahead and then proceeds through the next couple of years. The farm has grown and ...more

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Jun 27, 2021 SandyL rated it it was ok

Shelves: 100-199-pgs, a-overdrive, character-cowboy-rancher-farmer, genre-historical, genre-western, setting-nebraska, genre-classic, zz-tt-8

This book took me over a week to slog through just over 100 pages. I still trying to figure out what the point of it was. A Swedish family struggles and then makes good farming in Nebraska, and then all of a sudden everyone is unhappy and wants something different than they have. Maybe that's what it's about - the grass is always greener? ...more

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May 29, 2023 Kate rated it liked it · review of another edition

This is a book than spans approximately 30 years, starting in the 1880s. It tells the story of European settlers who tried to survive on the land in America

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