O, Pioneers

My library is celebrating 100 years in 2014, and we are basing this year's programming on the last century. January was 1910's themed, February is 1920's themed, etc. It's been a fun challenge to try to find books for each decade. They can either be written/published in that decade, or the plot can be about that decade. This January, we read O, Pioneers by Willa Cather.

Initially, I didn't know much about this book. I'd never read it before. I knew it was about a family trying to make a life in a pioneer setting. 80% of the book is exactly that. The writing is beautiful, and the plot moves along, skipping chunks of time as the family ages and comes into its own. I was almost lulled into skimming the ending. I'm so glad I didn't!

I don't want to give away any plot points, but if you're having a hard time getting through this book, stick it out until the end!

My book club liked the book overall. We had low attendance due to very nasty weather. My group tends to favor shorter, happier books, so this was a bit of a downer, especially with the weather. I do suggest this as a reading club book, though. There's a lot to talk about! Here are some of the topics we discussed:

• Was Alexandra being naive about the possibility of a relationship between Emil and Marie? What role did she play in the development and dissolution of their situation? (Sorry to be totally vague. I don't want to spoil things!)
• How did the family succeed? What did they do specifically that afforded them the ease of lifestyle they enjoyed at the end of the book? Was it really just buying at the right time?
• How did the family evolve over time? How did the brothers change throughout the book? How did the setting--land, technology, style of dress, ideas about morality, etc, change?
• Was Alexandra a realistic character?

So, while it wasn't the most exciting thing to read at the time, we did wind up having a really great discussion. Many group members had read other works by the author, so there was a lot of opportunity to compare Cather's different titles. I would suggest this book for a book club!