Customer Reviews

A Lost Lady (Vintage Classics)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a simply written but thematically complex, metaphoric story, replete with subtle nuances. The events that transpire are seen primarily through the eyes of a boy who comes of age, a contrivance that the author successfully employed in her best selling classic, "My Antonia". Here, it is no less successful. Through the eyes of Neil Herbert, who lives in Sweet Water, a prospective railroad hub on the Western plains in one of the prairie states, the reader gets to know Marian Forrester. She is the much younger, envied wife of one of the town's more prominent and wealthier citizens, Captain Daniel Forrester, a former railroad contractor.

As Neil grows into a man, his adoration of the lovely Mrs. Forrester undergoes a change. He sees her fall from the pedestal from where he and all the townspeople have placed her and sees her, really sees her, warts and all, for the first time, when he discovers her involved in an unexpected peccadillo. It comes as a shock to him that she may not be all that she seems to be. Still, his life is closely entwined with hers, as his uncle, with whom he lives, is Captain Forrester's personal attorney and of the same social standing in this socially circumscribed backwater.

Just as Neil's perception of Mrs. Forrester begins to change in his eyes, so do the fortunes of the town and that of Captain Forrester. As Mrs. Forrester physically deteriorates under the strain of the vicissitudes of fate, so do the town and its surrounding environs. As she revives, leaving behind her old values and adopting new ones that are anathema to those who respect the traditional ones, her revival parallels changes in the town itself, as the old makes way for the new. These changes also parallel the shifts occurring on the American frontier, as social mores and personal values undergo a change, and those stalwart pioneer values give way to new ones.

Beautifully descriptive of a bygone era and laconic in its pace, this is most certainly a novel to be savored. Fans of the author will especially enjoy it.

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.

In the opening sentence of this short novel, Cather describes Sweet Water, the Nebraska town in which it takes place, as "so much grayer today" than it was a generation or so before, when the story takes place. When she wrote those words in 1923, she couldn't possibly have known how prophetic or poignant they would be today, as that part of the country has continued to lose population and become dotted with ghost towns in the decades since then. But sad as that may be, it only adds to the brilliance of this story of times that changed and a community that didn't keep up with the changes.

As per usual for Cather, her heroine is seen mostly through the eyes of a young male character, about whom we know less in the end than we do about the woman he tells of. Taking place toward the end of the nineteenth century, it's a coming of age story for the both of them and for the land they call home, and, one could argue, for America at large. (Subtlety always was among Cather's strongest points; it's never easy to tell for certain whether her stories really are only about individuals or whether they're intended as an allegory for the loss of her beloved Midwestern frontier.) As the times change, so does the place of her protagonist, Mrs. Forrester, in the insular community due to some circumstances she can't control and some she can but won't. Like the title itself, the story ultimately leaves it up to us to decide whether she is ultimately better or worse off at the end than at the beginning and whether her fate reflects poorly on her friends and neighbors or herself, or both.

The one certainty is a loss of youthful exuberance on the part of the town as a whole, which Cather paints vividly as a bustling young community at first and a wounded, declining one not long thereafter. We're left on our own to decide what it all says about Mrs. Forrester, her generation, women in society as a whole, and Cather's own opinions about it all. It's not easy to leave so much ambiguity without leaving the reader frustrated, but remarkably, that's just what happens here.

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.

A novel of retrospection, A Lost Lady (1923) tells of events several decades earlier, when the rapid growth of the railroads was both expanding - and ending - the western frontier. But that is the larger, the national, backdrop against which more intimate dramas are played out, dramas that have to do with youth and age and beauty, and with adultry, sadism, and the growth of a young man, Niel Herbert. Niel idolizes Captain Forrester's young wife, Marion, and in this he is not alone. All who visit the Forrester's home find Marion's warmth and vitality captivating. In Cather's imagination, Mrs Forrester embodies the natural energy of the west itself: ageless and utterly unselfconscious of its own vibrant beauty. So, too, the Captain stands for all that once was the best in America but is now being lost in a greedy bid for money and land; the Captain is a man of conscience - strong, honorable, solid as a mountain. Their home, Sweet Water, is a kind of Eden on the prairie, and even the willow stakes he planted to mark his property lines come to bloom.

