Rating: 
Summary: The Slow Pace of Love
Review: It was obvious that Niel loved Marian. He watched her associations with other men, his age and her age. But nothing came of them. She got older and moved away. The whole time, though, she had a tragedy in her. The death of her husband gave her a new freedom. But freedom to do what? To think all the more on a past that by now had dwindled away through financial problems and people trying to get ahead. I prefered "My Antonia" to this. However, I like the lack of detail here. The lack of realism is what makes Cather a smoother read than Zola, for example. She wrote that realism is unfortunately a trend, which needs to go away.
Rating: 
Summary: Subtle and graceful
Review: Like the majority of Cather's works, "A Lost Lady" immediately draws readers into its straight-forward narrative, and brings otherwise unremarkable characters to life with very concisely-worded descriptions. This novel tells the story of Marian Forrester, the wife of a much-older former railroad construction manager living in a small town in the Great Plains. Her beauty, polite reserve and the fact that she is from California make her a magnet for attention to the people of this small town. Most of the story is told through the eyes of Neil Herbert, a young man who has admired Mrs. Forrester from near and afar since his boyhood. I believe that the book's title refers more to Neil's perception of Mrs. Forrester as being somehow lost rather than a reflection of the actual situation, since Mrs. Forrester proves herself unexpectedly resourceful in many ways. Perhaps the most interesting aspect oft his rather too-short novel is the skillful way that Cather integrates her themes and leitmotivs: there's Cather's well-known fixation with the closing of the pioneering era of the American prairies, as well as her rather subtle portrayal of racism, as seen in the German immigrant boys who "know their place." This novel is definitely among Cather's better works of fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Deceptively Simple
Review: Ms. Willa Cather has a way of deceiving her readers. Her novels are small simple looking stories when you begin and then you realize you are reading much more. Things are not always as they seem. I loved A Lost Lady-if only I could hear her laughter once more....
Rating:
Summary: Deceptively Simple
Review: Ms. Willa Cather has a way of deceiving her readers. Her novels are small simple looking stories when you begin and then you realize you are reading much more. Things are not always as they seem. I loved A Lost Lady-if only I could hear her laughter once more....
Rating:
Summary: A Lost Lady Enlightens
Review: The story of a beautiful woman in the declining frontier town of Sweet Water is told by a studious young man who adores her from afar in this wistful, melancholy novel by Willa Cather. Niel Herbert is a sensitive, but substantial young man who makes the acquaintance of Captain and Mrs. Forrester, the town's leading citizens. Captain Forrester had been a railroad man - a builder, one could almost say a conqueror, who had originally chosen this out-of-the-way Midwestern train stop to make his home. His wife Marian, 25 years his junior, is the woman every man in town desires, and whom every woman in town envies. A native of California, she has grace, beauty, and youthful energy. She respects her husband's money and power and social position, but we don't often get the impression that she loves him. Instead, her head has been turned by a smarmy young gold-digger. In a story that is more about characters than about action, motivations often start out hazy, and only gradually come into focus. It quickly becomes obvious that Niel is in love with Mrs. Forrester, and that Ivy Peters (the underhanded lawyer Marian hires) is an ugly sadistic snake. Less clear is the nature of the relationship between the Captain and his wife, which seems founded more on mutual admiration than on love. And ever present through the novel are the geographic, social and economic realities of the declining frontier town, which had once been rich and abundant with promise, but which has become choked with a citizenry that has neither the unforced elegance of Mrs. Forrester, nor the strength and vision of her husband. The Captain shows his strong social conscience by supporting the bank, even when it takes a toll on his own solvency. Compare this with his wife's willingness to allow Ivy any latitude in getting her what she wants, regardless of who suffers. Cather shows parallels between the decline of the social order and the destruction (exploitation) of America's natural beauty and resources, and lays the blame not only on those small-minded, shortsighted individuals who sacrificed things that were good and true for their own immediate personal gratification, but also on those who saw it happening and failed to stop it. Mrs. Forrester can always move to another frontier, or find herself another rich husband, but who will repair the dust bowls that she leaves behind? This novel is a quick and easy read, and while there are intimations of sexual encounters, none are portrayed so graphically that modern teens would be likely to be shocked, although most will find the story a little too dry for their tastes. Many adults will probably feel the same way. There is no real humor in this book, and little that could be called uplifting, either, so while this book makes powerful statements about society, the roles of women, and the need to protect our natural environment, it should only be recommended to those who are devotees of serious literature.
