O, Pioneers!

Written by Willa Cather

Narrated by Alexis O'Donahue

On the harsh and wild frontier of the American West, Alexandra Bergson struggles to fulfill her father's dying wish of establishing his family on the Nebraska table lands. Through hard times and abundant, through love and loss, through joy and suffering, Alexandra challenges both her family and the land in her quiet, honest way. Cather's realistic depiction of life on the prairie is anchored by a smart, strong, independent heroine and heart-achingly beautiful prose which evokes both the melancholy and the awe-inspiring beauty of middle America at the turn of the century.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Matt Armstrong
• Release date: Jul 25, 2011
• ISBN: 9781936455041

Willa Cather

Willa Cather (1873-1947) was an award-winning American author. As she wrote her numerous novels, Cather worked as both an editor and a high school English teacher. She gained recognition for her novels about American frontier life, particularly her Great Plains trilogy. Most of her works, including the Great Plains Trilogy, were dedicated to her suspected lover, Isabelle McClung, who Cather herself claimed to have been the biggest advocate of her work. Cather is both a Pulitzer Prize winner and has received a gold medal from the Institute of Arts and Letters for her fiction.

Reviews for O, Pioneers!

[smiler69 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a great little novel about the plight of the immigrant farmers in Nebraska toward the end of the 19th century. I liked that the main protagonist was a woman, and a strong woman of course, who was given responsibility of managing the homestead by her dying father and used this advantage to realize her vision. It's very placid going for the first half and very pleasant as such, but the dramatic elements come in during the second half and move the story along in ways one would not at all have expected from what came before. Very well done. Makes me want to read more work by Willa Cather, and while I liked this novel very much, in the end I can't say it really moved me. Perhaps this has something to do with the ending and the moralistic attitude taken by the characters of the after a tragic outcome, which I hope was not the stance taken by the author as well.

[zumbanista · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

O Pioneers!, Book One of the Great Plains Trilogy by Willa Cather was written in 1913 and begins some 30 years earlier. It follows the lives of several groups of immigrant farmers in Nebraska, focusing on the Swedish Bergersen family, especially the strong, wise, Alexandra. From the very first chapter, the simple, clear writing leaps off the page. The prose lovingly describes the Nebraska land and the cycle of highs and lows of the people who live there over the years. It's a simple story simply told and what and how Cather writes is true art. She nostalgically captures the stubbornness and loneliness of these early Plains settlers. A very moving and worthwhile reading experience.

[muffinbutt1027 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Had to read it for an American Lit class in college. So boring.

[romonko · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was written in 1913, but it is set in 19th century Nebraska. At that time, a large number of immigrants had made their way to the United States and they came because they knew that land was being offered for free to settlers. This particular settlement is Hanover, Nebraska, and the book is about the Bergstrom family who were immigrants from Sweden. Hard work is definitely not foreign to these people and Alexandra and her family (mother, father, three brothers, and Alexandra herself), Alexandra's father is taken from the family at a fairly young age, but he leaves a sizeable homestead and a house for his family, and he entrusts his daughter to look after it all. He recognizes that she is the most capable of the lot. Alexandra faces this challenge head-on, and she increases her landholdings, and ensures that her family are much better off than when she began. She does this at great sacrifice to her own personal life. This is a story about the strength of the human race; about love and loss; and about great tragedy. It's a wonderful and realistic portrayal of colonial life in the untamed American prairie. I highly recommend this book.

[bragan_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Short, character-based novel about pioneer farmers on the US prairielands, centering on the strong-willed and level-headed Alexandra, who builds her family's farm into prosperity, and doesn't necessarily get a lot of thanks for it. Cather has a real talent for evoking the feeling of this time and place, and of the people and their connection to the land. She's also remarkably good at describing her characters in such a way that you feel like you know them perfectly in just a few sentences. I did find this less absorbing that My Antonia, though, which is the only other Cather novel I've read so far. I was thinking, for a while, that that might be because the dialog was a bit stilted in a way that bothered me, or that perhaps I wanted a little more story in among the character stuff. But, honestly, I think it had much more to do with the fact that I've been in a bit of a book slump lately, and -- fiction-wise, at least -- nothing seems to satisfy me entirely. Despite which, I still thought this one was good, which probably means it's great.

