Ms. Hen reviews One of Ours

 

One of Ours

Willa Cather

Alfred A. Knopf

1922

 

Ms. Hen wanted to read about the Spanish flu in 1918, so she did some research, and discovered that there is not a lot of fiction written about this event. She thinks the reason is that writers were too busy contemplating the Great War, because nothing like that had happened before. Pandemics had happened previously throughout history. She found out that this novel mentions the Spanish flu briefly when the character is going over on a ship to fight in Europe in the war.

 

This novel is about a young man, Claude, who isn’t much to talk about at first. He goes to college to a school he doesn’t like, but he tries to make the best of it. His father decides to move to Colorado to take over his friend’s ranch, and leaves the farm in Nebraska in Claude’s charge, so he has to drop out of school. Claude is upset about this. He gets married to a woman who is not that interested in him. Everyone thinks Claude is a disappointment, and will never amount to anything.

 

Claude enlists in the army when America joins the war. He goes back to his town on leave before he ships off, and everyone is impressed by his uniform and new confidence. They think he has gotten taller since joining the army. When going over on the ship, a lot of men get sick and die, and Claude helps nurse them. He comes to the conclusion that this is the first time his life means something, In France, he leads the men in fighting and he meets the locals and grows to love the country. He fantasizes of owning a French farm after the war is over. Ms. Hen found the end of the novel moving.

 

This novel reminds Ms. Hen of another she has read, STONER. That novel is about a man who just isn’t good enough, and he continues that way his entire life. They’re similar in that way, and also the time period in which it takes places, but at the end of ONE OF OURS, Claude redeems himself, and finds his true purpose.

 

Ms. Hen wanted to read some criticism about this novel, so she looked it up, and found out that Ernest Hemingway was surprised at the sales of this, and was unimpressed by Cather’s description of war. He said that he thought that the last scene was straight out of BIRTH OF A NATION, which might be true, but one hundred years later practically nobody has seen this film. Ms. Hen thinks he was being snarky. (Ms. Hen watched BIRTH OF A NATION after she finished ONE OF OURS, and the film traumatized her, because it’s disturbing. It’s free on YouTube.) Of course Cather had never been to war. That doesn’t mean this novel doesn’t have merit.

 

There are too many chickens in this novel to mention. A lot of this novel takes place on a farm in Nebraska. Ms. Hen thinks this is a beautiful novel, and she recommends it to anyone who is feeling down about the world, because it will make you feel better. Sometimes life can take a curve, and you end up where you were supposed to be, and you can find meaning. Claude’s life is similar to the hero’s journey, he has ups and downs, but in the end he shines.