This lesser known novel by Willa Cather is a 5 star effort
equally as good as her well known Prairie Trilogy novels. The novel
depicts the life of Claude Wheeler, a member of the wealthy Wheeler Farm
during the period of the first world war. Claude is a troubled soul
searching for meaning and yearning for a life outside of what appears to
be his preordained destiny to grow up , get married and manage the
family farm. He marries Enid , a loveless religious girl which doesn't
help his quest for meaning. You know things will be going south when she
asks him to sleep on the couch on their wedding night. Meanwhile back
in Europe Germany and France and England are locked in trench warfare
waiting for America to come to tip the balance. The last third of the
novel has Claude Wheeler as Lieutenant Claude Wheeler leading his men
against the Bosch in an absolutely vivid depiction of war writing equal
to the best male authored novels of the period such as All Quiet on the
Western Front. The strength of the novel is the character development of
Claude Wheeler and the people in his life in Nebraska and war torn
France which also includes heart rending details of the Influenza
epidemic of 1918 swirling through the horrific conflict. The novel
earned Cather her first and only Pulitzer. The prairie Nebraska sections
are vintage Cather but her gritty at times understated depiction of
battle conditions writing mind you as a woman presumably without combat
experience is amazing.