[beyondedenrock · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Coming back to read this book for a second time reminded me that when I first read Willa Cather – many years ago – she took me to a time and place I had known nothing about and she made me realise that there were more sides to classic writing than I had realised.Before I read her books the only American woman author I knew was Louisa May Alcott ….Enthused by my new discovery I read every single book I could find in a short space of time, not really stopping to think about the arc of her storytelling life or how one book related to another.Now that I have come back to her work, reading all of her books in chronological order and thinking about them a little more along the way, I can say that though she hadn’t reached the peak of her powers when she wrote this, her second book, it is a wonderful work and a very fine demonstration of what she could do.Her writing is sparse and yet it says so much so clearly. It speaks profoundly of the consequences of travelling to a new life in America, of the harsh realities of pioneer life, and of particular lives lived.Alexandra Bergson travelled from Sweden to Nebraska as a child with her parents and siblings. Her father knew little about farming, he was ill-equipped for the new life he had chosen, but was intelligent, he saw so many possibilities, and he was prepared to work hard to make a better future for his family.Lou and Oscar, his first two sons, had no interest in farm work and could see no potential in the land. Alexandra could, she saw the same things, she had the same love for the land as her father. He appreciated that, and when he died he left her a controlling interest in the family estate. Her brother were appalled when she invested in more and more land as other farmers gave it up to return to the city or to safer, more fertile country.She had faith in its future.Her faith was justified.Twenty years later Alexandra was the mistress of a prosperous and unencumbered empire, and head of her own household. She loved being part of the pioneer community and that community had loved and respected her; she appreciated the old ways, and she was always ready to give her time and to take trouble for her friends and neighbours.Lou and Oscar were both married and established in new lives, enjoying the fruits of the family success without really appreciating what their sister had done. It was her younger brother, Emil, who was the apple of Alexandra’s eye, her hope for the future, and she was so pleased that she was able to send him to university.She loved the land, but she understood that the life she had chosen might not be the life that her brother would want.Alexandra was a strong, practical and intelligent woman who had a wonderful understanding of her world and who cared deeply for the people whose lives touched hers. She loved her life but there were times when she was lonely, when she wished that she had a husband and family of her own, and when she even wondered if the struggles she had made to tame the land that she loved had been worthwhile.She was still close to Carl Linstrom, the best friend of her childhood, but his family had been one of those that gave up the pioneering life and returned to the city, and that had taken Carl into a very different world. He understood Alexandra better than anyone else though, and was his support Alexandra the courage to face the future after something devastating happened.It happened because though there was much that was stable and certain in Alexandra’s world, but not everything. Her younger friend, Marie, who was young and bright, who had such hopes and dream, realised that her impulsive marriage had been a mistake and that she would have to live with the consequences. When Emil came home he had changed, and his own hopes and dreams were something that he could never share with his sister.The telling of this story is utterly so. Willa Cather painted her characters and their world so beautifully and with such depth that it became utterly real. Everything in this book lived and breathed. Every emotion, every nuance was right. I lived this story with Alexandra, Emil, Marie, and their friends and neighbours.I can’t judge them or evaluate them, because I feel too close to them. I’m still thinking of them not as characters but as people I have come to know well and have many, complex feelings about.The story is beautifully balanced, with many moments of happiness – and even humour – coming from successes, from the observance of old traditions, and simply from the joy of being alive in the world.It’s a simple story with a very conventional narrative. In some ways it’s a little simplistic, but it’s very well told.Willa Cather had still to grow as a writer.And yet it feels completely right ….

[wvlibrarydude · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A wonderful example of historical literature in regards to the pioneer life on the plains at the end of the 19th century into the 20th century. The plot, characters, and language are so full and engaging that I was swept up in the story and characters. The ending is fitting in many ways with all of the threads coming together in a beautiful but sad quilt.I am so glad that I finally picked up Cather's books. I liked this better than My Antonia (which was very good also).

[katherinegregg · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

O Pioneers is the story of Alexandra Bergsons, the daughter of Swedish immigrants who settle in Nebraska at the turn of the century. Farming life is hard work and when Alexandra’s father passes away, she is left in charge of the household and the land. Alexandra works hard to turn the farm into a successful business and put Emil, her youngest brother through college. As a result, Alexandra sacrifices her social life and finds herself alone. Many years later, Alexandra is reunited with Carl, a childhood friend who comes back to Nebraska from the big city to visit. Having achieved success, Alexandra finds that she yearns to share her life with Carl. Carl has always been in love with Alaexandra but feels he must go to Alaska to seek his fortune before asking for Alexandra’s hand. Alexandra waits patiently for his return. In the meantime, Emil has returned from a year in Mexico and finds himself still hopelessly in love with Marie, a childhood friend who is now married. News of a tragic event cause Carl to return to Nebraska where he is reunited with Alexandra, this time for good.