Rating:
Summary: Sad, solemn tale of a woman's (and nature's) loss
Review: The story of a beautiful woman in the declining frontier town of Sweet Water is told by a studious young man who adores her from afar in this wistful, melancholy novel by Willa Cather. Niel Herbert is a sensitive, but substantial young man who makes the acquaintance of Captain and Mrs. Forrester, the town's leading citizens. Captain Forrester had been a railroad man - a builder, one could almost say a conqueror, who had originally chosen this out-of-the-way Midwestern train stop to make his home. His wife Marian, 25 years his junior, is the woman every man in town desires, and whom every woman in town envies. A native of California, she has grace, beauty, and youthful energy. She respects her husband's money and power and social position, but we don't often get the impression that she loves him. Instead, her head has been turned by a smarmy young gold-digger. In a story that is more about characters than about action, motivations often start out hazy, and only gradually come into focus. It quickly becomes obvious that Niel is in love with Mrs. Forrester, and that Ivy Peters (the underhanded lawyer Marian hires) is an ugly sadistic snake. Less clear is the nature of the relationship between the Captain and his wife, which seems founded more on mutual admiration than on love. And ever present through the novel are the geographic, social and economic realities of the declining frontier town, which had once been rich and abundant with promise, but which has become choked with a citizenry that has neither the unforced elegance of Mrs. Forrester, nor the strength and vision of her husband. The Captain shows his strong social conscience by supporting the bank, even when it takes a toll on his own solvency. Compare this with his wife's willingness to allow Ivy any latitude in getting her what she wants, regardless of who suffers. Cather shows parallels between the decline of the social order and the destruction (exploitation) of America's natural beauty and resources, and lays the blame not only on those small-minded, shortsighted individuals who sacrificed things that were good and true for their own immediate personal gratification, but also on those who saw it happening and failed to stop it. Mrs. Forrester can always move to another frontier, or find herself another rich husband, but who will repair the dust bowls that she leaves behind? This novel is a quick and easy read, and while there are intimations of sexual encounters, none are portrayed so graphically that modern teens would be likely to be shocked, although most will find the story a little too dry for their tastes. Many adults will probably feel the same way. There is no real humor in this book, and little that could be called uplifting, either, so while this book makes powerful statements about society, the roles of women, and the need to protect our natural environment, it should only be recommended to those who are devotees of serious literature.
Rating:
Summary: Homeless on the Range
Review: This book is from Willa Cather's middle period of writing -- between My Antonia and Death Comes to the Archbishop. This may be the least known but best portion of her output. As does My Antonia, The Lost Lady pictures the American frontier in the middle west and its closing due to urbanization, the demise of the pioneer spirit, and commercialization. Together with its picture of the changing of the West, the book is a coming of age novel of a special sort and a portrait of a remarkable, because human and flawed, woman. As with many of Cather's works the story is told by a male narrator, Neil Herbert. We see him from adolescence as an admirer of, and perhaps infatuated by Marian Forrester, the heroine and the wife of a former railroad magnate now settled on a large farm in South Dakota. Neil matures and leaves to go to school in the East. We see his idea of Ms. Forrester change as he learns that there is both more and less to her than the glittering self-assured woman that meets his young eyes. The book is also the story of Marian herself, of her marriage, her self-assuredness, and her vulnerabilty. She is independent and a survivor and carries on within herself through harsh times and difficult circumstances, including the change in character of her adopted home in the midwest. This is a tightly written, thoughtful American novel.
Rating: 
Summary: The detailed criteria is hard to understand.
Review: This book tends to go off in other directions
Rating:
Summary: A Lost Lady Enlightens
Review: this is Cather's finest novel.
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