Rating: 
Summary: Classically boring
Review: I know it's a classic, but I just couldn't finish it and it did not hold my interest. When it first came out, it was ahead of its time, and the first in the genre. Now, it's just dated.
Rating: 
Summary: Masterpiece No.1
Review: In her second novel, published at age forty, Cather deals with themes and settings which would preoccupy her for the rest of her career. Foremost in the book stands The Land, the Nebraska prairie, as palpable a character as the indomintable Alexander Bergson, determined not only to live on The Land but to conquer it and make something of it and leave it as a legacy for those to follow her. She resists the blandishments of big city, industrialized life (to which her more materialistic brothers are anxious to submit)to remain in the place she knows best.O PIONEERS is not a farming manual, however, or pictuaresque portrait of happy Swedish farmers. It is a tragedy of the sacrfices Alexander must make to remain true to her (and her father's) dream. She gives up (until the happy ending) marriage, love, and family of her own. It is the tragedy of giving up dreams and of thwarted young love whose passion can be extinguished only by violent death. Cather handles it all in a style best described as poetic realism. This book nearly matches (though not quite) MY ANTONIA in impact and resonance.
Rating: 
Summary: An exquisite book in a dumpy frame
Review: In the hulking box of textbooks that I hauled to my dorm on the day before classes began last semester, there was a small, out-of-place, [...] copy of O Pioneers by Willa Cather. Apparently, my English Composition instructor thought it best our class read "a good piece of English writing" before we embarked on our journal entries and research papers. I was not overly eager to read O Pioneers. It appeared to be one of those literary standards I saw while perusing Barnes and Noble, unattractive, unoriginally decorated little books with a quaint painting of older time on the cover and obligatory stamping of the publishers name followed by the word, "classic;" as if the publishers themselves were too unenthusiastic about them for any serious sales pitch. I always headed for the William S. Burroughs or Robert A. Heinlein sections, rarely paying attention to the drab dinosaurs. Well, as the old cliché goes, don't judge a book by its cover. O Pioneers is an excellent tale of the trials and hardships of the gritty immigrants and pheasants who staked a claim and worked under a dream in the unsettled regions of this country so long ago. The realistic, headstrong, engaging characters live lives of poignant dedication, labor and loneliness as they swim around in the authoress' exquisite imagery ("The pasture was flooded with light; every clump of ironweed or snow-on-the mountain threw a long shadow and the golden light seemed to be rippling through the curly grass like the tide racing in"). Ms. Cather obviously tested every sentence for its weight, impact and flavor. The cold, dusty fields of Nebraska are vibrantly brought to life by this blatant perfectionist. I was extremely impressed with this novel. Not impressed enough to change my usual literary diet from cult classics and science fiction masterpieces, but I certainly enjoyed it enough to save my unpretentious edition of O Pioneers from being carted back to the bookstore when they began buying books to sell used for the next semester.
Rating: 
Summary: O Creeping Death !
Review: What is seldom mentioned in the retelling of Washington Irving's classic tale of Rip Van Winkle, is that Rip was reading a copy of O Pioneers! when he "fell asleep." (It was an advance copy). But Rip didn't really fall asleep, you see, because this book has the ability to actually stop time with respect to its reader. A sort of creeping death steals over the reader and every molecule in his body becomes frozen in time. I started reading this book one night before bed, and awoke covered in cobwebs next to [my wife]in a room so dim and dusty it was unrecognizable. If, however, you are fortunate enough to avoid the creeping death through the first three-quarters of the book, it picks up at the end. I would not mind that this book is the dullest and most uninteresting piece of fiction since Madame Bovary if I had gained an important message or insight from the read. Unfortunately, Cather seems to misunderstand love and liveliness, and although her presentation of man's connectedness to the land is fairly good, it has been better expressed elsewhere. It is probably worth the read because it is not too long, but be wary of the creeping death.
Rating:
Summary: I hate Pioneer stories........
Review: ....but I can't deny that this was a good book! I usually like stories that spend time describing someONE rather than someTHING. Yet I loved to read this story despite Cather's description of the land. She wrote it so beautifully that I elt like those parts were poetry. Highly recommended!!
Rating:
Summary: A superbly crafted, unpretensious story
Review: This is a wonderful story based in the midwestern prarie of the late nineteenth century. I genuinely enjoyed it, more so than My Antonia (which is a great book too). The characters are very appealing. It is a story of human endurance, compassion, lonliness, rage and ultimately love, with a strong feeling of reality.