[richardderus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Rating: 3.75* of fiveThe Publisher Says: Set on the Nebraska prairie where Willa Cather (1873–1947) grew up, this powerful early novel tells the story of the young Alexandra Bergson, whose dying father leaves her in charge of the family and of the lands they have struggled to farm. In Alexandra's long flight to survive and succeed, O Pioneers! relates an important chapter in the history of the American frontier.Evoking the harsh grandeur of the prairie, this landmark of American fiction unfurls a saga of love, greed, murder, failed dreams, and hard-won triumph. In the fateful interaction of her characters, Willa Cather compares with keen insight the experiences of Swedish, French, and Bohemian immigrants in the United States. And in her absorbing narrative, she displays the virtuoso storytelling skills that have made her one of the most admired masters of the American novel. My Review: Simple, unadorned prose gets very wearing when it's also missing some basic character-building. In 122pp, it's not possible to do a Proustian job of lovingly explaining why people are who they are. But [The Picture of Dorian Gray], also a shortie, has the most gorgeously subtle character-building; [Mrs. Dalloway] is another example; so one concludes that Cather just wasn't interested in Lou or Oscar or the French neighbors.As a moment in time, the book is invaluable. A concise slice of the life led by the crazy dreamers who decided the Old Country was no longer enough for them and their kids, packed what they could afford to carry, and vamoosed for the New World.There is a private society that's trying to get together a colony of people with all the talents necessary to keep themselves alive on Mars. It's a one-way ticket...just like the pioneers of old.How I wish I was young and healthy. I'd be on that rocket in a heartbeat.

[jackiecarroll-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a wonderful novel. It's the story of a Bohemian farm girl in Nebraska who runs the family farm with her father from the time she is 12, and on her own after he dies. Her ideas make the family rich, but she isn't appreciated by her two dull-witted brothers. It's also two love stories, one between Alexandra and her childhood friend and another that involves her best friend Maria and...well...I don't want to give too much away.

[cestovatela · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

During Cather's time, the story of a woman who succeeded on her own was probably an original one. These days, a determined woman who can run her own farm is a story you've read before. This is a work of literature that doesn't really stand the test of time.

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Set in Nebraska at the beginning of the 20th century. The Bergsons, a family of Swedish immigrants, struggle to succeed with their farm. When their father dies, the eldest daughter Alexandra inherits the farm. She cares for her younger brothers and makes the hard decisions, which bring them success. Years later, Alexandra's relationship with her childhood friend, Carl Linstrum, causes tension between her and her brothers. Her youngest brother, Emil, falls in love with the married bohemian, Marie Shabata. The plot seems simple enough, but it was so much more than that. Alexandra is a strong woman who isn't afraid of trying new things, even though her brothers are. She follows her heart and embraces outcasts when others turn their backs. Cather's descriptions of the land just drip with love for it. You can't read this without understanding her passion for it and her respect for the pioneers themselves. I was completely swept away by the simplicity of the tale. I loved the character and the way it was written and will definitely be reading more of her work.

[aricana_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was Willa Cather´s first great novel, and to many it remains her unchallenged masterpiece. No other work of fiction so faithfully conveys both the sharp physical realities and the mythic sweep of the transformation of the american frontier and the transformation of the people who settled it. Cather´s heroin is Alexandra Bergson, who arrives on the windblasted prairie of Hanover, Nebraska, as a girl and grows up to make it a prosperous farm. But this archetypal success story is darkened by loss, and Alexandra´s devotion to the land may come at the cost of love itself.

[xuebi-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A realist tale of Swedish immigrants living on the Nebraskan plains, their lives, and their hardships, Cather expertly paints a vivid, natural picture of pioneer life, not one embellished, but one fully developed. Truly captures the spirit of pioneer life.

[lorisbook · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Life on the divide is tough. We know this as it is written, " The records of the plow was insignificant, like the feeble scratches of time left by prehistoric races, so indeterminate that they may, after all, be only the markings of glaciers, and not a record of human strivings.John Bergson is dying and he tells his daughter Alexandra he wants her to run the farm when he is gone. She has 3 brothers Emil, Lou and Oscar but everyone knows that it is Alexandra who expresses herself best in soil. John passes on and the family farm prospers for three years after his death but then hard times come. Families around them are selling out and leaving the divide but Alexandra goes down south to look at land and she comes back and talks her brothers into mortgaging the farm so they can buy up more land. Sixteen years after Johns death his wife dies. The farms are now prosperous so the inheritance is divided among the 4 children. Sadly, the coveting expressed in childhood extends into adulthood and ends in tragedy. And, the story comes full circle as Carl is there at the end to help Alexandra, just as he was in the beginning.

