Pavel Shuvaev Shuvaev itibaren Pendha, Maharashtra 441207, India itibaren Pendha, Maharashtra 441207, India

“Sometimes you gotta just take things for what they are and appreciate them, not try to label it or explain it. Explanations take the mystery out of it, you know?”

I love reading historical fiction and this did not disappoint. This was my first encounter with Willa Cather, and I was completely drawn in by her descriptions of the developing prairies in young America. Cather's words painted a picture so realistic it was hard to decipher whether what I had just read was fiction or something that had influenced her life directly. I was expecting this book to be a hard classic to read... for some reason it was never required reading in high school, though if it had been, I am not sure it would have been as impactful. There are so many themes running throughout the story line... immigration, coming of age in the hard West, schooling, romance, changing landscape of America, friendships, and so on. Cather did an amazing job connecting each piece of the story into a flowing storyline that continued the drag me back again and again.

No question it's an important book. She has given an articulate voice to victims of rape. Yet something about this book seemed a little self indulgent and I can't really say why.