Rating:
Summary: unique
Review: The Great Plains may be the most overlooked of American landscapes, with the result that we have very few first hand accounts of what it was like to live in a sea of grass. Lacking the "in your face" drama of the mountains or the seashore, it takes a writer of Cather's ability to capture the subtle drama of the prairie. Both O Pioneers! and My Antonia, capture that drama. I think that an argument can be made that Cather was one of our first environmental writers since her prairie is, in a sense, Thoreau's forest. That is, she raised people's consciousness to its importance even as it was disappearing. The fact that she did it in the context of first rate novels, undoubtably makes her one of our most readable enviromental writers. It's Cather's love of the Great Plains and the way they shaped the people who tried to tame them, that gets her my vote for patron saint of the American prairie. And nowhere is that love more evident than O Pioneers! and My Antonia.
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Summary: Very Discriptive Story
Review: Willa Cather certainly celebrates the country/simple life. This is a slow and sweet novel with lots of discription. It really paints a vivid scene for readers. Plus, it celebrates what it is to be American, farm, and commune with nature. It is a story about Swedish, German, etc, immigrants who work the land and farm, but I was quite taken by her imagery and insites. The one that I found particularly profound was a comparison of people to corn seeds (how some thrive and some rot). Great novel.
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Summary: What is Willa Cather Trying to Say in O Pioneers!?
Review: Growing up in Red Cloud, Nebraska, Willa Cather's individuality and great intellect flourised rapidly. Her childhood experiences and surroundings aided her transformation into an independent and determined woman who was both willing and capable of meeting a challenge. Many of these characteristics are prevalent in her novel, O Pioneers!. Cather explores both the intimidating and rewarding aspects of the wild land as her main heroine, Alexandra Bergson, battles difficulty after difficulty, eventually triumphing over her struggles. Through the utilization of powerful, intense diction, personification, and references to the heroic woman theme, Willa Cather is clearly trying to move the reader toward her belief that human beings are closely connected to the land, and must come to the realization that nothing valuable in life comes easy. From the very beginning of her story, to the very end, Cather delivers a message that captures the true essence of the pioneer experience, and depicts the myriad of moods and emotions that accompany struggle and success. The color gray is woven throughout chapter one of section one. This technique creates a feeling of gloom and associates the land with depression and despair. Carl, a close friend of Alexandra's, is a "thin, frail boy," which hints at the scarcity of food and the presence of hard times. Feelings of isolation and loneliness fill the pages as Alexandra claims "Carl is the only friend I have ever had." However, the "three years of drought and failure" cannot keep the heroine from eventually overcoming her struggles, and finally reaching the point where she is able to enjoy the reward of "rich soil" and "heavy harvests" bestowed upon her by the land. Through Alexandra's determination and willingness to toil in concert with the land instead of in opposition to it, prosperity now surrounds her. The land, through personification, becomes a significant character as the story progresses. Nature comes to life as the "sun leaped over the prairie, and all the small creatures...began to tune their tiny instruments." The land "had its little joke. It pretended to be poor because nobody knew how to work it right." When Alexandra learns to work with the land and not against it, the land "worked itself." This illustrates the trust and faith that Alexandra has in the fields. She seems to feel the connection that exists between her and the ground into which she has poured her heart and soul, and she prospers from that relatioship. Throughout the novel, Cather coninues to personify the land, closely associating it with human failure and human success. Lastly, the heroic woman theme creates an environment where strength and courage come together to overcome criticism and prejudice. The fact that Alexadra's father leaves her with the land, instead of her two brothers, relates to this particular theme. Her "glance of Amazonian fierceness" reveals a strong, bold side of Alexandra that becomes essential in overcoming the everyday prejudice that haunts her. As on witnesses the hardships encountered by Alexandra, feelings of doubt can surface. However, Alexandra proves that "it is in the soil that she expresses herself best." Throughout her novel, Willa Cather seems to be telling the reader that the true essence of the pioneer experience involves an acceptance of the absence of prosperity, and knowing that through faith and hard work, "Oh, it would come again!"
Rating:
Summary: A book about real life
Review: Though this is not a book for people who favor mystery, science fiction or action, it is ideal for people like me, who appreciate a book with real characters. Alexandra is a very sympathetic character: very practical and hard-working, dealing with the prejudices of her brothers and community in an admirable, graceful way. If you like reading about real people, I recommend this book. Willa Cather, as usual, does an amazing job of getting into people's minds and lives, while keeping her language simple and understandable. As other reviewers have indicated, this is a far more accurate, understandable way to learn about the history of the American pioneers.
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