[fuzzy_patters · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

O! Pioneers is a story about farmers in Nebraska who try and tame the land during the dry farming days of the late 1800s. Cather's characters are so sympathetic and real that you feel for them, and this includes the land as well, which should probably be considered a character in this novel. After all, this novel is as much a story about Alexandra, a Swedish woman who inherits farmland form her father, and her relationship with her land as it is about anything. On the surface, a story about a farmer and her land sounds completely banal, which is the brilliance of this novel. Cather manages to instead create a very human story that paints a picture of ourselves through the pioneers struggles to carve a life out of such barrenness.

[bell7_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When her father dies, Alexandra takes over the running of the farm in Nebraska. Over the years and told in a series of vignettes, we get to see Alexandra's successes and challenges, and get to know the community of pioneer and immigrant folk who work hard and love the land.My first impression of the book was that the land itself was the most interesting character, and that feeling never quite abandoned me though I was impressed with how much Cather was able to convey about the community in a series of short vignettes that cover a few decades. Did I enjoy the book? It's hard to say. I admired Cather's writing to some extent. I liked some characters and the fact that it was about a woman running a farm. I was disappointed by the side story of Marie and Alexandra's brother Emil. They love each other but of course their love is ill-fated and Marie's jealous husband, Frank, kills them in a fit of passion. It was presented as almost inevitable but it made me mad. The descriptions were sometimes quite lovely. Yet it didn't completely grip me, and I most likely would not read it again.

[mldavis2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While I found this to be well written, it seemed a bit simple in terms of plot. The character development was good and there were some great descriptive passages of the land at the turn of the century as pioneers settled the west, and in this case Nebraska. Taken in historical perspective, I can understand the staying power of this writing.

[melissalenhardt · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Uncharacteristically, I managed to read more than half of this novel without reading the back of book blurb. When I did and saw the word "murder" I laughed. How could such a quiet, deliberate book lead to such a harsh, unforgiving word? Masterfully, it turns out.

Cather's strength is description. Her descriptions of nature are especially detailed and evocative. But, she's at her best when she is underplaying events, using a few well chosen words to pinpoint emotions. Beautiful and surprising, O Pioneers! will stay with me for a while.

[melopher_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This novella was my introduction to Willa Cather, and I found it to be so much more than I thought it would be. The language was simple yet powerful, the descriptions were poetic yet clear, the theme strong and touching. The story itself was not one that I thought to find in a book written 100 years ago, and so surprised me. As far as pace goes, I was not bothered at all by the time jump that seemed to irritate many people.I really loved how beautifully, painfully, precisely Willa Cather showed how the prairie changed from it's pioneer days to it's more modern days. I don't know if I've ever before read a coming-of-age story regarding land instead of a person, but that is just what this seemed to be. The theme was so achingly apparent to me that this has become my favorite of Willa Cather's so far.

[garypatella · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Best summed up by the word "Eh." This books starts flat and ends flat, with nothing special happening in between. I'm shocked that so many people gave this high ratings. Personally, I think this one should be avoided. Nothing was gained from reading it.

[mreed61 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I can't begin to tell you how appropriate Willa Cather's work is to my life. This requires a blog, and I may or may not include Willa's My Antonia altogether in one blog. To be continued.

[annejacinta · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book . The landscape is such a feature, a thing of beauty and threat and the promise of hard work. The way of life is portrayed brilliantly, a unique subgroup of Swedish immigrants to the US , their language, culture, habits of dress and food, all fascinating . The role of women is shown through their work, family and personal relationship ships.a very powerful, moving novel.

[larryerick · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I always had in the back of mind while I was reading this book that it had been written in a much more conservative time. I suspect that it pushed the limits more back then than it feels to be doing now, especially in regard to women's rights. I was struck by how undated the writing was, not stiff in any way, but not exactly free-spirited either. At times, the narrative is quite eloquent, but it had too many wordy, bland passages for me to forgive its variable quality. For the most part, I chock that up to this being an early work for a gifted writer. I expect to enjoy My Antonia even more.

