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Title: Alexander's Bridge by Willa Sibert Cather, Willa Silbert Cather, Bernice Slote ISBN: 0-8032-5863-1 Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr Pub. Date: August, 1986 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: An ersatz Edith Wharton masquerading as Willa Cather
Comment: Light on plot, heavy on symbolism, and a little predictable, Cather's first novel (a novella, actually) still contains moments of brilliance, especially in its strong characterizations and occasional flashes of wit. The story concerns a Boston architect who is contendedly married but suddenly embarks on an affair in London with an old flame from his youth. He soon becomes tormented over his double life but finds himself unable to resolve his conflicted feelings. Heavily indebted to the Gilded Age novelists, "Alexander's Bridge" reads like a typical first novel from a writer who shows a lot of promise.
Later in life, Cather wrote an essay entitled "My First Novels (There Were Two)," as close to an apology for a first novel as most writers ever make. She admitted that most of the "younger writers" in her peer group followed the manner of Henry James and Edith Wharton, "without having their qualifications"; she "thought a book should be made out of 'interesting material.'" Only while writing her next novel, "O Pioneers!," did she realize that "taking a ride through a familiar country"--the rural Nebraska of her youth--was "a much more absorbing process." Nevertheless, "Alexander's Bridge" hints at the virtuoso novelist she was later to become, and it's certainly better than many writers achieve in an entire lifetime.
Rating: 3
Summary: A Bridge to Her Better Work
Comment: This was Willa Cather's first novel, and, while showing glimpses of her later talent, is mostly disappointing. The metaphor of the bridge--the conduit to both the past and the future--figures prominently in this story of a Boston architect torn between his ongoing "mid-life" crisis and his energetic, passion-filled past.
The story contains some heavy-handed symbolism (e.g., the bridge), melodramatic action ("With one [hand] he threw down the window and with the other--still standing behind her--he drew her back against him), and awkward phrasing: "'He was simply the most tremendous response to stimuli I have ever known.'"
Still, the story moves along well, and there is an interesting Henry James-like contrast of Europe and America. The beginning nicely portrays the Boston upper class, and the dramatic conclusion includes passages of great strength and imagination. It is in this last chapter, especially, that her skills are most evident. Willa Cather is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of "O Pioneers!" "My Antonia," and other great works. Definitely recommended for those with an interest in her work.
Rating: 2
Summary: Clearly not her best...
Comment: I'll make this review brief:
Cather didn't know how to write very well when she put this novel together. I have read iher style here as being comparable to Henry James... no way. This novel is too short, too abrupt, and too lacking in the details needed to pull off decent character motivation, somethng I find vital to novels dealing with infidelity and love.
The scenes read as disjuncted and they do not develop very well. If you want a short Cather novel that is better and want to avoid the commonplace Death Comes for the Archbishop, then try "My Mortal Enemy" This shows Cather off at the better end of her career.
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Title: One of Ours (Vintage Classics) by Willa Cather ISBN: 0679737448 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 05 November, 1991 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Lucy Gayheart (Vintage Classics) by Willa Cather ISBN: 0679728880 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 26 September, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: My Mortal Enemy (Vintage Classics) by Willa Cather ISBN: 0679731792 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 31 October, 1990 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather, Doris Grumbach ISBN: 0395345308 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 10 May, 1983 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: The Professor's House (Vintage Classic) by Willa Cather ISBN: 0679731806 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 31 October, 1990 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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