One of Ours

Very interesting story about a young man growing up in the early 1900's. Claude Wheeler considers himself a failure for most of his life and never quite realizes how much he has to offer his family and friends.

Having spent 70 years on the prairie, it was fascinating going back another 50+ years to see what my parents must have gone through. It brought me back to my youth. Willa Cather captures it beautifully..

Willa Sibert Cather is an excellent writer, Her created images came alive on each page. Unfortunately, I felt the content often to be monotonous. I understand why the story's end was necessary to the plight of the protagonist; even so, the end didn't allow for me to set the book down with much impressed warmth.

The excellence of Cather's character development of Claude is bar none. That, along with her descriptive writing of time and place, makes you feel a part of Claude's life, not just a reader looking in.

It is a very touching story with all the excitement and emotion of love only to realize that the one you love isn't who you think and the pain and sorrow of the emptiness. Also, emotional and disturbing real life pain and suffering of war.

A more modern setting for Willa Cather, the early 1900's. As always, she gives an accurate feel for early American life for an average American. One of the only book's I've read other than the David McCulough Harry Truman biography of what it was like to fight in World War One. However, instead of what an artillery officer's war was like it gives a taste of trench warfare and what a Hell it was for the infantry.

This review was written by John C. Nord, not PSY196, which is my wife, Charlsey Nord. I was asked to review it but my wife's email address was attached to my account at one time and I think this is why her handle, psy 196 was attached to my email and got attached to the review. Does that make sense to you? J. Nord

THIS STORY LINE AND WRITING ARE GREAT, BUT THE BOOK IS A TOTAL MESS. EVERY PAGE HAS AT LEAST TWENTY WORDS THAT ARE JOINED TOGETHER. AT FIRST I THOUGHT IT WAS HER WRITING STYLE, BUT ABSOLUTELY NO EXPLANATION. I JUST CAN'T UNDERSTAND IT. HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD THIS PROBLEM WITH THEIR BOOK? I WAS IN A HURRY AND ORDERED IT FOR MY BOOK CLUB, ACTUALLY TWO COPIES. IT IS ALMOST UNBELIEVABLE UNLESS IT IS INTENTIONAL AND THEN, PLEASE TELL ME WHY IT IS THIS WAY.

I was shocked by the shoddy formatting of this book. Text begins and ends with little logic. It looked like a problem between two computer programs, and was extremely distracting. The large format of the book was also very clumsy. Buy a different edition of this moving Cather work.

Incredible...Insightful...Internal. If you want to know what it is like to grow up in the Midwest as a young man - READ IT!

I read this book over twenty years ago and it has stuck with me on all those pathways of time. Cather's did an incredible job identifying and relating the internal strife that young men often find within themselves and presenting them in an engaging story. Not only is this a book for entertainment, but over the years I have found this book to be a guidepost for the mind and soul of men.

This book should be used to teach the Today's society tells boys that their rough nature is unnatural and needs to be medicated and then bombards them with idolatry of muscle-bound Neanderthal who signed the multimillion dollar sports contract or sleazed his way to a powerful political appointment - this book helps them understand that they are fine just the way they are. That being a man is to recognize their restlessness and learn how to harness it. That being a man is to embrace idealism and intellect. That being a man is about seeking more than what is before them and not settling for things which society has set before them as "normal". It is also wonderful to see an author, having just gone through a horrible time in history, embrace patriotism and national pride.

Bottom line is that this book needs to be read by parents and children alike....it is truly a Classic.

Great novel - but Wilder Publications has produced a terrible edition! Full of typographical errors, and entire paragraphs dropped, misplaced, and copied into other chapters. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK FROM WILDER PUBLICATIONS. There are plenty of other choices.

This review is about this specific edition. The typography is atrocious. Numerous, pervasive errors are found throughout the text, usually 10-20 per page. Almost always it is two words pushed together: "butit"; "moneywas"; "toYucca"; etc. This is not the edition to get. Unfortunately I had already written in this book or I would have returned it. I do not understand how the store sells something like this. Again: DO NOT GET THIS EDITION! It is awful.

Well-crafted novel with believable characters. The pace of the plot was a little slow for the first half of the book; however, stay with this book because the second half is quite rich. The first half builds well to the climax.

This edition is unreadable because all the type runs together so that as you are reading youget wordsrun together likethis. I quit trying. I intend to read this book, not this edition because I love Cather and the subject interests me.

Big,disapointment! Text is super small and appears to be a photocopy. Entire book seems fabricated and not a prfessional publication. There is no publisher listed, no copy right date or library of congress designation code. I believe its a knock off. I will return it, primarily because the print is too small to read.