[wilfgehlen · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Days on the Divide / Spring, summer, autumn, winter, . . . / O Alexandra!As the eyes are the windows on the soul, Cather allows us to look into her eyes to see the Nebraska plains as it has touched her soul. It is a land of beautiful sunrise and sunset, clear blue skies above, reflected below in a still duck pond. It is also, at times, a harsh land of freezing cold winter and drought-stricken summer. You can love the land without it giving back enough to sustain you. But if you understand the land, it yields a material wealth almost beyond measure.Alexandra Bergson understood the land. She knew to plant alfalfa to fix the nitrogen in the soil, to plant wheat as well as corn, to build silos against the inconstancy of the land. She sought out ideas which fostered her understanding and worked the land hard to bear out the promise of the idea. She had to: of John Bergson's children, only she had the native ability, so she received his legacy to make the land provide for the family.Her success served to drive a wedge between herself and others, so that she was estranged from her brothers, Lou and Oscar. Moreover, her pioneer struggles left her little time to think of her personal needs and desires. At times when she was not totally exhausted, on a Sunday morning, when such thoughts might creep into her consciousness, she would strike them down with cold ablutions in her bath. This left a blind spot in her through which two of those she loved, brother Emil and his married lover, Marie, fell to their deaths.Alexandra still had the land and all that it meant to her, but had no one to share it with, not even anyone to pass it on to. There was only her childhood friend, Carl, but he was estranged from the land and making a life for himself in far away Alaska. So she dreams of a man in a white cloak who will carry her away. Like Don Fabrizio's woman in brown and Joe Gideon's woman in white, Alexandra's man in white was her guide, her pilot to crossing the bar. Carl returned to her in time to pull her back onto the quay.In an earlier episode, when Carl tried and failed to re-enter her life, he said of Marie and her husband, "there are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before..." It may have been Shaw who delineated these (two) stories as Jack and the Beanstalk (The Quest) and Cinderella (Boy Meets Girl). Alexandra and Carl were each on their separate quests to make their own life, hers more successful but still with a tragic flaw. Together now, it is time for their story, and, as Alexandra says, "it is we who write it, with the best we have."

[rampaginglibrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

classic Cather--probably a good one to start out with--not sure if it's my favorite one but still it is very good

[hemlokgang · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is probably the fourth or fifth Cather novel I have read. I cannot say it is my favorite, probably because the plot was not nearly as engaging as it was in her later works. However, I don't think anyone captures the essence of the American plains like Cather can. Her protagonist in this book is basically an incarnation of mother earth herself. At one point, Alexandra recounts the history of the farm and says the wheat only flourished when the land was ready. For Alexandra, life is much the same. She was not ready for love until she had fully matured. There were several characters who were quite engaging; Alexandra's brother, Emil and Ivar, the man of nature, along with Marie the beautiful butterfly of a woman comprise a very interesting cast of characters. It was a really good read, but just not as marvelous as Cather's future works.

[dulcinea14-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm not sure that I care for Cather's work very much, this being the second novel of hers I've read. Something felt lacking here, the characters didn't connect or feel fully developed. The novel suffers from a naivety that likely is representative of the time (and Cather's feminine sentimentality). Several times I was reminded of a watered down (and prude) D. H. Lawrence, another writer I find to be dull despite his mastery of language. Cather has a few poetical moments but not enough to glue the scattered narrative together. I just don't think this novel holds up for contemporary readers.

[ctpress_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was from facing this vast hardness that the boy’s mouth had become so bitter, because he felt that men were too weak to make any mark here, that the land wanted to be let alone, to preserve its own fierce strength, its peculiar, savage kind of beauty, its uninterrupted mournfulness.The prairie is almost its own character in Cather's novels. This story follows the swedish Bergson family. The main character, the girl Alexandra, is the only one who really understands the potential of the prairie to make a living. She studies and learn from the few wise people around her and her industriousness pays off. Another beautiful prairie-story from Cather. There’s such and aching and longing for love and belonging in Alexandra as she grows up and becomes an independent land owner. You just want her to find happiness and love. You have to wait quite a bit, but it’s all worth it. Her personal life, her own realization of herself, was almost a subconscious existence; like an underground river that came to the surface only here and there, at intervals months apart, and then sank again to flow on under her own fields.

[benuathanasia · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A character piece. What happens in this book isn't particularly interesting, but the people it centers around is. There isn't anything particularly mesmerizing about any of the characters - they're just so real and wholesome and pleasant that I'd like being friends with them, but they have conflict just enough that they're intriguing to watch from afar as well. I love Alexandra most, of course. A feminist icon.