Claude Wheeler, the sensitive, aspiring protagonist of this beautifully written Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, resembles the youngest son of a peculiarly American fairy tale. His fortune is ready-made for him, but he refuses to settle for it. Alienated from his parents, all but rejected by his wife, and dissatisfied with farming, Claude is an idealist without an ideal to cling to. It's only when America enters the First World War that Claude finds the purpose he has searched for. One of Ours is divided into two parts: the ...
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Claude Wheeler, the sensitive, aspiring protagonist of this beautifully written Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, resembles the youngest son of a peculiarly American fairy tale. His fortune is ready-made for him, but he refuses to settle for it. Alienated from his parents, all but rejected by his wife, and dissatisfied with farming, Claude is an idealist without an ideal to cling to. It's only when America enters the First World War that Claude finds the purpose he has searched for. One of Ours is divided into two parts: the first half is set in Nebraska where Claude struggles to find his life's purpose; the second part, during World War I where he ironically fulfills his romantic idealism on the brutal battlefields of 1918 France. It is the story of a young man born after the American frontier has vanished, yet whose quintessentially American restlessness seeks redemption on a frontier far bloodier.
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Add this copy of One of Ours to cart. $27.84, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by Center Point.
Add this copy of One of Ours to cart. $82.99, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by Center Point Pub.
I rarely venture into to the classics but I had this strange urge to try to read a Pulitzer Prize winner. This is the one I picked up. I have never read a Willa Cather novel before. I can now say that I would have no problem picking up one of her books again. I really enjoyed this novel. It can't say it was an exciting novel (so if you're into twist and turns this is not for you) but a plain story on how events affected the main character's decision to join the army in the midst of WWI. There is less about the war as one expects from the synopsis and more about the character's home life and relationships in Nebraska. Cather's writing is very straightforward and not flowery (which I greatly appreciate).
vincenzo
Jun 8, 2007
1 of ours
Great book. you can't go wrong tih cather's writing. Poignant novel. A real tear-jerker!