Over time, as Niel matures, his "lady" too ages. And when the Captain dies, she falls on bad times, hurt rather than aided by advice from her lawyer. Her fall however is as much moral as it is financial - or at least it is in Niel's eyes. He notes that she has begun to use cosmetics and sherry. He finds her voice too loud, her laughter too forced. Niel loses his lady- or perhaps he gives her up.

There is a kind of poignancy to this brief novel, and a unity that is as pleasing as the story itself. It is, on the one hand, the story of the West's golden youth and fading future. On the other hand, it is the story of a young man's growth and an aging woman's refusal to live as others would prefer.

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.

What a beautiful story! What a magnificent writer Willa Cather is. This relatively short story is sure to captivate any fan of hers who has not had the pleasure of perusing this gem yet. If you enjoyed "My Antonia" and/or "O Pioneers!", then I can guaranty you, you will simply love this novella.

"A Lost Lady" is the story of Marian Forrester and her much older, but very charming and amicable husband Captain Daniel Forrester. The Forrester's live in the small Western town of Sweet Water. The novel is written through the eyes of a young man Niel Herbert who also lives in Sweet Water and is good friends with the Forrester's. Ever since he was a young boy, Niel, along with just about everyone else in Sweet Water, is truly entranced by the grace, charm and beauty of Mrs. Forrester. She is the true embodiment, the aesthetic ideal of the perfect woman. However, as Niel grows up and becomes a young man he slowly but surely learns that this goddess is not without her flaws and short comings. In many ways, Marian Forrester, is our American version of Flaubert's Emma Bovary. However, Cather paints for us a much more simplistic, endearing, and sympathetic character than the latter in my opinion.

This is such a beautiful piece of literature. It may not take the average bibliophile long to finish this work, but the favorable impression it will leave upon you makes this one to good to pass up. My only knock, I wish the story was longer, for I was truly absorbed from the first page to the last.

5 STARS without thinking twice!

I've read most of Cather's novels and this is pretty close to the top of the list. More sophisticated and complex than the well-beloved (by high school English teachers) 'My Antonia', 'A Lost Lady' plays with similar elements but seems (in structure and content) so much more successful. 'A Lost Lady' explores the fragile role women played in society around the turn of the century and, as such, stands up admirably with Wharton's 'The House of Mirth'. For other interesting Cather, give 'The Professor's House' and 'My Mortal Enemy' a shot.

i had heard a lot about willa cather (death comes for the archbishop, my antonia) but i had never heard of A Lost Lady until i went to the bookstore and found it, picking it mainly because it was short. however, once i started reading it i never wanted it to end! i think it is one of her finest novels and i wish more people knew about it. mrs. forrester's struggles are so real and timeless.

Critic Leon Edel wrote of Cather, "The time will come when she'll be ranked above Hemingway." Well, I'm there! In fact, I've been there since I finished "O Pioneers." For the last several years, I've been reading her books in order and just marvel at Cather's talent, her insights, and the economy of her writing.

I was disappointed in "One of Ours," the Pulitzer-Prize winning book that preceded "A Lost Lady.' The Midwest sequences in "One of Ours" were fine, but Cather seemed lost in unfamiliar territory when the setting switched to World War I France. "One of Ours" was a memorial tribute to a beloved relative of Cather's, so perhaps her emotions got the better of her writing and her observations.

I was glad that she returned to the land and people she knew best with "A Lost Lady."

Every word in this little book rang true to me. Every character - major and minor - was alive and fully realized. The events and settings - all vivid and deeply credible.

In fact, I stayed in bed all one morning to finish this book. Like a great mystery - this was a "page turner" for me. Cather sprinkles delicious hints throughout that propelled me forward. The satsifaction I felt at the end was similar to what one feels after finishing a first-rate mystery - only here the satisfaction was on the much higher plane of great literature.

If you've read "O Pioneers," "Song of the Lark," or "My Antonia," you know that Cather understood strong, admirable women. What a revelation that she could ALSO write a great book with a charming but weak woman as its central character. We admire and like Marian Forrester for her wit and grace, while at the same time we deplore her superficiality and hypocrisy.

Like Neil, we never are quite sure who Mrs. Forrester is, what she thinks, or what motivates her. But that is precisely what makes this book such a work of art - and so true to life. I expect to reflect on Mrs. Forrester, Neil, the Captain - even Ivy Peters - and the others for many years to come.

This probably should not be the first Cather book you read. "O Pioneers" or "My Antonia" are probably better choices. But don't lose sight of this small but dazzling jewel.